Happy Barcode Anniversary! Here’s another anniversary celebration by Google. Those who have searched through Google today (October 7, 2009) must have noticed a new logo at the website’s homepage. Keeping up with its tradition, Google is celebrating the anniversary of another significant invention in human history – The Barcodes. Open up a Google webpage today and you will be greeted with a barcode logo as the Google is celebrating the 57th anniversary of barcodes which were invented in 1973 by Joseph Woodland, Jordin Johansson, and Bernard Silver.
Barcodes, which consist of simple bars, has taken over the world as there are barcodes developed for literally everything, as the saying goes, ‘If it exists, bar code it.’ Barcodes have largely replaced numbers and figures on many items which are being used in our daily lives. Just take a peek in your kitchen cabinets or pull your fridge door and you will notice tens of grocery items with barcodes on them.
Every barcode gives unique information. Barcodes found on items in grocery stores usually carry information about their price. These barcodes are generated with Universal Product Code. Universal Product Code is a particular method of replacing numbers with barcodes. Talking about the pattern of barcodes, a 666 pattern is generally followed in every barcode. The 666 pattern is a part of Universal Product Code and you will notice a 666 barcode in almost every cash register.
Barcodes are machine-readable and that explains the reasons why do we barcode everything. For instance, in grocery stores a cashier needs to enter thousands of items on daily basis in the computer system for billing. Reading the price of each item and then manually entering it into the computer would consume too much time. Reading the barcode with a barcode reader makes life simpler and much easier. You scan the barcode and the data is entered into the computer system automatically – no hassle of entering each digit manually and the process gets done in a flick of a second. Hence, barcodes have made our lives easier!
Bar Code 666
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