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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Bing App does Barcodes

I noticed in updates for the Bing IPhone App today that they were now allowing you to read barcodes and other images using a smartphone's camera. Then search for the items with the derived code. Smartphone barcode reading development is something I have followed for a number of years.

I did a quick test of a number of items in the pantry that would be found on a typical store shelf. The read did very well, faster than most, in typical to medium dim light using an IPhone 3G, before autofocus. No audio feedback, which I would have liked. In a typical store it may be too difficult to see the thumbnail shown when the 2D code is read.

What I liked very much was that the reader did what no other camera readers do, it quickly read the code upside down and even positioned at 90 degrees. This saves time when reading multiple items. Have not tried any of the other kinds of codes it claims it can do, like 2D codes and album images, but will. Nicely done.

Also mentioned in Fastcompany.

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