Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Old barcodes on new bottles

Apple barcode
I'm always intrigued by non-standard barcodes, especially UPC bar codes. I find this product-inspired packaging creative. The label is diecut to resemble an apple and the bump in the upper left is the stem. Clever.

Reminds me of a bottle of wine I ran across years ago from a winery named Eye of the Swan. The barcode was part of the illustration: cattails with a swan. The barcode was part of the stalks.

Makes me laugh when I hear about companies trying to patent barcodes-as-illustrations. A Japanese company with an American partner here in Seattle comes to mnd. Can you spell "prior art"?

Friday, May 12, 2006

Barcode scanner as camera

Take a look at this photo. Looks like it was taken with a camera phone, right?

No. It was taken using this barcode scanner and its bundled software.

Not really a big surprise given that barcode scanners are CCD devices.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

We told you not to trust RFID...

As we've been saying, RFID ain't safe. And here's someone who's done what we've all had nightmares about.

The cat's outta the bag. You've been warned.

Friday, May 05, 2006

666 is coming! 666 is coming!

We all know that 666 is the Mark of the Beast. Don't we??? If not, read this.

And we all know that UPC barcodes include the Mark of the Beast .

So all fellow barcode nerds are hereby given notice of the upcoming date: 06/06/06 Read all about it right here. Better polish up that barcode tattoo of yours.