Yesterday I wrote about the back story on our need to release an updated Scanner Kit SDK for the iPhone. If you are a developer who has already used our SDK in your app to scan barcodes or you are a developer thinking about using our SDK in your app – please download our new version ASAP. From the release notes:

NEW – (Friday July 30th, 2010) – Version 4.0.0

• Complete overhaul of underlying barcode scanning and camera frame grabbing logic.
• Vastly improved performance and API enhancements
• Full compatibility with iOS 4.0 and Apple’s App Store policies and guidelines. (No more “UIGetScreenImage()”)
• Full compatibility with iPhone 4, 3GS and 3G devices

Download the Scanner Kit SDK for iPhone today!

Earlier this month Apple stopped accepting apps that made use of UIGetScreenImage call (allowing apps like ShopSavvy to take a snapshot of the iPhone’s screen). This ‘call’ has always been private, but Apple made an exception to allow apps like ShopSavvy to work. Apple made it VERY clear from the start that this ‘private’ call would not longer be available once they released their new public API for the camera in IOS4. The new public API is amazing and makes ShopSavvy and our Scanner Kit SDK work like a dream.The downside is that if you have implemented our SDK in your app (or any other barcode scanning library that worked prior to IOS4) Apple will reject your app if you try to update it right now.

Our team saw this coming a mile away and has been working tirelessly to update our scanner kit to stop using the private call in favor of the new public API and as of today our Scanner Kit is working really well. We will be testing tomorrow, but hopefully by the end of the day we will release the SDK publicly.

The new SDK will use NONE of the private methods and will also work significantly better as we replaced all of our slow, shaky, hacky work-around code with Apple’s new officially supported, high-performance camera API calls. Our new 2.0 version scans faster, is more accurate and since it is not using any private, unsupported methods, it will not break whenever Apple releases an update.

Finally, another important thing to note is that Apple is dropping support for the iPhone 2G (original iPhone).  They aren’t allowing users to install iOS 4 on it.  Therefore it won’t be possible publish an app/update that does real-time barcode scanning on a 2G because iPhone OS 3.x can’t interact with the camera without UIGetScreenImage() which is now back on Apple’s blacklist.  Apple said they will grandfather in the old apps that use this and won’t pull them out of the store, they just won’t approve any updates or new apps that use UIGetScreenImage. If you are a 2G user or OS3.X user feel free to use ShopSavvy Classic as it will never be updated – it is Grand Fathered in the app store.

Lots of retailers like Best Buy plan to include QR Codes in their stores to help consumers learn more about the products they are selling. Look for the strange little two dimensional barcodes near product displays. You can scan these codes with ShopSavvy and you will receive the information that the retailer is interested in providing to you. Of course, you can still scan the one dimensional barcodes (i.e. the UPC or EAN code) on products and get the standard price comparison you have come to expect from ShopSavvy.

Just as ShopSavvy can scan these QR Codes from Best Buy we can also help retailers power their own apps with 2D reading technology. Both our iPhone and Android developer SDKs offer QR Code scanning support – just drop our libraries into a retailer’s mobile app and consumers can begin scanning right away.

Of course 2D codes are popping up on websites like Facebook and in stores thanks to Google’s Favorite places program. We support both of these programs today. Perhaps the most interesting use of 2D codes is by cities. In Washington DC we now support scanning of QR codes in DC Circulator Buses. This month the city added QR Codes on all bus stops and bus shelters. Riders who have ShopSavvy can scan these codes to see a map of their route, their current location and the next bus stop.

Some of you may have noticed the folder called BarcodeKit-iPhonsOS4.X in the SDK. This is the code you have been looking for – making barcode scanning a snap on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.

Just a quick programming note for ShopSavvy. We have been testing ShopSavvy with the new OS without a hiccup, but we did get a report from another developer that it was crashing after the scan. We can’t replicate it and the developer hasn’t been able to send us a crash log. Anyway, if you have an issue please let us know ASAP: support@biggu.com – Thanks!

