Announcing RedLaser 2.5
About 72 hours ago, the RedLaser 2.5 update was published to the App Store. It was a soft-launch with our new partner, TheFind, which is the fastest growing search engine for shopping in the US with over 400 million products in its search index. In the 2.5 release we also improved our scanning speed (6% faster), and made a handful of interface improvements.
Behind the scenes, we were racing to get the technology ready for Black Friday, and in our rush, we made a mistake. In the US (and initially in the UK, too), we completely replaced Google Product Search with TheFind. We were overconfident in the volume of search results that would be immediately available from TheFind alone. Over the last 72 hours, based on your feedback, we and TheFind realized that this wasn’t the right decision for RedLaser users. In response, effective immediately, as of this posting, we have re-enabled Google Product Search results and are now providing them along with TheFind’s Product Search results. This means that in almost every case, we will have substantially better search results in version 2.5 than in the last version, 2.2.
The only case where RedLaser will now display fewer results is for some products on Amazon.com. The reason is that Amazon has a policy that prohibits querying their API from mobile applications unless they give explicit written permission. We asked for permission a few months ago, and were told “No.” We then tried a number of work-arounds and unfortunately, Amazon asked us to remove them as well. Despite the limitation, in some cases Google and TheFind may be able to provide Amazon results and will include them when possible.
Meanwhile, we knew it would be extremely frustrating to users if we removed Amazon with nothing in its place. So we began working on a partnership with TheFind. TheFind, we soon found out, has an incredible product search engine that is comparable to Google. They include products from over 500,000 stores and online sellers, a number that continues to grow. By featuring results from TheFind, we can now show local results for many products, a request of many RedLaser users. They also have coupons, reviews, local addresses, and comprehensive store information, which we can’t wait to start tapping into. Previously, with Google as our primary search provider, we were limited in how we could improve RedLaser. Occipital is first and foremost a mobile computer vision company. (That means we’re rocket scientists when it comes to image processing, but not when it comes to crawling the Internet for products.) Despite a lot of great ideas, we didn’t have the resources to focus on both computer vision and better results. With TheFind, we now have a partner committed to helping Occipital improve mobile product search relevance, the accuracy of barcode data, as well as providing information never before available in RedLaser, starting with local results (They’re rocket scientists when it comes to shopping.)
We’re confident that our partnership with TheFind is going to be a great one ― one that is focused on creating the best user experience possible and eventually paving the way for a new kind of shopping. Occipital will continue to build the best vision-based technology to power RedLaser’s barcode scanner (and barcode scanning is just the tip of the iceberg), while TheFind will innovate new ways to provide you great shopping search results. We stumbled a little with our rushed launch, but we’re back on track, and we hope that RedLaser will always be your trusted companion for mobile product search.
Keep the feedback coming. We’re listening and improving.
Thank you for using RedLaser.
Additional Release Notes:
- TheFind and Google Product search are now enabled for the US and UK. Google Product Search also supports searching for results in Euros, so RedLaser can be used today with Google Product Search in Europe. In other vicinities, we currently cannot surface listings. Let us know if you have data sources we should look into, and if you have one that can already be searched via barcode, check out RedLaser custom apps.
- Custom Apps improved: As in 2.2, you can create a RedLaser custom app that searches just about any website with barcode, and in 2.5, we’ve improved the launch screen to make it seamless, and added a built-in browser so you don’t have to redirect back to Mobile Safari after you’ve scanned in your custom app ( use “noexit=YES” ). We’ll keep improving Custom Apps so that RedLaser is even more useful in areas where our coverage is poor.
Stephen – step by step instructions for general sites are at http://redlaser.com/apps — or just click here: http://j.mp/87Zy6R – hope this helps!
occipital
2 Dec 09 at 3:16 am
Here's a better link which hits the mobile site. http://j.mp/7Pr11U
We have also just enabled the new Custom Apps features in RedLaser 2.5, so you will get results in an embedded browser rather than a Safari redirect (so it's faster).
occipital
2 Dec 09 at 4:20 am
Give this a try in the meantime. http://j.mp/6164fA Hope this helps!
occipital
2 Dec 09 at 4:20 am
I type the http://j.mp/6164fA on the iPhone and i can't press anything – no link whatsoever!
