scanR is back

Resume scanning...

Maintenance today

scanR will be unavailable on March 21, 2008 from 9:00 AM Pacific Time until approximately 6:00 PM Pacific Time.  We are performing routine maintenance and preparing to upgrade the service with some great new capabilities.

scanR mobile for Java update

scanR just released an updated version of it's Java software for mobile phones.  It supports even more phones and mobile carriers.  There are also several improvements including faster uploads.  If you've tried it in the past or have an older version, browse to m.scanr.com/download on your phone to download the latest.

scanR mobile is the fastest, easiest way to capture and upload to scanR.  It is available for many modern camera phones including those from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung, LG, HTC and Palm.

Newsweek

Newsweek wrote a nice story about scanR in the current issue.  It includes a quote from a scanR user, Rick Georges, who said when he first tried scanR to capture magazine articles, "Wow. This is the future."

Read the full article on Newsweek.com

scanR on Sprint in the United States

Have a Sprint phone? Now you can download scanR Mobile for your phone.  It is the quickest, easiest way to upload photos from Sprint phones to scanR. 

With scanR Mobile, you can save and share paper documents in a couple of clicks.  Just open scanR Mobile, select your photo and send. You'll have a clean digital copy, sent to any email address or fax machine in seconds.  scanR Mobile also opens your phone's browser to the scanR website, where you can view and share scans while on the go.

scanR Mobile works with many Sprint phones with at least 1 megapixel cameras.  All phones will scan notes and whiteboards.  If you have a Sanyo M1, Samsung A940 or Samsung A800, you can also fax documents and convert business cards into electronic contacts.

scanR is available for $2.99 monthly for unlimited use.  Get it on your Sprint phone from the Application download catalog in the Reference and Education section.

Crisp and clean document scanning

We updated several things last night, including the mobile and computer websites, but the biggest change was to the scanR Documents processing.  Now, if you send a high resolution photo to doc@scanR.com, you'll get a much better looking copy in PDF.  Try it and you'll find that we preserve the photos and graphics on the page and render fonts more accurately.  The end result is that your documents will look more like the originals than they did in the past.

Using our favorite example, you can see that difference that preserving the photos provides. 

A photo within the document processed now

 

A photo within the document processed before

 

Also, you'll see greater detail in the way fonts are displayed.  Again, on the same document, you can really see the difference in the quality of the text.

Text processed now (zoomed)

Text processed before (zoomed)

 

To try it yourself, just send a 3 megapixel or better photo of a document to doc@scanR.com.

scanR Mobile for Java updated

scanR released scanR Mobile for Java v1.1 today! To download it, go to m.scanR.com on your phone.

The mobile team made some great improvements, including zooming, uploads, page order, and links to the scanR mobile website.  Not only is it better, but it also works on more phones. 

Zoom.  Now you can zoom into your photos to make sure you have the right ones. Press * on your keypad to zoom into any photo.

Page order.  scanR will create multipage documents in the order you select the photos for upload to scanR.  Press 1, 2 or 3 to select a whiteboard, document or business card.

Link to m.scanR.com. After you upload, you can automatically open your browser and sign-in to m.scanR.com to view and share your scans.

 

Uploads are more resilient to slow and poor connections.  If an upload fails, it is saved and the application will try to upload your photos next time you use it. 

Finally, scanR Mobile for Java works with many more phones.  If it didn't work in the past for you, try it again.  You'll need a phone that supports JSR-75 file access.  Most do, though your carrier may restrict access to it. If you have trouble, tell us at help@scanR.com.

scanR on Nokia UK - All Smiles

scanR is now preloaded on Nokia phones in the UK!  To get it, open the Nokia Content Discoverer and download scanR.  scanR is available for a 14-day free trial and then 1.50 GBP per month for unlimited scans, copies and faxes anywhere in the world.

Vote for scanR

scanR was selected as a Finalist in the Webware 100!  The Webware 100 is an award for the 100 best web services, chosen by people that use them.

Help by voting for scanR as the best mobile application.

We're up against Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, so vote for scanR and email this to your friends.

Thanks!

NEW! Mobile My Scans

Now you can search, download and share your documents from your mobile phone, anywhere in the world.  scanR just introduced Mobile My Scans, a mobile version of the scanR website. 

