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Friday Favorite: Transcriva
Filed under: Software, Features, Productivity, Friday Favorite
If you have a photographic memory, you may recall an article I wrote for TUAW about a year ago describing how to use AppleScript to make it easier to transcribe QuickTime movies and audio. In the comments for that piece, a program was pointed out to me (thanks imnotjesus) which has become a valuable tool in my toolbox. Transcriva is a single-purpose program for transcribing video and audio clips with a rich set of features certain to make your life easier. If you're doing professional transcription, recording audio notes in a class or a meeting for later reference, preparing sub-titles for a movie, or anything which involves copying what's being said or shown into text form, Transcriva has tools to fit, and pricing I find very reasonable.

The main window of Transcriva offers a library view of your transcriptions, a media playback bar and your current transcription. With user-configurable keyboard shortcuts, it's possible to comfortably operate during a transcription without your hands ever needing to leave the keyboard. It even works with a foot pedal, if you're set up with one. You can control playback speed and set it to match your typing speed, as well automatically jump back a configurable number of seconds when you pause and resume playback.

Of all of the features available, Follow-Along is my favorite. It allows you to play back your audio after you've transcribed it, and highlights the appropriate sections of the transcription as the playback head moves through them. More importantly, clicking on an area of the transcription jumps to its related point in the playback, allowing you to quickly review the audio associated with a note or transcription. This is important because that's exactly how I use Transcriva, taking notes from audio recordings or even during a recording when I'm using the built-in record features. Then I can review my hastily typed notes and immediately hear the audio that was happening at the time I took the note.

It's great for recording meetings and annotating recorded Skype conversations. I imagine it would be an amazing tool in class, if you were in a situation where recording and typing were allowed. I haven't been to school for a while. The functionality is similar to Pear Note, but at $29.99US, Transcriva comes in $10US cheaper and packs more features.

Transcriva can handle just about any type of audio or video you can play on your Mac. It uses QuickTime, and with Flip4Mac and Perian installed, you can extend the possibilities to include WMV, AVI, DIVX, FLV and more. When you're done with a transcription, you can export it to RTF or Word formats for sharing, publishing or continuing editing externally. I use Transcriva to recap interviews I do over Skype, and take my notes in an "outline" format which I can, with a little finagling, turn into a mind map or outline for an article.

Transcriva has made my life exponentially easier and is a tool I'd gladly recommend to anyone with similar needs. My direct experience with the developer has also been great, with quick response times and a single bug report resulting in a new build within a couple of days. Transcriva is free to try, $29.99US to buy. You can download the trial at the Bartas Technologies site. If you hurry, it's even discounted to $19.99US in the MacUpdate Promo today.
TUAW Friday Favorite: Transcriva originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 22 May 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Let your Mac take dictation
Filed under: Software, Software Update
MacSpeech Dictate has now been upgraded to version 1.5, giving the application more accuracy and a new vocabulary editor. The update also includes a new English profile option, allowing you to indicate if your speech has North American, Southern North American, or a Latino North American accent.

The software also includes the addition of the top 100 websites to the "Jump to" command option.

This is the first update of MacSpeech Dictate since last February.

As I did in my last post on this software, I dictated this article completely by voice. It appears that the software is more accurate in recognizing my speech. Although I upgraded from an earlier version, the software did require me to retrain, which involves reading a short story that takes about five minutes. In my dictation for this post the software missed the word 'and' once and typed 'hand'. I used the 'scratch that' command, re-tried the word, and it worked well.

As I dictated some other documents using both Microsoft Word and Pages from Apple, I was impressed at the large vocabulary of the program. It even recognized the word O-ring, which is pretty technical, and could have been easily misinterpreted.

If you're already an owner of MacSpeech Dictate, it's probably worth update for the new features. If you haven't tried dictating into your Macintosh, and have a need to do so, the program is worth a try. The developer has licensed the Dragon recognition engine from Nuance Communications, which is the premier voice recognition software on the PC. This newest version of MacSpeech is available for US $199, or as a US $54.95 for current owners of the application. To run it, you'll need to be on Leopard version 10.5.6 or above.
TUAW Let your Mac take dictation originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 22 May 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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32 GB iPhone appears temporarily on T-Mobile Austria site
Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Apple, iPhone
The sharp-eyed writers at iPhone Buzz pointed out that the T-Mobile Austria site was showing a placeholder for a 32GB iPhone earlier today -- at least until someone at T-Mobile pulled the item.

