It's not every day that a YouTube video catches my attention, but this one is outstanding in its dramatic presentation of the durability of the product. 

Put out by Holland 1916, a manufacturer of rugged identification products, to illustrate just how solid their RFID Tag solutions are. The video is reminiscent of the famous Timex campaign from the 1960s which featured a series of commercials including one with an elephant stepping on a Timex watch.  

(click on the image above to start the video)

According to the vendor;  "The first video of Holland 1916's Ultimate RFID Tag and Test Series is the "RFID Demolition Derby" demonstrating how Holland 1916's stainless steel RFID tag carriers can survive extreme impact and abrasion. Holland 1916's Nameplate and Pipe Tracker RFID tags are welded to the bumpers of a demolition derby car and smashed time and time again during the violent competition. Holland 1916 tag carriers are embedded with both UHF Xerafy transponders and HF transponders. By embedding RFID transponders into metal or high-density synthetic carriers, RFID can now be used in extreme applications where the technology would not have worked in the past.

"In the past, oil and gas companies quickly destroyed off-the-shelf RFID tags when they tested them in their harsh environment," said Zack Barron, Director of RFID Sales at Holland 1916. "Since seeing is believing, our Ultimate RFID Tag and Test Video Series demonstrates Holland 1916 RFID tag carriers surviving extreme temperatures, pressures, chemicals, and other tests."

As I recall from the Timex campaign, occasionally a Timex would be crushed and when the camera zoomed in, the viewers could see that it had been ruined.  The famous Timex tag line was;   "Whoops - time to get a new Timex.".  

I am hoping for something equally memorable from the folks at Holland 1916 in the event one of their tags gets damaged..  Meanwhile, kudos to the company for starting an RFID campaign that will capture our attention!

About Holland 1916

Founded 95 years ago, Holland 1916 is a progressive product identification manufacturer for the industrial market. Holland 1916’s RFID division specializes in the custom design and production of highly durable RFID transponder carrier solutions for extreme environments. Holland prides itself in providing creative and rugged RFID tagging solutions for the industrial OEM and service markets.

Learn more about Holland 1916 by visiting us at www.holland1916.com/RFID

Video: RFID Demolition Derby

Written by Craig Aberle 

     Last year we reported on a chap who was nailed putting fraudulent barcode labels on Lego toys by alert Target employees.   Just this week it was reported in the Palo Alto Online News that he would be going to jail for 30 days and then wearing an ankle monitor for 150 more days.  Plus paying a small fine.  We're rather disappointed with the punishment, but jails in California are overcrowded and it's expensive to keep someone there. 

      I wasn't sure whether the ankle monitor would be using RFID, GPS, or Sensormatic technology, but Wikipedia says it's probably a radio frequency based device.

     Meanwhile, no word on what the convict - Langenbach - will be doing at home to keep himself busy.  Let's make sure nobody is selling him rolls of barcode labels or RFID chips, eh?

Mobile barcode scanning is on the rise according to this new report from ScanLife.  The news is all good - and very impressive.  Here are a few highlights:

• For the first time ever, ScanLife processes over 7 million scans in consecutive months

• Users scan over 3x per month on average, a 22% increase from a year ago

• Female scanning tends to skew higher towards younger age groups

• Scanning from tablets has increased by a whopping 1300% from a year ago

For more info and complete details, see the ScanLife reports here.

Written by John Nachtrieb

  Maybe the first question should be, why do you test a bar code — and why is it necessary?

Here's my take. It is necessary to test a bar code because when it doesn’t work right, it causes huge problems and potentially huge liability.

Bar codes hold the retail supply chain together and make it possible to track the movement of food, consumer goods, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, health care products and devices; bar codes are integrated into manufacturing processes, security systems, access control devices, identification systems and myriad other applications.

When bar codes fail, it can be more than inconvenient. It can cost a lot of money, and it can cost lives.

How do you test a bar code?

You test it against several measurable attributes including its reflective and color contrast performance and how accurate it is both in terms of its image integrity and its data structure. Image integrity includes such things as the edge quality and widths of its bars and spaces as well as how precisely bars and spaces are positioned relative to each other.

In order to test a bar code, you need a device that can detect and measure these qualities in the bar code image.

A bar code scanner won't do that—it is designed only to decode the bar code image and extract from it the embedded data.

Scanners from various manufacturers do this in different ways. That means some scanners are more aggressive and tolerant of problems in the bar code image; others are less error-tolerant.

Using a scanner to gauge the accuracy of a bar code is meaningless since no two scanners perform exactly alike. How do you test a bar code with a scanner? You don’t.

How do you test a bar code with a scanner? You don’t.

Scanners cannot test the reflective and contrast properties of the bar code because they are positioned at a predictable distance and angle from the bar code. It is important to test reflectivity and contrast because it is an essential quality in any bar code, and if fails to meet minimum standards, the bar code becomes a liability.

How do you test a bar code? With a verifier.

Only with an ISO-compliant bar code verifier can you test all of the essential attributes of a printed bar code image and grade it in order to predict how that bar code will perform at the intended destination, whether that’s on a nurse’s crash cart in a hospital, making sure the patient is getting the right medications, tracking inventory movement and doing price look-up for a grocery product in a supermarket, or allowing a legitimate employee to enter a secured zone in a restricted area.

How do you test a bar code? Only with a verifier

Only a verifier will tell you when bar code quality is changing over time during the printing operation, and tell you how the bar code quality is degrading and why. This gives you the time and the tools to adjust the printing process, giving your customers confidence in your product and giving you protection against potentially damaging bar code performance liability.

How do you test a bar code? Only with a verifier.

About Barcode-Test

A 30-year veteran of the bar code industry, John Nachtrieb and his company Barcode-Test help provide solutions for customers' bar code quality challenges. He assists product managers, package printers, and suppliers by managing bar code related risk, and supporting bar code integrity over the long haul. You can find more of his writing on bar code quality at the Barcode-Test blog.

