Top reasons why you should use barcode scanners

When new products are received for the first time, receiving personnel sometimes discover that the barcode printed on cartons, labels on shrink wrap, pieces, etc., either is unreadable, does not correspond to the data stored in the ERP system or the needed data is not stored in the system. To avoid the delay caused by these conditions, purchasing personnel should be instructed to include entering data for new products as one of the steps for purchasing products never stocked before. Plus, a barcode label printer should be located near the receiving area and receiving personnel should be trained in using the ERP system to print product ID labels.

Barbadillo boosts engagement rate 4x with NFC-connected bottles

Thin Film Electronics will boost sales in Spain by collaborating on a summertime ‘Tap & Win’ marketing campaign that engaged wine drinkers with the simple tap of a smartphone. The two companies have published a case study highlighting the campaign and its results.

The campaign showed that Thinfilm’s NFC solution, as a media channel and consumer engagement engine, performed exceptionally well when compared to other paid media channels, including organic search and social platforms.

Working with Barbadillo’s print supplier, Thinfilm applied NFC SpeedTap tags to custom neck collars on 126,000 bottles of Castillo de San Diego, a widely sold white wine in Spain. The bottles were then distributed to more than 200 major supermarket retail outlets in Spain.

The SpeedTap tags enabled consumers to interact with the ‘smart’ bottles by tapping them with their smartphones (no app required). Once tapped, consumers were directed to a mobile-optimized microsite – www.dandoenelblanco.es – in order to get more details while in-store, or to enter the contest post-purchase for a chance to win 1,000 euros.

Your face has become a barcode without your consent

You’ve probably noticed that Facebook’s facial recognition technology is extremely accurate. You can upload a photo of friends and before you can identify everyone, Facebook has already made accurate tag suggestions for you.

Facebook’s facial recognition technology is powered by a system called DeepFace, and uses machine learning, or, Artificial Intelligence, to increase its accuracy.

Each time your face is tagged in a Facebook photo, the database collects even more identifying information about your face. DeepFace derives identities from a nine-layer deep neural network involving more than 120 million parameters with an accuracy of 97.35 percent.

NFC Forum Incorporates Tags into Its Certification Program

Recently, Near Field Communication (NFC) tag manufacturers have begun taking part in a new certification program provided worldwide by the NFC Forum, to ensure that their NFC chips and inlays conform with specifications—and, if they so choose, to test and certify their performance with mobile handsets and readers. The certification program for tags was added this past Wednesday to the NFC Forum's existing certification program, and is already under way for manufacturers at its 23 worldwide authorized laboratories. The NFC Forum is an industry standards organization that promotes the standardization and use of NFC technology. Its 23 labs are located around the world in areas where NFC devices are most commonly manufactured and distributed; 16 are located in Asia, five are in Europe and two are in North America.

Companies Trialing NFC With Workflow-Management Application

As Near Field Communication (NFC) functionality becomes more ubiquitous in mobile devices, workflow applications provider Flowfinity Wireless Inc. has added NFC to its enterprise mobile application software to enable users to capture and store information faster. The technology is now being tested by several of the company's consumer goods manufacturing customers. Flowfinity, located in Vancouver, B.C., offers software for companies to build mobile applications to manage and customize their workflow, especially those with a complex network of field personnel and remote workers. The solutions provider's customers include international brands, such as Kellogg's, McCormick and Bacardi.

Why You Don’t Need to Worry About RFID Shielding

You may have seen wallets or backpacks advertising RFID shielding, a protective covering designed to keep malicious ne’er-do-wells from scanning any items that contain embedded wireless receivers, like certain credit cards and passports. Sure, RFID shielding does prevent unwanted wireless transmissions, but with so little evidence of RFID-based theft, combined with the security measures present in today’s RFID tech, it doesn’t seem to be a threat you need to worry too much about.

