Topic by leibylucw 2020-09-11 22:43:21

  • Registered: 2011-11-27
  • Posts: 2,019
  • User Karma: 103

Hi all,

This might be a bit of a different question. I'm looking for a product or app that is capable of reading the address labels on mail packages. Where I live, UPS, FedEx, and USPS all leave packages in my apartment lobby, and you are to pick up your packages on an honor system. Sparing the "that's a terrible system" comments, yes - I know. It's the best the property managers can do right now.
Is there something that exists as a stand-alone device or an offline iPhone app that is able to read the names of recipients on typical boxed packages? I have the option to ask my roommates, but I'd like to independently identify my own mail. I was hoping for something more along the lines of a device that I can move across a package and scan like a barcode reader...Perhaps that's a bit too ideal, but I'm open to options. Seeing AI and kNFB Reader don't seem to do what I want, although it's been some time since I've tried it with the latter.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

What game will hadi.gsf want to play next?

Quote Post 1

Thumbs up

Reply by sightlessHorseman 2020-09-11 23:10:08

  • From: Germany
  • Registered: 2011-12-03
  • Posts: 5,528
  • User Karma: 392

Hi.

I guess the labels are different over there in the US, but I was pritty successful with Seeing AI and enough lighting. We had the same problem. We lived with 7 people in a boarding home and if multiple packages or letters arived, seeing AI often helped me to identify who's mail I had in hand.

Greetings Moritz.

Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.

Quote Post 2

Thumbs up

Reply by omer 2020-09-11 23:12:50

  • omer
  • Blastbay tool user
  • Offline
  • From: Türkiye, İstanbul
  • Registered: 2014-03-17
  • Posts: 3,331
  • User Karma: 219

yeah seing ai is your best bet
or super sense
super sense is better in terms of reading texts, wish seing ai, i'M not sure whether its scanning or what
with supersense, you hear things instantly, but its not advanced as seing ai because it repeats itself until you move your phone

My freesound page
My AudioJungle profile

omer's Website

Quote Post 3

Thumbs up

Reply by GrannyCheeseWheel 2020-09-11 23:14:41

  • From: Pennsyltucky
  • Registered: 2015-01-29
  • Posts: 12,701
  • User Karma: 2,272

I just use seeing AI. I leave it in short text mode and place the phone on the label, then pull up and it works like a charm. Voice Dream scanner is worth it as well. It's miles and miles better than KNFB - which I think is a fucking travesty of a piece of shit of an app - and it has a cool feature. It will generate a tone when it sees text. You're aiming to get as strong / loud of a tone as possible before you snap the pic. If that happens, you'll generally always get readable text. Maybe it's cut off, but you can also turn on edge detection and automatic capture. It's well worth the price, and I got it - along with all of their other apps - on sale.

Facts with Tom MacDonald, Adam Calhoun, and Dax
End racism
End division
Become united

GrannyCheeseWheel's Website

Quote Post 4

Thumbs up

Reply by camlorn 2020-09-11 23:32:59

  • camlorn
  • You have defeated this forum and won a custom rank
  • Offline
  • From: Seattle
  • Registered: 2013-04-08
  • Posts: 10,807
  • User Karma: 2,083

Yeah, Seeing AI does it, but if offline is required you're probably mostly out of luck.  And Seeing AI won't *always* do it.

It's kinda sucky but you can generally order really sensitive stuff in discrete packaging, especially medical and anything decidedly not PG-13, so they won't know what's in it unless they flat out open it.  Amazon is also pretty good (though not perfect) about packaging in unidentifiable packaging if you check the thing at checkout.

Most major shippers will also send text updates to your phone if you have the tracking number and do a little bit of fiddling online to set it up, so in many cases you can know if it's arrived or not and you'll get a notification with an hour of it showing up.

My Blog
Twitter: @ajhicks1992

camlorn's Website

Quote Post 5

Thumbs up

Reply by leibylucw 2020-09-11 23:49:01

  • Registered: 2011-11-27
  • Posts: 2,019
  • User Karma: 103

I'll certainly try some of these tips out. I should also mention Internet connectivity is poor in the lobby area (terrific), which makes this an even more grueling task. That's why I included the offline stipulation. I also need to check upwards of 10 or so packages since everybody in the building receives packages that way. It's more of a headache than it should be, but that's the price of a low rent apartment in a heavily college student residential area.

What game will hadi.gsf want to play next?