Geoff Lowe
2 Dec 09 at 4:41 pm
I sent Amazon the following email as feedback on their iPhone app:
feedback-amazon-app-iphone@amazon.com
The combination of the Amazon iPhone app and RedLaser was great. Now that RedLaser has been updated to exclude Amazon at your insistance, you have 'shot yourself in the foot'. Being an Amazon Prime user, I have been buying more stuff from Amazon after using RedLaser and was rather hoping for more integration between RedLaser and the Amazon iPhone app rather than what has now happened. It's a real shame, I'll certainly keep using RedLaser and as a result of Amazon not being included in the results be buying less from you. I do think you should reconsider your policy, it seems very short sighted.
In the meantime, the Custom App certainly helps.
Igor Andronov
2 Dec 09 at 11:34 am
Mine does not return anything anymore. The scanner works and it returns the correct barcode, but nothing shows up. So it went from bad (No more Google/Amazon), to worse. (not returning anything).
Please bring back version 2.2!!!!!
Paul Piro
3 Dec 09 at 2:49 pm
Hi Paul, which country are you using RedLaser in (US/UK/?). Also, can you send us a list of the barcodes that didn't return results to info@occipital.com (you can use the email list features)? It can help us see what's going on. You should be seeing results from TheFind and Google in most cases.
Vikas Reddy
3 Dec 09 at 9:46 pm
Have you actually been *reading* the customer reviews in the App Store? The 2.5.0 revision is being *trashed*.
I haven't purchased RedLaser yet and at this point I probably won't because of those negative reviews. Do you plan to address the recent complaints?
Rick
4 Dec 09 at 4:12 pm
Hi Rick – We're definitely concerned about the perception that is coming in from all of those old 1-star reviews on iTunes. The truth is, most of our the reviews are actually extremely positive, and if you view the "Recent reviews," from the past few days, you will see almost all 4/5-star ratings. The problem is that iTunes on a PC/Mac shows the reviews that users click "Helpful" on — and all of those are from back on the 26th when we first launched the update. The comments claim that we "Sold out" and "removed Google" — of course, we've reinstated Google and didn't sell out, but users keep clicking "Helpful" because they don't know any better! We could really use your help to vote *down* the outdated comments that we removed Google! At a minimum, please check out the Most Recent comments to get a better story for how people feel about 2.5.0 now that we've improved it.
Jeffrey Powers
4 Dec 09 at 6:33 pm
For the most part, it comes from TheFind and Google Product Search!
Jeffrey Powers
5 Dec 09 at 9:52 am
Igor – thank you for reaching out to Amazon. Please let us know if you hear anything from them.
Jeffrey Powers
5 Dec 09 at 9:53 am
Can Occipital add a seperate app of Redlaser 2.2 so those who have downloaded the update and reget it (like me) can revert back to the one we paid for in the first place. I would not have purchased it if Amazon was not included, I'm sure it wouldn't have had such a high star rating if that was the case.
Peter Goldman
5 Dec 09 at 12:16 pm
I have tried this and it doesn't come up with any results, but does work fine using redlaser (excluding the missing Amazon)
Pete
5 Dec 09 at 12:27 pm
Amazon's position makes no sense. I have already walked out of Walmart several times and went home and ordered something from Amazon.com because the Red Laser showed me that Amazon had a better price. Have yet to have the opposite happen. Essentially rendered the App useless to me…..
doverbey
5 Dec 09 at 10:45 pm
What are the chances of being able to see the prices in SEK? I really like the app but its useless in sweden. It can not find anything and even if it does its always through google and you simply cant buy the staff from them. How about http://www.prisjakt.nu Its best electronic search engine for Scandinavian countries. I tried to mke it work through custom app but it refuses to work. Could you look into that??
Peter
6 Dec 09 at 2:08 pm
Hey Peter – If we can find a good source for SEK prices, perhaps Prisjakt, it would be straightforward to add that currency to one of our next updates. We would love to support more areas, we just don't have enough hours in the day yet. I did look into the Custom App for Prisjakt. I was able to create one, http://j.mp/PrisjaktApp — which very nearly works. However, Prisjakt's search system seems to have a bug. If you type 885909236688 — Prisjakt shows results as you type, and it locates that item. If you type it all into the search box and press Enter, though, nothing comes up! That's why even if you scan that UPC: http://www.upcdatabase.com/itemnotfound.asp?upc=0... and launch the Prisjakt Custom App, you don't see anything. I'll try to email Prisjakt and ask them about this. Hope this helps.