RFID Tracks Safety Equipment for Fiji Airways

Fiji Airways reports that it has made in-cabin inspections of emergency equipment faster and more efficient across its fleet of 15 airplanes, with the use of radio frequency identification technology. The company installed the RFID system across its 4,000 pieces of emergency equipment this year, and indicates that its inspections can now be accomplished within a matter of minutes aboard a single aircraft. The system not only makes inspectors' work faster and less error-prone, the airline reports, but also prevents flight delays that could result from delayed emergency equipment checks, according to Marco Andreacchio, the senior project manager of EAM RFID Solutions, a division of EAM Worldwide, the company that provided the technology.

RFID Weaves a Tale With New Loom Technology

University researchers have developed a way to marry old technology, weaving, with something much more modern—video games—in order to help players create stories. The game, known as Loominary, employs RFID technology to link the ancient practice of weaving to an interactive, computer-based game that follows the life of Medusa, a monster of ancient Greek mythology. Loominary has been exhibited at several venues, and is now available to game developers on an open-source platform. It consists of passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID-tagged yarn shuttles, with antennas built into a loom to capture each time a shuttle is used to weave yarn through the tapestry.

With RFID Tracking, Less Idle Pump Time

The University Hospital in San Antonio had a hoarding problem. Staff in some departments were holding on to as many as 50 smart infusion pumps when 10 would have done the trick. By 2013, things were so out of hand that an intervention was needed, and passive radiofrequency identification (RFID) was deemed the best the solution, according to Gene Winfrey, the director of information services in the biomedical engineering department at the hospital, which is part of University Health Systems.

How Easily Can Data Be Stolen from RFID Credit Cards?

The passive RFID tag a credit card is an HF tag based on the ISO 14443 air-interface protocol, which limits the read range to a few inches, for security reasons. RFID credit cards are actually much safer than conventional magstripe cards. With a magstripe card, you a hacker could easily capture the information stored on the magnetic stripe and create dozens of cards that are exact duplicates. These could then be used online or in person. With an RFID-enabled credit card, there is a CVV on the back that works for conventional magstripe purposes (if a retailer does not have an RFID reader), but the electronic CVV is dynamic.

Google Chrome Has a New Barcode Scanning Shortcut

Google Chrome on iOS has been able to scan barcodes and QR codes since this past February, but it’s a feature that could easily get looked over unless you knew it was there. With the latest update to Chrome on iOS, there is now a shortcut on the keyboard for scanning barcodes. After tapping on the shortcut, the process of scanning QR codes and is still the same as it was before.

QR code made out of 130,000 carefully trimmed trees needs to be scanned from the sky

A village in northern China has created a giant QR code made of intricately trimmed trees, in an effort to boost local tourism. The Xilinshui village in Hebei used 130,000 Chinese juniper trees to create the square code, which measures 227m (744 ft) along each side, according to a report by Chinese state media outlet People's Daily.

There is No Universal IoT Platform

They come in all shapes and sizes. Hoards of them. They are called IoT Platforms. They are hard to differentiate. They combine two words that we wax eloquent trying to describe. IoT and Platform. IoT sits at the intersection of IT and OT. Any IT-centric definition fails to capture OT significance and vice-versa. Hence, rather than provide an academic definition, let me share the practical view of how customers in different industries build and use technology platforms that leverage pervasive connectivity and pervasive computing.

Mobile payment to receive boost in UAE as Apple Pay plans entry soon

Early last month, Apple Inc. while releasing its quarterly results, also announced that Apple Pay, its mobile payment software, would be expanded further internationally before the end of 2017. One of the countries where Apple Pay is being introduced is the UAE, the other countries being Denmark, Finland and Sweden. According to local media, Apple Pay has tied up with Emirates NBD, Mashreq, HSBC, RakBank, Standard Chartered and Emirates Islamic, and will be available for these banks’ debit and credit card customers under MasterCard and Visa.

