I believe an idea for a cell phone barcode reader's been posted here, but I can't find it. My idea is to have a simple cell phone application that reads barcodes from wine bottles, looks this up in a database, and adds the wine name and year to a wine list. You snap the picture, then press a button from 0-9 for your rating.
Next time you're at a store looking for a good bottle of wine, you have a custom list of what you like.-- Worldgineer, Aug 16 2006 Bar code scanner + wine software. http://www.intellisw.com/index.php(Separate unit, not cell-phone based.) [jutta, Aug 16 2006] mobile tricks http://www.commerci...05/jul/textus.shtmlbus tickets by text [xenzag, Aug 16 2006] Scan before you buy Scan_20before_20you_20Buy [Ling, Aug 17 2006] Semacode http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SemacodeAlwwys wanted to use this for something. [moomintroll, Aug 23 2006] Kaywa Reader http://reader.kaywa.com/...or this one; prettier, but basically same principle, different protocol [moomintroll, Aug 23 2006] Bluetooth enabled barcode scanner http://www.socketco...duct/CX2804-493.aspWorks with bluetooth enabled: Pocket PC 2003 (Windows Mobile); Windows XP, or XP Tablet;Palm PDA;Symbian OS device (Series 60 or 80);RIM OS device (BlackBerry) [half, Aug 29 2006] Data-base for books etc http://www.delicious-monster.com/I just found this. Don't know how well it works on PCs, as it is a Mac targeted product and seems to gets very good reviews [xenzag, Sep 06 2006] Great idea ! [+]-- monojohnny, Aug 16 2006 Great idea! [+]-- hippo, Aug 16 2006 [Wr] where I live you can sort of do the reverse, which might be interesting to you.... may be common everywhere? (see link)
I believe in time that mobiles will do just about everything.
You could also just photograph the labels with your mobile as is, but that's not to detract from your idea so +-- xenzag, Aug 16 2006 I couldn't count the times I wished I had maintained and carried a wine log. Let me give you a corkscrew +-- normzone, Aug 16 2006 the problem is a lot of nice wine doesn't have barcodes. You'd defo be saving some time for those that did though.-- neilp, Aug 16 2006 [jutta] Great link. All they need to do is make the leap into cell phones and they'll vastly increase their appeal.
[xen]//You could also just photograph the labels with your mobile as is//
Definately an option (hold up a number of fingers for a rating?), but unweildy as you begin to build an extensive library.-- Worldgineer, Aug 16 2006 Worldgineer, I remember the post that you remember: It explained about a Japanese mobile phone that could read the bar code, and then look up the information.-- Ling, Aug 17 2006 If you're going to photograph the labels, that's OK, but you need some OCR to make it sortable.-- normzone, Aug 17 2006 Marvellous!-- zen_tom, Aug 17 2006 Brilliant! Just. Brilliant.-- m_Al_com, Aug 17 2006 Great idea, but why limit it to wine? Anything with a barcode could be rated. CDs, cheese, lager, books, cans of beans, underwear, etc.
You could easily answer some annoying questions that come up in stores. "Did I like this brand of Nacho Cheese Frosting?" "Have I ever tried Wenslydale?" "What size briefs do I wear again?"-- Galbinus_Caeli, Aug 17 2006 Thanks [Ling]
[GC], Nacho Cheese Frosting? bleh-- Worldgineer, Aug 22 2006 [Worldgineer] You have never gone shopping drunk and hungry, have you?-- Galbinus_Caeli, Aug 23 2006 [linky] also has links to a couple of similar sounding Semafox and Semanote, which sound more like what you want.-- moomintroll, Aug 23 2006 Let's see, drunk and hungry with nacho cheese frosting and a cell phone camera... I'm sure you'll get a laugh next time you look at those.-- Worldgineer, Aug 23 2006 [WE] Every product photo would involve first shoving the item down your pants.-- Galbinus_Caeli, Aug 23 2006 Sadly, restaurants tend to buy wine wholesale and often get yummy wines that just aren't available anywhere else. Fortunately they keep lots of it, so you can always go back again and order more, with some yummy food.-- wagster, Sep 06 2006 random, halfbakery