[macvoiceover] Re: Barcode Experiment, Announcing BarcodeTalk

  • From: Greg Kearney <gkearney@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:24:10 -0700

I would like to echo the comments on barcode scanners, get a good one.
I believe I can answer the question about where the data come from. I used the data from http://www.upcdatabase.com/downloads/
It is updated every month on the first of the month but my program, BarcodeTalk at this point has no means of getting the updates itself. This is something I, or others, need to work out. 

It is an experimental program at this point.

Greg Kearney
535 S. Jackson St.
Casper, Wyoming 82601
307-224-4022
gkearney@xxxxxxxxx



On Feb 24, 2009, at 10:14 AM, Chris Hofstader wrote:
As one who kicked off the Freedom Scientific bar code project, I strongly recommend getting the best reader you can afford. While you can find some bar code scanners for under $50, you will spend a remarkable amount of time trying to get it to properly read the tag. You can get some broad spectrum (is that the correct term?) readers under $300 and if you want to use it a lot, it is well worth the cost.
I'd be interested in where the authors of this program got their data and how often it is revised. Some products that have been available for a really long time (Oscar Mayer Weirners for instance) will have the same UPC for a long time but the latest CD from 50 Cent will not be in the database as the recording is newer than the data. 
On Feb 23, 2009, at 9:23 PM, Sara wrote:


This whole barcode thing just blows my mind.
What's even cooler is that now I neither have to pay for the software nor be connected to the net. 
Too bad I don't have a scanner. lol
Sara
----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Kearney" <gkearney@xxxxxxxxx> To: <macvisionaries@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "macvoiceover" <macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Cc: "Mary Beth Janes" <mjanes@xxxxxxxxx>; "Mike Shebanek" <shebanek@xxxxxxxxx >; "Iain Murray" <i.murray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <elise@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >; "Jeanette Davies" <Jeanette.Davies@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Christopher Lee" <leecm@xxxxxxx> 
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 3:45 PM
Subject: [macvoiceover] Barcode Experiment, Announcing BarcodeTalk
Following up on the work done here with barcode scanning I offer BarcodeTalk
BarcodeTalk is a simple MacOS Application that takes a UPC barcode from and item and looks that item up in a database and then speaks the item's description.
The application is self-contained needing no internet connection to work. The database has just under 2 million items in it.
Work Needed: A means of updating the database over the net as well as a way to add your own items. 

Here is the URL: http://www.cucat.org/projects/barcodetalk/
Application and source code can be downloaded. I tried this with a trigger style USB barcode reader and it worked fine. The program opens with the text insertion point in the barcode text field. I'm sure other can improve on this. For example the lookup could be made much faster by storing the data in CoreData and not in a CSV file in the application.
One could apply this basic idea to any number of applications where the blind need to identify items that can be barcoded. 

Greg Kearney
535 S. Jackson St.
Casper, Wyoming 82601
307-224-4022
gkearney@xxxxxxxxx





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