Zwipe Teams With Identiv for Biometric Smart Cards’ RFID Encoding

Zwipe has partnered with US-based Identiv to encode the RFID chips in its line of biometric smart cards. In a statement announcing the partnership, Identiv Product Management Director Stephane Ardiley asserted that his company “is seeing strong growth in the interest for biometric-enabled access control solutions,” adding later, “We see a good market opportunity for Identiv by supplying formatting services for Zwipe cards”. For Zwipe’s part, Access Control SVP Einar Boije explained that Identiv’s “expansive customer network” will allow Zwipe to address a larger market around the world.

Barcodes to be trialled at the ballot box in a bid to fight election fraud

Thousands of voters will have to show picture ID before voting, while others will have a barcode on their polling card in a Government bid to tackle electoral fraud. Ministers recently revealed the areas where people will have to prove who they are in order to exercise their democratic right at next May’s local elections. It comes after the elections watchdog said fraud through voter impersonation more than doubled between 2014 and 2016.

iOS 11 is a second chance for QR codes and NFC to hit it big

Apple’s flashy new iPhones are hogging the spotlight right now, but iOS 11 is arriving before they do – on September 19, the major mobile software update will be available for existing iPhone and iPad devices. It’s bringing a lot of new features, especially to the iPad and iPad Pro, but it’s got two under-hyped payloads that could drastically change mobile apps, experiences and marketing. Those two new features in iOS 11 are a native QR code reader built directly into the Camera app, and an expansion of the onboard NFC chip support to allow it to read NFC tags in the real world (previously, NFC was strictly limited to Apple Pay use).

RFID Readers Fit Like a Glove With New Atlas RFID Release

RFID use at construction sites helps workers and management to collect and view information regarding the equipment, assets or inventory that moves around their work sites. But when handheld devices are used to collect that data, workers can lose one important tool: a free hand. Atlas RFID Solutions offers a wearable ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID reader that helps workers keep their hands free when they interrogate tags on the goods they handle, or that are within their vicinity. The reader, from Technology Solutions (UK) Ltd. (TSL), is worn on the back of a user's hand, in the form of a ring over two fingers, enabling individuals to have full use of both hands while also reading tags.

Kathrein RFID and Tönnjes E.A.S.T. Conclude Cooperation Agreement

Kathrein is starting a global collaboration in the field of electronic vehicle identification (EVI) with Tönnjes E.A.S.T., the leading German licence plate manufacturer. Both companies have been working together for years in the development of new technologies. In their joint projects, Kathrein contributes its expertise in the field of RFID technology, Tönnjes E.A.S.T. is a specialist for the integration of the required transponders into vehicle licence plates or windscreens.

The automatic, contactless identification of cars, lorries or motorbikes using electromagnetic waves is a pioneering technology for the road traffic of the future. It enables efficient solutions for electronic vehicle registration (EVR), access to low emission zones and traffic light control systems. “Our collaboration includes implementing the required infrastructure on motorways and in cities, as well as establishing and operating central data base solutions for authorities and providers. In other words, we offer our clients a turnkey solution,” explains Thomas Brunner, Head of the Business Unit RFID within the Kathrein Group.

Murata RFID tag works on metal

Placing such tags on to metal has been challenging because metal surfaces reflect the signal emitted from the reader and interfere with communication between the tag and reader. To overcome this, Murata has patented various technologies that allow RFID tags to work in conjunction with metal objects.

The LXFLANMXMG-003 uses the item’s metal surface as part of the antenna, which makes the item itself part of the RAIN RFID tag. RAIN RFID, which is a global alliance to popularize UHF band RFID technology into broader markets, is seeing adoption rates rising as companies realise its value in inventory tracking and product traceability.

The LXFLANMXMG-003 measures 25 x 85 x 4.5 mm, it complies with UHF RFID standard ISO18000-63 and EPC Global Gen2v2, and it supports the global UHF band from 865 MHz to 928 MHz. An excellent maximum read range of 10 m (4W EIRP) is provided by the tag.

