Show HN: Barcode Scanner via MMS

Posted by xur17 on Friday September 19, 2014 @09:29AM
from the show-hn dept.

Text a picture of a barcode to 508-401-SCAN (508-401-7226), and you'll get product information / a picture of the product.

I built this last night using Twilio's MMS api, Amazon's Product API, and python's zbar library. Also works with Google Voice.

( 5 comments | 5 points | on HN )

Re:Show HN: Barcode Scanner via MMS by girinambari on Friday September 19, 2014 @11:05AM (#8340826)

When we have barcode most of the cases we have item with us, isn't it? Then what is the use of getting the product information? May be doing price comparison on top of this would be real game changer in my opinion.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Show HN: Barcode Scanner via MMS by xur17 on Friday September 19, 2014 @12:36PM (#8341220)

Good point. It returns the price from Amazon so you can do a price comparison - the product information is mainly there so you can quickly make sure it returned the correct product.

The main use case I see is to quickly lookup a product's price with a dumb phone (or a smartphone if you don't want to install an app). It also sends back a link to the product, and the title of the product.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Show HN: Barcode Scanner via MMS by ASquare on Friday September 19, 2014 @09:55AM (#8340486)

Would be awesome if you could set up a quick landing page with this so people have somewhere to go vs only this post

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Re:Show HN: Barcode Scanner via MMS by xur17 on Friday September 19, 2014 @10:11AM (#8340567)

I absolutely agree. I wanted to get a MVP out the door quickly. I'll put something together this weekend.

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Re:Show HN: Barcode Scanner via MMS by ASquare on Friday September 19, 2014 @10:17AM (#8340585)

Awesome - its cool idea for sure

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