See related articles:

Bar Code Colors - What Works? - ... colors for the bar code and/or the background to gauge the quality. Bear in mind, however, you may or may not exactly duplicate the color swatches you are using for your test. Testing bar code colors ...

How to Extend the Life of Your Printhead - ... second, which is still very fast! Printhead Temperature Just as speed controls printhead temperature, the printhead temperature controls print quality. Here are some things you need to know: ...

Bar Code Label Software - Getting Started - ... need to produce high quality bar codes. If you're a high volume seller, then you'll want software that easily interfaces with your database and can communicate in native printer languages. If you sell ...

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There's a new color bar code in town and it offers new exciting potential uses that conventional bar codes can't match.    Some major companies have already licensed the code.   The technology is known as Colorbit(R), and it is comprised of a string of colored little blobs that can be translated into a binary code/numerical code.   

 

The code was developed in Japan and is relatively new to the United States.  It is being represented by Chris Anderson and Jim Kast - more at Colorbit-USA.com 

 

What is unique and different about this code?  Well, first of all, a picture can be taken of a group (!!) of Colorbit bar codes and the reader will decipher all of them.   Instead of a bar code reader that scans one code at a time,  a bicycle rental company in Japan uses the technology to take a picture of an entire racks of bicycles with Colorbit codes on the back of each bike, and the software takes inventory instantly!   Many codes - but just one picture. This happens to be an actual use of the technology in Japan.  The technology can resolve hundreds of codes from a single picture.

 

Another actual use is at a large solar array site in Japan.   The individual panels are all marked with Colorbit codes and are inventoried with an aerial photograph.   The technology is not limited to large codes - according to the vendor - "Colorbit^® can be read even if it is microscopic. There are many possibilities for its use: not only for papers (e.g. on the spine of a slim book or file, and on the edge of an envelope), but also for edges of metal plates, glasses and P.C.Boards."

 

A sample of this technology is displayed in this YouTube video - its just 20 seconds long - so click on it and take a peek. 

 

 

 

 The code is comprised of colored cells continuously arranged without being branched or crossed. The decoding method is by camera image processing technology tracing color differences between cells, i.e., tracing only the transition of color of each of neighboring cells, so the shape and the size of the code is flexible. Colorbit^® is a unique technology which is useful even for the field where barcode, two dimensional code and RFID tags cannot be used. 

 

 

Any PC camera supported - according to the company "Any PC connectable camera such as a web camera, a digital camera, a digital video camera, and a machine vision camera (an industrial camera) can be used. The camera should be selected according to conditions of use and required accuracy levels. For the usual usage an off-the-shelf web camera is more than enough. Printing of Colorbit^® can also be done by general-purpose color printers." 

 

It may even displace some RFID uses. 

 

According to Anderson,  B.Core, Inc - developed the algorithms , coding scheme and decoder.  The need was an unconstrained ability to read codes.  "Existing bar code schemes are very fussy about line space, orientation , quiet zone, etc  and are also only able to read one bar code at a time.  This code does not constrain itself to straight lines or smooth surfaces .  It can read a couple hundred of these codes at a time and even tell you where a particular item is.  The code can be created in spiral or geometric shapes." 

 

The company reports that 3M has licensed the exclusive right for development of it on retro-reflective material, and Sato, the well known manufacturer of bar code printers, has also licensed it. 

 

Colorbit-USA is looking primarily for systems integrators and VARs and will be attending the RFID Live show in Orlando in two weeks. 

 

 

Written by Craig Aberle

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In a study released today by research company IDC 2Q13 sales of Android based phones climbed to 79.3%, while Apple's iOS slipped to 13.2%.   Windows managed to nab 3.7% while poor Blackberry captured just 2.9% of the market.   See the complete report here:  http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130807005280/en/Apple-Cedes-Market-Share-Smartphone-Operating-System

 The most exciting part of course is that 236 million smartphone barcode reading devices were shipped - we love it!!!   

What is a Bar Code Quiet Zone?   This article offers an explanation and illustration and we are grateful to Dennis Hensch at www.autoidsolutions.com for providing it.  (Please allow a few extra seconds for this article to load due to the number of illustrations)

 Quiet Zone Requirements Vary by Symbology...

Quiet zones (QZ) are the area around the bar code that must be kept clear of text, graphics, and any
other printing which also includes ensuring that the bar code is not too close to the edge of the label/packaging. 

Bar code scanners depend on the QZ to help identify the bar code. The lack of an adequate QZ can cause the bar code scanner to confuse the bar codes with text or graphics resulting in the scanner ignoring a valid symbol. Each symbology has a different QZ size requirement, however all quiet zones are based on the size of the Narrow Bar Width (NBW) for linear bar codes and Module (MDL) for 2D bar codes.

The most common QZ error is caused by print growth, especially with bar codes that have a bearer bar around the bar code. This happens when the packaging designer makes a bar code with exactly the minimum QZ but when printing the bearer bars, text, or graphics print slightly wider (or registration shifts) which reduces the QZ size and cause a failure. Because of this we suggest making your QZ 1X or 2X wider than the minimum to ensure your bar codes QZ meet the ISO/ANSI standards.

Examples of various quiet zone requirements:

Minimum quiet zone requirements by symbology:

About Auto ID Solutions:
With over 60 years of bar code experience and two GS1-US Certified Consultants among its three senior staff, Auto ID Solutions offers quick, simple and thorough troubleshooting of bar code issues, regardless of size or scope. In addition to consulting and troubleshooting, Auto ID Solutions provides a variety of bar code verification-related services including calibration, repair, re-certification and sales--all with a guaranteed 24-hour turnaround. If your production line has been shut down, you have received a financial penalty for a bar code issue, or you are simply looking to learn more about the bar coding process, please visit us at www.autoidsolutions.com for more information or call us directly at (866) 828-8643.