Microscan (Barcode Verifiers) To Be Acquired By Omron

Omron, a Japanese producer of factory automation equipment, will acquire U.S. peer Microscan Systems for roughly 17 billion yen ($156 million) in a bid to capitalize on growing demand for labor-saving production technology. Microscan holds the third-biggest global market share in 2-D bar code readers, which provide a way of tracking products as they move through increasingly automated factories. The American company also produces bar code verification equipment as well as industrial cameras. Omron aims to purchase by early October all of Microscan from British parent Spectris, a maker of specialty measuring instruments."

Twitter beta redesigns QR barcode scanner

Twitter beta 7.12 has started showing a new night mode toggle and QR code icon. If you might remember, Twitter's night mode used to have a proper toggle in the side menu and the QR code display and scanner was hidden under the overflow menu when viewing your profile. The latter was really difficult to get to and nowhere regular users would guess. Now, both have moved to the bottom of the side menu, under the Help center. They're simple icons with a crescent moon for night mode and a QR icon for the code scanner. They look good in both the white mode and dark night mode themes.

Enugu DisCo introduces barcode to check fake electricity bills

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has introduced a Security Barcode in its electricity bills to check fake bills, manipulations and other forms of “scientific electricity theft”, The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports. The modified bill and its special outlook was part of the company’s continuous efforts to introduce initiatives geared toward ensuring enjoyable customer experience. The new features on the new bill included a summary of previous balance and last payment made by the customer, “a barcode (code number), which is a security feature’’.

Rise oF IoT

IoT is still in its infancy stage although 2016 was a foundational year. According to a June 2017 report by IDC on IoT investments, cross-industry IoT cases will reach $86 billion by the end of 2017. This would catapult it to be the second largest industry from an IoT investment perspective. The Internet of Things is reshaping life as we know it from the home to the office and beyond. IoT products grant us extended control over appliances, lights, and door locks. They also help streamline business processes; and more thoroughly connect us to the people, systems and environments that shape our lives.

'Wrong Patient' Insulin Pen Injections Alarmingly Frequent Even With Barcode Scanning

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) learned about some rather alarming data associated with what could be called “best practices” for proper insulin pen use in a multihospital system. The best practices employed by these hospitals to prevent the sharing of insulin pens between multiple patients included one-on-one staff education regarding the safe use of insulin pens; implementation of barcode scanning of both the patient barcode and the patient- and order-specific barcode on the insulin pen; an electronic medication administration record (eMAR) at the bedside; and an effective monitoring system. Despite these strategies to prevent the sharing of insulin pens, errors still occurred for reasons beyond a knowledge deficit or mistaken belief that changing the needle is sufficient to prevent cross-contamination when sharing pens.

Bytemark First to Offer NFC Mobile Ticketing on iOS

Bytemark Inc. has successfully introduced NFC ticketing on Apple iOS devices as part of its mobile ticketing offering. Creating an app-based NFC mobile fare medium on iOS has long been seen by the transport industry as the ‘Holy Grail’ of mobile ticketing. The benefits are clear for agencies. They will no longer have to carry the burden and expense of managing physical fare media. Worn out cards, lost cards, TVM maintenance and inventory management will all be consigned to the past. By making a cardless experience a reality Bytemark is offering agencies the necessary tools to meet the demands of the connected traveler.

Fixing, upgrading and patching IoT devices can be a real nightmare

Ensuring cybersecurity for computers and mobile phones is a huge, complex business. The ever-widening scope and unbelievable variety of threats makes keeping these devices safe from cyber criminals and malware a full-time challenge for companies, governments and individuals around the world. But at least the vast majority of those devices are easily accessible, safe in the pockets or sitting on the desktops of the very people who want to protect them. The Internet of Things (IoT) devices that need protection, on the other hand, could be almost anywhere: sitting in a remote desert, buried deep in coal mine, built into a giant truck. Or, even implanted inside the human body.

Barcode scanner helps you recycle

Confused about whether or not to recycle your discarded packaging? Eugene, the recycling barcode scanner by French start-up Uzer, is the answer. "There is a motion sensor, so every time you come next to Eugene to scan the product, to throw out the product, the camera will turn on. Eugene will tell you how to recycle the different components of your product. For example, Eugene tells you that the cardboard goes to the recycling bin and the plastic tube goes to landfill bin," co-founder of Eugene, Paul Alarcon, said.