In case you've been off-planet for awhile and haven't kept up with the news, speculation is rampant about when the next iPhone will appear or be announced, and what new features we can expect. Industry pundit John Gruber, for example, speculated in an article yesterday that the next-gen device would have more storage (like the 32 GB described here), more internal memory -- 256 MB, a 600 MHz processor to replace the existing 400 MHz model, a built-in electronic compass, an autofocus lens, and video capabilities.

The Austrian faux pas appears to be proof that at least one of the features, more storage, is going to appear on whatever new iPhone may be coming our way soon. Speaking of that new iPhone, take our poll (below) and let us know when you think it will be shipping.

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TUAW 32 GB iPhone appears temporarily on T-Mobile Austria site originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 22 May 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New Aussie, Swiss Apple Store openings
Filed under: Retail, Apple
We've been inundated with emails today talking about the two international Apple Store openings.

The first new store is in Zurich, Switzerland. Reader Greg sent us a link to his Flickr gallery with plenty of documentation of the new Bahnhofstrasse store. Here's a pic of part of the huge crowd just before the opening:

Dang, Greg -- looking at those photos makes me want to go back to Zurich again, especially now that there are two Apple Stores!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, another Apple Store will be opening in a few short hours in Melbourne, Australia. The new Doncaster store appears to be a wide-body layout in a mall, and is the second Melbourne store. We're hoping to get pictures from our friends down under as soon as the opening occurs. Here's a photo taken on Friday (yesterday in Melbourne) of the store prior to the opening:

We'd love to hear comments from readers who attended either of the openings, just to see how many Macs, iPods, and iPhones were flying out the doors. Were there any cool freebies or giveaways?

TUAW New Aussie, Swiss Apple Store openings originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 22 May 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW First Look: Trip Cubby 2
Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
In the past year, my iPhone has become packed to the gills with apps. Some are for fun and some are for work. A prime example of the latter is Trip Cubby. My job (and Uncle Sam) requires me to keep close tabs on mileage. Trip Cubby makes recording my trips simple and fun, and version 2 improves upon a winner.

To get started, add a new trip and fill in your destination, purpose, any tags you'd like and so on. Designate a vehicle and its starting odometer reading. You can also categorize a trip (business, charity, etc.) and add relevant notes (tip: Add frequent trips to favorites for future reference).

From there, click done and you're off! Once you arrive, select your trip again, enter the final odometer reading and click Done. Trip Cubby assumes a mileage rate of $0.550, but you're free to change that if need be.

Here's where it gets good. You can sync all of your data online at App Cubby, should you lose anything. Also, you can mail all of your data to yourself from within the app as a CSV (a HUGE time saver at tax time). Typically I'm a pen-and-paper guy, but Trip Cubby has replaced the notebook in my glovebox.

Here's where it gets really good. Version 2 has introduced fantastic new features, including:
1. Predictive text input and data entry shortcuts. The main reason I use paper for text-heavy input is that I can write much faster than I can type. Predictive input helps a lot.
2. Charts. Oh, the charts. My favorite aspect of Gas Cubby is the beautiful and informative charts and graphs. It's so very helpful to see your data presented with a graph, and with a simple tilt of the iPhone you can view your Trip Cubby data depicted by category, paid vs. unpaid and miles driven per day, all across various amounts of time.
3. Bulk edit trips. Delete several trips or mark them paid all at once.
There's more to this update, but these are the highlights for me. Trip Cubby is an app that I use and rely upon every day. It's a free upgrade for registered users and can be purchased via the App Store for $9.99US.
TUAW TUAW First Look: Trip Cubby 2 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 22 May 2009 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Open the iPod bay doors, HAL: iPod spotted on STS-125 space shuttle mission
Filed under: iPod Family, Odds and ends, iPod classic
What's nicer than to come back into a nice, cozy space shuttle after a hard day fixing the Hubble Space Telescope, taking off your sweaty space suit, and the listening to some tunes on your iPod?

