As a side-note I've successfully used the "Amazon Remembers" function of the Amazon iPhone app for books, take a picture, they farm it out to Mechanical Turk and send you a link back to the amazon page, which you can convert to a bibliographic record pretty easily.
Only useful for books, though, they don't handle articles. iPhone's camera isn't fantastic at really short focal lengths either, making pics of citations pretty fuzzy :( I'm told that you can fix that with some hardware hacking: http://www.eastrain.com/?p=73 or just sticking some view-finders or microscope pieces over the camera. --J On 15 Apr 2009, at 12:31 PM, Adam M. Goldstein wrote: > On Apr 15, 2009, at 11:47 AM, Derick Fay wrote: > >>> >> >> I wonder if there are simpler solutions. >> >> How often are you going to type in the full bibliographic record on >> the iPhone keyboard while wandering in the stacks? If not, >> presumably >> you'll still need to look it up & it will be easier to add the whole >> BibTeX record at once, won't it? I just keep a note "Add to BibDesk" >> on my iPhone & periodically add the items noted there. (There are >> other alternatives to iPhone app. vs. little slip of paper :) ). > > Well, you are right. But it does happen rather often in my case, in > fact, that I see something while browsing, and you are right that it > would be good enough to just write down the author and title and then > look it up using the LOC search or something similar in BD. > > The biggest problem for me are articles from before 1960 or so, which > I often find in a bound volume with something else I am looking for, > but can't be looked up anywhere because it's not indexed anywhere. > > I do have a little notebook that I carry around, and I write down > things like this there, so I know that I can usually go back to find > something I have recently looked up. > > But I do end up with lots of notes like "Simpson 1959 [call no.]" that > I cannot connect with anything at all . . . if I could I would enter > in more info right then and not lose it. > >> >> For viewing and e-mailing records I have a web page formatted with >> the >> iPhone template (see the BibDesk wiki). Adding an add function to >> the >> top of this that would gather input in a form then compose an e-mail >> with the BibTeX for a new record would not be difficult. A syncing >> Applescript could check for new e-mails from the template (presumably >> with a special subject line or something) & add the new records to >> BibDesk, and automatically generate a new version of the page and >> upload it to a server. >> > > I was thinking of just having a text editor on the iPhone with a blank > BibTeX record, that I could use to fill in information, and then save > a copy, and email myself the copy, and drag and drop the reference > from the email into BD when I got the chance. > >> Editing is trickier, I think, unless one wants to venture into the >> new >> Safari database functionality... >> >> Derick >> >> >> >>> >>> Message: 1 >>> Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:14:00 -0400 >>> From: "Adam M. Goldstein" <[email protected]> >>> Subject: Re: [Bibdesk-users] iphone app >>> To: For general discussion about using BibDesk >>> <[email protected]> >>> Message-ID: <[email protected]> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes >>> >>> I would want it to be able to add references to my main BD database, >>> for instance, if I am wandering around in the stacks and see a bunch >>> of books I want to remember, or if I see an article I want to mark >>> down; or, if I am looking up call no info to go find something, >>> and I >>> want to add that information to a record, rather than write it down >>> on >>> a little slip of paper, which I am probably going to lose anyhow; >>> and >>> I would want to be able to search my references and look at them >>> (the >>> references) much for the same reasons---to find something when I am >>> away from my computer. >>> >>> The iPhone can be used to read papers on, but it's almost not worth >>> the effort. >>> >>> I think searching and editing records is the key. >>> >>> Adam >>> >>> On Apr 14, 2009, at 8:37 PM, Michael McCracken wrote: >>> >>>> This is an honest question, because I don't own an iPhone: >>>> >>>> What would you want a BibDesk iPhone app to do? >>>> >>>> I just now looked at the Papers for iphone app, and I guess they >>>> think >>>> you'll want to search, organize and read your papers on your >>>> iPhone. >>>> Perhaps. Is the screen really adequate for reading scientific >>>> papers? >>>> >>>> I can see the appeal of not printing out a bunch of papers but >>>> still >>>> being able to read on a train (they say the beach, and I say they >>>> are >>>> missing the point of the beach)... >>>> >>>> But, as others have mentioned, there's a resources problem in >>>> getting >>>> something like this done. >>>> >>>> -mike >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> This SF.net email is sponsored by: >> High Quality Requirements in a Collaborative Environment. >> Download a free trial of Rational Requirements Composer Now! >> http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-ibm-com >> _______________________________________________ >> Bibdesk-users mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bibdesk-users > > > ------------------ > Adam M. Goldstein PhD, MSLIS > -- > [email protected] > [email protected] > http://www.iona.edu/faculty/agoldstein > -- > (914) 637-2717 > -- > Dept of Philosophy > Iona College > 715 North Avenue > New Rochelle NY 10801 > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > This SF.net email is sponsored by: > High Quality Requirements in a Collaborative Environment. > Download a free trial of Rational Requirements Composer Now! > http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-ibm-com > _______________________________________________ > Bibdesk-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bibdesk-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net email is sponsored by: High Quality Requirements in a Collaborative Environment. 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