From Mobilecrunch:
Daem Interactive has developed Skuair, new technology that it is calling the next generation of 2d code readers. Skuair isn’t limited to reading barcode lines and numbers but can read product logos or images. Skuair works with any mobile phone camera and is easy to operate. The user simply takes a picture of an advertisement or product logo and a low resolution image is sent to the recognition server and an associated URL is returned. The user can receive a variety of multimedia content from the company or person who owns the image
User generated tags will be launched later this year. A short demo of how Skuair works.
Do they have an API?
James
from
http://faceyspacey.com, Your One Stop Social Media Shop
I saw this being done in Japan but instead of Logos it was food, people would take pictures of what they where about to eat at a restaurant with their cell phone and it would go to a company that sent back calorie counts and other food information. I was reviewed by a person and took about an hour (they had an online account).
Jon
http://buzvia.com – Where’s your traffic going?
Superb idea, another great startup from Barcelona, Spain!
Good idea! I agree but it will be interesting to see how they are going to the reader on all the phones? This has always been a challenge in the U.S market.
This isn’t new. The “MX” commuter newspaper (http://www.mxnet.com.au/) in Melbourne and Sydney (Australia) has been doing something similar for a while. Many ads have a logo on them, if you take a photo of the page/advertisement and send it to a specified number, it responds with more detailed information.
Nice idea… I will use it…
That’s crap. People don’t want more information on some crap product. That’s is some geek’s dream so far removed from the real world. Give people useful information in a barcode. I’m talking dates, geographic location, address, etc. not some stinking URL for a product no one wants.
I agree with vens about the slow uptake in the US. In fact I just posted this morning about how the US is being particularly slow in adopting the 2D barcodes such as QR Codes that have been popular in Japan for a couple of years now:
http://symbii.c...=735&tid=52
Oh yeah, and unlike most of the commenters on here, I’m not promoting some crappy holy books website. So you can believe every word I say like it was written by god himself. (Yeah, that’s right, himself.)
Based off the award winning Lavasphere technology developed in Germany by Gavitec, the NeoReader features NeoMedia’s patented resolution technology combined with Gavitec’s ultra-small footprint and platform independent algorithms. It is able to read and decipher all common non-proprietary 2D codes (Data Matrix, QR, Aztec, Maxi) as well as URL embedded 2D codes and all 1D UPC/EAN/Code 128 open source codes. The NeoReader supports direct and indirect code linking, which guarantees maximum interoperability with already existing platforms like 2D Data Matrix Semacodes, and Japanese QR links. This allows the user to click on a variety of codes with a single application installed on their mobile device.
The NeoReader ushers in and inaugurates a brand new era of innovative mobile enterprise and optical code reading solutions for the wireless industry. Visit get.neoreader.com to download the free application, and instantly transform your mobile phone into a universal code reader.
http://www.neoreader.com
I just want to find out if there is an API so I can use this service for my own companies. Anyone know?
James
from
FaceySpacey.com, Your One Stop Social Media Shop
This is awsome, I discovered ShotCode(.com if anyone is interested) a few years ago and my head was spinning with ideas except their circular target-like code was a little too alien for people who saw it and probably too intrusive for advertisers. Although I have to say that it worked to perfection even with the cheapest phones and poorest cameras. Hence, I have high hopes for this type of image recognition and what Skuair is promising. As for applications, the possibilities are endless.
One small step for mobile, one huge step for the ubiquitous web.
This is nothing new, we developed technology that did exactly this at Neven Vision. We sold to Google 1 month before the YouTube deal.
First, image recognition is not new at all. Second, it’s a reduction of the possibilities of image recognition. Image recognition is NOT the same as 2d bar codes. There is a certain overlap of course, but it is NOT the same thing.
Fujitsu has developed a better technology without sending pictures to a server. They just embed invisible to a human eye code into picture and it works like a bar code.
@8 : Listen to this man. All four people who think this is just a brilliant idea to base a business around must be the same four people still walking around with that sexy looking CueCat sticking out of their back pocket.
With the exception of the SuperBowl and Victoria’s Secret, NO ONE wants to look at ads, much less use their superduper camera device to get more information on it. Can’t you understand that? It’s basic people, and it’s been going on forever: PEOPLE HATE ADS! They TOLERATE them when they’re not overly intrusive or they like the product that they’re wrapped around.
Once again, another new company approaching business with an absolute disdain and even alienation from what the customer wants.