ShopSavvy Tweet to win promo - win an iPhone 4 or HTC EVO

]]> http://www.biggu.com/2010/06/11/tweet-to-win-an-iphone-4-or-htc-evo/feed/ 0 http://www.biggu.com/2010/06/08/startup-happy-hour-2-0/ http://www.biggu.com/2010/06/08/startup-happy-hour-2-0/#comments Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:26:29 +0000 amuse http://www.biggu.com/?p=2815 More than two years ago we decided to start hosting a regular startup-focused happy hour for the North Texas area. More 2,500 local entrepreneurs have joined us for some beer and fellowship. The newspaper wrote about the event and lots of new companies have been formed from the relationships created at the event – for example Rylan and I met at the event and started Big in Japan. It has been a very fun couple of years, but I think it is time for a change – time to mix things up – time for Startup Happy Hour 2.0.

First, we decided change the venue. The High Tech Bar has been a good home for the event, but the parking situation really annoying. The new location will be at Architel’s new facility in the North Tower of Campbell Centre (the gold building on the corner of I75 and Northwest Highway where JR Ewing used to work).

Next, we decided to change the date. The first Monday made a lot of sense when we first began (the first happy hour just happened to be on a Monday), but we eventually remembered that it fell on the same night as Monday Night Football (this is Texas BTW). The new date will be the fifth Wednesday of the month. The inaugural event will be held October 27th, 2010 (subsequent events on Nov 24, Dec 22, Jan 26, Feb 23).

Third, we decided to change the format. Cocktails and more cocktails seemed like a great idea two years ago – easy to organize and easy to host – but I think we can do better. Starting in October we will begin the event at 5PM with cocktails and light hors d’oeuvres, then at 6PM we will have a speaker/program for 30-45 minutes and then have more cocktails and networking until around 8PM. Each quarter we hope to attract a ’significant’ speaker, but don’t worry each month we will have really interesting speakers.

Finally, we decided to change from Upcoming.org to Meetup.com to manage RSVPs, pictures and discussion about the group. Just visit: http://www.meetup.com/Dallas-Startup-Happy-Hour/ and join the group and the conversation (i.e. you need to start the conversation).

We will be announcing the first speaker in the coming weeks. But you are going to want to save the date anyway.

When we first began building the Windows Mobile version of ShopSavvy last Fall we were using our legacy barcode scanning library. We struggled to get it to work well enough on most of the Windows Mobile phones capable of running 6.5. With each additional phone we supported the effectiveness of our scanning library degraded. On top of that, our UI was unimpressive and flat. To say that we were dissatisfied with the app would be an understatement, but we were working closely with Microsoft and committed to deliver the app for their new marketplace. At the end of the day there were technical reasons ShopSavvy didn’t get released and we were almost relieved no one got to see ShopSavvy in the state it was at that point.

When we redeveloped our barcode scanning library we specifically sought a solution that would allow for scanning on a wide vareity of mobile phones – everything from low end feature phones to the state-of-the-art Windows Phone 7 devices poised to hit the market. Now that Android has more than 60 different handsets and Windows Phone 7 promises to have even more options we knew the problems associated with different camera types and processors would only get worse. Our scanning technology is now ready to support Windows Phone 7 now we need to build the app (we are scrapping our prior work).

Rylan, our lead developer began working with Windows Mobile back in 2005 and is quite skilled when it comes to Microsoft technology. All of our backend technology is built on .NET and will plug in nicely to the work our (yet to be named) Silverlight/WPF interaction designer will complete. Rylan will be laying down all of the logic and framework code and our interaction designer will be creating the front end (XAML, Sliverlight, Blend) to ensure a phenomenal user experience. Our focus on Expression Blend (the concept of new job role called the interaction designer) will mean that ShopSavvy for Windows Phone 7 could be the best version of the application to date (updates to our UI are forthcoming for iPhone and Android). Our friends at Microsoft are ACTIVELY working with our team to ensure ShopSavvy ROCKS on Windows Phone 7 – we have no doubt that together it will. Also, you might want to learn why Windows Phone 7 might really be a game changer.

So to your question: “When will ShopSavvy be available on Windows Mobile?” We don’t know. Our goal is to have ShopSavvy available prior to the release of Windows Phone 7, but we aren’t going to publish a date – so please quit asking. We will definitely let you know when it is available. If you want to beta test just fill out this form. Oh, and we will be releasing the SDK for developers who want to include barcode scanning in their own Windows Mobile applications.

ShopSavvy’s scanning function on the EVO is LIGHTING fast. With our upcoming update taking advantage of 2.1 the speed will be ridiculous. The Sprint boys are using ShopSavvy as their demo app with analysts, investors and consumers. Android is rocking the house and Sprint has raised the bar for everyone. Congrats guys! Oh and thanks for your support of ShopSavvy.

