Bitcoin Forum

Ok, I have an idea that I figured I would throw out here to see if it would pass muster.

tl;dr  Create an Android app that scans barcodes at stores and allows you to buy instantly in bitcoins and have the products delivered.



Basically I would have a simple website, for merchants and as a gateway for Android users. On the merchant side I would have a list of barcodes scanned by users and have a list of what items are popular along with data on how much money someone could make by selling them. Make it as easy as possible for a newb with a garage to see that he could make X amount of bitcoins selling X widget.

On the consumer side you can go into a store, say you are doing your Christmas shopping, you see an item you like, you scan the barcode and either enter the store price for comparison or not. It would have the item name, a rating for the seller, a sliding bar for price based on how many days you are willing to wait to receive the item, and a "Buy" or "Don't Buy" option at the bottom. If you buy, the item is added to your bit-pay cart. You can then go throughout the store adding more items to your BTC cart until you have everything you need, then you just checkout and send in your payment. Walk out of the store with no bags and your shopping done.

Ideally, on the merchant side, if this were to take off you would have small start-ups all over the country selling goods for bitcoins which would then turn into huge warehouses of goods to the point where Walmart will start losing market share to people just coming in to scan products for their bitcoin purchases.

Ideally, on the consumer side, you would be able to get all of the items you want at a store at a lower price with the ability to pay in bitcoins. With the convenience of having it all delivered to you at your front door.

Thoughts? Ideas?

I could probably code up a basic prototype.

Any input?

Should I go forward with this or is it a horrible idea?

Is there a google search for barcodes?

I heard you could point your phone's camera at stuff and they would do image-recognition on it.

If so maybe their imae recognition could recognise barcodes so they could froogle the product for you and show you on google maps the nearest place that has it. Oh wait, you are at that moment probably looking right at the nearest instance of that very product, or at least your camera is.

Seems likely google, possibly with the connivance or co-operation of walmart, might be able to beat you at this game...

-MarkM- (At least once they complete bitcoinjs. Meanwhile maybe re-search, adding the keyword "bitcoin"?)

TL;DR make an android app that image-searches "froogle bitcoin [barcode]" ?

i'm also searching a barcode reader app (http://www.keepautomation.com/products/net_barcode_reader/) for my phone ,but i 'm also wondering does it can scan all types of barcodes such as qr code,pdf-417 ,code 39 ,code 128,upc,ean-13 (http://www.keepautomation.com/products/net_barcode_reader/barcode_ean13.html) etc?

First of all, nice necro ;)

Second, there are a lot of apps out there that scan barcodes.
Some of them also already compare prices.
So, what exactly is it you're looking for?

From your (hidden) link it seems you're actually looking for an API or library, so you might want to have a look at
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/ (http://code.google.com/p/zxing/)

So you want to use a barcode reader to read rich barcode types, not a particular one. This is possible. But you must choose a barcode reader which has this functionality. Some barcode readers only support one barcode type.  I added one third party barcode reader app in my phone. It supports to read over 20 linear and 2D barcode types. I found it on google. So I suggest you make a google search. You can get more.

but till now , i haven't found one that i wanted  for the multifunctional barcode reader (http://www.keepautomation.com/guide/dotnet_barcode_reader.html) !!!

Hi, cindy313.
How could it happen? Have youever google it and select a suitable barcode scanner (http://www.yiigo.com/guides/csharp/how-to-read-barcode.shtml)? Most of them offere free trial packages for users to check. You can try the free trial package first and then make your decision. I hope you success. Good luck.



Best regards,
Arron

You can directly search Zxing barcode scanner (http://www.keepdynamic.com/java-barcode-reader/). I'm using it now and I think it's good, especially for java.