To use it, just go to http://m.scanR.com on your mobile phone.  Click on "Sign-in to your account" and enter your email address and password.  scanR will remember your information on most phones, so you should only have to Sign-in once.

Next, you'll see all of your scans.  Here you can search or browse for your scans. Click on a scan to see the details.

On the detailed screen, you can see a larger view, download the PDF if you phone supports it, or send the scan to an email address or fax number.

In the send to email or fax screen, you can enter an email address or a fax number.  Be sure to use the international phone number format including the country code.

While we upgrade your account, it may take up to a week for your old scans to show up in your Mobile My Scans but anything new will be there now.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

scanR closes $8 million Series B

scanR, Inc. today announced that it has raised an additional $8 million (¥960 million) investment to fund its global expansion.  scanR (www.scanR.com) is the first service that enables camera phones and digital cameras to scan, copy and fax.  The service converts documents, whiteboards and business cards into PDF files, electronic contacts or faxes.  The investment was led by JAIC (Japan Asia Investment Co., Ltd.), a leading Japanese venture capital firm, with participation from Adobe Systems Incorporated and existing investors, including Trinity Ventures, Thomvest International and True Ventures.

scanR will use the funding to grow its presence in new markets, including establishing an office and hiring employees in Japan, and to expand product development.

“With its broad appeal around the world and its leadership in the Japanese market, scanR is an ideal investment where we can add strategic value and local market knowledge in addition to growth capital,” said Moriyoshi Matsumoto, President and CEO of JAIC America, Inc, a subsidiary of JAIC, Ltd.

Since its introduction in Japan in early February, scanR has seen significant growth and usage from Japanese consumers and businesses.  In only two months, scanR has more traffic from Japan than any other country except for the United States.  Adoption is strong, with more than twice as much use from Japanese users as those from other countries. 

“The need to create and manage digital documents is universal, and there is an ever-increasing need to extend these capabilities to mobile devices.  We are pleased to be working with scanR as they lead the way in providing mobile scanning services around the world,” said John Leckrone, Director of Venture Development for Adobe.

Over the next year, scanR plans to incorporate Adobe technologies into its award-winning mobile scanning service.   

“JAIC and Adobe are crucial partners in helping scanR achieve its goal of bringing mobility to the scanner, copier and fax,” said Rudy Ruano, CEO of scanR. “With over 1 billion 2 megapixel and higher camera phones shipped by 2008, scanR is poised to fundamentally change this existing $35 billion market.”

...and we're back

scanR is fully operational.  Thanks to our crack operations and development teams, the upgrade completed ahead of schedule and without a hitch.  Well, at least we think so.  If you notice a problem, please let us know.

scanR downtime tonight

scanR is upgrading its data center to support its increasing growth! We are adding capacity and improving performance. The service will be unavailable from 12:00am Saturday April 21 Pacific Time until 8:00am Saturday April 21 Pacific Time while we complete this upgrade.

As you know, scanR has a strong record of reliability and uptime, and this upgrade will enable us to continue to provide the service you expect.  We are sorry to cause this inconvenience but scanR will come back bigger and stronger.

scanR China!

scanR is now available in Chinese!  Just click on the links on the bottom of any page at scanR.com to select your language or go to scanR in Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese now. 

Document scanning and search works in Chinese too!  scanR will extract any Chinese characters in documents you send to doc@scanR.com and enable to you search for them later on scanR.com or in the PDF files you receive from scanR.  To use Chinese as your language for searching, you need to sign-up on the Chinese website, or upload your photos from a China Mobile or China Unicom phone.

scanR中文版正式面世！只需点击scanR网站底部的链接，相应地选择简体中文或繁体中文版。

中文版的文件扫描和搜索功能也可开始使用了。scanR可以把您发送至 doc@scanr.com 的文件中的中文字加以识别，以便您将来在scanR.com网站中，或者对电脑中PDF文件进行搜索查找。现在，您只需在scanR中文网站注册用户，或者使用中国移动、中国联通的手机上传图片，即可启用中文扫描和搜索。

scanR on your phone

scanR for Mobile is available for Windows Mobile 5, Palm OS, Symbian, and now Java! It's the easiest way to capture and upload your photos to scanR. Here are some screenshots of the newest Java version:

You can download scanR for your phone by going to scanR.com on your phone's browser.

