DNA Typewriter

Quite interesting.

 DNA Typewriter Taps Out a Record Inside Cells

Howard Hughes Medical Institute News, July 8, 2022

Researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) have developed a DNA typewriter that can encode text in cells. The researchers chose messages with historical significance, including quotes from Samuel F.B. Morse’s first long-distance telegraph transmission and Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone call, as well as a lyric translated from a Korean pop song. Said HHMI's Jay Shendure, "We have accomplished something that's analogous to writing. We can create thousands of symbols, which we call barcodes, and we can capture them in order." The DNA typewriter can accommodate up 4,096 barcodes (short pieces of DNA), placing them one at a time from left to right. The researchers were able to track cell division by tagging dividing cells with barcodes. ....'

The Art of the Barcode

Our group was one of the very first users of barcodes in retail, so have followed it and related information and compression techniques for a long time.   Here an update, have not read it but will.

[eBook] The Art of the Code   in RetailWire

An essential guide to the latest in barcode data capture technology

Since its first scan, the barcode has revolutionized the retail industry, bringing improved store productivity and inventory management as well as upstream benefits throughout the supply chain. At this point in its evolution, there are dozens of barcode symbologies, each with individual strengths, weaknesses and application-specific designs.

This Resource Guide is a valuable reference tool for barcode beginners and IT veterans alike. Learn about:

Different bar code symbology and their applications;

The right symbology for your business/application;

The right printing technique for your selected symbology. ... '

Amazon Show Scans Barcodes

Was surprised this didn't happen much sooner, given their earlier experiments with wands and buy buttons.    As suggested, put it right next to the can for quick reorder of staples.  (Tried this and it worked fine in populating the shopping list)

Amazon’s Echo Show can now scan barcodes to flesh out your shopping list    Prime placement: right next to the kitchen can    By Sean Hollister@StarFire2258 in theVerge

In our review of the Amazon Echo Show 5 smart display, Dan called it the “smart alarm clock to get.” But I think I might move mine to the kitchen, right next to the garbage can.

That’s partly because Amazon has just added the ability for the Echo Show 5 and Echo Show 8’s camera to scan barcodes, and automatically add those items to your shopping list (via VentureBeat). I might do that when I’ve got an empty package I’m about to toss in the trash.  ... "

Barcode Developer Dies

We were one of the earliest experimenters and users of the Barcode in retail, starting in 1994.  In the BBC:   George Laurer, the US engineer who helped develop the barcode, has died at the age of 94. ...     Much more on the barcode in the Wikipedia.

Sams Pilots Makes Scanning more Efficient

The difference here is simple,  users don.t have to search for a barcode.   And we assume that this will work with sometimes non barcoded product like produce?  Have used Scan & Go at Kroger.    Will customers notice?  How different will be this be than Amazon Go?  The tests indicate considerably less time to scan.

Will new Scan & Go tech turbocharge Sam’s checkouts?  by Matthew Stern in Retailwire  with further expert commentary.

This spring, Sam’s Club will begin piloting an upgrade to its Scan & Go technology that is meant to enable customers to scan purchases even faster while they shop.

The new solution uses machine learning and computer vision to identify products when a shopper points their smartphone at them, according to TechCrunch. In Sam’s Club’s standard app, users are required to find a barcode on the product and scan it before putting it into their cart. The item is then added to their digital cart so they can pay via app. The ability of customers to scan each item without flipping them around to search for a barcode cuts down demonstrably on the time it takes.

A demonstration video (see t the link) indicates that on a test item, the new app takes only 3.4 seconds to scan, down from 9.3 seconds when a customer has to search for the barcode. The technology came out of the Sam’s Club Now high-tech test store in Dallas, which opened last year. The first tests of the new technology will be at this store.  ... " 

Digital Watermarks

A method we experimented with:

Tech Partnership Looks Beyond the Bar Code With Digital Watermarks
Backers say watermark technology on product packaging can speed up supply chains and retail transactions   ... " 

Internet of Things: Why Now?

Why now?  Because the ability to connect universally is coming into place, and the analytics to make some useful sense of it is also.  We saw the early years of it in the application of first barcodes and then RFID in retail.  Now we are approaching much more connectivity, more pervasive signalling and better analytics.

From the question posed in the Cisco Blog. 

Birthday of the Barcode

The Barcode is 40 years old.  Like with many computing anniversaries, the age seems small.  My enterprise was involved with its development, standardization and use in manufacturing and retail.  I tested packaging designs against code reading machines.  We also tested a broad number of potential replacements, none of which have taken over for general identification use.    More at the link.  " ... Forty years ago yesterday, a cashier at a Marsh Supermarket in Ohio scanned a pack of gum and the Uniform Product Code (UPC) took its first step to becoming the standard for tracking merchandise at retail. ... " 

Tackling the Shopping List

A problem we worked on for years.  The smart shopping list. Starting with a Blackberry implementation.  And many others.   But was that the best approach? A self contained barcode scanner was one of the solutions. Now  In FastcoLabs: " ...  So it was with some intrigue that we discovered this $80 software-powered barcode scanner, which attacks one of the classic smartphone use cases Steve Jobs demonstrated at the launch of the iPhone in 2007: keeping a shopping list.

The Hiku, as it’s called: (Former Palm Employees Cook Up Kitchen-Centric Kickstarter Project), is an example of a new wave of dedicated devices that are challenging the assumption that an app is always a good replacement for a discrete device or real-world tool. “Connected devices is a super-exciting space right now, and feels a lot like mobile did back in 2002,” says Hiku founder Rob Katcher. “It’s very wild west, very fresh.”  .... ' 

Though no longer involved in the concept, will look at this in more detail ...

