SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Although barcodes are currently utilized mainly to keep track of merchandise, they may soon also be used to detect counterfeit goods. We're not talking about ordinary barcode labels, however. Instead, British scientists at Sofmat Ltd and the University of Bradford have devised a new 3D barcode that's actually molded into plastic or composite items.
The system utilizes tiny pins that are integrated into the mold from which the product is made. Each pin can be set to different heights via micro actuators, with each 0.4-micron increment in height corresponding to a specific letter or numeral (0 - 9). The current prototype consists of a four-pin array, allowing for over 1.7 million unique configurations.
The resulting indentations in the finished item are difficult to see and impossible to feel, yet can be read using a white light interferometer or a laser-scanning confocal microscope – a compact laser scanner is in the works, which could wirelessly transmit readings to a smartphone or tablet.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:32PM
Whoops forgot a 3rd reason, with the rise of self check I've memorized the code for idaho potatoes and coincidentally if what I'm buying has no code sticker or bar code, everything I buy happens to be an idaho potatoe. I won't actively cheat them but they're not paying me to memorize their codes or look them up, and they sure as hell give no discount for self check users, so I use the only code I actually know. Everything in the produce aisle costs about the same per pound anyway.
So if you want to do actual inventory control and tracking, you need to not rely on customers memorizing an entire book of produce codes.