An historic event? And now 35 years later the bar code is being reinvented as the DataBar, or GS1. For the better? The new DataBar standard seems rather half-assed to me. If we are going to require the entire retail universe to comply with a new standard why not QR codes or something like it that can store, or link, to WAYwayWAY more data? Two bars instead of three? Yeah, half-assed. A couple people are going to make a LOT of money while an entire industry is forced to spend it’s way into compliance (sounds familiar).
But i digress…
On today’s date in 1973, a small supermarket in Troy Ohio became the testing grounds for the world’s first commercial bar code scanner. At 8:01 am, Sharon Buchanan scanned a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum and changed retail forever.
In fact, the receipt from that transaction is now enshrined in the Smithsonian. So happy 35th birthday bar code scanning—we will have you to thank when the government herds us up and begins tracking our every move.
from Gizmodo