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"Pull" Barcode Scanning Could Be Android's Killer App

Posted by timothy on from the be-a-frugal-gourmet dept.

Seor Jojoba writes "The release of T-Mobile's G1 Smartphone is shifting focus away from push-based barcode scanning, where embedded URLs send you to locations of a vendor's choosing. There is now more interest in pull-scanning, where product information is retrieved from user-specified sources. It may be that QR-Codes and other 2D barcodes will have their thunder stolen by 1970s-era linear barcodes. On the iPhone, scanning a 1D barcode is slow and unreliable. But the G1's improved optics and Android's improved access to image scans has made 1D scanning quick and useful, opening the gateway for killer apps that help people make spending decisions."

11 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. Re:smells like a polecat by PPH · · Score: 2, Funny

    The 1990s called. They want their technology back.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  2. Re:Oh, god, no. by Greyfox · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well if your Android phone ALSO has a tazer built in, you could taze that guy and then you'd be the hero of the supermarket! All hail open source!

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  3. Re:Oh, god, no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...in 40 years I would hope a robotic car can deliver it and put it away in my house.

    That's right robo-grocer! Put those groceries away! If anyone needs me, I'll be in the holodeck doing a virtual 3-way with "v-teens gone wild".

  4. Re:smells like a polecat by konohitowa · · Score: 3, Funny

    You missed the point. Cuecats were given away with Radio Shack catalogs, which included the bar code for almost every item listed.

    Mine came with my Wired subscription...

  5. Re:iPhone slow and unreliable because of 2M camera by binarylarry · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh baby, don't be so negative.

    I'm karmkarmakarmakarmkarmachemeleon...

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  6. Re:Freedom is the killer app by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pretty drunk so please dont mod me harshley for this mini rant

    +1 en vino veritas?

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  7. Re:smells like a polecat by edalytical · · Score: 2, Funny

    Since when does caring a computer around make one look like a damn fool? Did I miss a meeting?

    --
    Win a signed Stephen Carpenter ESP Guitar from the Deftones: http://def-tag.com/?r=0008781
  8. Re:Freedom is the killer app by darthdavid · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow, a grammar Nazi for a dead language...

  9. Re:Freedom is the killer app by Miseph · · Score: 4, Funny

    I live in the Vatican, you insensitive clod!

    Disclaimer: I don't actually live in the Vatican.

    --
    Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
  10. Re:Oh, god, no. by dangitman · · Score: 2, Funny

    Today I can order my grocery's online

    Order your grocery's what online? Do your groceries need accessories, or something?

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
  11. Re:Freedom is the killer app by Chief+Camel+Breeder · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not dead. Undead.