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Show HN: Our weekend project – PaperSync, notebook scanning as a service

42 points by bdm 12y ago

bdm 12y ago
OP here: I spent a few days working with ssong last week to create papersync.co -- a service where we scan paper notebooks and turn them into .pdf’s. We both carry notebooks around to jot down ideas in pen & ink. After doing this for some odd years, the downside is that they take up physical space, and we have no digital backup. We were frustrated that the best solution out there was to spend a few hours scanning them ourselves - we couldn’t find any service that would save time & do this for us. In typical HN style, we built a fast, hi-res, scanning setup that uses DSLR’s and some other neat hardware & software. We built a simple website in 3 days to offer this as a service to all the beautiful people of the world. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this service and how well we are presenting it on our site. What could we be doing better?
- WebSearchingPro 12y ago
  The site itself looks alright, its obvious what you are trying to sell. Ironically the first selling point is also a reason why someone would not want to use your service "[...] A million-dollar idea? Maybe the first sentence of the next NYTimes bestseller.[...]" What is your guarantee on keeping these secrets a secret? Why should we ship off our ideas and thoughts off to some company to scan them when we could do it ourselves on our own scanner?
  - timthorn 12y ago
    On the "About" page: We make our best effort to maintain the security and confidentiality of your content, and we will never share, publish, or otherwise distribute your content to anyone besides you. In the event of an inadvertent leak or loss of content, we assume no liability, so please use your best judgment when deciding what to send.
- diggan 12y ago
  "offer this as a service to all the beautiful people of the world." No, you don't do this. But please let me know once people from outside the US can use this, interested in trying it out.
nubela 12y ago
$20 per notebook is a bit on the expensive side, imo.
- y-apply 12y ago
  Agreed, but doesn't the $20 include the service and shipping costs?
  - devty 12y ago
    seems like $20 includes service and the return shipping cost. Shipping cost to send the notebook is on us
    - bdm 12y ago
      Correct. We borrow this model from what camera manufacturers like Canon do. When you send something to Canon for repair/exchange, you're in charge of paying for shipping and packing it safely. Then when the work is done, they ship it back professionally, for free, as part of the service.
- bdm 12y ago
  When we started scanning our own personal notebooks, we didn't realize how time consuming the process was. A typical flatbed scanner takes about 30 seconds per page. So for a 200 page notebook, you're looking at an hour and 40 minutes that we're saving. We've figured out a lot of optimizations to make this go way faster, but the point is that we're saving the average person an hour+ of time, and we're making sure the job gets done right :)
y-apply 12y ago
Neat idea and bravo on quick execution. But did you ever see these guys? http://modnotebooks.com/ http://modnotebooks.com/
- arjn 12y ago
  Right. I was about to point out the same thing. This service already exists and they are in production (I think).
  - mct 12y ago
    Am I completely missing it, or does the website really give no indication of how many pages their notebooks contain?
- wehadfun 12y ago
  It seems you have to use their notebook
- tg3 12y ago
  I think the difference is that with Mod you have to use their notebooks, whereas with these guys you can send them any notebook. That makes a huge difference for me personally.
  - y-apply 12y ago
    Ok, yeah i just saw that. You can't exactly use any notebook, it looks like there are specific dimensions and brands. Personally i like the idea of not worrying about that and id rather just pay up front for the mod notebook and then mail it off when i'm ready but i could see how some people would prefer the papersync way.
  - bdm 12y ago
    Yup, you got it.
    - josephjrobison 12y ago
sciguy77 12y ago
Didn't Need/Want start a Kickstarter project and then a company around this?
micheljansen 12y ago
Cool idea, but your sample (https://www.papersync.co/static/PaperSync_sample.pdf https://www.papersync.co/static/PaperSync_sample.pdf) isn't really selling it. The resolution is a lot lower than I would expect and there are JPEG artefacts all over the place. If the sample really is representative, I suggest looking into improving the output quality. I doubt you built a "fast, hi-res, scanning setup that uses DSLR’s and some other neat hardware & software" just so you could deliver low-res over-compressed PDFs.
- threeio 12y ago
  I have to agree, I was almost in and I know a friend of mine would be (he's got a pile of 100 notebooks laying in his closet).. but that PDF was a letdown. (Time to grab my paper cutter, chop off a binding and get my ScanSnap out again)
- ssong 12y ago
  (I'm working with OP on this) Thanks for the feedback! We are using a setup similar to http://www.diybookscanner.org/ http://www.diybookscanner.org/ for this and the scan quality is very high. The sample PDF was scaled down and compressed to reduce file size. I'll put up a high-res version in a bit. For the actual service, you can download each individual high-res page scans.
hobonumber1 12y ago
I like the hand-drawn animations on your landing page! Did you guys make those yourselves?
- bdm 12y ago
  Glad you like the illustrations! They are a combination of stock images and ones we did ourselves. One of our goals here was to launch something beautiful, as quickly as possible. So it was a no brainer to pay < $100 for beautiful line drawings that are prettier (and several hours' less effort) than what we could have done ourselves. Once we had the basic visual style established with stock drawings, I riffed to make some custom illustrations in the same style, including the logo and the instructions on the order page.
jessmartin 12y ago
Awesome! I have been waiting for a service like this! I especially wanted a non-destructive scan. It's important to me to get my notebook back. I've priced other services. $20/notebook is not bad. Can you let me know the DPI on the scan? I will ship you 10 notebooks tomorrow if the DPI is good enough.
- bdm 12y ago
  tl;dr 250-300 DPI Hey! Good question. DPI which stands for Dots Per Inch only matters when you actually print the image. You can take the scan and print it small at high DPI or large at low DPI. Let's assume you have an 8x10" notebook. The images we take of your notebook will be approximately 2400x3000. So if we scan an 8x10 notebook, and you wanted to take our scan and print it out at its original size, the resolution would be 2400/8 = 3000/10 = 300 DPI. Allowing for some fudge factor, we say the range is 250-300. Make sense?
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
ds9 12y ago
I have a pile of notebooks that need to get into my computer somehow - but images won't help. I would pay for OCR, but AFAIK the technology today is not yet good enough for accurate image-to-text from handwriting.
- nathanb 12y ago
  I concur. As the pile of notebooks full of barely-legible handwritten scrawl grows and grows, so does the amount of money I'd be willing to pay a company for notebook transcription. Honestly, I don't care if it takes a bloody age -- reCAPTCHA that stuff if you have to -- since I never plan on transcribing them. Scan them to PDF right away, send me the notebooks back (or just give me the PDFs, if they're too low-res to use for reliable transcription), and then at some point send me a text file (or RTF, or whatever non-proprietary format) with the contents. I would pay two dollars a page for this. Negotiable.
niels_olson 12y ago
Hi, this is awesome! I would like to see a sample in 0.3 mm B pencil lead. I have pretty much given up on evernote because I don't have time to do this in bulk (a solution you provide) but if I do it ad hoc with my phone camera the quality is terrible (you probably provide the required quality, but I would like to confirm...) I use 9x5 moleskine, grid ruled, same as your existing sample. But could you please just post a couple pages with different writing utensils? Colored inks (orange, light green, etc) and common leads (0.5 mm HB lead of course, and 0.3 mm B and HB leads). If you need a sample page, I can make one up.
evolve2k 12y ago
My immediate reaction was 'backup sure, but what if they loose my valuable notebook in the mail? I think to address this you should state clearly that all notebooks are to be sent and returned by registered (tracked) post.
itazula 12y ago
This reminded me of something called "Shot Note" which is used to digitally store and organize handwritten notes: http://www.kingjim.co.jp/sp/shotnote/english/ http://www.kingjim.co.jp/sp/shotnote/english/