TUAW reader Brandon pointed out a photo (below) from the latest mission that showed Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel grinning in the shuttle mid-deck after the third extravehicular activity (EVA). Plastered to one wall with Velcro are an iPod and some sort of speaker system.

A closeup view (below) shows that this appears to be a 4th-generation iPod, either the iPod Photo or iPod Color, with what looks like a Belkin TunePower battery pack. As for the speaker system, I leave that to our readers to let us know what model we may be looking at.

Since Astronaut Mike Massimino used the Hubble Servicing Mission to send the first Twitter messages from space as @astro_mike, we wonder when the first iPod touch or MacBook Air wlll be seen in orbit. This isn't the first time we've seen Apple products in space (for example, last year's STS-123 mission also had an AstroiPod on board), and it most certainly won't be the last.

TUAW Open the iPod bay doors, HAL: iPod spotted on STS-125 space shuttle mission originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 22 May 2009 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A different kind of desktop publishing
Filed under: Cult of Mac, Odds and ends
We all know Macs pretty much created desktop publishing in 1985 with the original Mac and the Laserwriter Printer. Now it seems, Macs are preferred by some criminals doing desktop counterfeiting.

An article in the Vancouver Sun today recounts how the largest bogus money lab in British Columbia history was busted. The Mounties found almost $100,000 dollars in fake US bills, and $130,000 worth of Canadian bills.

Of course everything was seized, including the computers being used by the crooks, which looks like at least one iMac. The photo also appears to include a couple of scanners, and a laser printer.

Well, I guess the counterfeiters would be among those who agree that Macs 'just work', even though sometimes you get caught.

Thanks to Anton for tipping us to this story.
TUAW A different kind of desktop publishing originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 May 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Rejection: Apple hates (certain) books and whistling
Filed under: Bad Apple, iPhone, App Store
It seems like only yesterday Apple was surprising us with its App Store rejection antics. You'll recall that just last Monday, Apple was seen flaunting its control over the App Store by rejecting a remote-control client for the BitTorrent desktop application "Transmission" called "Drivetrain." Of interesting note in that case is that there is a web version of this application that I have on my iPhone's home screen.

Today we received word of an application called Eucalyptus that provided access to free-for-all books from Project Gutenberg. John Gruber over at Daring Fireball writes,
"Eucalyptus has been rejected by Apple, for the absolutely outrageous reason that one of the books you can search for and download from Gutenberg is Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana. Not only can anyone load and read this exact same book on any iPhone using MobileSafari, but it's also available through other e-book readers already in the App Store."
In both the Drivetrain and Eucalyptus cases it seems that Apple is playing favorites in terms of who it will let violate its rules. The strange thing though, is that both of these applications' functionality can be accomplished from within MobileSafari. Clearly Apple wants MobileSafari to be your only access to any ~~pornographic~~ objectionable content.

Before you get out your pitchforks however, there's more. If you have an application that has been approved twice, then guess what, the third time's the charm for you because you can expect the rejection hammer to come a'knockin'. At least that's the case for Yaniv Solnik's application "IsraelParty." When Yaniv submitted his app to resolve some routine bug fixes apparently the App Store royal guards decided they didn't like his marketing description of the application. The phrase that was so offensive as to warrant a rejection of an already-existing app that had been approved twice before? Adult content ahead, "Blow your iPhone's microphone to whistle."

Perhaps someone at Apple is bothered by the fact that they are not able to whistle themselves or perhaps they simply do not like the idea of an application that celebrates Israel's independence day. In any event the rejection is simply ludicrous; it brings me back to the late 90s when the over-zealous language filters in chat rooms would filter the phrase "the wind blows."

The clause that Apple cites in these cases refers to Apple's "reasonable judgment" (full text here). However, in my opinion, they are taking on a more overbearing role than they should. Not to say that I disagree with a filter on the App Store, on the contrary, I think a well-defined filter is absolutely necessary.

