

JotNot Turns Your iPhone’s Camera Into A Document Scanner - nsillik
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/17/jotnot-turns-your-iphones-camera-into-a-document-scanner/

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wallflower
We used to use Pixid's Whiteboard Photo. Hopefully, JotNot can do something
with our non-digital whiteboards (of which, we still have many).

[http://www.polyvision.com/ProductSolutions/WhiteboardPhotoSo...](http://www.polyvision.com/ProductSolutions/WhiteboardPhotoSoftware/tabid/284/Default.aspx)

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aaronblohowiak
30 seconds processing time _without_ ocr?

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nsillik
30 seconds? Really? I'm surprised. On our development phones it took 10 - 15
seconds.

Although OCR is something we're looking at it on the phone, although you
probably wouldn't be happy with how long you'll have to wait for THAT to
complete.

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aaronblohowiak
From the article you submitted: "The application then takes around thirty
seconds to process the image, correcting for any issues with lighting, color,
and even perspective (if you initially took a photo of your document at an
angle, the final image will look as if it was taken front-on)."

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pclark
let us know how many users you get via the coverage.

Edit: pricey app!

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akeefer
The one sad thing about the app store is that people are now conditioned to
expect that applications that take hundreds or thousands of man-hours to
develop should be available for less than the cost of a cup of coffee . . .
people that would plunk down $6 without thinking for a beer at a bar or a
cheap bottle of wine balk at the prospect of paying $3.99 for a potentially
useful application.

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nsillik
We agree, and we're developing apps for Android as well. Unfortunately it
seems that Google conditioned people for those first few months that ALL apps
should be free. Now when someone charges $.99 they complain endlessly with
comments like: "Great app, but not worth paying for. 1 star."

It's really troubling to see people viewing our (hackers) work this way.

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staunch
I think the problem is uncertainty. I know what I'm going to get when I buy a
beer. When I buy an app I might be spending $4 for something that turns out to
be worth exactly $0 to me. The people reluctant to gamble $4 per hand are
being smart, not cheap. If I could try an app for a week and then pay or lose
it I'd probably by ten times as many apps.

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akeefer
Sure, but people rent movies for $4 without knowing if they'll like it, based
solely on reviews. They buy wine they've never had before for $5 or $10. They
order food for $5 or $10 or $50 from restaurants they've never been to before.
People will even spend $50 or $60 on a game they may or may not like, as long
as it's for their computer or their console and not their iPhone. Life is full
of uncertainty like that, and most of it costs way, way more than any iPhone
applications do.

My point is that people who wouldn't balk at spending that kind of money on
something else that they may or may not like/use will freak out about an
iPhone app that costs that much, and I really don't think there's any rational
reason for it: it has nothing to do with uncertainty or expected value, but
rather people have just been conditioned to expect that apps are free or $0.99
because the app store is flooded with those apps (just like people expect web-
apps to be free just because lots of other web-apps are free), and that's a
shame since it makes it that much harder for all the developers that are
working on making great applications.

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staunch
I do think there's some truth in what you're saying. I also think you're wrong
that iPhone apps are comparable to known quantities like renting movies, food,
or games.

If I rent a big budget movie (which is what most people do rent) I know that
I'm going to get 2 hours of entertainment. I may not love it, but at least I
got 2 hours of entertainment value from it. If I order food I at least get
full. If I buy wine I get buzzed. If I buy a bad iPhone app it might only take
me two minutes to realize I just completely wasted my money it and delete it
(or just never use it).

