

Show HN: Our weekend project – PaperSync, notebook scanning as a service - bdm
http://www.papersync.co

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micheljansen
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.

~~~
ssong
(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.

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y-apply
Neat idea and bravo on quick execution.

But did you ever see these guys?

[http://modnotebooks.com/](http://modnotebooks.com/)

~~~
tg3
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.

~~~
bdm
Yup, you got it.

~~~
josephjrobison
I've purchased a Mod Notebook and am waiting for it to be delivered. They
launched first, so I get to compare you to them naturally.

Mod Notebook Pros: -Notebook and scanning included ($25) -Only less $10 than
Moleskine and includes digitization, syncing -Prepaid shipping envelope
-Native Mod App to read notes -Syncs with Dropbox, OneNote, Evernote

Mod Notebook Cons: -Shipping delays in the current order, still waiting after
a month from unexpected high demand on their part -$5 more expensive than you
guys

Papersync Pros: -Cheaper ($20) -Can use any notebook

Papersync Cons: -Mailing cost not included -$5 less but no notebook -No
dedicated app -No apparent syncing

On first impression I would splurge the extra $5 for Mod Notebooks every time.
I would definitely consider you guys for old notebooks I have already used up
- but I would expect the cost to be closer to $15 for future notebooks to save
against Mod. Good luck!

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bdm
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
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
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.

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sciguy77
Didn't Need/Want start a Kickstarter project and then a company around this?

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niels_olson
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.

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ds9
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
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.

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jessmartin
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
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?

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itazula
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/)

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hobonumber1
I like the hand-drawn animations on your landing page! Did you guys make those
yourselves?

~~~
bdm
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.

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evolve2k
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.

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

~~~
y-apply
Agreed, but doesn't the $20 include the service and shipping costs?

~~~
devty
seems like $20 includes service and the return shipping cost. Shipping cost to
send the notebook is on us

~~~
bdm
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.