Quote Post 6

Thumbs up

Reply by Chris 2020-09-11 23:51:23

  • Chris
  • Papa Sangre's plaything
  • Offline
  • From: Texas
  • Registered: 2010-12-21
  • Posts: 5,263
  • User Karma: 360

KNFB Reader and VoiceDream Scanner do offline scanning. I have to agree that KNFB is a piece of shit. I'm glad I snagged it for free when they briefly tried offering a demo on iOS back in 2015. I wouldn't pay more than maybe $10 or $20 for that app. The only thing it does reasonably well is OCR PDF documents, but VoiceDream Reader can do that as well. KNFB Reader makes me think even less of the NFB. Why do they let such a flawed product go through quality control?

Grab my Adventure at C: stages Right here.

Quote Post 7

Thumbs up

Reply by leibylucw 2020-09-12 00:05:33

  • Registered: 2011-11-27
  • Posts: 2,019
  • User Karma: 103

I also have VoiceDream Scanner and the other apps as part of their suite. I forgot I bought this during their most recent sale. How does this perform better than kNFB? Just curious since that seems to be the unanimous opinion.

What game will hadi.gsf want to play next?

Quote Post 8

Thumbs up

Reply by Chris 2020-09-12 00:35:42

  • Chris
  • Papa Sangre's plaything
  • Offline
  • From: Texas
  • Registered: 2010-12-21
  • Posts: 5,263
  • User Karma: 360

VoiceDream Scanner gives me very good results 99% of the time with very few errors. KNFB Reader gave me jibberish 99% of the time. I'm very disappointed that a $100 app is so bad.

Grab my Adventure at C: stages Right here.

Quote Post 9

Thumbs up

Reply by GrannyCheeseWheel 2020-09-12 01:14:37

  • From: Pennsyltucky
  • Registered: 2015-01-29
  • Posts: 12,701
  • User Karma: 2,272

KNFB is like alphabet soup. Seriously, even when it says that all the edges are visible and it snaps automatically, it just does letter and symbol gibberish. Voice Dream Scanner only does that if the lighting is very poor or you are moving the phone as you snap or don't try to get a good tone.

Facts with Tom MacDonald, Adam Calhoun, and Dax
End racism
End division
Become united

GrannyCheeseWheel's Website

Quote Post 10

Thumbs up

Reply by omer 2020-09-12 01:21:55

  • omer
  • Blastbay tool user
  • Offline
  • From: Türkiye, İstanbul
  • Registered: 2014-03-17
  • Posts: 3,331
  • User Karma: 219

my teacher insisted so much at the time for me to buy knfb reader crap and i sadly bought it for 350 400 bucks at the time, yeah its a crap dont buy it

My freesound page
My AudioJungle profile

omer's Website

Quote Post 11

Thumbs up

Reply by camlorn 2020-09-12 01:25:35

  • camlorn
  • You have defeated this forum and won a custom rank
  • Offline
  • From: Seattle
  • Registered: 2013-04-08
  • Posts: 10,807
  • User Karma: 2,083

I've got news. I'm in a 6-story not at all cheap building and I would love, love, love if it was only 10 packages to check.

My Blog
Twitter: @ajhicks1992

camlorn's Website

Quote Post 12

Thumbs up

Reply by leibylucw 2020-09-12 08:20:02

  • Registered: 2011-11-27
  • Posts: 2,019
  • User Karma: 103

I'd think it being not a cheap place to stay there would be a better package retrieval system, but I digress.
Once I have packages to check, I'll try VoiceDream Scanner. I will full-heartedly agree kNFB is pretty terrible. I tried using it to read a very basic 8.5 x 11 and it just was barely readable.

What game will hadi.gsf want to play next?

Quote Post 13

Thumbs up

Reply by leibylucw 2020-09-25 00:19:35

  • Registered: 2011-11-27
  • Posts: 2,019
  • User Karma: 103

Just circling back to this thread and let you all know Voice Dream Scanner works like a charm. It isn't 100% perfect, but it's pretty accurate when it comes to reading the names of recipients on packages. I'm finally able to reliably find my own mail, albeit it takes a bit longer - story of a blind person.

What game will hadi.gsf want to play next?

Quote Post 14

Thumbs up

Reply by joshknnd1982 2020-09-25 17:33:04

  • Registered: 2013-05-19
  • Posts: 1,486
  • User Karma: 75

they should have robots that go through your mail, sort it and then deliver it right to your room. or automated drones that fly through the apartment building and drop your mail nearby after a robot hand on the drone attaches a small beeper device to the mail, the mail with the attached beeper device would beep and vibrate and buzz very loudly so you know where it is located... until you pick it up, detach the beeping device that was put on by the automated mail delivery robots and flying drones, you remove the beeping device, put it back onto the mail delivery drone and then take the mail into your apartment. And the mail delivery drones could carry packages up to 400 pounds or so or maybe up to 600 kilograms.

Quote Post 15

Thumbs up