Because of Apple's unwillingness to firmly define and enforce the rules, I believe Apple is opening itself up to a "bag of hurt" by being the police of App Store city. It will not be long before advocacy groups will want Apple to provide the same filtering for Apple's own applications. I do not believe Apple wants to be in the business of filtering the web or our email, but by filtering applications based on availability of "inappropriate" content they are quickly headed down that path.

Hat tip to Peachfuzzy and Yaniv for the scoop.
TUAW Rejection: Apple hates (certain) books and whistling originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 May 2009 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A photo frame for your pocket and desk
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review
DreamStream [App Store] is a new piece of software for the iPhone and iPod touch that gives you a personalized wireless portable picture frame. It can access photos you have on your phone, or with internet connectivity provide you with links to MobileMe galleries, Facebook, Flickr tags and RSS image feeds. I tried attaching to my MobileMe account and Flickr images and it worked just fine.

You also get widgets that display the time, weather in cities you select and the date. Happily, the app runs in either portrait or landscape mode.

I thought the documentation was a bit thin, and adding images from your camera roll on the iPhone is a bit time consuming as there is no way to select multiple photos -- you have to add them one at a time.

I'd love to see a method to add scrolling news feeds from selected sources, and perhaps an option to add music from your on-board collection. Remember that iPod touch users will only have Wi-Fi as an option for connectivity.

As it is, DreamStream is a nice, well performing app, and certainly worth the $1.99US asking price. I like the ability to see the photo streams from friends around the country, and now when my iPhone is idling and charging on my desk it has something to do.

Here are some screen shots of Dreamstream in action:

Gallery: DreamStream screen shots
TUAW A photo frame for your pocket and desk originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 May 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Thursday iPhone App Potpourri
Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Much to the chagrin of many of our iPhone-less readers, TUAW receives a huge amount of mail every day from iPhone developers who are releasing new software or updates. Here are a few of the apps that have made their way to our mailbox in the last day or two:

Walt Disney World Notescast (click opens iTunes) -- Any readers taking a summer vacation to the Walt Disney World Resort should look at this reference app from TimeStream Software. The US$0.99, 17.7 MB app features over 200 pages of detailed and updated info that can make planning and enjoying your vacation as simple as reaching for your iPhone. My personal favorite? The Hidden Mickey tours.

iBonsai (click opens iTunes) -- Bonsai is the Japanese art of growing miniature trees in small pots, shaping and pruning them to create small, living works of art. iBonsai uses a proprietary algorithm to produce beautiful and completely unique trees in just 30 seconds. This US$0.99 app is one of the most unique apps I've found in the entire App Store.

Continue reading Thursday iPhone App Potpourri
TUAW Thursday iPhone App Potpourri originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 May 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Munster: Apple suppliers negotiating parts deals for sub-$700 tablet
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Rumors
In a research note to clients, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster suggested that Apple is developing a 7-to-10-inch tablet priced at $500 to $700, perhaps ready for the public in 2010.

According to AppleInsider, Munster's contacts in the supply chain haven't seen a prototype of the device, but are in discussions with Apple to supply components for something at that size and price point.

Munster believes that Apple could adjust the iPhone SDK to allow for multiple display resolutions. Apps like Safari and Mail, he says, would benefit from the additional screen real estate. He also mentions that with the larger screen, more than one traditional iPhone app could be run at once.

As for timing, Munster suggests that the device could be ready next year, and possibly be subsidized by a wireless carrier.

As with most analysis of this kind, this is two parts hearsay, one part "interpretation of conference call statements," and seven parts wishful thinking. In providing technical details about a product that may not exist, Munster is writing checks that Apple might not be able to cash.

Is this something you'd buy? Is it even going to happen? Sound off in comments.
TUAW Munster: Apple suppliers negotiating parts deals for sub-$700 tablet originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 May 2009 16:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Win a bundle of iPhone apps in iPhoneSpree, plus 18 apps on TUAW
Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch

Similar to MacHeist, which features a bundle of apps by independent Mac developers, iPhoneSpree is giving away bundles of apps -- but you don't have to buy anything to enter. There are 80 levels of winning, with the top 1st-3rd prize winners receiving all 18 apps in the bundle (full list here). You can enter via the website or Twitter, but lucky for you TUAW readers, we're giving away one of the top bundles of 18 right here!

