When printing barcode labels, there are so many different options available from printer types right down to the size of the label. Well, why not add one more factor to the list of considerations and talk about ink. Aside from thermal and thermal transfer, there is the question of using pigment vs. dye.

Pigment is made of solid opaque particles that rest atop the paper, rather than being absorbed into the fibers as with dye ink. Below are advantages and disadvantages of pigment and dye inks.

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The Motorola 3.5G MC75A is an EDA designed with ruggedness and durability in mind. By maximizing processing power, rugged design, application flexibility, data capture capabilities, connectivity options, security and manageability, enterprises are able to standardize, using one single EDA to support workers both in and outside.

The Motorola 3.5G MC75A is available in 3.5G WWAN/WLAN and WLAN only and features:

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Aside from the expiration date of a product, how can you really be sure that the food you are purchasing from the supermarket is fresh? Well, a group of designers were wondering the same thing, so they decided there must be a better way than the expiration date or look of produce to determine the freshness of food.

After much deliberation, the designers decided that a fading barcode would be the perfect solution. Unlike the typical barcode, the Fresh Code would slowly fade as the product became less fresh. Shoppers would gain visibility into which fruits and veggies are freshest, and when the barcode eventually disappears, it would serve as an indicator to the store that it’s time to remove the product from the shelves. The Fresh Code would be able to offer an intelligent barcode with a graph that indicates the freshness level. With time, the graph on the barcode will recede and ultimately reach 0, meaning that it should no long be sold.

Mobile barcoding is becoming more and more prevalent in the US and now Fandango and has jumped on board. The movie mogul plans to test the 2D barcodes at various theatres in place of physical tickets. The new tickets will be delivered to your mobile device in the form of a barcode, which the ticket taker will able to scan using a 2D barcode scanner.

Mobile barcoding will eliminate the need to pick up tickets purchased upon arriving, which saves time for consumers and eliminate paper and printing costs for the theatres. The following theatres across the country will be participating in this exciting new program:

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NBS Corp, a manufacturer of circuit boards located in Santa Clara, CA, has started to use RFID technology in order to track which components are installed on each board. By monitoring this information using RFID, NBS Corp is able to ensure that each component is being installed successfully and store the data regarding each circuit board in the event that a component fails or is recalled.

When components arrive at the assembly plant, they are packaged in a “tape and reel” format, with the reel resigned to feed the components to the automated placement machine that places them on a circuit board. Their system uses RFID to verify that all feeders and reels are in correct position so that the proper operation of the boards is ensured.

Each tape feeder is identified with a serialized bar-code label, and has a low-frequency (LF) 125 kHz RFID tag. When the reels are loaded onto the feeders, the operators utilize a handheld device to scan the bar-code labels on each reel, as well as on the feeder, to link them together in the database. When the feeders are loaded on a trolley, their tags are read by an RFID reader by mounted on the trolley. The RFID reader interprets the tags unique ID number, and then sends that information to the software in the company’s back-end system, which determines which slot the reel has been placed, based on the location of the antenna that reads that tag’s ID number.

By using RFID Technology, NBS Corp. was able to work more efficiently and accurately.