Useful Sources:

More information about Quiet Zones for bar codes can be found here:

GS1 Website - http://www.gs1.org/docs/gsmp/barcodes/GS1_General_Specifications.pdf

Other useful information about bar codes can be found here:

AIM - The Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility

Other articles that may interest you:

Assorted Bar Code Resources and How-To's

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   Printing a large batch of bar code labels that won’t scan can be disastrous for any company.  Bad bar codes can lead to major issues for your products at retail, problems organizing and tracking inventory, undeliverable packages, and even expensive chargebacks in certain industries.  There are many factors that should be considered when printing your bar code labels.  The following guidelines will help ensure that you print easily scannable, high-quality bar codes.

     Choosing the right label material is the first step in creating high-quality bar code labels.  Both the color and finish of the label material can impact a bar code’s readability.  Ideally, a white label should be used for printing your bar codes.  Using a background color other than white reduces the contrast between the bar code and the label material, which can potentially result in failed readings with certain scanners. 

     Regarding the finish of the material, you will want to avoid metallic foil, ultra-glossy, and clear finishes. Label material with any type of reflective finish will greatly reduce the odds of a successful scan. Keeping your printer properly maintained is also vitally important to printing high-quality bar codes.  To achieve universally successful scans your bar codes will need to be crisp, well defined, and printed at a high resolution.  After printing, if you notice defects such as fuzzy, splotchy or blurry printing, or even instances of faded or missing print, then there may be an issue with the bar codes being properly read by certain scanners.  Keeping your bar code printers regularly cleaned and maintained should allow you to avoid these problems, and routinely print high-quality bar codes.

     Size and position play a major role in bar code readability as well.  As a rule of thumb, you will want to print your bar codes while adhering to the standards provided by GS1.  A direct link to GS1’s standards documentation can be found below:

http://www.gs1.org/gsmp/kc/barcodes

     Ensuring that your bar codes are being printed at an acceptable size and with the proper light margins will go a long ways towards printing bar codes that are easily scannable.  This is especially important for bar code symbologies such as UPC and EAN that are required for retail applications.

     How and where your bar code labels are applied to your products will be a major factor in their readability as well.  Bar code labels should be placed on a flat surface.  A bar code label placed onto a curved or rounded surface may experience difficulties being read.  It is very important that the bar code is laid down flatly, so that the label is not crumpled, folded, or peeling.  In addition, you should be mindful to place the bar code label in an area where it will not be obscured by another label, shrink wrap, or any other kind of packaging.

Printing and applying bad bar code labels can be a very costly mistake for a business to make.  These guidelines should have you printing high-quality bar codes in no time!

Written by Dave Carmany  President of Onlinelabels.com

About OnlineLabels.com

OnlineLabels.com is the premier resource for all your bar code labeling needs.  Whether you need 1 sheet or 100 sheets, we can accept your order because we have the largest selection of ready-to-ship blank labels for laser and inkjet printers in the world. We carry over 1,100 label configurations in stock, and if that's not enough, we can custom manufacture any label sheet configuration you require.  We offer a money back guarantee and same day shipping!

For more articles about printing and using bar codes, please visit our LEARN section. See the menu bar above.

Bar codes and Packaging

     This article discusses issues to consider when placing or designing a bar code on a package.  A number of links to industry standards documents are available at the end of the article.  Before printing thousands of labels it is recommended you consult with a bar code professional to make sure to get it right the first time. 

1.Number assignment best practices - getting the number right

Usually the brand owner is responsible for assigning the bar code number. Whoever does it, extreme care should be taken to ensure an old number isn’t accidentally reassigned to a different product, or a new number isn’t accidentally assigned to more than one product. Often this happens when multiple copies of the product data base are kept. Good communication between various functions that must share the data base is not a sufficient solution to the possibility of number assignment mistakes. Build out the possibility with an airtight procedure that draws on one central number assignment agent and one data base.

And don’t forget that different sizes, weights, colors, flavors and other variations must be uniquely numbered. If your bar code numbers don’t reflect product distinctions, the sales and inventory replenishment figures can’t differentiate them either.

It is also very important that the correct symbology is used. Retail point-of-sale (POS) requires a UPC or one of its variants (EAN and JAN in other areas of the globe).  (1) (2-2)

2.Bar code design file

If at all possible create the bar code using a graphics program, not a font program. The problem with font programs is that they don’t always integrate into the larger graphics design file and can get corrupted. The bar code may still look like a bar code but it doesn’t decode properly.

Whatever kind of design program you’re using, design and use the bar code file at its final size (magnification). Never-never-never scale the bar code to make it fit the space left for it in the graphics design.

If your customer provides the bar code design file, make sure it is designed correctly or your process. It should have the correct bar width reduction factor and size (magnification) and, of course, the correct number assignment for the product package.

Always include the entire human-readable interpretation with the bar code and generate the bar code and human-readables together, never as separate operations.

UPC/EAN bar codes on consumer point-of-sale packaging should never be smaller than 80% magnification for offset printing, and never smaller than 100% for flexo printing. Unnecessary truncation (cutting down the height of the symbol) is not permitted by the GS1 specification. When it is absolutely necessary due to space limitations, it should be minimized. Truncation makes scanning the bar code less omni-directional, slowing down the POS process and aggravating retailers. 

More on Barcode Printing Specs (7).

3.Symbol placement

The GS1 specification requires the bar code to be located on or near the natural bottom of the package. The presence of a bar code in a location on the package which slows the point-of-sale process can trigger retailer charge-backs.

A package should never display more than one bar code on any side or facet.

Detailed specifications are available on the GS1.org website.(1)  (3)

4.Verify at every production step

The best time to verify is during a production process. Post-process verification is too late to make any essential adjustments to improve the quality of the bar code. Verification of pre-press bar code images may show negative bar width error because press gain has not yet occurred. Minus-side bar width errors should be approximately equal to design-imposed bar width reduction.

Pre-production is a great place to check symbology, encoded data against human-readables, check digits, symbol location and quiet zones.