The 18 apps range from toys (iChalky) to top-notch tools (Flight Track Pro) to awesome games (Sway) to just plain interesting (Earth Secrets). Sway is one of my favorite games, iChalky never ceases to delight my kids, Flight Track Pro is the best flight tracker app I've seen and Earth Secrets is like PostSecret.com on the iPhone with all the eye candy of Ocarina.

There's not a bad app in the bunch, so we're thrilled to give these away. Just like the iPhoneSpree, the entry period is open until June 3, 2009. Leave us a comment telling us the one app you'll never delete (ignoring the ones Apple won't let you delete) and we'll pick a winner in the first week of June. Of course, full details on the rules here. Thanks to Visuamobile for the bundle -- we'll sit down with them at WWDC and show their eye-popping portfolio of apps.
- Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
- To enter leave a comment with the name of an app you wouldn't delete from your iPhone or iPod touch.
- The comment must be left before Wednesday, June 3, 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
- You may enter only once.
- One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
- Prize: promo codes for the 18 apps listed here (total prize value $73.82).
- Click here for Official Rules.
Continue reading Win a bundle of iPhone apps in iPhoneSpree, plus 18 apps on TUAW
TUAW Win a bundle of iPhone apps in iPhoneSpree, plus 18 apps on TUAW originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 May 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mac + desk = Match made in heaven?
Filed under: Desktops, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, MacBook

This article is old, but is still full of inspiration. I stumbled across it a few weeks ago when I was turning my dining room into a home office, and it's always neat to see how other people set up their work spaces.

The News in Print selected these in 2008, but the advice in here in still relevant and you can see how people tackle different issues -- everything from small spaces to multiple monitors and how to use your Mac Mini in conjunction with two 50-inch plasma screens. My favorite? Check out the one featuring a MacBook Pro, four Apple Displays and several digital SLR cameras with zoom lenses.

Unplggd also did an article back in 2008 on desk/computer combos, including pairing a MacBook Pro with a SOLo Lounge, a side table that uses solar power to charge your laptop if you have a spare $9,900 in Canadian dollars lying about. TUAW also had a Rig of the Day feature showcasing reader's setups. How have you dealt with the issue of finding a desk that's worthy enough for your Mac? Please share your thoughts (and photos) in the comments!
TUAW Mac + desk = Match made in heaven? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 May 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tap Tap to Dave Matthews
Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Tapulous has released a version of its mega-popular Tap Tap Revenge app geared toward Dave Matthews fans. Dave Matthews Band Revenge (link opens iTunes) costs $4.99US and includes 10 songs from the band, including two from its upcoming album "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King." Additional features include multi-player mode, a news feed for the Dave Matthews Band, and Facebook Connect for sharing scores.

In addition to the regular flavors of Tap Tap Revenge, the Dave Matthews version also joins a dance version of the game, as well as one for Coldplay fans that was released last month.

[via Touch Arcade]
TUAW Tap Tap to Dave Matthews originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 May 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Braid comes to the Mac
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software

You have to admit: for all of the gaming woes that the Mac faithful has suffered, there's fortunately never been a shortage of great indie games for us to play. Aquaria made it to our platform, World of Goo appeared pretty early on, and now Braid, Jonathan Blow's terrific deconstruction of Super Mario Bros., has appeared on OS X thanks to the kind folks over at Hothead Games. The game has won more awards than you can count, but I can personally tell you it's great, as I played the XBLA release when it first arrived. It's a classic 2D platformer in the vein of Mario with a very important twist: you can reverse, slow, and replay time throughout the various levels. That twist results in an extremely artistic game that takes apart the original Mario story and ends up with something very much more beautiful and sad.

