I've used MacRumors as a resource for years, but just finally registered on the site so I could ask this question. Please don't bash me too hard for noobishness,... I'm guessing this might be a no-brainer, but I'm very curious.
My wife is a librarian at an elementary school and part of her job involves inventory. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a wireless barcode scanner, so she has to carry our 13" MacBook around the library hooked up to the USB barcode scanner. Plus since we share a laptop, some days when I'm using it she has to use a USB extension cord to inventory to her desktop! Not ideal...
My question is: Do you think Apple will ever allow devs access to the USB interface of the camera kit for purposes such as this? The software for performing the inventory is very simple - for example, on her laptop she just scans each book, which creates a text file including every item. She can then import this text file to the catalog software on her primary office desktop which handles the rest.
Any thoughts on this particular application? I've mentioned the possibility of using the iPhone for this since it has a camera and barcode software already exists, but the problem is that scanning a barcode with RedLaser, for example, is much more tedious and prone to error than her gun-style USB scanner... Nonetheless, if anyone knows of a good app for this on iPhone that would allow her to scan the books quickly/easily and export as a .txt file, that'd be great!
Thanks!
My wife is a librarian at an elementary school and part of her job involves inventory. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a wireless barcode scanner, so she has to carry our 13" MacBook around the library hooked up to the USB barcode scanner. Plus since we share a laptop, some days when I'm using it she has to use a USB extension cord to inventory to her desktop! Not ideal...
My question is: Do you think Apple will ever allow devs access to the USB interface of the camera kit for purposes such as this? The software for performing the inventory is very simple - for example, on her laptop she just scans each book, which creates a text file including every item. She can then import this text file to the catalog software on her primary office desktop which handles the rest.
Any thoughts on this particular application? I've mentioned the possibility of using the iPhone for this since it has a camera and barcode software already exists, but the problem is that scanning a barcode with RedLaser, for example, is much more tedious and prone to error than her gun-style USB scanner... Nonetheless, if anyone knows of a good app for this on iPhone that would allow her to scan the books quickly/easily and export as a .txt file, that'd be great!
Thanks!