UPC Product Code Lookup

I’ve been contacted by many people with the same question many times over the past few months. That question is “I have a barcode for an item, where can I look up a description of what that item is?”.

Well – in order to head any further emails on the subject I give you this link.
UPC Database

I don’t know who the owner of the site is, but he claims collecting this information is a hobby of his. Talk about an obscure hobby :-) But hey, you have to admire him. I’ve used his site many times myself. He’s got over 1.1 million items indexed in his database so far. Makes me wonder what percentage of the total number of barcoded items this really is. Maybe you can even enter your own items on his site.

Special post for London Claire

Toying with barcodes – or hacking systems that use barcodes.

As I was browsing the web today for an online barcode generator I came across this video titled “Toying with barcodes”. The video starts out pretty mundane. Just a basic overview of barcodes and barcode scanner types. It then morphs into a discussion about how people have hacked into various systems that use or misuse barcodes. Being the barcode geek that I am, I had to sit and watch all 45 minutes of this.

If you’re really into barcodes and you’ve got nothing better to do you should have a listen. That is if you can get past the 8 billion ummmms this guy says. But I give him credit. He’s a nerdy German guy that speaks pretty good English. Kind of sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger talking about barcodes – otherwise known as the barco-nator :-)

I certainly don’t advocate doing any of the things he’s done. But I’ll definitely start looking at barcodes in a whole new light. For all the years I worked as a support engineer for barcode scanners and data collection systems, I never even considered any of the things this guy is talking about. If I find any vulnerabilities I’ll post them to this blog someday.

So kill some time, get a laugh now and then, and even think about barcodes in a whole new light. This video should be especially helpful for people designing systems that utilize barcodes.

Motorola 9808 – First Hybrid Laser and Imager Barcode Scanner

Motorola (formerly Symbol Technologies) has released their latest barcode scanner, the 9808. Why is this an important announcement? It’s the first barcode scanner that has both a laser engine and an area imager.

The laser engine is available as either an SR (standard range) or LR (long range) laser engine. The only difference between the two is working range. The LR will read a 100% UPC barcode out to 18″, while the SR will read a 100% UPC out to 10.5″. Both options will read a 100% UPC barcode at contact. Most people will ask the question, why wouldn’t I always want to use the scanner that reads out the furthest? Some people don’t want to read out to 18″. If the scanner is sitting on the counter and somebody passes a product by, that product can easily be read and possibly rung up on the wrong customer’s order. Meaning somebody is getting charged for something they didn’t buy. That scenario happens more when a long range laser is used.

Along with the laser engine the scanner has an area imager. The laser engine sits on top of the area imager. The area imager is a 752 pixel wide x 480 pixel high sensor. It’s actually old technology, but quite effective for fast barcode reading. Remember an area imager allows us to read 2D barcodes (Data Matrix, Aztec, QR Code, PDF417) and also capture images if needed. You wouldn’t be able to capture a high resolution image, but typically high resolution images are not required in the applications where these barcode scanners are being used.

Another unique feature of the 9808 is the dual trigger. Symbol has long used a 2 finger trigger option. They’ve taken advantage of this in the 9808 by putting two trigger switches in. The trigger button is on a rocker type switch. Pull the upper part of the trigger for trigger A and the bottom part of the trigger for trigger B. The triggers can be programmed independently to activate either the laser engine or the area imager. For example: If you wanted the primary scan engine to be the laser, you could program the upper trigger switch to turn the laser on and the lower switch to turn the area imager on. You can also program the switches to activate the same scan engine. Basically the trigger switches are totally independent and programmable.

The scanner is also available with an RFID reader. Just like the laser engine and the area imager, the RFID reader can be controlled via the trigger.

The 9808 also has EAS deactivation. EAS is Electronic Article Surveillance. You know those tags that are affixed to products you buy in the store and cause the alarm system to beep if you walk out the door without deactivating them? Those are EAS tags. Basically the scanner has a coil in it that when driven at a certain frequency will blow those tags so they don’t set off the alarm when you walk through the security gates.

Symbol has once again been the first to market with a new technology. In this case a hybrid laser scanner and area imager. It seems to me this would be a fairly expensive scanner. A laser engine and an area imager, plus two trigger switches, RFID, and EAS all available. I don’t know yet what options are available together. I’m sure you don’t have to get all options in a single scanner if you don’t want them. But they do all have a laser, area imager and two trigger switches at a bare minimum. It has to be somewhat expensive with all the hardware packed in this.

Check out the 9808 at Motorola 9808

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