STMicroelectronics Partners With MediaTek To Enhance Business Operations

In the near future, it is most likely that the various mobile payments will be experiencing triple-digit growth, with contactless transport ticketing also spiking up in Asia. The integration of ST’s NFC chipset with the MediaTek mobile platforms might lead to the two partners doing something remarkable in the industry. They might end up helping mobile OEMs overcome major technical challenges such as antenna miniaturization, antenna design and integration as well as the bill-of-material optimization. It will at the same time be assuring interoperability with payment terminals in areas like transportation hubs and retailers.

Australian Museum Exhibit Features Democracy's History Via RFID

An RFID-enabled interactive exhibition is putting Australia's democratic history in the hands of students at the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD). The system allows groups of students equipped with a passive high-frequency (HF) RFID card to learn about their country's history and government. The solution, known as RFID TRAIL, was provided by EDM Studio with the launching of the new museum in 2009, and was taken fully live two years later.

Geolocation, RFID Companies Selling System for Pipe and Equipment Tracking

Colorado-based ProStar Geocorp has teamed up with its sister company, EchoRFID, to create an RFID-enabled solution to manage the locations and status of utility assets, such as pipes, drills and heavy equipment. The system combines ProStar's Transparent Earth geospatial locating platform, its GPS-based PointMan mobile app, and EchoRFID's read- and write-management solution, known as Pipe Talker. The two companies are currently in discussions with several oil and gas and utility businesses to begin piloting or deploying the holistic solution to manage the movements of pipeline materials to and around worksites, and to track them for maintenance purposes after each pipe piece is installed.

Dutch port taps smart street lighting, with IoT on the horizon

The Port of Moerdijk in southern Holland is installing smart street lighting controls across 2600 hectares of land in a bid to slash energy consumption and maintenance costs. The Port will equip 1100 new LED street lights with motion sensors and management software from Amsterdam-based Tvilight. Dutch company Dynniq will oversee the rollout and the LED light installation. Dynniq is a technology firm that specializes in managing infrastructure, traffic, and energy systems.

The Port of Moerdijk is Holland's fourth largest port. It sits on the Hollands Diep River, which is an estuary of the Rhine and Meuse Rivers leading to the North Sea. The port serves maritime as well as inland cargo, and is connected by canal to Antwerp.

Partners Launch Industry’s Complete Solution for ‘Smart’ NFC Hang Tags

Thin Film Electronics ASA has forged a partnership with Charming Trim & Packaging, Inc., a provider of trim and packaging solutions to the garment industry. Through the collaboration, Thinfilm’s NFC SpeedTap and OpenSense technologies will be incorporated in Charming’s apparel hang tags, empowering brands to engage directly with shoppers and customers through the simple tap of a smartphone. Full integration with Thinfilm’s CNECT Brand Analytics SaaS platform enables streamlined tag configuration, campaign creation and management, and analytics reporting.

Researchers Develop Microscopic RFID Chip to Embed in Human Cells

Researchers at Stanford University are now several phases into a development project to create a passive, 60 GHz RFID transponder that is small enough to be inserted into a human body's cell. Thus far, the group has been able to scale the chip and antenna down to about 22 microns (0.0009 inch) wide—one fifth the diameter of an average human hair—which is small enough that it could be inserted inside a cell, and thus be read throughout a person's body. The chip, in fact, has been inserted into a mouse melanoma cell. RFID could also be placed within a mass of cells, such as a tumor.

Garmin deploys NFC payment app in latest wearable

GPS device company Garmin joined the growing list of wearable manufacturers launching contactless payment apps for smartwatches, with the announcement of Garmin Pay. Unveiling its new Vivoactive 3 at IFA2017 in Berlin, the company said the device would include its new Garmin Pay app. Users who sign-up for the service will be able to add Visa or Mastercard debit and credit cards to the platform, and pay for goods at terminals accepting NFC payments in participating markets.