Media coverage in Japan

scanR had great response to the launch of scanR Japan. Here are some highlights:

K-tai Watch
atmark IT Online
IT Media Enterprise
Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun
Excite
Slashdot

Things are happening at scanR

A lot is happening at scanR.  We’ve launched new services, languages, operators and won a few awards along the way.  Here are some highlights from the latest few months:

• scanR Business Cards is the world’s most accurate business card reader for North American cards.
• scanR Documents supports free international fax to Asia, North and South America, and Western Europe.
• scanR is available in Japanese, including auto-tagging, search, and fax, at www.scanR.jp.  Business cards are coming soon.
• Nextel and Boost Mobile are the first operators to offer scanR for download from their phones.  Pricing starts at $2.99 monthly.
• BusinessWeek gave scanR a Reader’s Choice Best of the Web 2006 award!
• scanR now has users in over 150 countries and our users cross nearly all categories, from students to consultants to drivers.

There’s quite a bit more happening behind the scenes, so check http://blog.scanR.com regularly for the latest news.  Thanks for your interest in scanR.

--the scanR team

scanR on Nextel

scanR is now available on Nextel.  Download scanR to your Nextel phone for the easiest, fastest way to scan notes and whiteboards.  Now you can use scanR by sending Multimedia Messages from Nextel or using our new software.

scanR Notes and Whiteboards for Nextel is available for $2.99 monthly or $19.99 unlimited.  You can download it from your phone or the Nextel Digital Lounge online.

scanR at CommunityNext

CommunityNext is a conference happening on February 10 about building successful online communities.  There will some great speakers from hi5, Slide, loopt and others. 

scanR will be there to demonstrate and give away a free camera phone.  If you're there, stop by and say hi.

scanR on Boost Mobile

Where you at?  Well, scanR is now at Boost Mobile.  You can download scanR from Boost LIVE.

scanR update - Jan 2007

We made a few updates for the New Year!

Account settings.  Heavy scanR users can fill up their email inboxes quickly with scanR.  Now you can turn off email delivery and just store your scans online. Go to scanR.com, click Settings and look under Privacy Options.  Click on Edit after email delivery to turn it off.  You can also change your email delivery address if you'd rather receive your scans at a different email address.
My Scans design.  There are larger images, easier downloads and improved navigation in the results pages.
International fax.  scanR now supports fax to most phone numbers in East Asia, North America and Western Europe. 

Enjoy :)

PS3 winner announced

Klaus B. from Ottobrunn, Germany won the Sony Playstation 3 from scanR.  We received entries from 23+ mobile operators around the world and successfully completed the test.  Watch for expanded support for your mobile operator soon. 

Thanks for the help!

Help test scanR and win a Sony PS3

We're giving away a Sony Playstation 3 to some lucky person that helps us test scanR with European and Asian mobile operators.  To help us and enter the contest, read the instructions on the scanR wiki: www.checkmycameraphone.com.

If you do enter, check back often as the contest will remain open until we receive entries from every mobile operator listed on the wiki.

Winner - Under the Radar | Mobility!

scanR won the Audience Choice for Best Mobile Imaging application at the Under The Radar conference yesterday.  The event had great attendance from leaders in the mobile ecosystem.  Thanks to the IBD Network for inviting scanR and organizing a successful event.

scanR - just got better

We made some updates to scanR.  Here are the highlights:

More international carriers.  scanR now has international text messaging, which enables scanR to send text messages to many carriers around the world that couldn't be reached in the past.  If you tried to sign-up for scanR and didn't receive an activation code, please try again.

Delete and export. You can now delete and export individual scans.  Just go to My Scans, click on an image and click the delete button.  That scan will be permanently deleted.

Share business cards.  To share a business card, just add another email address to the subject or body of the picture message you send to scanR.  scanR will send a copy of the business card to that email address.

Google widget. The Google widget now supports business cards.

scanR Contest :: Win a free phone!