Use an ISO-compliant verifier, not a scanner. Testing with a partially ISO compliant or non-compliant verifier is meaningless. Testing with a scanner is only go/no-go testing for that one scanner. It doesn’t signal emerging problems and doesn’t replicate the way other scanners behave.

5.Use your Verifier—and your head

Verifiers test and grade the ISO attributes of the bar code, but not whether the human-readables and the encoded data match. Nor do verifiers test for symbol truncation or location, or whether the correct symbology is present. Some verifiers do not test the symbol for correct structure, such as Application Identifiers in, for example, a coupon code.

      Choosing a bar code font, placement, bar code printing source and dealing with other variables requires patience and attention to detail.  Consulting with an expert can save you time and money in the long run and we encourage you to consider bringing in an expert. 

Written by John Nachtrieb

    Mr. Nachtrieb has 30+ years of hands-on experience in barcode technology. His team imaged the film master for the first commercially scanned barcode in North America (1974). His specialty is barcode quality. He created and hosts a highly customized barcode quality seminar which has been presented to 100's of companies, reaching thousands of quality-concerned people, helping them to avoid barcode problems and manage barcode-related risk.

(Assistance by Craig Aberle)

About Barcode-Test

A 30-year veteran of the bar code industry, John Nachtrieb and his company Barcode-Test help provide solutions for customers' bar code quality challenges. He assists product managers, package printers, and suppliers by managing bar code related risk, and supporting bar code integrity over the long haul. You can find more of his writing on bar code quality at the Barcode-Test blog.

Official Sources of specifications and informational guides

(1) GS1 General Specifications - http://www.gs1.org/docs/gsmp/barcodes/GS1_General_Specifications.pdf

(2) GS1 Bar code Implementation - http://www.gs1.org/barcodes/implementation

(3) GS1 Pick the Bar Code Placement - http://www.gs1.org/barcodes/implementation#9

(4) Getting Started With AIDC - Free white paper By AIMGLOBAL - http://www.aimglobal.org/?page=get_started

(5) Barcode Quality Step By Step - Connecting the Dots from the Verification Report to Solving Your Barcode Problems - Free white paper by Barcode-Test

(6) Assorted Bar Code Resources - http://barcode.com/assorted-bar-code-resources.html

(7) Bar Code Printing Methods -http://www.gs1.org/barcodes/technical/bar_code_printing_methods

(8) Why Bar Code Quality is More Important Than Ever - How Self-check out, Automated Sortation and Drug Dosing Require Higher Quality Codes -http://www.barcode-test.com/barcode-tutorial/bar-code-quality-more-important-than-ever/

Treat yourself!  Subscribe to the Bar Code News - daily, weekly or monthly.   Free for members of the industry and bar code enthusiasts.

Forty years ago few people believed that the Universal Product Code (UPC) , the optical bar code developed under the sponsorship of leaders and visionaries in the technology and food distribution industry, would become ubiquitous across the planet or that it would last for longer than a couple of decades.

But the IBM engineer, George J. Laurer, who along with several collaborators, actually created the specific schema for uniquely identifying every product in a typical store, created something that has exceeded all those early expectations.

It is now endemic to the retail experience. Not surprisingly, that has strained some of the support organizations created to support the deployment of the symbol and has become a bonanza for others.

The Bar Code News™ had the privilege of speaking with Mr. Laurer on this matter. His thoughts? "At this point in time access for applying the bar code on products must become as ubiquitous as its use for transactions in commerce."

The original technology focused on larger companies such as General Foods, which moved so much volume that the cost of a UPC bar code was trivial per unit sold. In fact, under the jurisdiction of the Uniform Code Council (UCC), there was a flat fee of roughly $300 for 100,000 UPC codes, and no annual fees.   Today however the organizations in charge of dispensing new numbers (at zero cost to them, save the need to keep track and not duplicate numbers), charge about $700 for just 100 numbers (it varies per country) and annual fees based on the number of bar codes that they have. 

In the time of a very weak economy, when we are depending on small businesses for job creation and innovation, these costs are simply too high.

In classic open market style, alternative sources for barcodes have become available. Companies who may have purchased the 100,000 item bar code package from the original industry source, choose to make their thousands of unused UPC numbers available to new smaller companies at only fractions of the current cost from the original industry source. And, with no annual fees.

But there is a catch here, according to Mr. Laurer; certain large volume retailers, for example, Wal-Mart, Macy's, and Kroger, choose to say they will not carry products identified with UPC numbers that have been obtained from resellers and not directly from the current industry source.

The effect of this is to support a monopolistic practice that inflates the cost of these market-required symbols by very large amounts. The large volume retailers enforcing this practice may believe this prevents pirating of numbers or protection against degradation of the symbol technology itself, but it is not necessary. The technology of the symbol is much more robust than anyone appreciated at the start.

For large volumes, the cost of acquiring the unique barcode is still manageable. But for the very small company, who might need 100 bar codes or less, the cost of obtaining the rights to use the UPC Bar code is much more significant.

How can these small companies, (that economists state our finances and future jobs are depending upon) grow, if they are blocked from large scale distribution by what is effectively an artificial monopolistic practice?

In an effort to dispel any concerns about the validity of a specific barcode, the Barcode's creator has established the Authenticated UPC Registration Directory – a website that will allow registration of UPC codes purchased in the aftermarket. The directory will contain prefixes of owners wishing to sell the unneeded excess of numbers purchased in the past.

The site is a clearing house for identifying numbers obtained without a contractual obligation to not resell the included numbers. (Originally, getting a UPC code did not restrict one from selling unused numbers).

As the site develops retailers, small start-up manufacturing companies, and consumers can come to the site to check if a UPC number they are interested in has been verified to be legitimate and to identify who is the current owner.

"It won't happen overnight, but I hope that as time progresses even the largest of retailers will find it is important to include every supplier in the market and not to artificially freeze out the small company struggling to start and grow," says Laurer.

