[Galley99]

We will have to wait and see how easy (or not easy) it is to read these new bar codes with an iSight camera.

Source

After years of being decked out in monochromatic stripes, the bar code is going color.

The bar code has already undergone some changes. Though the standard, striped variety is still ubiquitous on supermarket goods, two-dimensional bar codes have become commonplace on shipping labels, airline boarding passes and all over the place in Japan.

Now, Microsoft is hoping to take things a step further by adding color to the mix.

"We use color to store more information," said Gavin Jancke, director of engineering for Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., research labs. Jancke is the creator of the new bar code format, which uses either four or eight hues to pack more data into less space. The new bar code also uses small triangles, as opposed to the squares used in the 2D black and white bar codes and the alternating thin and thick lines used in traditional UPC symbols.

The color bar code is being targeted especially for use on commercial media such as movies, video games and other recordings. Microsoft said the High Capacity Color Bar Code could start showing up on DVDs by the end of this year, thanks to a deal it has signed with an organization that helps coordinate product labeling for audiovisual works.

The idea is that after adding the new bar code, then DVDs and their packages would offer added security or, potentially, links to a movie trailer or other bonus features.

There are some downsides to the colorful approach. In addition to the obvious need for color labels, it also requires fairly high-quality printing, making it unsuitable for, say, shipping labels. Standard bar code scanners also won't read the codes.

Such an expanded use is somewhat reminiscent of the ill-fated CueCat, which embedded bar code links in print publications.

But Jancke sees reasons why his bar code is better than the extinct digital feline.

"The CueCat required specific hardware that needed to be attached to a PC," Jancke said, noting that the Microsoft-developed bar code could be read by devices consumers already have, such as a Web cam or cell phone camera.

[SirCastor]

They couldn't start utilizing the multi-dimensional barcodes like everyone else? They have to take something that works just fine, and break it for the people that don't utilize their system.
That makes me mad.

[Delicious Monster]

I'll go ahead and put that on the todo list.

At the bottom.

Under "groceries."



--Mike

[mdc]

... Standard bar code scanners also won't read the codes.

Of course not.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Delicious Monster 

I'll go ahead and put that on the todo list.

At the bottom.

Under "groceries."



--Mike

Hey, groceries are pretty important, dude. I tried going without them. It wasn't pretty.

[Galley99]

Have you seen these things? They're hideous!

[Delicious Monster]

We talked about this at Delicious Monster HQ (i.e. Zoka) for a while yesterday, not in terms of feature implementation, but as idle observers. My standpoint is that optical storage of this sort is too inefficient and inaccurate to merit use for other than reference. That is to say, a barcode encodes a 13 digit number, which can be referenced in a database, versus actually encoding the information itself.

Wil disagrees. He makes the valid point that the higher data density 2D barcodes used by such as FedEx to encode an entire address are a valid example of the usefulness. Maybe he's right, but in general, I still think of this "invention" as a solution in need of a problem.

One thing Wil also pointed out was that in all these stories nobody ever really talks about how many bits you can encode with this new scheme, versus existing schemes, or alternate technologies like MICR (those blocky letters on checks) or RFID. I did a cursory look through the intertubes to no avail. What are they teaching in J-school anymore these days?

--Mike

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Delicious Monster 

One thing Wil also pointed out was that in all these stories nobody ever really talks about how many bits you can encode with this new scheme, versus existing schemes, or alternate technologies like MICR (those blocky letters on checks) or RFID. I did a cursory look through the intertubes to no avail. What are they teaching in J-school anymore these days?

That would be interesting — at least might explain what was wrong with 2D barcodes. Unfortunately, since the information is meaningless to 95% of the population, most writers prefer just to talk about relative density, which people can at least kind of picture. It's like back when video game consoles went from 8 to 16 and then 32 bits, and anytime a story wanted to explain what a "16-bit chip" was, they'd just write something like, "Imagine the Nintendo is an eight-lane freeway, and your game data are cars. In that case, the Super Nintendo is a 16-lane freeway!" This helped people grasp the relative difference between 8 and 16 (I suppose), but it didn't actually explain squat.

[Delicious Monster]

That was my thought but Wil pointed out it would be pretty easy to just say something like, "whereas a standard barcode can encode 13 characters in a 2-inch square, and typical 2D barcodes can encode 128 characters in the same space, this new standard can encode 400 characters."

(Numbers made up btw)

[cooksey]

This probably isn't the same thing but according to the BBC, the colour barcode can embed up to 3,500 alphabetical characters of data into each square inch.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Colour barcode system to hit DVDs

[brokenjago]

I think it is the same thing...

Nice, 3.500 characters. Not bad.

[Dazed]

Great, now the cash registers will blue screen

It seems like this could only be used on packaging thats of a certain quality since anything faded or torn would probably be an issue. Not sure how many times ive waited as the girl tried to scan /rescan/re re scan a tin of beans to get the price using the current bar code system, i cant see the new system cutting down that time.

[CaptainHaddock]

QR-Codes already do this in Japan — store all kinds of information in a 2D barcode — and they're everywhere. They encode everything from the nutritional information in your McDonald's hamburger to the week's weather forecast. Most cell here phones function as QR-code readers.

If they don't already, they could easily put those on books and DVDs to encode all the publisher's data and even promotional blurbs.

[ghporter]

Cuecats, if you can get them, were available with USB connections as well as PC-specific PS2 connectors. With a tiny modification, you can make a USB Cuecat a generic USB barcode scanner. So the premise that the Cuecat is a dead issue for Mac users is blatantly wrong. I use a modified USB Cuecat to inventory books, CDs, DVDs, and many other items, both with my PC and with my MBP. As long as there's some way for me to capture the information the UPC or EAN barcodes cros to, that Cuecat will do everything I need.

And of course Microsoft is interested in "innovating" something that is not supported by existing code and hardware-that's how you develop a market for a product. But if that product isn't needed because it does what existing products already do very well, then you need to start doing things that make the existing products look bad.