Delicious Library Fix for New iMacs, Retail Boxes, and More!

When Apple updated the new iMacs with the Core i5 and i7 processors, it also quietly introduced a change to the built-in iSight camera with a new lens and a different focal length. An improvement to the barcode scanning algorithm for Delicious Library is coming soon that will provide a fix for the new iMacs and promises better accuracy for all other cameras as well. In addition, Delicious Library is coming to retail stores later this year.

I had a quick chat with Wil Shipley, the founder of Delicious Monster, and he shed some light on all of the above.

Barcode Scanning Now 7x Better

Unlike the original external iSight that featured an auto-focus system, the built-in iSight has a fixed focus. The new iMacs have a lens that shifts the fixed focus from 1′ to 2′. While this change is probably better for focusing on your face when videoconferencing, it didn’t work very well for trying to scan a barcode that is a bit small when held 2 feet away or too blurry when held close enough to fill the camera frame.

Wil has spent the last few months working on improvements to the barcode scanning algorithm that improve accuracy up to 7x. The best part is that these improvements are coming in a free update to all Delicious Library 2 customers that will improve barcode recognition on all computers, not just the new iMacs.

The new scanning is up to 700% more sensitive than it was before. It almost beeps before you’re ready. It’s kinda like that old knock, knock joke about the interrupting cow…

Knock Knock
Who’s There?
Interrupting Cow
Interrupting Cow wh… Moo!!!!

I actually have a test harness set up to test so I can measure the exact difference in recognition and it’s working great. I rewrote the DL algorithm from scratch to unblur the image as you move the book around. It just works great.

A beta release for DL2 is coming soon.

Delicious Library Coming to Retail Stores

Wil also shared that Delicious Monster has reached an agreement with Dr. Bott to distribute Delicious Library to retail outlets.

We are finally going to retail boxes and are going to be in stores. I’ve been putting it off for a long time because, you know, I was really firm against it because the retail chain takes so much money out of the product. So it took a while to get here. But now we have an agreement with Dr. Bott and a really beautiful box. We’ve heard stories of people using Delicious Library to sell Macs – come see this, this is cool – and now we can be in the stores.

I’m really proud of the box design itself. I think it’s some of the best work we’ve done yet as far as graphic feel.

Will We See Delicious Library on the iPad?

Delicious Library on the go would be great, but Shipley has run afoul of Amazon’s limitations on using data from the Amazon product info API on a mobile device in the past. The software runs fine in the iPad simulator, but the real question is if Amazon will consider the iPad to be a mobile device in the same class as a smartphone. Wil also has some frustrations about the lack of a MobileMe syncing framework for the iPhone when it exists on the Mac desktop and the lack of a public USB syncing framework for hybrid desktop/iPhone apps.

While we might not see Delicious Library for iPad, Wil did let out that he is excited about the possibilities of the new device and has a project in mind.

I’m still in the planning stages for our next program, well this idea has been gestating for five years now. I don’t have code yet so any release is 1 or 2 years out, but I think this idea could be even bigger than Delicious Library.

Personally, I can’t wait to see it.

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