Bad barcode. Bad!

This story about fake boarding passes would be truly funny if the loophole(s) it highlights weren't so serious. Seems this enterprising young lad had a web-based boarding pass generator complete with counterfeit barcodes.

The FBI wasn't amused.

Barcodes, even Michael Crichton gets it

I see Michael Crichton's new book Next features a big barcode on the cover. Further proof that barcodes have mainstreamed into our collective visual vocabulary.

I dunno know what the book is about. Don't care. Probably won't read it. But it has a barcode on the cover. That's what's important. It's further proof that my white paper is on the mark.

Told you so...

Another wacky barcode idea

You know why I love working with barcodes? Cuz with predictable regularity someone comes up with a "better mousetrap". Or so they think. Here's someone eager to prove that current barcode technology isn't good enough.

a.) I didn't know I needed to hang that much data on my wall
b.) If I was going to use an auto ID technology I'd use something like PDF417 which allows multiple symbols to be chained together.
c.) I'd also consider using a technique that stood a hope of a prayer of a chance of a possibility of being read by someone else, today and 10 years from now.

I've been publishing barcode software for 18 years now and the stream of new-and-improved technology is neverending, to my continued amusement.

Keep it comin' folks!

Barcode Archaeology

A friend passed this article about bogus barcode patents along to me. This campaign focuses on NeoMedia's claims of inventing scanning barcodes to visit web sites and other online databases. Yeah right...

It struck a chord with me because I have an issue with bogus patents and patent trolls in general but it really hits home when it's about barcodes. Once again, follow the bouncing ball, repeat after me: barcodes are based on open, non-proprietary specifications, global specifications. The system works around the world between trading partners sight unseen because we all agree to and honor open, non-proprietary standards. Misuse of these shared protocals is a grave sin.

I explain things in detail in this white paper, Barcodes: From Jargon to Slang. Don't take my word for it, look at the pictures.

Please support the EFF's The Patent Busting Project.

Yeah. But why?

So this is another barcode scheme that makes me ask "So?".

From what I gather it turns my music collection into PDF 417 barcodes. So dum (sic) I can't even muster a good laugh. This is from someone who's been doing barcode software for almost 18 years, and has an iPod with 3977 songs spanning 48.4 days & 21.13 GB.

And I'm supposed to carry around how many volumes of your barcode books????

And all for bad beer

Regular readers already know that I'm not a big fan of RFID. I'm not even a small fan. It's also a widely known factoid that I love beer. Good beer. Microbrewed beer as in Dogfish Head.

But this story pairs bad technology with bad beer. An example of two wrongs not making a right.

Bogus Barcode = Airport Boarding Pass

Woe be unto those who ignore Bruce Schneier. He speaks about one misguided person's web site that generated fake boarding passes complete with barcodes.

Nothing like having the FBI kick your door in to get your attention.

A novel use for UPC barcodes

I'm sick and tired of me-too cameraphone barcode startups. Repeat after me: NO ONE CARES! If they did the rest of you chuckleheads would be chasing the market leader. THERE AIN'T NO MARKET TO LEAD.

Meanwhile, I find this social hack a relatively unique application of barcode technology if I may say so myself.

Code 128 barcode web site

I'm on a roll now. Just launched a new web site about Code 128 bar codes. You know, sometimes it's the small things in life that bring us such great pleasures. For me, that'd be barcodes.

a newly resurrected barcode web site

It seems that one of our old friends has undergone a bit of a rebirth. This barcode site has gotten a little attention. A modest offering but a friendly one nevertheless.

Barcodes, part of our collective visual vocabulary

JetCityOrange features a photo gallery of barcode tattoos, barcode graffiti, , graffiti t-shirts.

It also hosts a white paper, "Barcodes: once jargon, now slang" (PDF). An interesting read, if I may say so myself.

Enuf with the cameraphone barcodes already

Shotcode. Yet-another-who-cares-nobody-wants-them barcode scam, errr, scheme for cell phones.

I make a proprietary barcode. I stick my barcode somewhere you're going to see it. You take a picture of my barcode with your cellphone. Your cell phone calls or emails or interweb dot orgs my barcode to my server. Wonderful things happen to you but more importantly I make money.

Who fucking cares?

Double up barcodes

My eye falls to things like this.

Great book too.

ISBN-13 Barcodes Are Coming Ya Know!

Yep, the old Bookland barcodes are soon to be extinct. 01jan07 to be exact.

Read this to get a leg up on the new ISBN-13 barcodes. This site is more to the point. OK, sparse is more like it. But hey.

666 Mark of the Beast & Barcode T-shirts

Nothing sez "barcodes" like 666. When I say "UPC", you say "Satan!"

I wish this urban myth would go away but fundamentalists of the Christian persuasion insist on spinning wild yarns about the Mark of the Beast being embedded in poor ol' Uniform Product Code symbols.

This web page attempts to squash this falsehood yet again. No, 666 isn't hidden in barcodes. This is all a bad, if not outright wrong, interpretation of Book of Revelation 13:16-18.

Meanwhile now's the time to buy your very own barcode t-shirts. Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa are coming up (not to mention my very own birthday 12/12). Buy online today!

Barcodes + Cell Phones. AGAIN!

So Fujitsu thinks they've got it figured out. Yet-another-barcodes-on-cell-phones scheme/scam.

Lots of people have tried it. No one seems to be the clear cut market leader. Leads me to believe there ain't a market here folks. Mature markets shake out to 1, 2, maybe 3 clear cut winners. Mature markets aren't littered with has-been's, wanna be's, also ran's, and me too's. Too many players without any significant market share equals nada.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program, already in progress...

Seeing this on my checked bag when I picked it up made me feel better. Homeland Security has in-spected my luggage. I'm free to go.

Never mind that the airline themselves hands me a snack box that includes a serrated plastic knife. As does every coffee shop and most takeout restaurants past the security check point.

Things they call "shanks" in the Big House.

At least my oversized barcode has a hologram sticker on it. Collect the whole set!

Loooong barcode

Every once in a while, you see a barcode that sticks out. This barcode sticks out. Or across. Or whatever...

Chinese vegetable barcodes

Let me get this straight. Putting barcodes on produce is somehow supposed to make me feel more secure about what I put in my mouth. Or so the Chinese want us to believe. Why? What's wrong with your apples and cabbage I should be worried about?

It's as if the UPC on my cereal makes me feel safe a breakfast. Yeah, right...

Meanwhile we at Azalea world headquarters have more important things on our minds. The water hyacinth in our office bloomed overnight. I thought it looked nice with the Port of Seattle in the background.

DIY barcode scanner

For those of you really obsessed with barcodes, you'll need your own scanner. I mean really, what home is complete without one.

If you're anything like me you already have a CueCat but outgrew that long ago. What you need is a homebrew dee-vice.

Well, here's one for you. Don't say I never gave you anything.