Today he is still promoting its use and finding ways to make it more useful. The Authenticated UPC Registration Directory has been a dream of his for many years.

Joining the Authenticated UPC Registration Directory is straight forward for UPC prefix owners wishing to resell their unused numbers. After providing their organizational information, paying a small initiation fee necessary to keep the site running, and sending copies of their original documentation granting them their prefix, they may upload all the numbers they previously sold.

People coming to the site will find information about the how the various forms of the UPC are formed and used. Manufacturers can provide to the trade additional information such as package dimensions and suggested wording for retail receipt tapes.

Of course retailers can find that their vendor has legitimate barcodes and get this additional information. You can see this information at http://authenticatedupcregistrationdirectory.org or http://approvedupcs.com.

Registration is available to interested people who own prefixes, just wish to register their number or a smaller list of numbers, or simply to individuals who support the work and would like to become associated with it.

The Authenticated UPC Registration Directory will be a benefit to every small company needing to acquire a UPC code. Wal-Mart would do well to remember its very humble beginnings not so very long ago, and have a little compassion for those who seek the kind of success its founder had.   In fact, the Wal-Mart Corporate website has this quote* from Sam Walton:

     "If we work together, we'll lower the cost of living for everyone...we'll give the world an opportunity to see what it's like to save and have a better life."

Perhaps Wal-Mart can work to reconcile its founders philosophy with its current insistence that small businesses (whose owners and employees shop at Wal-Mart too) pay a hundred times more than necessary to get a bar code.

*Source: http://walmartstores.com/AboutUs/8123.aspx

The Bar Code News has sought comments from GS1, the current organization issuing new UPC numbers, numerous times over the past year - through chat groups, direct contact with GS1 personnel, and their PR firm. We've also offered to publish GS1 responses and opinions. We have yet to receive a response.

The snub doesn't offend us, and the offer to publish a GS1 response/opinion/commentary remains open. In addition to the need for a publicly accessible database of all UPC users, there is a need for a database of all products carrying bar codes.  While several attempts have been made to gather this information, no database that we've seen even comes close, including the bar code lookup on GS1's own site, where even their own major clients (many Fortune 500 companies)  have not posted their information.   We will be addressing this need in an upcoming article.  User opinion, industry comments and general feedback are sought. 

Written by Craig Aberle

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BOSTON and SHANGHAI   – ByteLight, a company revolutionizing indoor location, recently launched a first of its kind Light Field Communication (LFC) reader using lighting-based software. LFC is a new, alternative standard to radio-based Near Field Communication (NFC), providing retailers a cost-effective, fast and secure way to verify a customer’s presence during tap-and-go check-ins and checkouts with any smartphone.

The company has also entered into a partnership agreement with Appconomy, a cloud-based retail platform and mobile solutions provider, for the inaugural pilot of ByteLight’s LFC readers and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution with multiple retailers in China using The Appconomy Platform. The joint solution will enable these retailers to redeem and reward actual customers checking into stores, engaging in loyalty programs and making purchases.

“Existing NFC readers are expensive, cumbersome and designed to support only payments, not customer loyalty and redemption," said Dan Ryan, co-founder and CEO of ByteLight. "In addition, despite a decade of hype, NFC adoption remains stagnant and is still unsupported by Apple over six generations of iPhones. Our LFC reader is designed to be a simple, cost effective, and universal solution for enabling mobile loyalty and rewards.  There’s no need for retailers to wait another decade for NFC to become widespread, since LFC already works on every smartphone today.  And as for supporting payments – stay tuned.”

Ready to use in minutes, ByteLight’s patented LFC readers transmit a signal via short-range light, which is picked up by a shopper’s camera-equipped mobile device by touching or bringing within close proximity. LFC readers allow customers to skip unlocking phones, launching check-in applications or searching for the store they’re in by simply tapping the phone near the device. In addition, the readers seamlessly plug into existing Point of Sale (POS) systems to securely verify customer location for mobile customer loyalty and redemption programs. The LFC standard is faster, more reliable, ubiquitous and less expensive than NFC. 

“We’re thrilled to be entering into a partnership with ByteLight for the inaugural pilot of LFC readers,” said Steve Papermaster, Appconomy’s Co-CEO and Executive Chairman of its Board of Directors. “With more than 350 million enabled smartphone users and a rapidly growing middle-class, China is the epicenter of the mobile commerce movement. Appconomy is already a first-mover in China with the Appconomy Platform powering context-aware mobile solutions for several large Chinese and global brands. In being the first to pilot LFC-enabled mobile check-ins and checkouts, we’ll meet a pressing need by retailers in China to connect and engage with shoppers in-store, with a flexible, cost-effective system.”

“We’re excited to partner with Appconomy and look forward to working closely together in piloting our joint solution for improving shopping experiences in China,” added ByteLight’s Ryan. “The future of brick-and-mortar retail is combining the physical store floor with digital assets. China is at the forefront of this shift and Appconomy has deep retail domain expertise within the market. This makes them an ideal first partner to pilot our LFC readers with.”

Retailers interested in ByteLight’s LFC readers can find more information and sign-up for pre-orders at bytelight.com/lfc.

About ByteLight

ByteLight is revolutionizing indoor location with lighting-based software. ByteLight’s market-leading software solution leverages the existing lighting infrastructure within large public venues, businesses and retail outlets to deliver unprecedented accuracy and responsiveness. This enables venue owners with the ability to offer information, redemptions, maps and services to people at precise locations within their buildings. For more information, visit: http://www.bytelight.com

About Appconomy

Appconomy is a software company with a groundbreaking context-aware, mobile marketing platform that enhances users’ shopping experiences and delivers benefits to retailers. The company’s customers include major Chinese retailers and global, retail brands like Carrefour and Burger King that rely on Appconomy for strategic insights and products in mobile retail technology.  The company is privately held and dual-headquartered in Shanghai, China and Austin, Texas. Appconomy is venture-backed, with strategic investors including Qiming Ventures, Neusoft Holdings, True Ventures, and WTI.

