A Dec. 11 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims to show how to identify products from Israel by looking at the first three digits below a barcode. “Israel barcode numbers 729, 841, 871.

Barcodes are set to disappear in favour of modern QR codes. After more than 50 years of ubiquity, the organisation that oversees the world's barcodes is preparing to consign them to the bargain bin of ...

Hailed as 'space-age' technology upon their launch in Britain in 1979, 'bar-coding' was praised as a wonderful invention that would speed up the weekly shop. But 50 years after being first used on ...

Roman Mars’ podcast 99% Invisible covers design questions large and small, from his fascination with rebar to the history of slot machines to the great Los Angeles Red Car conspiracy. Here at The Eye, ...

One of the earliest forms of the bar code will celebrate its 40th anniversary Thursday, June 26. On that date in 1974, a 10-pack of Juicy Fruit Gum was scanned for its Universal Product Code (UPC) at ...

A heated debate has erupted online over barcodes and QR codes printed on election ballots, with voters questioning whether ...

Featured in many sci-fi stories as a quicker, more efficient way to record and transfer information, barcodes are both extremely commonplace today, and still amazingly poorly understood by many.

Here’s one more app you can delete from your iPhone: that QR code and barcode scanner you only occasionally use. With an update rolling out today, Google’s Chrome mobile browser can do the job instead ...

The patch of irregular vertical lines that revolutionised checking out at the supermarket and facilitated the globalisation of retail is turning 50. But as the barcode celebrates its birthday on ...