University of Arkansas RFID Center

From the RFID Journal:  A now dated piece, but reminded me of work we did with RFID  technology and the University of Arkansas back in 2003.  And another excellent example of how an innovation center can be designed, built and used to address a technology solution space.  RFID has not replaced the barcode, but it has many expanding niche uses.   The RFID Journal is a great place to track their uses.

Intelligent Bar Code Scanning

A piece by the standards group GS1:   GS1 and Open Mobile Alliance team up to bring intelligent bar code scanning to mobile devices ... 

GS1 and Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) are collaborating to enable bar code scanning features built directly into mobile devices. This will make it easier for application developers to allow their apps to scan and link to trusted content.
"Our consumers are increasingly using mobile devices to research and purchase products. This new specification will allow more consumers to access accurate and trusted product information to help them with their daily lives", said John Phillips, SVP Customer Supply Chain and Logistics at PepsiCo.  .... Full press release.

Bar Code Ticker

A Wired Article reminded me of the nonprofit organization GS1, which I worked with for years.  Among many other things they establish bar code standards.  The work started in Troy Ohio in 1974 when cashier Sharon Buchanan rang up a 10 pack of Juicy Fruit at Marsh Supermarket.  Although somewhat before my own time, I worked at the Pentagon then, my later enterprise was instrumental in supporting the effort.  The rest is history.   Now About 40 years later GS1 has established a ticker that shows live how many bar codes are scanned every day.  Today - 3.4 billion and counting.   Quite an accomplishment.

Consumers Want More Information

In POPAI: Also a discussion of standards, which ultimately gets you to comparable information.  Accessing an extended package, like using a barcode reader, or image recognition, is one approach.  But its availability is not universal, and most people don't read the smaller print on packaging of the usual kind.   Which does not require additional devices.  Ultimately, though I still think this is about real value in the short term.  Not elusive and unclear terms like carbon footprint.   Spare me the need for footnotes.

Bar Code Inventor Dies

I worked with identification technology technologies for years.  Bar codes were a simple solution to a simple problem with wide ranging, complex applications ... They are still of much value ...

A colleague - correspondent writes:  I was very sad to read that inventor Norman Joseph Woodland died aged 91 on Sunday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/business/n-joseph-woodland-inventor-of-the-bar-code-dies-at-91.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20718362
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323297104578177502124093578.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Joseph_Woodland

His co-inventor Bernard Silver died young at the age of 38 in 1963 in an automobile accident:

http://www.adams1.com/history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Silver
http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/454.html

Acoustic Barcodes

A European colleague sends this piece about acoustic bar codes.   It is a hack, but I like the idea of being able to interact with packaging or display via a touch interaction and then getting the same information you would get with visually scanning a bar code.   Adding a sensory dimension has potential value.

60 Years of a Barcode Patent

I was just reminded that it has been about 60 years since the patenting of the bar code.  See this BBC article.  Today we think of it as a very humble thing, but it was the first commercially successful attempt to convert the physical into the digital.   This created all kinds of leveraging capabilities that we had not seen before.  Making shopping, interacting with and shipping products much more efficient.   It has also led to richer and more transparent data that created better analytics.   A transformational event.

Peapod's Virtual Store

In PopAI:   More on Peapod's Virtual stores, including a good video of it in operation.  " ... The campaign stretches all across the U.S., littering 100 subway stations with digital billboards mimicking mini-grocery aisles displaying up to 50 products, each complete with a picture, price, and an easily scannable barcode. Once the barcode is scanned using the shopper’s smartphone, the product is then added to their Peapod list.... "    This is a good idea, in focused, limited areas.  The same displays could also be put on tablets to make shopping for commuters even easier.  Note the direct mimicking of a retail shelf.  This approach has not been particularly successful on the Internet in general.   Would it be any different in this environment?

Junaio Augmented Reality Update

Junaio has updated their mobile App capabilities for commercial augmented reality.  Full report accessible here.  Also see a short video explaining mobile augmented reality.  New capabilities include scanning images, barcodes and QR codes.    With an easier to use interface.  I like the idea, but it depends heavily on accessible content, and there isn't much available in my suburban location. Even the Web was not impressive until you had sufficient value to search for.

IBM Tests Augmented Reality Shopping App

In Adage:  Have not seen IBM involved on the shelves of retail for a while.  This is an interesting effort of theirs in testing the experience of in-store interaction.  We worked with their early use of kiosk and checkout experience.   " .... Marketers have tried targeting consumers in stores with QR codes and barcode scanners that so far have gotten limited traction. Now IBM is testing a new approach, dubbed augmented reality, which is a bit like applying search or a personalized version of Google Goggles to the world of physical store shelves.

The prototype app, being tested with some yet-unnamed large retailers in the U.S., can be downloaded by shoppers in-store at the onset of a shopping trip or beforehand to their smartphones or tablets. It lets them describe what they're looking for in terms of ingredients they want more of (e.g. whole grains) or less or none of (e.g. gluten or lactose). It also lets them input that they want biodegradable packaging or say what ingredients or products they want to assemble for a meal.... " 

Hand Scanning at Fresh & Easy

More on another test of shopper barcode hand scanning to improve the checkout process and provide targeted promotions.    Note this uses dedicated devices rather than smartphones.    The same system was tested at AHold.  We experimented with related systems.  Here at Fresh & Easy, a subsidiary of Tesco in the US.

From the comments, more details.