One thing that’s been lost in some of the coverage and user feedback is that the bar code / UPC thing, while very cool, is not a panacea. Right now, we’re seeing about 55% of bar code searches coming back with one or more results. That’s a bit of a misleading figure, because what’s really happening is that some users, who search for mostly newer and more affordable wines, are seeing about 70% coverage, while users with older and rarer wines are seeing more like 40% coverage.

There are a few things to know about the current state of wine UPC data:

• Some wineries re-use bar codes for different vintages of the same wine.  For instance, Ledson re-uses the same bar code for all vintages of their Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  That’s not a big deal — scanning the bar code still gets you one click away from the vintage you’re drinking, and it is a lot easier than typing out a long winery name.
• Some bar codes simply aren’t in the database yet.  We are working with our bar code partner, the very cool Occipital, to improve database coverage on a daily basis by adding new wine / UPC data.
• You can help!  We’ve recently launched a new feature, available immediately to all Cor.kz users with bar code scanning support, which helps you help us to improve database coverage.   Now, when you scan a bar code and don’t get any results, if you manually type the name in… voila! You’ll be asked to associate the wine you just found with the UPC you had searched for, which will help you and other Cor.kz users to improve accuracy.

Wine UPC scanning isn’t the only thing we’re working on here at Cor.kz — we’re already coding away on version 2.2.1, which will address several UI issues and make the application even easier to use.  And we’ve got some other cool features up our collective sleeves as well.

But in the meantime, we hope you enjoy the bar code feature, and we hope you’ll help us by contributing any bar codes you run across which aren’t already in the database!

It’s been a busy week for us — in addition to the release of version 2.2, we’ve also moved to a newer, faster server and done a ton of housekeeping work. There have been a few glitches (our apologies if you tried to subscribe to blog comments and got an error message — fixed now!), but on the whole for such a huge week, it’s gone fairly well.

We’ve also squeezed out some more performance in applications startup — Twitter users used to see an average of a 300ms delay during statup while we validated the account, and we now do that in parallel with other startup functions.

We’re working on even more cool stuff for the next application update, and of course we continue to make refinements on the back end, which benefit all of our users without requiring an update to the phone application.

I’ll post more info as soon as we determine the exact nature of the issue, and there’s a pretty good chance it will be fixable server side. In the meantime, if you’re not seeing the bar code button, try clearing the settings and seeing if that helps.

We’ve also updated the settings page to make it more intuitive, and improved application performance, especially at startup.  We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Of course, as some of you noticed, just about the time that Cor.kz 2.2 was appearing in the App Store, we had a bit of downtime.  We’ve moved Cor.kz — the website you’re reading, the back end service that the iPhone app uses, and the forums — to a newer, faster server.  As usual, there were a few hiccups, and we were in the midst of the DNS changeover when Apple’s “application is approved” email appeared.  Yikes!  We strive to minimize downtime, and we’re sorry for the inconvenience.  Rest assured that we’re working as hard as ever to improve the application and website.

This version adds Occipital’s fantastic bar code technology, and it’s amazingly accurate and useful.  Not all wines have bar codes, of course, and many wineries re-use the same bar code for multiple vintages of a ine, so it’s not a panacea… but I’ve been surprised at how useful it’s been when using Cor.kz myself.

2.2 also does some general cleanup work, especially with the startup code.  Cor.kz should start more quickly and generally feel snappier.  The settings page has also been reworked to hopefully make it easier to use.

One of the things we’ve always struggled with is the sheer volume of data that the app has to access.  CellarTracker gives us data on nearly 700,000 unique bottles of wine from about 5,000 wine producing regions.  There is just no practical way to pack that into the app itself; even a 32GB iPhone wouldn’t be able to hold all of the data, label and bottle pictures, and reviews that Cor.kz offers.

For 2.2, we’ve completely rewritten the application startup code.  In 2.1.2, it takes an average of 4.5 seconds for Cor.kz to get its bearings, identify your CellarTracker, Twitter, and Facebook accounts, and prepare your custom menus and wine lists.  In 2.2, that startup time has been reduced to an average of 1.5 seconds — and the quality of data is even better than before.

As a bonus, the Cor.kz architecture means that a lot of the stuff we’ve been working on for the 2.2 release benefits existing 2.1.2 users (you are on 2.1.2, right?  If not, you should run off to the app store right now and get the free upgrade!).  Even without having the 2.2 bits on your phone, you should be seeing startup times of 2 seconds or less in most cases.

We’re excited for 2.2 and will post more in the next few days.  The current plan is to push to Apple in the next day or two, which means the free upgrade should be available in the next week or two.

There are a few caveats there, and during this process we’ve learned quite a bit about bar codes and the role they play in wine distribution. The short version is: don’t expect to be able to scan highly unusual wines or very small producers. Many of them don’t use UPC codes at all, and the ones that do often reuse a single code for each vintage of a wine. Still, it’s better than nothing, and it’ll probably only get better with time.

Anyways, we’re deep in testing but should be wrapping up in the near future. I’ll post a little more when we submit it to Apple.

Virtually any bottle of wine can be found using Cor.kz – really! So stop taking chances on the bottles you buy at the market and in restaurants. Simply type in the name of the wine and you’ll get wine reviews and wine ratings from experts and from the huge CellarTracker community of wine drinkers.

Whether you’re a seasoned oenophile or a novice, Cor.kz has great features to enhance and enliven your wine-drinking experience. If you’re just starting out, Cor.kz will help you improve your palate, find more wines you like to drink, and save time and money. Experts will love the detailed information on each wine and the inclusion of even the most rare and exotic bottles.

You’ll love our CellarTracker and Twitter integrations, which let you keep track of your wine collection and tell your friends what you’re drinking in realtime. Hey, there’s a big world of wine out there – add Cor.kz today and get drinking!