 What if you couldn't tell what was in a can of food, because you could not see colors, logos or text?    A new app, currently available on the iPhone, is helping visually impaired people read bar codes.  You might be wondering why is this relevant, or why a blind person needs to read barcodes - the answer will surprise you!  

 

 This app by Digit-Eyes will scan the barcode and tell you out loud what product it is that you are holding.  Many cans or bottles with radically different products are all the same size.

 

 For example, a can of Campbells soup, is close to the size of a can of dog food.  A can of water chestnuts is very close to the size of a can of cat food.  A bottle of balsamic is similar to a bottle of olive oil.  This app will read the UPC code, look up the contents and read them out loud to you. 

 

 

This app works for clothing as well!   

   A person who is visually impaired, or color blind can use the app to create labels for clothing. Are the socks gray, or black? They came out of the wash and how do you match them up if you can't differentiate.  Digit-Eyes offers washable labels that their app will scan and identify the color of the garment.  

 

   The technology has a valuable use for medications too.  Many pill bottles look and feel alike.  An individual picking up several pill bottles at the pharmacy could place a QR code label (available from Digit-Eyes)  on the bottom of each pill bottle (as caps could be interchanged) and use the app software to have the pharmacist quickly and easily record the instructions for taking each.  

 

   The company also offers QR code playing cards (just remember to use an earphone.)

 

   The app is just $19.95 and is available in ten languages.  Please share this article with your friends and co-workers....someone may benefit! 

   

 

About Digit-Eyes:

Digit-Eyes is developed and marketed by a team that consists of both unsighted and sighted individuals. We understand, all too well, that being visually impaired is inconvenient. We are of the opinion that it should not also be expensive.
We aspire to deliver products that are: Easy to use without sighted assistance, Portable and convenient to have at hand,Robustand to do so at a price point radically below that of competing products. 

Our intention in developing Digit-Eyes was to create an outstanding software solution to a common problem experienced by the visually-impaired: labeling and understanding the content of labels.  Digit-Eyes was completed with the invaluable assistance of a multinational team of 40 low-vision and blind beta testers who served as our stakeholders.

Written by Craig Aberle

A press release (shown below) is disclosing that Microsoft will stop servicing the TAG bar code symbology, and that Scanbuy, Inc., will be licensing the technology from Microsoft. 

SCANBUY SELECTED AS PREMIER LICENSEE OF THE MICROSOFT TAG MOBILE BARCODE TECHNOLOGY

As Licensee of the Microsoft Tag Technology, Scanbuy Will Advance the Technology and Provide the Migration Path forward for existing and new customers who choose to continue using the Microsoft TAG format on the ScanLife platform.

New York – Aug. 19, 2013 – Scanbuy, Inc., the leading mobile engagement solutions provider, has been chosen by Microsoft as a licensee of the software giant’s mobile barcode technology, Microsoft Tag.

Microsoft also announced that it will shut down the Microsoft Tag Service in two years, on August 19th , 2015.  For current Microsoft Tag customers, for the next two years the Microsoft Tag Service will continue running as it has been. All Microsoft Tags in the market will continue to work, new codes can be generated, and scan reports will be available as usual through the Microsoft Tag Service until August 19th, 2015.   Scanbuy plans to support Microsoft Tag Technology on the ScanLife platform beginning no later than September 18 2013, and to offer transition and migration services to Microsoft TAG customers who choose to migrate to the ScanLife platform.  This transition path will help current Microsoft Tag customers to continue running campaigns using Microsoft Tags on the ScanLife platform.

Current Microsoft Tag customers or new companies interested in services using Microsoft Tag technology will be able to create and scan Microsoft TAGs using Scanbuy’s ScanLife service and mobile application, as well as benefit from a number of advanced ScanLife services:

• Some of the innovations available include access to mobile experiences that change based on context, easy creation of mobile landing pages, advanced insights on activity, and more.

• New campaigns will have access to multiple mobile triggers including Microsoft Tags, QR Codes, Datamatrix, or EZCode formats.  NFC tags, short URL’s and other mobile triggers can be when created on the ScanLife platform.  This will give an unprecedented cross platform and cross media view on campaign analytics and end user engagement.

• Current Microsoft Tag customers will be offered the opportunity to migrate their codes, scan history, account information and all other data to the ScanLife platform

• Users of the Microsoft Tag mobile app will be offered versions of the Scanbuy Tag mobile app and enhanced integration with the ScanLife app user community of more than 70 million device users.  

“With the most popular mobile engagement platform in the industry, Scanbuy is a great choice for Microsoft Tag customers to continue to grow their mobile engagement programs,” said Eric Engstrom, General Manager, Microsoft.  “Scanbuy is highly focused in this area with an impressive track record and stellar technology which made them a natural partner for licensing the Microsoft Tag technology.”  

Introduced in 2009, Microsoft Tag is used by top brands in publishing, retail, entertainment and more to connect consumers to mobile content such as videos, music, product information, ring tones, free text and other promotions by scanning the Microsoft Tag symbol or QR Code with their smartphones.  The Microsoft Tag app has been downloaded by millions of smartphone users around the world with billions of Tags and QR Codes published in magazines, on packaging and in-store merchandising, promotional materials, event signage and more, and it continues to grow in usage.     

“We are humbled and honored to be entrusted by Microsoft to carry forward the Microsoft Tag technology for the leading brands that use Microsoft Tag as well as the millions of the app’s users, allowing them to build upon the tremendous success of the platform,” said Mike Wehrs, CEO and president of Scanbuy.  “Microsoft’s decision to allow Scanbuy to incorporate the Microsoft Tag technology into the ScanLife service is a testament to the power of our technology, service offering, patent portfolio and the Scanbuy team.”

