Search Content with Barcode Scanner on Droid Phones

Last year I was toying with the idea of buying a smart phone, but I kept hearing the 4G phones were coming out any day. So I waited since the 4G phones were supposed to be a good bit faster.
While I waited, I had an opportunity to test drive a friends 3G droid phone and absolutely loved it. About a month later, the phone company I have been with for around 9-10 years came out with a 4G phone and my cost was only $99. I couldn't pass up that deal.

I must say, I love this phone! It's great when you're stuck waiting in a doctor's office or in a line somewhere. You can just pull out your phone, go online and moderate comments, read blogs or anything you like. And the 4G phones are super fast.

There are also lots of free apps you can download to use on a droid phone and many are really awesome. An app that I have downloaded is, Barcode Scanner. You can use it with "Google Shopper" and with "ShopSavvy" two other cool apps. You can see Barcode Scanner here on my phone in the pic below.

Excuse my Christmas wallpaper/background I added last November right after I bought the phone. I still love that Christmas garland pic from the Pottery Barn catalog (Pottery Barn Garland Tutorial) so I've just left it on my phone as my wallpaper. Hey, Christmas is just 9 months away, you know. ;)

If you have the Barcode Scanner app or a similar app, I'm sure you already know how it works. If not, check this out...it's pretty awesome!




When you click on the icon for the Barcode Scanner, this screen comes up...



You place the screen over a barcode. I had the book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, on my desk...



So that was the one I scanned.




It immediately recognized the book, identifying it by its ISBN number. At that point it gave me several options. I didn't try the "Google Shopper" option but that option would have given me all the places locally and online where I could purchase the book and the price at each of those places. I would also have been able to read online reviews about the book. This option really comes in handy if you are standing in a store trying to decide whether to buy a book from that store or not.

The option I chose was to "Search Contents." I had no idea how that worked but decided to give it a whirl.




Now I was supposed to type in some topic or subject I wished to "search for" in this book. I decided to search for a person I remembered from the book, Emma Kelly. Many years after I had read this book, I had an opportunity to travel to Savannah. Savannah is always one of my fav places to visit, although I seem to always be there in July and August when it is blazing hot. While in Savannah, I went on the "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Tour." It was a blast and during my stay in Savannah I actually got to meet one of the characters in the book, Emma Kelly.




Emma Kelly was known as "The Lady of 6,000 Songs." She passed away a few years ago, but she was and still is an icon in Savannah, GA. We had an opportunity to hear her play and sing while in Savannah and during a break, she graciously autographed the book. She was so nice, a truly sweet person.





Here's a little mini biography about her in case you are interested:

"Emma Kelly, the "Lady of 6,000 Songs" made famous by the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." John Berendt, author of the 1994 book, devoted an entire chapter to the singer and pianist, describing Kelly as a teetotaling Baptist who played cocktail lounges Saturday nights and Sunday schools on Sunday mornings. The recognition made her Savannah nightclub act a must-see for tourists. Kelly got her nickname from Savannah-born songwriter Johnny Mercer, who, after challenging her to play numerous songs he named, estimated she knew 6,000 songs from memory."

After scanning the barcode on the back of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, selecting the "Search Contents" option, and typing in Emma Kelly's name...here's what popped up. It found all the places in the book where Mrs. Kelly's name is mentioned and it gave me the page number and the sentence. Is that not the coolest thing?!






I'm just beginning to learn about all the amazing things you can do with a smart/droid phone. If you've been thinking about getting a smart phone, go for it. I have really enjoyed mine. They are very user friendly and nothing like the Blackberry I had before and didn't enjoy using at all.

I have to end this post with something I found online that gave me a chuckle. Apparently, John Berendt, the author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly and during the interview he was asked how he came to choose Savannah and its residents as the city about which to write. The book is definitely filled with some rather "interesting" people, to say the least.

Mr. Berendt answered in this way: "People in Savannah don't say, 'Before leaving the room, Mrs. Jones put on her coat.' Instead, they say, 'Before leaving the room, Mrs. Jones put on the coat that her third husband gave her before he shot himself in the head.'"

Ha! Yep, that's the south I know and love! The only thing missing on the end of that sentence was, "Bless her heart." ;)

See you this evening for Tablescape Thursday!