Okay, so it’s still in an experimental phase. But it’s cool anyway, and that’s why all Android users can give it a try now immediately: We have integrated object recognition into barcoo in cooperation with Deutsche Telekom Laboratories. It’s only a limited test-run for now and works exclusively with drinks. That’s why we need your help. Object recognition is a great thing because all you have to do is hold up your smartphone’s camera to a product, which is then automatically recognized, thus rendering the search for the barcode unnecessary. When starting the Android app you’ll find the following little button on the bottom:

When you click on it, the camera window automatically appears, allowing you to search for bottled or canned drinks and to try and identify them.

Object recognition in barcoo

Since we can’t always find out the exact product immediately, a short list appears from which you have to select the appropriate product. When you do that, you’re helping improve recognition technology. The visual search doesn’t work with character recognition like our peers’ (cool) Goggles (for products) which would “only” iniate a Google search for “rivella” for the example above. When using barcoo, it’s only that specific product by rivella that gets identified. Have fun giving it a try!

barcoo is a great example of the ‘Wisdom Of The Crowds’ concept. Our numerous user-contributed reviews are a good example of this. We will be taking this a step further by launching “Ask barcoo” – a new service targeted at manufacturers and agencies that wish to ask our users a few short questions regarding products. During the initial phase, the service will be limited to Germany, where we have over three million users.

Source: David Sim

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. At least that’s what Wikipedia says. Many food containers, cans, beverage bottles, and foodstuffs are made of plastics or plastic lining containing BPA. When you use such products, BPA can potentially be released and cause health risks, such as increasing infertility, and may be linked with diabetes or heart and circulatory problems. Some researchers, on the other hand, don’t agree with that theory. On June 1, 2011, after intervention of the European Union, the last baby bottles made with BPA should be taken off the market. However, BPA is still used in beverage bottles, plastic packaging, and tablewares.

© by inhabitat.com

That’s why we want to give you the opportunity to find out more about the potential dangers and will let you know whether products you’ve selected are BPA-free or potentially contain BPA.

With the newly integrated ScanRank, barcoo shows you how often a product has been scanned in comparison with others. When you use it, you can find out which ranking your favorite beer has or which product is the top scan in the drinks category.

In this way barcoo not only provides information, but entertainment as well. The next time you’re in a group, pick up any old product and have everybody guess how many times the product has been scanned. Then use barcoo to scan it yourself and whoever was closest to that number is the winner! During their most recent outing, the barcoo team members played that game to help make the wait at a Mexican restaurant go by faster. The question was: where does Corona stand in barcoo’s ScanRank? There was a wide range of guesses – from 10 to 100 scans – and in the end, the right answer was 45! The prize for the correct answer was another bottle of Corona.

Give our little game a try with your friends: scan drinks, sweets, or books and find out who’s the barcoo expert of the group!