“The mobile engagement space continues to grow rapidly with millions of additional new transactions world,” Wehrs said. “With this ability to allow our ScanLife customers to create and scan tags using the Microsoft Tag technology, Scanbuy will process data from an additional two million scans per month to help customers understand consumer interests and product intent.”

About Scanbuy

Scanbuy is the global leader in developing mobile engagement solutions that power intelligent connections between the physical and digital world. The ScanLife suite of products consists of a cloudbased platform used by a wide variety of industries including retail, CPG, and media to create, manage and monitor dynamic mobile engagement campaigns. The ScanLife mobile app is used by millions of people around the world to discover new information and is available for all major platforms including Android and iOS.

ScanLife processes millions of mobile barcode scans, mobile URL requests and NFC engagements from over 150 different countries and is headquartered in New York City with local offices throughout North America, Europe and Latin America.  Scanbuy has the largest and oldest patent portfolio of any company in the industry, owning 19 patents globally and licensing more than 40 patents to cover our entire solution. The company’s investors include Motorola Solutions Ventures, Google Inc., and Masthead Venture Partners. For more information, visit us at www.scanlife.com.

Scanbuy PR Contact:

Contact:  Valerie Christopherson or Mike Kilroy

Global Results Comms (GRC)

+1 949 608 0276 (ph)

scanbuy@globalresultspr.com

Other articles about Microsoft TAG or Scanbuy

http://barcode.com/20110323511/microsoft-tag-the-best-tasting-barcode.html

http://barcode.com/201305211145/qr-code-marketing-an-interview-with-mike-wehrs-ceo-of-scanbuy.html

http://barcode.com/201308051183/mobile-barcode-scanning-up-scanlife-shares-data-on-qr-codes.html

Wednesday August 21st - This is the third article on the move by Microsoft to exit the 2D bar code space. On Monday we published the press release, yesterday we shared comments from Mike Wehrs at Scanbuy, the company that has acquired a license for Tag and today we have input from two current and one former competitor in the 2d marketing/barcode segment and one active participant who specializes in art for Tag.

A few of the questions we posed:
Q - Is it good or bad for the industry?
Q - Does it matter?
Q - Will other 2d symbologies fade in the face of the QR code?

From Laura Marriott - CEO of Neomedia Technologies - a company which offers 2D reporting and marketing services
  "It is always unfortunate to lose (the support of) a large player in the space.  Microsoft had a strong offering and helped to encourage market growth and adoption by offering their services free of charge.  It is unfortunate to lose them from the space but believe that there are a long list of players, with high quality solutions, ready to service not only their clientele but the large number of companies who have yet to integrate 2D codes into their solutions."

  "QR adoption and growth will proceed whether or not Microsoft is in the market.  There are hundreds/thousands of providers globally who are all seeing significant growth in their offerings but it is too bad to see them exit."

   "Proprietary codes are falling by the wayside as QR takes center stage for marketing, advertising and couponing implementations.  Other open standard 2D symbologies, like Aztec or Data matrix, are also taking on a larger role in more specialized applications, like train ticketing or supply chain management for pharmaceuticals.  Open standards, like QR, Data matrix and Aztec, are the way of the future in 2D."

Nicole Skogg, CEO and Founder of SpyderLynk (SnapTag), offered up the following comments:
   "One would expect as with any emerging technology that there will be those that fully develop the technology, continue to refine it, and, ultimately, emerge as market leaders. "
 
  "We believe the winners in the space will be those companies that deliver compelling mobile solutions using mobile activators as the gateway to a mobile dialogue with consumers, not those just offering mobile barcodes."

  "We’ve found in our work with some very smart brand marketers that what the industry really needs are solutions that gives them branding capabilities and robust marketing tools to activate, engage, and convert their audiences."

Bret daCosta - founder of 2dartcode.com, a company that specializes in the creation of 2d art work using Tag as well as other 2d codes, said he felt that Microsoft licensing the product to others was a positive development as they weren't doing much with it.  He also said that he'd sensed some reluctance by companies to invest in a code that was proprietary, and that a great many people believe it should be open source.

Finally, Dudley Fitzpatrick - former Founder/CEO of JagTag (a competitor) also offered some salient comments on the niche itself and why it has not yet taken off:
   "I think the biggest issue facing the market is the poor implementation executed by clients and their agency partners.  People put tags on things but they don't ever even tell you what you get by engaging the tag."

   "The biggest issue - the lack of an appropriate and compelling offer and the articulation of that offer by the marketer."  

   "The foundation of the category.. that it transforms static marketing materials into interactive on-demand media - is as valuable as its ever been , but it's not being properly executed."  

    Fitzpatrick also opined that the free nature of QR codes is counter-productive ;   "...because qr codes are free - the lack of investment that brands make...allows them to not really care that much about the return they get.  Because of the actual free nature of QR codes - they are not as disciplined in getting the return."

  Interesting thoughts for sure!  It's been a busy week so far in the niche - can't wait to see what comes this fall!

Other articles that may interest you:

The First Billion Scans Are the Hardest

Climbing Pay Per Click (PPC) Costs in the Bar Code Industry

Need a bar code service or product? Click on the menu on the left hand side of the screen, or the Companies link on the menu bar above, for a list of all the bar code companies.

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Right now, hundreds of millions of smartphones are being sold to people all over the world and over 2 billion smartphones and tablets are already in use. Smartphones have cameras. Those cameras can take a picture of a bar code, decode it and transmit it to a server for updating a database or verification (as in a mobile ticketing application).    Do these smartphones have a place in warehouses? Field work (delivery/service/logistics)?  Inventory management?  Technology like this can obviously save companies thousands of dollars in equipment purchases and eliminate the time and energy of tracking and maintaining those bar code reading assets.   We asked Richard Eicher Jr., the CEO of codeREADr - a smartphone app that is designed to be in the field and has been downloaded tens of thousands of times, for a few hundred words on the topic. Here are his thoughts: 

"Traditional mobile computers are rugged, purpose-built devices, often with advanced scanning  capabilities. They are indispensible for many enterprise applications. However, they can cost $1,500 or more, without even considering the associated software & service costs, and they can sometimes be inconvenient to deploy.

