1. An image processing and information retrieval system comprising: a mobile device having a camera, the mobile device configured to capture an image, and configured to transmit data relating to the image to an image processing platform; the image processing platform configured to receive the data relating to the image and to conduct image processing including: operating on the data relating to the image to determine if the image contains one or more recognizable symbols; and decoding the recognizable symbols to extract symbol information by analyzing the recognizable symbols according to type; a distal server configured to access a database to identify pertinent information associated with the recognizable symbols based on the symbol information; and the mobile device further configured to receive the pertinent information over a network.