bar-codes

Study: College Students Have No Idea What To Do With QR Codes
In spite of the fact that every bit of marketing targeted at teens and college students seems to come with some sort of QR code for this smartphone-happy demographic to scan, a new study says that most college students don't know what to do with the codes and have no interest in ever scanning them. More »

Clever Manufacturers Turn Barcodes Into Art
The humble barcode needn't be so. As long as it follows certain basic rules that allow it to be scannable, like being at least half an inch high, having blank space on either side, and not using a few colors, there's actually a lot you can do with a barcode. More »

NYC May Add Bar Codes To Restaurant Inspection Grades
It's been about a year since New York City eateries began posting huge letter grades to reflect their latest health inspection results, but now the city's Health Department is thinking about adding bar codes that people could scan to get more in-depth info on that restaurant's specific results. More »

How Do UPC Codes Work?
Have you ever wondered what that numbered zebra stripe on the box of every purchase really means? Yes, your fears are true. It does contain secret messages the manufacturer is trying to communicate to the bar code scanner. But we have a secret decoder ring you can use to figure them out using your brain powers. More »

United Airlines Begins Offering Digital Boarding Passes
In a move to cut down on paper and ID fraud, United Airlines has announced passengers can now opt out of paper boarding passes and have digital boarding passes sent to their Internet-ready phones. More »

JCPenney Tries Out Mobile Coupons In Houston Stores

—>If you live in the Houston area, you can now use your mobile phone to redeem coupons for JCPenney through a trial-partnership with Cellfire. You have to register with Cellfire in order to receive the promos via SMS or email, and if you register today you'll receive a mysterious "$10 in$tant gift" [sic].  More »

Well Hello There, New Bar Codes

—>Snazzy new bar codes are starting to adorn our fruit and vegetables to stop blurry-eyed cashiers from ringing up organic produce as the cheaper-priced regular stuff. They're called GS1 DataBars, and they're already appearing in select supermarkets to help consumers move faster through checkout lines.  More »

If you own a G1 phone from T-Mobile, Google has added a special barcode scanning feature to its Product Search page just for you. Yeah, you've already got other barcode scanning apps, but this one integrates with Google's search functionality so you can scan and see product search results in Google immediately. [Phandroid]  More »

Cool Bar Codes For Products And Foreheads
As all men know, in our dystopian future, bar codes will be tattooed directly over our pineal gland for easier government processing. This is supported by a vast library of dystopian fiction and comic books. And — as those high school sophomores who will so feverishly insist that 1984 is Orwell's line by line premonition of the Bush Administration well know — these things always come true. So those of us with a flair for fashion should probably start thinking ahead about what statement we want our bar codes to make.  More »