Jeffrey Powers
6 Dec 09 at 6:14 pm
It makes some sense. Amazon wants to be a key player in the mobile device space. The Kindle is just the first example. Having exclusive access to their product database would make their mobile devices much more valuable to potential customers.
makes sense to me
7 Dec 09 at 9:56 am
It hardly works at all on anything in the UK, and when it does which is about 5% of the time it only links you to items for sale on US websites. The local search appears to do nothing
it should be made very clear immediately that this product is useless for UK users (but that would of course stop you being able to cream the £1.19 from every unsuspecting soul)
If you've removed Amazon then why is it mentioned in the 'help' video within 2.5?………….. best app ever is now a waste of space on my iPhone
Mugged
9 Dec 09 at 9:37 pm
Mugged – If you're seeing US stores, this seems like a likely configuration problem. Are you seeing prices in USD? If so, go to your home screen, then Settings, then scroll down to RedLaser and switch the Currency to GBP.
If you're seeing USD prices, but US stores, then go to Settings again, select General, then International, and check your Region Format and make sure it's set to United Kingdom.
Please email info@occipital.com so we can assist you directly.
Jeffrey Powers
9 Dec 09 at 10:46 pm
It hardly works at all on anything in the UK, and when it does which is about 5% of the time it only links you to items for sale on US websites. The local search appears to do nothing
it should be made very clear immediately that this product is useless for UK users (but that would of course stop you being able to cream the £1.19 from every unsuspecting soul)
If you've removed Amazon then why is it mentioned in the 'help' video within 2.5?………….. best app ever is now a waste of space on my iPhone
Mugged
9 Dec 09 at 9:37 pm
Sry for being Off-Topic – what wordpress template do you use? It looks great!
WapIdeamegess
11 Dec 09 at 3:01 pm
Sorry for using here, but I sent emails to info@occipital.com, yet couldn't get a reply. How can i contact you? Thank you in advance. Good work!
Taner Sahin
11 Dec 09 at 4:18 pm
well done tnx
john468
29 Dec 09 at 11:28 am
I was wondering what happened to Amazon. Does the Amazon provided app have an API so that you can launch the Amazon app after selecting a product in Redlaser? This could provide a workaround if Amazon's own app can be launched from within Redlaser.
scorpionleather
29 Dec 09 at 7:07 pm
I just gave Redlaser a quick try at Dublin Airport and recorded it here http://bit.ly/4ODTls. Sure, it's still mostly geared to American users but this is bound to take off in Europe in 2010. And if it does, I'm certain Amazon will come back with a vengeance
Ole Kassow
30 Dec 09 at 8:10 pm
I would LOVE it if you could work with the folks who make the "Is That Gluten Free" app so that I could just scan any food and know if it's gluten free. I paid $6 for their app and $2 for yours. I'd happily pay $20 (or a $million) for one that combines the two.
kevin
5 Jan 10 at 8:59 pm
Great app, but buying it in the Canada app store I kind of assumed it would support Canada in some way. It does not seem to. Will it?
Michael Willems
10 Jan 10 at 2:54 pm
I sent Amazon an email similar to Igor Andronov and got the following response. As expected, it was mostly corporate platitudes.
=============================
Thank you for your comments about using Amazon Anywhere with your mobile device. In addition to our large selection, one of the benefits we try very hard to offer our customers is convenience.
We'll consider your feedback as we plan further improvements. Customer feedback like yours really helps us continue to improve our web site as it appears on mobile phones and provide better service to our customers.
Thanks for taking time to offer us your thoughts regarding the RedLaser app.
We hope to see you again soon!
Scott Dubya
26 Jan 10 at 11:00 pm
Was able to scan but cannot find, please replace thefind service
other
29 Jan 10 at 8:08 am
My email to Amazon:
——–
What in the world could possibly make you want to cut off free purchasing leads like you get from Red Laser???
I am an Amazon Prime user and buy a ton of stuff from Amazon. I was looking forward to being able to easily buy more through Red Laser, but it now looks like those purchases will be directed elsewhere.
I can't imaging a more brain-dead corporate decision…
Burt
6 Feb 10 at 6:11 am
User feedback with google mapping would've been great. Say I scan an item. Save the item so that at any time after it's been scanned, I can go back and 1) indicate where I purchased the item and 2) indicate the price of the item, so that when users search for that like item, they can see that other users PAID $x.xx for that item.
Rriv300104
4 Apr 10 at 11:23 pm
This is great, I only wish that they would allow us to do a multiple scan and still use amazon. I buy so much stuff from Amazon.
neilmcat
12 Apr 10 at 2:35 am
realy nice app it looks like wonderful.How can I use it?
kampanyalar
30 May 10 at 6:10 pm
When will this be available on windows mobile??? Please email me at http://www.123surfwithme.co.uk
When it is!
stewartie4
15 Jun 10 at 10:42 pm
How about http://www.prisjakt.nu Its best
cau
28 Aug 10 at 9:52 am