Send us a story about how you use scanR and you can win a free phone!  Just tell us how you use scanR now and what you used to do before you found scanR. Send your story to contest@scanR.com. 

scanR is giving away 1 phone a week and the winner can choose from any of these Windows Mobile smartphones:

• Cingular 8125
• Qtek 9100
• T-Mobile MDA Pro
• T-Mobile MDA
• O2 XDA Atom
• Sprint PPC-6700

These phones are lightly used by our crack QA team to test the scanR service. We'll select the first winner on Friday.

Note: scanR may choose to publish any stories submitted in this contest.  Your first name and last initial may be included.  We of course will never spam you or sell your email address.

scanR release

Last week we focused on the announcment of scanR Business Cards, but also we made some other updates. 

• Search. You can now search your scans on scanR.com.  scanR will find printed text in the photos you scan, so you can search for them.  Just add My Scans in your scanR Settings and you will be able to search the next photos you send to scanR.
• Better whiteboards.  We've enhanced color, skew and cropping.  You should see colors that are closer to whiteboard pen colors, and more of your images will be aligned and cropped correctly.  Also, occasionally scanR would change the whiteboard's aspect ratio, but no more.  If you tried whiteboards with a digital camera before and didn't like it, now's the time to try again.

Any other suggestions? Send them to help@scanR.com.

BusinessWeek Best of Web 2006

We won! scanR was selected as Readers Choice Best of the Web 2006.  scanR won in the collaboration category along with JotSpot, SocialText and 37signal's Basecamp.  See the results here.

Thanks for voting for us!

scanR on stage at DEMOfall

We presented in front of 700 people at DEMOfall '06 yesterday.  Take a look at the video:

http://www.demo.com/demonstrators/demo2006fall/79929.php

DEMOfall '06

scanR was selected to present at DEMOfall! In 10 days, we'll make some huge announcements and release an amazing update to the scanR service.

scanR - New & Improved

scanR just got better. It has been a while since our last update, but this is a good one.  Here are some of the highlights:

• My Scans website. You can now choose to save, search and share your scans online.  You can also download original and scanned photos, in addition to PDFs.
• Whiteboards and Documents enhancements. Whiteboard scanning has improved color and fewer cropping errors, and multiple-page document scans are now always in the correct order.
• Image quality feedback. A much more reliable image quality measurement identifies photos that will not scan well.
• Better subjects in email results. Any words you include in emails or picture messages you sent to scanR will be tagged and included in the subject of the email results you receive from scanR.

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Photojojo

We've been reading Photojojo for a while.  It's a site that finds things that are fun and interesting to do with photography.  Well, they just found scanR:

http://www.photojojo.com/content/websites/use-your-cellphone-to-scan-and-fax/

(Sorry for the downtime Photojojo!)

The winner

David from London (UK) won the scanR survey drawing! He said, "Congratulations on a truly innovative and excellent product."  Many thanks to David and all of the survey participants. 

Here are some random tidbits from the survey of scanR users:

• the most active person scanned over 200 photos in a month
• the most often scanned document is a meeting agenda
• scanR users are in over 100 countries

Vote for scanR

BusinessWeek is looking for the best applications on the Web.  Help us out and vote for scanR by clicking on this link and entering scanR in the box on the bottom:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/bestof2006/bow/collaboration.htm

Thanks!

Interview with Brandon Watts

Here's an interview I did with Brandon Watts: Download the MP3 or subscribe to our feed.  We discuss how scanR was created and what's coming next.

Yahoo ZoneTag

Yahoo has just released an update to its ZoneTag photo uploader that allows you to send photos from your Flickr account to scanR.  The new feature is called ActionTag.

The scanR ActionTag allows you to select a photo on Flickr and have it processed by scanR Whiteboards or scanR Documents.  You just tag the photo with the scanR ActionTag and get the result in your email.

Yahoo ZoneTag works with Symbian Series 60 phones such as the Nokia 6682 from Cingular.  Check it out!

scanR is hiring

scanR is seeking a Director of Product Management.  You will be responsible for the scanR products throughout their development cycles, including defining product vision, gathering product requirements, testing design concepts, and working closely with engineering to implement and iterate.  We're looking for someone is passionate about creating great products, is happy to roll up their sleeves, enjoys working under pressure to tight deadlines, and has a high tolerance for ambiguity and change. 

