Barcode image scan feature down

The barcode image scan is down temporarily. We expect it to be running on monday evening. We were working on a new feature that will allow new titles to be added from your cellphone. Just take a picture of the barcode image from a book, DVD or CD and then send it as a picture message to barcode@email.com. This barcode image decoder should extract the ISBN/UPC from the picture and add the title to your wish list shelf. Unfortunately when we were testing it we found a bug in our decoding engine that caused it to crash frequently. We are in the process of fixing it. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Setting your GuruLib profile private

Based on a request send by a GuruLib user, We have added a new feature that will allow you to set your GuruLib profile private. You need to login to your GuruLib account and then navigate to the settings page to set your GuruLib profile as private.

Add books, DVD, CDs from barcode image

From the day we launched GuruLib in June 2006, we were diligently working on various image processing algorithms for extracting UPC/ISBN code from a barcode image. We have the feature finally working. Below is a test UPC barcode that I captured using my cellphone.

You can upload either individual barcode images in either JPG or GIF format or you could first zip a group of barcode images and then upload the zip file. GuruLib will add the images to the image decoding queue and will start decoding them when the decoding engine becomes available. Since the technology is in its early stages, feel free to leave comments on improving the user experience.

Tip for capturing a good barcode image

1. Make sure there is enough ambient lighting.
2. Make sure the captured image is not blurry.
3. Make sure the lines on the barcode are clearly visible.

My New Office

Since my wife and I are currently homeless we have taken over Kansas City Public Library as our new office.

KCPL is very neat, organized and above all blazing high speed internet. We are not taking any classes for the summer so we have free time to fix bugs in GuruLib. Thank you kansas citians and elected officials for the wonderful use of their tax dollars.  

Improved GuruLib speed

Finally we sat down and figured out the complexities about maintaining indexes using MySQL. GuruLib should be a bit faster now. GuruLib is a continous learning project for us  and we are thoroughly enjoying ever bit of it.

Import feature bug was finally fixed

We finally figured out the problem with the import bug. For some time the import feature was not functioning correctly. The problem was caused by a bug fix applied couple of months ago. We need to find a better way to test GuruLib.

Added URL uploading feature

You can now upload documents or the front cover of books, dvd etc from an URL link. This should help speed up the cataloging of research documents.