42 points by bdm 12y ago

bdm 12y ago

OP here: I spent a few days working with ssong last week to create papersync.co -- a service where we scan paper notebooks and turn them into .pdf’s. We both carry notebooks around to jot down ideas in pen & ink. After doing this for some odd years, the downside is that they take up physical space, and we have no digital backup. We were frustrated that the best solution out there was to spend a few hours scanning them ourselves - we couldn’t find any service that would save time & do this for us. In typical HN style, we built a fast, hi-res, scanning setup that uses DSLR’s and some other neat hardware & software. We built a simple website in 3 days to offer this as a service to all the beautiful people of the world. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this service and how well we are presenting it on our site. What could we be doing better?

WebSearchingPro 12y ago
The site itself looks alright, its obvious what you are trying to sell. Ironically the first selling point is also a reason why someone would not want to use your service "[...] A million-dollar idea? Maybe the first sentence of the next NYTimes bestseller.[...]" What is your guarantee on keeping these secrets a secret? Why should we ship off our ideas and thoughts off to some company to scan them when we could do it ourselves on our own scanner?
- timthorn 12y ago
  On the "About" page: We make our best effort to maintain the security and confidentiality of your content, and we will never share, publish, or otherwise distribute your content to anyone besides you. In the event of an inadvertent leak or loss of content, we assume no liability, so please use your best judgment when deciding what to send.
diggan 12y ago
"offer this as a service to all the beautiful people of the world." No, you don't do this. But please let me know once people from outside the US can use this, interested in trying it out.

nubela 12y ago

$20 per notebook is a bit on the expensive side, imo.

y-apply 12y ago
Agreed, but doesn't the $20 include the service and shipping costs?
- devty 12y ago
  seems like $20 includes service and the return shipping cost. Shipping cost to send the notebook is on us
  - bdm 12y ago
    Correct. We borrow this model from what camera manufacturers like Canon do. When you send something to Canon for repair/exchange, you're in charge of paying for shipping and packing it safely. Then when the work is done, they ship it back professionally, for free, as part of the service.
bdm 12y ago
When we started scanning our own personal notebooks, we didn't realize how time consuming the process was. A typical flatbed scanner takes about 30 seconds per page. So for a 200 page notebook, you're looking at an hour and 40 minutes that we're saving. We've figured out a lot of optimizations to make this go way faster, but the point is that we're saving the average person an hour+ of time, and we're making sure the job gets done right :)