Requirements:

Product management experience with Internet services.

Demonstrated experience in gathering and communicating design requirements.

Demonstrated ability to work with a team to rapidly prototype, test and iterate.

Entrepreneurial experience and familiarity with business issues.

Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Quantitative analytical abilities.

Strong organizational skills.

Degree in a CS field is a plus.

The position is located in Palo Alto, California. Interested? jobs@scanR.com

scanR at Gnomedex

scanR is at Gnomedex demonstrating our services, including the Business Card beta. If you're there and interested, contact Brandon Watts, who is walking around in a black scanR shirt.  He has some shirts to give away too!

scanR is hiring!

If you're interested in these positions, send a resume to jobs@scanR.com.

Position: Mobile Development Manager
Location: Palo Alto or Toronto

Do you thrive building mobile applications across a variety of handsets? As a Mobile Development Manager you will manage and develop mobile applications targeting phones and carriers from around the globe.

Requirements
- 6+ years experience building mobile applications across a variety of handsets
- Up to 1 year experience managing developers, contractors and partners
- Strong familiarity with various handset platforms including Java and Brew. Symbian and Windows Mobile 5 a plus
- Familiarity with camera support on handsets a plus
- Strong communication skills and work well in a team environment
- Thrive in a dynamic, fast paced, start-up environment
- Not afraid to get hands dirty and code
- Produce and value high quality, maintainable code
- Bachelors of Computer Science or relevant experience

This position can either be in our downtown Toronto, Ontario or Palo Alto, California office.  Please clearly indicate your preference in your application.  Candidates applying for a position in Toronto must be legally eligible to work in Canada.  Similarly, candidates applying for a position in Palo Alto must be legally eligible to work in the USA.

Position: Search Engineer
Location: Toronto or Palo Alto

Can you engineer search systems that find the textual pin in the document haystack? As a search engineer you will design, build and deliver key contextual searching applications to the online and mobile communities.

Requirements
- Strong familiarity with techniques for text-based pattern recognition
- Strong familiarity with techniques for fuzzy searching
- Experience building scaleable search engines
- Strong communication skills and work well in a team environment
- Produce and value high quality, maintainable code
- Thrive in a dynamic, fast paced, start-up environment
- Masters or PhD in Computer Science or Mathematics from top university, or Bachelors with significant relevant experience

This position can either be in our downtown Toronto, Ontario or Palo Alto, California office.  Please clearly indicate your preference in your application.  Candidates applying for a position in Toronto must be legally eligible to work in Canada.  Similarly, candidates applying for a position in Palo Alto must be legally eligible to work in the USA.

Position: Interaction Designer
Location: Palo Alto

You're a critical thinker with a good design sense, a strong technical background, and burning desire to create successful web and mobile applications. In this position you are expected to working closely with engineers, visual designers, and product managers to define the user experience, lead user centered design processes, design compelling web and mobile experiences, create prototypes, and author detailed interaction specifications.

Responsibilities
- Identify UI requirements, define project approach and the user experience for web and mobile applications
- Create the user interaction model, workflows, information architecture, schematics, prototypes and interface specifications
- Design and conduct usability studies and translate the findings
- Collaborate with product teams to champion and refine the user experience
- Work with web developers and engineers to deliver the final products
- Facilitate project communication across a multidisciplinary team throughout all phases of the project

Requirements
- Solid academic background in human-computer interaction or related field (BS in Computer Science or related field a plus)
- Must have demonstrated strong interaction design skills in designing web interfaces and have a solid understanding of user centered design principles
- Able to develop new approaches to complex design problems and can convey ideas into tangible form through prototypes, storyboards or mockups
- Must communicate clearly and effectively, have strong analytical skills; have excellent interpersonal skills; able to collaborate actively with others in a cross-functional team
- Able to act independently and work well under pressure in a startup environment

CNET review

Check out scanR makes your camera phone useful at CNET.

10x growth and no downtime

Over the past week, scanR's usage has increased by more than 10x prior levels!