When we launched ShopSavvy back in 2008 we decided NOT to run network based banner advertising. We experimented with sponsors (Visa and their GO campaign was our first), but we quickly decided that normal banner advertising wasn’t going to be successful in ShopSavvy. We came up with the concept of an AdOn – more of a plugin framework than an ad network. By using the barcode of the product scanned + the users location we figured we could deliver relevant and important information to the user without interrupting or bothering him.

When the folks at Cellfire approached us more than a year ago we quickly realized that their Coupon offering was a perfect AdOn. Anytime a user would scan a food item with a coupon, using the API provided by Cellfire, we could allow the user to add that coupon to their loyalty card within ShopSavvy. So instead of a banner ad for Bank of America when the user scanned a can of beans, they see a coupon. They can dismiss it with a swipe of a finger OR click to add it to their loyalty card so that the point of sale system knows to give them their discount. Cellfire is the perfect example of a partner with relevant data that we can combine with the user’s location and buying intent to deliver a valuable offer – a coupon.

More on AdOns™:

Mobile ads delivered by companies like AdMob don’t work very well right now. First they distract and annoy the user OR they are completely ignored by the user. Second, they don’t generate much in the way of revenue since they are rarely acted upon. We decided NOT to put ads in ShopSavvy and I think the app has been better because we made that decision. But we did find a way to leverage the data we had (i.e. the UPC of the product scanned and the location of the user) to deliver information about the item the user was holding in his hand.

ShopSavvy is a simple app that tells the user where he can find the item he is scanning and how much the item sells for, but we kept having all of these ideas to make our app better. Things like coupons, allergy alerts, recall notices, wine info and so on. We couldn’t figure out how to include these ideas without cluttering up the app – i.e. feature creep. Then we had an idea to create a plugin framework, what we call AdOns.

AdOns appear ONLY when there is relevant information about the product scanned. Immediately following the scan screen your app delivers the result (in ShopSavvy we show the item’s picture, title, web and local offers). The AdOn scrolls up from the bottom of the screen without interfering with the function of your result page (you can still interact with your app). AdOns take up only as much space as needed to provide the necessary information – almost never past the middle of the screen. To dismiss the user simply swipes the AdOn down.  Finally, new apps won’t see AdOns for the first 90 to 120 days until we get your onboarded into our system – you get a free ride for a while.

What sort of AdOns exist? movie and video game trailers, sample music tracks, allergy information, food safety information, coupons, rebates, product demos, wine info/helper, sports/concert titckets, computer configurators, memory card matcher, battery matcher, what’s not in the box, alternative/related products, product reviews (text and video), warranties and so on. Got an idea for an AdOn – let me know and we will create it. AdOns are usually sponsored – e.g. Video Game Trailers sponsored by GameFly or sample tracks sponsored by Pandora. In all cases AdOns MUST look cool and provide real value to the user without screwing up your app.

Finally, we allow complete filtering for ANY reason. Don’t want to see your competitors in AdOns? No problem. Don’t want to see certain items for health reason? No problem – you have the right to reject ANY AdOn for any reason.

ShopSavvy UI Update: On a side note we have finally locked down our new UI plan for our next release – planned to coincide with the release of the iPhone 4.0 OS. By then we should have a) the best scanning, b) the best product coverage and c) the coolest looking shopping app in iTunes (knock on wood). As I explained in an earlier post we will be releasing ‘ShopSavvy Classic’ for anyone unable or unwilling to update to 4.0. The classic version of ShopSavvy will sport our old icon/logo and our ‘classic’ UI. We assume our new UI will irk longtime ShopSavvy users – good news, you can download ShopSavvy Classic and enjoy the old look and feel.

SDK Update: If you previously downloaded our Barcode Scanner SDK for iPhone you need to download it again. In the SDK folder there are two different versions of the scanner – one for 3.0+ and another for 4.0+. Our latest SDK takes advantage of many cool features available in 4.0, but not reverse compatible with 3.0+. When 4.0 is released developers will have a tough decision to make – continue to support 3.0+ users or abandon them for 4.0 requiring an OS update (or new phone purchase for 2G iPhone users). Download HERE.

The Barcode Scanner SDK supports both 1D (UPC and EAN) and 2D (QR and Datamatrix) barcodes. Specifically designed to work on both fixed and variable focal length cameras, our Barcode Scanning library is one of the best in the business and best of all it is FREE!

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