Damnit, someone beat me to the CueCat comparison. If I see an image on a lamppost or a billboard, then I am out walking. If I am out walking, it means I am going somewhere. If I am going somewhere, it means I have something to do. Something better to do than looking up somebody’s product. There is an outside chance I may file it in the back of my mind to look up later when I’m done with the important thing I’m doing now, but absolutely no way am I going to interrupt my walk. The same applies to every single CueCat clone ever invented. Whether it’s reading a magazine or seeing an advert on a bus or walking past a billboard, in every single case I have something better to do than reading an advert.
This is a product of the major fallacy advertising Kool-Aid drinkers subscribe to – that ads are an ‘experience’ that can be enjoyed. Caligula is right, ads are tolerated, not enjoyed.
Well someone thinks it is a good idea because Nokia have been developing this very same technology for some time now. And if Nokia are investing in it, they have researched its potential appeal and believe it is worthwhile.
The example they gave is taking a pic of a pair of shoes and being provided, via LBS, a list of local shoe shops along with other relevant information.
Jon @ 2
I saw exactly the same thing. The problem was that I didn’t center the picture properly and the recognition system picked up the girl in the background. When I clicked OK to order via the phone, I got a nice surprise. I ate her with fava beans and chianti.
Funny, someone from NevenVision posted they have done this literally years back….and that they were bought by Googel…. and no reaction.
The technology was even used by our cherished Ãœber-FMCG Coca Cola in the context of their European-wide “Coke Fridge” campaign.
People could download the software, take pictures of Coke logos or bottles and thus win credits for further prizes (a bit like the Pepsi promotion with iTunes codes).
BTW, you can see that this sort of campaign eliminated the tolerance problem towards ads: you need to smartly offer the enduser something in return. Then you get him to immerse much deeper into the brand than just a passive reader or watcher.
re: @17 & @18:
You are correct that the advertising use for barcode symbols is lame, but the technology itself is really quite useful. So while the advertising (and CueCat is a good example) is not compelling enough to make for mass adoption, other applications will. In turn, advertising and product related B.S. will be along for the ride.
Also, you don’t need to be “out and going somewhere” to find uses for mobile barcode scanning. Many people often only have a mobile, and there are lots of uses for looking up product information around the house, a machine readable symbol being very useful for initiating the query.
I never participate in flame wars, but, Jugo, you are a fool.
I’m a big fan of wine, in particular French. Unfortunately my French is fairly rusty and a lot of the labels are fairly similar. Being able to be in a wine store, take a photo of a bottle and get back it’s Robert Parker score or reviews on it or maybe just some more information on the wine would be terrific. Same would be true for books and dvds.
I’ve often considered something like this just for DVD barcodes back in the days when you actually had to go into a store to rent something…
@James Gillmore
We (kooaba.com) have an API to our image recognition service, which allows you to do similar services, but (most importantly) much cooler ones, too! Contact us for the API details
This sounds very similar to Nevenvision & Mobot. We built a game with Mobot called Superstar in 2005. Looks like the mobile image recognition game is heating up.
Mobot
http://mobot.com/
Superstar Game
http://superstarglobal.com/
Wow. I’m trying to picture this. I’m trying to picture Mike Bartlett standing in a bookstore, staring at a book, mouth agape with rivulets of drool cascading down his neck, utterly incapable of just leafing through it — y’know, READING IT. Instead, he’d rather take a photo of it and get product information on it. THE PRODUCT IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU! What help do you possibly need?
Okay, I get it, I need to put a spam link here too. Go to caligulataster.com, where you can upload photos of your grapes and figs. The photos will then be digitally analyzed and a SMS message will let you know if your eunuchs are poisoning your meals. It’s a revolutionary service that literally EVERY Roman Emperor will have to have!
Yes, ads are tolerated and not generally sought after. The difference here is in the delivery. Advertising traditionally has been a push proposition – forcing the message down people’s throats. Technology now allows for more of a pull – engaging people to interact.
Have you ever seen an ad and not know what it’s for? Curiousity kicks in. Generally if I see an ad and clearly know what it’s about, I’m not going to take a photo of it to get more information when it’s all spelled out for me. But if I see something curious I just may want to know what it’s all about. And surely there are more people like me out there. Ads don’t need to be effective to every single person that sees them. It takes just a small percentage of those exposed to an ad to take action for a campaign to be effective.
All the haters here are shortsighted.
There are MANY more uses for this technology than ads.
“There are MANY more uses for this technology than ads.”
You are right.
Just another copy of an already developed technology for the mobile device.
The Neoreader.