bar codes

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Restaurants Are Ditching QR Code Menus
Customers Reject
a Pandemic-Era
Restaurant Staple
in case you missed it

Customers Reject a Pandemic-Era Restaurant Staple

Eateries are ditching QR code menus

(Newser) - We all got used to an avalanche of changes in our daily routines during the peak of COVID, including ways in which to safely dine in public once lockdowns were lifted. Now, one of those eating-out protocols is falling by the wayside: Restaurants are starting to ditch scannable QR codes,...

Bar Code Inventor Dead at 91
 Bar Code Inventor Dead at 91 

Bar Code Inventor Dead at 91

N. Joseph Woodland and co-inventor made only $15K

(Newser) - The New York Times has what must be the most interesting obituary of the day: that of 91-year-old N. Joseph Woodland, who invented the now-ubiquitous bar code with a colleague in the late 1940s. Among the tidbits:
  • Aha moment: It came while Woodland sat on the beach at his parents'
...

High-Tech Executive Accused of ... Lego Theft

Silicon Valley exec used his own bar codes at stores, say cops

(Newser) - Legos? The San Jose Mercury News weighs in with the tale of a Silicon Valley executive accused of using his high-tech skills to steal, yes, Legos. Lots and lots of Legos. Thomas Langenbach of software giant SAP allegedly created his own bar codes, then made the rounds of local Target...

Barcode of Future Is Tiny, Shiny

MIT researchers design an alternative with 'Bokodes'

(Newser) - MIT researchers have designed a possible replacement for the conventional barcode, the BBC reports. Called Bokodes, the tags are made up of a powered light-emitting diode, a mask and a lens, and can store much more information than the black-and-white stripe variety. More, the scientists say, the Bokodes can be...

Airport Security Loophole Gets High-Tech Fix

Encryption makes boarding pass 'impossible' to forge

(Newser) - The government is finally closing a well-known loophole that makes it easy for would-be terrorists to board planes, Wired reports. Under current rules, it’s possible to forge a boarding pass at home. But new measures will put the passes, with secure barcodes, on smartphones, making it “well-nigh impossible...

Tobacco Crackdown Aims to Douse Smuggling Efforts

Making supply chain more transparent among goals of international talks

(Newser) - Negotiators from over 150 countries are working with the World Health Organization to shape a proposal intended to combat the global trade in illegal cigarettes, Portfolio reports. Anti-tobacco advocates say current measures are insufficient to stem the illicit production or smuggling that accounts for 11% of worldwide tobacco sales, and...

Bar Code Marketing Misses Mark
Bar Code Marketing Misses Mark

Bar Code Marketing Misses Mark

Scanning codes with your phone reveals information—for a fee

(Newser) - A technology that lets European and Asian cellphone users point their phones at bar codes on everything from products to street signs to bring up more information isn’t ready for deployment in the US. At least that’s the indication so far of a trial at Case Western Reserve...

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