On the other hand, smartphones and tablets, with or without rugged cases, offer a lower cost, easily replaceable and customizable alternative. In many cases, these ‘consumer’ devices are more convenient to deploy (e.g. smaller, lighter and already owned) and, importantly, can offer more features, applications and utilities.

Growth Trend

The adoption of mobile POS systems by retailers that use iOS and Android devices has grown steadily for several years. The use of these devices for ticket validation and lead retrieval has also been growing. However, that’s not been the case for the majority of enterprise auto-ID and data collection (AIDC) applications for field service, healthcare, manufacturing, utilities, transportation and logistics.

What is Holding Up Enterprise Adoption?

The camera on smartphones and tablets is excellent for scanning QR and UPC barcodes. However, it was far less efficient at reading the barcode symbologies used for the majority of commercial applications.  While some of those barcodes are being replaced by QR codes, most businesses will continue to use
commercial symbologies for a long time to come.  Enterprises have successfully used bluetooth scanning accessories or attached scanning hardware to smartphones, thus enabling enterprise-grade scanning. However, there is a significant cost consideration for these devices and, again, there’s the issue of convenience when deploying these devices in the field.

What has Changed?

In our recently launched new scan engine, dubbed SD PRO, (the codeREADr enterprise app)  enterprises can scan all the popular commercial symbologies using only the camera on iOS and Android devices.  SD PRO is special for the following reasons.

a.) Speed – decoding measured in tens of milliseconds with many devices.

b.) Decoding accuracy – essential for mission-critical data collection applications.

c.) Exception handling – scanning barcodes that are damaged, partially obscured, dense, small or poorly printed, even in poorly lit environments and at extreme angles.

What about Integration?

The codeREADr app is fully integrated with Skycore’s cloud-based codeREADr Platform. Clients can create their own workflows and permissions for data collection, authentication and validation. They can deploy both real-time services (online) and on-device services (i.e. without an internet connection).

The Future

We launched codeREADr in May, 2009. The architecture of the platform was carefully designed so that our clients have the flexibility to deploy codeREADr for both traditional AIDC applications and those that they haven’t even thought of yet. We see that a lot – where clients find they can now collect data in so many more ways than ever before.  As iOS and Android devices continue to permeate the enterprise space, forward looking developers and IT managers are creating new, revenue-generating and cost-saving services to track, validate, authenticate and collect data with these amazing devices. 

Undoubtedly apps like codeREADr will be a part of the future.  Billions of smartphone devices already in the field, ready for deployment are too great to ignore and businesses everywhere are looking for savings.  
    We think this is a sleeper niche that bears close watching.  While the bar code industry has been largely dismissive of smartphones and tablets for commercial use, businesses like Apple have been utilizing the technology in the field for years.  Furthermore, the iPad is the fastest growing device being adopted in retail.   Sometimes, the future isn't quite as you expected it to be. 

More about SkyCore and codeREADr can be found on their website. Click on the video below for a 1 minute demonstration of the app being used on smartphones and tablets.  

Written by Craig Aberle

More than 6,000 Assets Tagged

In the Richardson, Texas, police department, equipment check-ins and check-outs are mandatory with shift changes. Officers were spending up to 15 minutes each shift recording the serial number from every radio, shotgun, citation printer and other piece of equipment in the vehicle.
     It’s a time-consuming task that is also repetitive, boring and often not given a lot of attention. To address those issues, Richardson’s Police Chief Jimmy Spivey searched for technology that would make the shift transition easier and faster, and found it in Xerafy’s RFI (radio frequency identification) asset management software. Chief Spivy credits the new system for saving 7.5 to 12 hours of labor on this task per day, allowing his officers to better serve the community of Richardson through patrolling and intervention.

     RFID is certainly not a new concept in inventory management, but its deployment in Richardson is somewhat unique. The officers coming on shift use a handheld computer with an integrated RFID reader to do a quick sweep of the vehicle in which all elements needed to be inventoried are barcoded. Using GlobeRanger software, the reader automatically identifies the assets in the vehicle and records their serial numbers plus a time/date stamp of the scan, which is then updated in real time to the Richardson PD. Any missing parts can be instantly located or replaced, prior to the officer going on patrol. The system is not just saving time; it may be saving lives.

Police impersonators pose tremendous risk to the public, and Richardson’s PD wanted to do whatever possible to minimize that risk. Although turnover isn’t a huge issue, uniform replacements are frequent, and old pieces of uniforms are not always returned. Manual inventory was a difficult and time-consuming chore.

GlobeRanger provided its asset tracking system to the Richardson PD and worked with the department to find the best RFID tags for uniform tracking and to get all uniform items tagged. Now when new shirts, jackets or other items are issued, the officer presents his or her ID card, which is scanned along with the apparel item to associate it to the specific officer. The system has greatly improved record keeping accuracy while saving time.

One of the challenges faced by RFID tags is heat, and the heat inside unattended squad cars in Richardson routinely exceeds 120 degrees. GlobeRanger selected Xerafy to help it find the best tags and adhesives for the Richardson PD project.

With more than 6,000 tagged assets in the program, Richardson Police Department is using several types of Xerafy tags, enabling officers to complete the inventory in just a few seconds.

Saving lives, saving time, RFID provided a technological solution to a human resource challenge.

About Xerafy

Xerafy’s innovations have changed the price-performance ratio for RFID tags and made it possible for customers to track assets in a wide range of harsh environments. Xerafy provides read-on-metal tags that can be embedded directly into assets to meet a full range of needs for RFID asset tracking in the aerospace, industrial, data center, healthcare, energy and other industries. Xerafy is headquartered in Hong Kong and maintains U.S. sales and support offices in San Jose, Dallas and Minneapolis, and additional offices in the U.K. and China.

Written by Suzi Harkola

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