Very little is sold for the American home -- from food to kitchen cleansers to cosmetics -- that does not bear a bar code, that striped marking that, when scanned, yields a number that allows the checkout register to identify an item and its price.
As digital devices get smaller and smarter, electronics makers are looking to scanning technology to do everything from opening Internet sites to enabling refrigerators to reorder food when supplies run low.
PHOTO: NY TIMES
Meanwhile, bar codes are finding a place in electronic toys and computer games. Among the first, arriving in September, is a hand-held fantasy game called Skannerz, developed by a Dallas-based company, Radica. Intended for children 7 and older, the device is a virtual monster capture and combat game. Once the monsters are "trapped" in the device, they can be viewed on a tiny LCD screen and pitted against one another.
The trick is getting the monsters into the machine. That is accomplished by passing the device's built-in scanner over any bar code, which often may yield signs of life. A program embedded in the device will transform the information received from the bar code into one of an array of monsters, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile and ready for battle. Scannerz uses three AAA batteries and is expected to sell for US$19.
More elaborate is Knowledge Adventure's ScanCommand: A Jurassic Park III Game, a CD-ROM computer game based on the latest Jurassic Park movie. The game, due in October, features richly detailed graphics, an assortment of dinosaurs (including velociraptors and spinosaurs) and five children who desperately need to be rescued.
But what sets ScanCommand apart from the crowded field of dino-videogames is its use of bar codes to rev up the terrible lizards' strength, speed, intelligence and other winning qualities. A bar code scanner, about the size of a television remote control, is included and connects to a personal computer's serial port.
Once a bar code is scanned and loaded into the game, the program turns it into dinosaur DNA, which is represented as a sort of puzzle piece on the screen, a kind of game within a game. Once the puzzle is assembled by the player, the qualities are transferred to his dinosaur.
Part of the fun, said Robert Nashak, executive producer for Vivendi Universal, of which Knowledge Adventure is a division, is figuring out which bar codes yield which qualities. Some bar codes are worthless, but most will yield some kind of DNA. Some can make the difference between a dinosaur's becoming predator or prey.
To make it more interesting, he said, Knowledge Adventure will make some special bar codes available only on the Internet for downloading and scanning.
Nashak said that the game, which will sell for about US$50 and is aimed at children 8 and older, had no commercial tie-in to products that might end up bearing some of the most sought-after bar codes.
"You don't even have to buy anything to scan these codes," he said, noting that the user could simply browse the supermarket shelves in search of codes that might yield the most prized dinosaur qualities. The battery-powered scanner can hold up to 25 scans and can also be attached to another game scanner so players can trade dinosaur DNA.
The game requires Windows 95, 98 or 2000 and a graphics accelerator card.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS