Barcoding News

When you think about RFID one of your first thoughts probably isn’t how it can benefit your pet cat. Many pets today have an RFID chip in them for identification purposes but beyond that, the technology doesn’t really come into play in their day to day lives.

Ben Milliam realized that he could enhance his cat’s general curiosity and ‘mobile’ hunting drive with the aid of some RFID tagged wiffle balls and a modified electronic feeder he embedded an RFID reader in. Now his cat, Monkey, gets a taste of being an outdoor ‘hunting’ cat in the comforts of home.

You can find a detailed breakdown of Ben’s process and how be built everything on his site.

Sato has announced the discontinuation of the CL608e and CL612e industrial thermal printer and all related accessories. This retirement notice includes the discontinuation of the CL6e series printers and accessories. For a suitable replacement, the new CL6NX series is the perfect choice for even better performance while still using the same media the older printers used.

Reason for Retirement: The CL6NX series was released in April 2015 which has a superior feature set and is a compatible replacement for the CL6e.

Service and Warranty: Sat0 will honor all warranties in place and maintain our service obligation by supporting and servicing discontinued printers through Sato as long as parts are available.

For more information or assistance finding the right replacement industrial printer for your needs, contact us at Barcodes, Inc.

Leading the way in retail checkout scanning, the Datalogic Magellan 9800i is the world’s first in-counter barcode scanner driven completely by high performance digital imaging, resulting in the ability to increase checkout performance in the world’s busiest checkout environments. Compared to traditional laser based in-counter scanner/scales, the 9800i greatly improves checkout speeds but also opens new interactions with a customer facing imager to easily scan digital coupons from smartphone screens and traditional paper/card based coupons.

Key Features

• Advanced digital imaging in all reading planes
• Seamless reading of 1D and 2D codes in all planes with good-read audio and visual confirmation for fast, uninterrupted scanning
• Optional Top Down Reader (TDR) adds large topside field-of-view as well as a customer-facing mobile device reader
• The largest ever All-Weighs scale platter enables effortless, accurate weighing of long or bulky items
• ScaleSentry Shrink Monitoring/Prevention System reduces losses from oversized items outside the weighing surface
• Low bonnet height allows for accessibility and flexibility in checkstand layout
• Top side accessible service port allows for the product to stay in the counter for most service calls (including software upgrades)
• Illumix Intelligent Illumination Technology designed for digital imaging in retail

‘Always Leading-Always Innovating’ in cutting-edge technology, Star is proud to announce its SM-L200 two-inch Bluetooth low energy portable printer for the mobile point of sale industry. The SM-L200 supports BLE technology for all iOS mobile devices such as the Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Its compact and lightweight design make this two-inch portable printer perfect for a wide range of applications from queue busting in retail and hospitality to home delivery 58mm wide invoicing.

The SM-L200 is the first portable printer currently on the market which offers the ability to connect any Apple, iOS BLE compatible device without having to pair to it. With no limitation on the number of devices connected, BLE is the perfect solution for BYOD (bring your own device) environments that does not require any certification or prior authorization from your iOS operating system. In addition to the BLE feature for iOS, the SM-L200 is Bluetooth (3.0/ 4.0) compatible with all operating systems (Windows, Android, and iOS).

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Hospitals have a myriad of very important moving pieces to keep track of on a daily basis. Keeping an accurate count of medicine, patients, files, lab equipment and specimens, to name a few, can be a daunting task for any medical facility. The good news is, Zebra provides many healthcare solutions to help simplify the tracking of critical hospital inventories. Below you will find solutions to the most common issues healthcare institutions face:

Admission: Hospital admissions staff welcome patients and gather important patient medical information. Recent advances in wristband printing allows for a patient to wear a wristband with a barcode. Simply scan the wristband with a healthcare scanner or mobile computer to obtain a patients records, in real time.

Patient Care: Real time updates of a patient’s medical records can dramatically increase services and care provided by a healthcare facility. Using healthcare scanning and mobile computing devices can help significantly cut down on errors.  Scheduling appointments, sending prescriptions and reviewing patient history, are only a few of the solutions available when using Zebra healthcare products.

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The Granit 1980i industrial-grade scanner features full-range area-imaging technology capable of reading both 1D and 2D barcodes across a wide range of distances. From poor quality 2 mil codes scanned at close range, to 100 mil codes hanging from warehouse rafters scanned at ranges of 52 feet, the 1980i is built to perform. With an unmatched range that provides incredible versatility, Granit enables maximum operator productivity in the harshest environments.

