Happy 50th birthday to the UPC barcode – no one expected you would revolutionize global commerce

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨tardigrada@beehaw.org⁩ to ⁨technology@beehaw.org⁩

https://theconversation.com/happy-50th-birthday-to-the-upc-barcode-no-one-expected-you-would-revolutionize-global-commerce-234247

The first modern barcode was scanned 50 years ago this summer – on a 10-pack of chewing gum in a grocery store in Troy, Ohio, in the U…S.

Fifty is ancient for most technologies, but barcodes are still going strong. More than 10 billion barcodes are scanned every day around the world. And newer types of barcode symbols, such as QR codes, have created even more uses for the technology.

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thefartographer@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
George H.W.'s greatest foe

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- Isoprenoid@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Reference explanation: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarket_scanner_moment
  
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- BearOfaTime@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Anyone of his generation.
  
  I had to exain them to my parents, and my father was highly educated and technically trained. 1
  
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BearOfaTime@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
No one foresaw this? Really? The first time I saw it, I was 10. I wondered why they even needed cashiers if we could just scan everything.

If a ten year old kid thought that decades ago, what were the adults that managed mainframes and minicomputers thinking?

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