Many new web applications have experienced difficulties when their usage rapidly expands, but we have been fortunate to maintain the service during this period.  scanR's workflow-based message system was built to manage rapid scaling and delivered.  Any internal hiccups or usage spikes were handled without losing scans or producing long delays.

If you've experienced problems, let us know at help@scanR.com.

Techcrunch'd

TechCrunch posted a summary of the MobileCrunch review.  A couple of items to note:

• scanR requires 1 megapixel cameras for whiteboard scanning and 2 megapixel cameras for document scanning.
• Document scans are returned as searchable PDF files. The text is extracted and keywords are tagged into the hidden text of the PDF.  To find documents from scanR, just search using standard desktop search tools.
• We chose PDF output since it is portable across platforms, prints well and allows for multiple pages in a single document.  We may provide a JPEG option in the future.

We rely on our users for feedback.  If you have questions or comments, send them to help@scanR.com.

MobileCrunch'd

MobileCrunch posted a review of scanR today:

"Frankly I was very impressed with the quality of the images that the scans returned. Even in comparison to shooting documents directly with my Nokia N90 I found that the ScanR scans compared very favorably."

Read the full review for more.

ABBYY announcement

We're working with ABBYY to extract printed text from images. Take a look at the press announcement.

Extracting words from low-resolution, out-of-focus, and skewed images is hard work. OCR technology was created for 300+ DPI, uncompressed images from perfectly-focused and well-lit sources. For camera images, it takes a combination of specialized image pre-processing and targeted grammar processing to provide meaningful results. These are areas where we've spent a lot of time in development. Over the next few months, we'll release a number of improvements to scanR that provide context and meaning to your information. 

Nice coverage today

Today we announced our funding and a new version of the scanR service which automatically tags keywords in scanned documents.  Take a look at what others are saying:

USA Today
Finally, a good use for those camphones
http://blogs.usatoday.com/maney/2006/03/finally_a_good_.html

Daily Wireless
Camphone Scanning
http://dailywireless.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5210&src=rss10

Digital Camera Tracker
Camera Phone Turned into Mobile Scanner with scanR Software
http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/archives/2006/03/13/camera-phone-turned-into-mobile-scanner-with-scanr-software.html

Forbes.com
scanR Gets Funding For Cell-Phone Scanning Service
http://www.forbes.com/markets/2006/03/13/scanr-google-0313markets09.html

GigaOM
scanR raises $4.65 million
http://gigaom.com/2006/03/12/scanr-raises-465-million/

Internetnews
scanR Turns Cell Phone pics into Usable Documents
http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3590926

Moco News
scanR announces Series A, Releases Scan & Tag Solution
http://www.moconews.net/?p=5437#comments

Mobile Tracker
scanR adds Tags, Launches Publically
http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2006/03/13/scanr-public

RCR Wireless News
scanR Flush with New Funding
http://www.rcrnews.com/news.cms?newsId=25835

Red Herring
scanR Takes $4.65 Million
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=16076&hed=ScanR+Takes+%244.65M+in+Funding

San Francisco Business Journal
Palo Alto Mobile Scanning and Faxing Company Raises $4.65 Million
http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/03/13/daily4.html

San Jose Business Journal
scanR Gets $4.65 Million
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2006/03/13/daily3.html

Google Module for scanR

scanR Uploader for Google's Personalized Homepage is now available.  For people who email photos to scanR from their computer, it's an easy way to directly upload.

Here's how to add the scanR Uploader to your Google Homepage:

(1) Go to http://google.com/ig
(2) Sign-in
(3) Click "Add Content" in the upper left-hand corner
(4) Click "Create a Section"
(5) Type http://widget.scanR.com/google.xml in the form box and click "Go"

The scanR uploader will be available anytime you go to Google.

scanR Update

We've improved image processing for both documents and whiteboards!

scanR whiteboards has much more robust cropping and skew correction.  This means your whiteboard scans will be cropped to the whiteboard frame and appear straight, even if you can't take the picture directly in front the whiteboard. To be sure scanR doesn't cut out anything important, if there is an object outside the whiteboard frame, it won't be cropped.

scanR documents has improved focus and contrast correction.  Some camera phones produce fuzzy images in low light conditions and scanR is now more resilient.  However, the quality of your document scans is still dependent on decent lighting.  For tips to improve your results, visit scanR help.