y-apply 12y ago

Neat idea and bravo on quick execution. But did you ever see these guys? http://modnotebooks.com/ http://modnotebooks.com/

arjn 12y ago
Right. I was about to point out the same thing. This service already exists and they are in production (I think).
- mct 12y ago
  Am I completely missing it, or does the website really give no indication of how many pages their notebooks contain?
wehadfun 12y ago
It seems you have to use their notebook
tg3 12y ago
I think the difference is that with Mod you have to use their notebooks, whereas with these guys you can send them any notebook. That makes a huge difference for me personally.
- y-apply 12y ago
  Ok, yeah i just saw that. You can't exactly use any notebook, it looks like there are specific dimensions and brands. Personally i like the idea of not worrying about that and id rather just pay up front for the mod notebook and then mail it off when i'm ready but i could see how some people would prefer the papersync way.
- bdm 12y ago
  Yup, you got it.
  - josephjrobison 12y ago

sciguy77 12y ago

Didn't Need/Want start a Kickstarter project and then a company around this?

micheljansen 12y ago

Cool idea, but your sample (https://www.papersync.co/static/PaperSync_sample.pdf https://www.papersync.co/static/PaperSync_sample.pdf) isn't really selling it. The resolution is a lot lower than I would expect and there are JPEG artefacts all over the place. If the sample really is representative, I suggest looking into improving the output quality. I doubt you built a "fast, hi-res, scanning setup that uses DSLR’s and some other neat hardware & software" just so you could deliver low-res over-compressed PDFs.

threeio 12y ago
I have to agree, I was almost in and I know a friend of mine would be (he's got a pile of 100 notebooks laying in his closet).. but that PDF was a letdown. (Time to grab my paper cutter, chop off a binding and get my ScanSnap out again)
ssong 12y ago
(I'm working with OP on this) Thanks for the feedback! We are using a setup similar to http://www.diybookscanner.org/ http://www.diybookscanner.org/ for this and the scan quality is very high. The sample PDF was scaled down and compressed to reduce file size. I'll put up a high-res version in a bit. For the actual service, you can download each individual high-res page scans.

hobonumber1 12y ago

I like the hand-drawn animations on your landing page! Did you guys make those yourselves?

bdm 12y ago
Glad you like the illustrations! They are a combination of stock images and ones we did ourselves. One of our goals here was to launch something beautiful, as quickly as possible. So it was a no brainer to pay < $100 for beautiful line drawings that are prettier (and several hours' less effort) than what we could have done ourselves. Once we had the basic visual style established with stock drawings, I riffed to make some custom illustrations in the same style, including the logo and the instructions on the order page.

jessmartin 12y ago

Awesome! I have been waiting for a service like this! I especially wanted a non-destructive scan. It's important to me to get my notebook back. I've priced other services. $20/notebook is not bad. Can you let me know the DPI on the scan? I will ship you 10 notebooks tomorrow if the DPI is good enough.

bdm 12y ago
tl;dr 250-300 DPI Hey! Good question. DPI which stands for Dots Per Inch only matters when you actually print the image. You can take the scan and print it small at high DPI or large at low DPI. Let's assume you have an 8x10" notebook. The images we take of your notebook will be approximately 2400x3000. So if we scan an 8x10 notebook, and you wanted to take our scan and print it out at its original size, the resolution would be 2400/8 = 3000/10 = 300 DPI. Allowing for some fudge factor, we say the range is 250-300. Make sense?

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

ds9 12y ago

I have a pile of notebooks that need to get into my computer somehow - but images won't help. I would pay for OCR, but AFAIK the technology today is not yet good enough for accurate image-to-text from handwriting.

nathanb 12y ago
I concur. As the pile of notebooks full of barely-legible handwritten scrawl grows and grows, so does the amount of money I'd be willing to pay a company for notebook transcription. Honestly, I don't care if it takes a bloody age -- reCAPTCHA that stuff if you have to -- since I never plan on transcribing them. Scan them to PDF right away, send me the notebooks back (or just give me the PDFs, if they're too low-res to use for reliable transcription), and then at some point send me a text file (or RTF, or whatever non-proprietary format) with the contents. I would pay two dollars a page for this. Negotiable.

niels_olson 12y ago

Hi, this is awesome! I would like to see a sample in 0.3 mm B pencil lead. I have pretty much given up on evernote because I don't have time to do this in bulk (a solution you provide) but if I do it ad hoc with my phone camera the quality is terrible (you probably provide the required quality, but I would like to confirm...) I use 9x5 moleskine, grid ruled, same as your existing sample. But could you please just post a couple pages with different writing utensils? Colored inks (orange, light green, etc) and common leads (0.5 mm HB lead of course, and 0.3 mm B and HB leads). If you need a sample page, I can make one up.

evolve2k 12y ago

My immediate reaction was 'backup sure, but what if they loose my valuable notebook in the mail? I think to address this you should state clearly that all notebooks are to be sent and returned by registered (tracked) post.

itazula 12y ago

This reminded me of something called "Shot Note" which is used to digitally store and organize handwritten notes: http://www.kingjim.co.jp/sp/shotnote/english/ http://www.kingjim.co.jp/sp/shotnote/english/