"Artistic"? "Beautiful"? "Sad"? Can I say these things about a videogame? Of course I can -- Braid stands in a class of its own as an experience that uses art and gameplay together to tell quite a story. If you're a fan of innovative games or just great interactive experiences, and haven't played through it yet (it's fairly short, maybe six hours at the most), it's definitely worth a look. The Greenhouse is selling the Mac or PC versions for $14.95.

TUAW Braid comes to the Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 May 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ask TUAW: Recording audio, troubleshooting wireless issues, website hosting and more
Filed under: Audio, Airport, Ask TUAW, MacBook, Snow Leopard
We're back with another edition of Ask TUAW! This time around we've got questions about recording audio, troubleshooting wireless issues, the best place to go for web hosting and more.

As always, your questions and suggestions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X (we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions!

Petre asks:

I just bought a new guitar and I'm thinking about using it to record some of my songs with my new iMac. Any recommendations for a good method of connecting a guitar so I can record?

Fortunately, you're in luck, in that the Mac is made for people trying to do just what you want to do. There are several options to accomplish this and it really just depends on how good you want the audio to sound and what your budget is. To get the best possible quality, you're going to need a few items.

First, you're going to need some recording software. Fortunately, that's already on your iMac as you can use Apple's GarageBand for all your entry-level recording needs. Second, you'll need some sort of digital audio interface that connects your guitar's output to a USB or Firewire interface on your iMac. Some good ones to take a look at include the M-Audio MobilePre, the M-Audio Firewire Solo or the Line 6 Tone Port series. Then, all you need to do is plug your guitar into the converter and the converter into your Mac and you're good to go. Of course, you'll want to be sure and update the driver to the latest version and read the manual to get the most out of your converter.

If you're not as concerned about audio quality, you can also use a converter cable, such as the Monster iStudio Link, to connect your guitar directly to the mic input on your iMac. That will allow you to record directly into your Mac but won't give you the best possible audio quality or level of customization you could get from a digital converter.
Continue reading Ask TUAW: Recording audio, troubleshooting wireless issues, website hosting and more
TUAW Ask TUAW: Recording audio, troubleshooting wireless issues, website hosting and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 20 May 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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RedLaser for iPhone scans for bargains
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, App Review
I wouldn't have thought it was possible to get an iPhone to capture barcodes clearly, but Occipital has done it with a new $1.99US iPhone app called RedLaser [App Store]. Why capture barcodes? One good use is to find better prices for a product. Scan a product in the store, then RedLaser captures the barcode and does a quick Google or Amazon search to give you quick price comparisons.

I tried the app at a bookstore and my local Best Buy and was surprised how well it worked. You need pretty good light to capture a barcode, which is an issue with the iPhone camera, not the RedLaser software. You need to hold the camera steady. The best way is by holding down the button to take the picture, then release when you are steady.

RedLaser gives you the option to try again, and guides you on how far the camera needs to be away from the barcode. Then RedLaser instantly goes out to the internet and gets you the price comparisons.

In practice I had some misses. The camera wasn't at quite the right distance, or I was a bit shaky holding it. In most instances, however, I was able to get the barcode and see the price comparisons I was looking for. It's also important that the camera not be tilted in relation to the barcode. Try to keep everything lined up. And the app will not work at all unless you have an internet connection. It would be nice if it could store the barcodes, then go out and identify them when you have a good signal.

You also get the ability to mail your product list to yourself or a friend to read it on a bigger screen when you get home.

The clever technology in the app is able to sharpen the image a great deal, making the iPhone camera a feasible platform for this app. When you take the picture the barcode will look pretty fuzzy, but after a couple of seconds of processing it looks quite good, which is the magic that RedLaser accomplishes.

I'd expect this will work fine for most people, but there are some negative comments at the iTunes store as well, largely, I suspect, from people who couldn't hold it steady, had bad light, or glare falling across the barcode. When I eliminated those issues, it seemed to work fine.

Note: This app only recognizes US and UK UPC and EAN barcodes. It works works best on standard-sized barcodes, but I had success with some smaller ones as well.

Here's are some screen shots of RedLaser in action:

Gallery: RedLaser
TUAW RedLaser for iPhone scans for bargains originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 May 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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