Try it and let us know what you think!

CES

We launched our first commercially available application last week at CES – scanR Whiteboards for the new Palm Treo 700w.  We demonstrated at an event called ‘Digital Experience’ on the Wednesday night of CES where folks from Engadget, TreoCentral and Mobile Tracker stopped by to check out the scanR application.  CES was pretty overwhelming but a great show and good time nonetheless.  We saw some great new phones coming soon such as the Sony Ericcson W810i with a 2MP camera and the Nokia N80 with a 3MP camera.  Can't wait to get one of these.

scanR update

scanR just got better.  The latest scanR release has several improvements:

• Easy sign-up.  Just send a picture of a document to doc@scanR.com or whiteboard to wb@scanR.com and you'll get an activation code.  Enter this code at scanR.com/code to activate your phone or email address.
• Email accounts. scanR will process pictures sent from any email address. Now you can use email to send pictures from your camera phone or digital camera.
• Multiple phones and email addresses per scanR account. Add any number of phones or email addresses to your scanR account. 
• Mobile devices. Check out our new mobile application for the Palm Treo 700w.
• Mobile operators. scanR is expanding support for mobile operators around the world. Try scanR. If your mobile operator is not supported, we will use the information to help expand the service.

We've listened to your feedback to help guide our improvements.  Send your suggestions to help@scanR.com.

scanR whiteboards

scanR now supports whiteboards in full color.  To use scanR whiteboards, just send a picture of a whiteboard to wb@scanR.com and you'll receive the scan as a PDF in your email inbox.

To prepare for future enhancements to the scanR service, including support for more media and data types, we've changed the email addresses for images sent to scanR.  Here's the current list:

• To scan or fax documents, send images to doc@scanR.com
• To scan whiteboards, send images to wb@scanR.com

It's easiest if you add scanR to your phone's address book.  Just create separate contacts for scanR doc and scanR wb.

Scaling with scanR

Unlike many web applications one of the largest scaling challenges that arose during the development of scanR was the CPU intensity of our image processing code. We need to correct fairly low resolution images that are subject to an amazing number of conditions. For example, the environment (lighting), devices (poor lens) and user behavior (skewed images) all take their toll on the images we receive. Our image processing code applies a variety of complex algorithms that use as much horsepower as we can give.

The scanR system is built around a workflow-based message passing system. As a message makes it into the system a workflow defines the steps the message will take in order to fulfill the user’s request. Each step is handled by a particular kind of service, and each message contains a majority of the information needed to complete the work.

This simple design is important for a variety of reasons:

1. There is no notion of server-state affinity. Work can and will be performed by any machine capable of handling the request.
2. The work is completely asynchronous. While the workflow carries the messages forward and we periodically need to receive events from external systems, a stall on a message never stalls a service.
3. We can achieve a high degree of horizontal scale. By simply adding another machine to perform the service in question we can increase our performance and overall system throughput. 

Amongst other design decisions, these three things allow us to scale in spite of the intensity of our image processing. Naturally this is simplification, but demonstrates key points.

During the design of the system we took the time to decide the underlying platform, looking at J2EE, LAMP, and .NET. Naturally we had a variety of requirements that played a role in our decision.

While it never seems to be the most popular platform for a Silicon Valley start-up, we settled on .NET 1.1 and IIS 6.0 on Windows 2003.  This combination gave us the ability to prototype quickly, left the future door open to integrate required third party libraries, eased our deployment and provided a robust platform for scaling.

scanR update

scanR just got better.  The latest build was released last night.  It has:

- More robust imaging corrections
- Preview image in the email output
- Unified web and phone sign-up
- Several bug fixes

Let us know what you think by sending an email to: help@scanR.com

Mobile Monday

We presented at Mobile Monday at Yahoo! last night.  The presenters were great and had interesting takes on the future of mobile imaging.  You can find our presentation here (sign-in required).

scanR beta

The scanR beta is now available.  We've been hard at work and just released the first beta version of scanR.  The service will let you create digital files from hard copies using your camera phone.  For now, the service is limited to scanning documents and whiteboards (more soon!).