The 1980i is packed with technologies that make it simple to use. An integrated laser pointer aiming system with auto-illumination, omni-directional reading capability, and support for centering take the guesswork out of scanning at extended ranges. Operators of fork trucks equipped with vehicle-mounted mobile computers, such as the Honeywell Thor series, will appreciate how the full-range scanning capability of 1980i allows them to remain seated—and hence more productive—while scanning pallets at extended ranges.

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Should your business commit to using or migrating to the Android operating system? Before we answer that we should caveat by stating that no two IT departments are exactly the same. While Android currently holds a small market share of the rugged platform, its flexibility and customizability make it a leading candidate to take over for Microsoft, which has historically dominated the enterprise space. Microsoft’s software constrainment after each release has pushed the large device manufacturers like Zebra (formerly Motorola) and Honeywell to start investing heavily into the Android operating system for their mobile computers. The rest of the manufacturers have started to follow suit. Furthermore, despite the large market share of iOS in consumer devices, Apple is currently the least suited for the enterprise mobility space due to its lack of customization and restricted API access. See below for a chart that depicts the biggest benefits of Android in enterprise mobility:

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Ever since the FDA passed the Food Safety Modernization Act, anyone involved in the food supply chain has to be able to produce, at any moment, the movement of food from supplier to the final retail store.  With legislation forcing food grower, manufacturers, and distributors to track food from field to the dinner table, having capable and affordable traceability technology is essential for everyone involved.

The biggest motivation behind the legislation is to make it easier to trace and find sources of contaminated food to the correct original source. This may seem at first as a measure mainly for the end consumer but it also protect growers and manufactures in being to very precisely remove their goods from suspicion of tainting as opposed to wide spread recalls. The costs involved in a capable barcode tracking system is noticeable less than even just one recall incident.

The Food Safety Modernization Act calls for, among other things, unique identifiers such as the GS1 databar, and full electronic pedigree or origins of the produce. Barcoding technologies are an important first step in this compliance as growers begin to change and update their record keeping methods. This is where Zebra and their wide range of printers and FDA approved labels are the perfect complete solution.

With printer options for low volume small businesses, GK420 and TLP2824 Plus, to high speed/high output models, ZT400 and 110Xi4, Zebra’s long standing industry experience and expertise is designed in every printer they make. From labeling a single tomato to whole crates and packaged foods, Zebra has a traceability solution that can improve your business’s accuracy and efficiency.

Star has announced its new ‘Tradition’ cash drawer series with the release of the CD3-1313 and CD3-1616 cash drawer models. The new cost effective cash drawers integrate seamlessly into any retail or hospitality environment with a standard printer communication interface and bottom exit cable, hidden from the customer’s view. With cash till options for both models, the CD3 traditional cash drawers can accommodate to Canadian, United States, and Latin American currency types of 3Bill-5Coin, 4Bill-5Coin for CD3-1313 and 4Bill-8Coin, 5Bill-8Coin for CD3-1616.

Features include a black stainless steel front drawer cover, dual media slots, and a three function lock system. The smooth black coated finish provides a unified appearance and complements the connected POS peripherals for merchants. The dual media slots provide extra storage for checks and large bills. For security, the key lock at front center allows for an easy manual release with a key or an electronic release.

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A printer’s printhead may be the most critical component to ensuring crisp, consistent and readable barcodes. Many times the reason prints are not sharp is due to a dirty printhead. BarcodesInc has partnered with IIMAK to provide ribbon with Clean Start. Ribbon including Clean Start allows the user to clean their printhead every time ribbon is changed.  Cleaning the printhead on a regular cadence increases the longevity of the printhead.

Clean Start provides hassle free printhead cleaning with 3 simple steps and only takes 6 seconds.

• Load the Clean Start Clean Start is built right into most BCI thermal transfer ribbons.
• Lock the printhead
• Pull Clean Start
• Your printer’s printhead has just been cleaned.

When using Clean Start, unnecessary interruptions caused by printhead failures, can be avoided. This results in less money and time being spent replacing printheads.  Contact your knowledgeable BarcodesInc Account Manager for a FREE SAMPLE, of ribbon with Clean Start.