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

Cool idea, but your sample (<a href="https://www.papersync.co/static/PaperSync_sample.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.papersync.co&#x2F;static&#x2F;PaperSync_sample.pdf</a>) isn&#x27;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 &quot;fast, hi-res, scanning setup that uses DSLR’s and some other neat hardware &amp; software&quot; just so you could deliver low-res over-compressed PDFs.

Neat idea and bravo on quick execution.<p>But did you ever see these guys?<p><a href="http://modnotebooks.com/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;modnotebooks.com&#x2F;</a>

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.<p><i></i><p>We both carry notebooks around to jot down ideas in pen &amp; ink.<p>After doing this for some odd years, the downside is that they take up physical space, and we have no digital backup.<p>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 &amp; do this for us.<p>In typical HN style, we built a fast, hi-res, scanning setup that uses DSLR’s and some other neat hardware &amp; software. We built a simple website in 3 days to offer this as a service to all the beautiful people of the world.<p><i></i><p>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?

Didn&#x27;t Need&#x2F;Want start a Kickstarter project and then a company around this?

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&#x27;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...)<p>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.

I have a pile of notebooks that need to get into my computer somehow - but images won&#x27;t help. I would pay for OCR, but AFAIK the technology today is not yet good enough for accurate image-to-text from handwriting.

Awesome! I have been waiting for a service like this! I especially wanted a non-destructive scan. It&#x27;s important to me to get my notebook back. I&#x27;ve priced other services. $20&#x2F;notebook is not bad.<p>Can you let me know the DPI on the scan? I will ship you 10 notebooks tomorrow if the DPI is good enough.

This reminded me of something called &quot;Shot Note&quot; which is used to digitally store and organize handwritten notes: <a href="http://www.kingjim.co.jp/sp/shotnote/english/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.kingjim.co.jp&#x2F;sp&#x2F;shotnote&#x2F;english&#x2F;</a>

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

My immediate reaction was &#x27;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.

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