How RFID Is Revolutionizing Retail

RFID has been around for many years and has been adopted by a range of retailers including Walmart, Macy’s and Amazon. Because the tags are read magnetically, it is a more efficient system than a typical visual scanning system because the tag and the reader do not need to be line-of-site to communicate.  Therefore, the immediate benefit for an RFID-based system is that a typical retailer can reduce the time required to take a typical physical inventory by something like 90 percent.  In other words, if it took 3 days to take an inventory using barcode scanning, that same inventory would take 45 minutes using RFID.

Great Bay Software Delivers IoT Security Enhancements

In a recent announcement, Great Bay Software, an Internet of Things (IoT) security company, has introduced the release of its Beacon Product Suite version 5.2. With this release, Great Bay Software said it can deliver new ways for customers to leverage advanced data analytics and bolster network device security. The new release is designed to deliver enhanced data reporting, greater network infrastructure support and advanced breech detection. Beacon's artificial intelligence expert system-based engine collects and correlates information from dozens of data sources. As a result, Beacon discovers every device – IoT, smart and unmanaged – within seconds of connecting to the network.

Raspberry Pi HAT spins up RFID and NFC

Eccel’s rugged “Raspberry Pi-B1” Raspberry Pi HAT add-on provides an RFID B1 module for enabling short-range RFID or NFC communications at 13.56MHz. Eccel Technology, which is also known as IB Technology, has launched a “Raspberry Pi Hat RFID/NFC Board” that is also known as the “Raspberry Pi-B1.” The HAT compatible add-on board has gone on sale for 32.95 UK Pounds ($43) at RS Components. The Raspberry Pi-B1 provides RFID or NFC communications at 13.56MHz at a range of up to a meter, and is aimed at Raspberry Pi based access control, monitoring pre-payment, resource management, and connection-less storage systems.

How RFID tags became trendy

As far as wireless technologies go, radio-frequency identification (RFID) is one of the oldest. Patented in 1983 by the late British inventor Charles Walton, RFID made it possible for new, cutting-edge tech such as near-field communication (NFC) to exist. As with NFC, RFID chips are used to store information digitally, which can then be shared between objects through electromagnetic fields and radio waves. It may not be sexy, but companies see real potential in the technology, no matter how old. It's no surprise, then, that over the past few years RFIDs have become ubiquitous in a wide range of industries, including travel, sports and one you wouldn't expect: fashion.

Are There Any RFID Solutions for Tracking Students?

A company called ScholarChip sells a student-tracking system (see ScholarChip Mobile App to Allow School to Track Students On the Go). This solution uses an ID with a passive HF RFID transponder, so students must present their ID to a reader when they enter or leave the school, or particular rooms within the school. Guard RFID Solutions offers a school security system to identify if an emergency occurs, and to help locate students and staff members during such a situation. The SafeGuard K-12 Safety System is designed primarily to monitor students in schools.

This Mirai malware vaccine could protect insecure IoT devices

The hazard of unsophisticated and poorly secured Internet of Things (IoT) devices came to the front last year with the Mirai DDoS attack that involved nearly a million bots. Many of these devices remain a threat. Researchers have posed an original solution to the problem: Use the vulnerability of these devices to inject a white worm that secures the devices. It is an epidemiological approach that creates immunity with a vaccine by exposing the immune system to a weakened form of the disease.

RFID Takes Flight at Rockwell Collins

During the past year, aircraft suppliers have been ramping up their RFID tagging solutions to meet the demands of Airbus and Boeing. Both aircraft companies have a timetable which suppliers are expected to meet with regard to tagging a subset of the parts they make that will be built into airplanes. To meet those needs, industrial and safety printing technology company Brady Corp. released its second-generation Aerospace RFID Solution last year, in order to offer a complete RFID printing and encoding solution as they adopt ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID systems.