Show HN: Barcode Scanner via MMS

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8340378

by xur17 • 12 years ago

5 5 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

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.

ASquare2• 12 years ago

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

xur172• 12 years ago

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

ASquare2• 12 years ago

Awesome - its cool idea for sure

girinambari• 12 years ago

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.

xur172• 12 years ago

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.

Show HN: Barcode Scanner via MMS

Related Stories