barcodes

QR codes aren't just for boring business marketing. We recently checked out Barcode Gallery, a company that sells QR codes (two-dimensional bar codes that link to messages or Web sites) as wall art. Now you can emblazon those codes on a custom T-shirt for a high-tech fashion statement with ScanMe's shirt-printing service.

ScanMe creates a custom QR code just for you. It links to your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter profiles and can include your latest status message, a way to e-mail you, or even your phone number.

Anyone who wants a modicum of privacy can control how much information the scan pulls up. That's smart, because the people you want checking out your LinkedIn account usually aren't the same as the people you want to be friends with on Facebook.

These T-shirts offer more of a fashion statement than a mere black and white collection of boxes within a square. Some of the designs veer off into Threadless territory with the bar code buried within a Space Invaders-style illustration or coming from the mouth of a blue Twitter bird.

ScanMe is a United Kingdom company, but it offers free worldwide postage on the shirts. Prices start around $22 and range up to around $35 per shirt.… Read more

Modern art is often designed to challenge our sensibilities and push the envelope on the definition of art. Some people may look at a QR code--a boxy type of bar code that often leads back to a URL or message when scanned--and see a jumble of squares. Barcode Gallery looks at a QR code and sees art in action.

Barcode Gallery's custom pieces link to up to 300 characters of text when scanned. That's like having two tweets together. Write your own custom message or choose from ready-to-go college-themed works done in school colors.

I looked up my alma mater, University of Arkansas (Woo Pig Sooie!), and found a bar code that pulls up the words to the school's anthem, a slightly hokey number that mentions the mountains of God and a beacon of hope. No worries, the message can be customized if you wish to make some edits.… Read more

Shop Savvy Premium Barcode Scanner is certainly not the only bar code reader in the iTunes App Store, but it offers some unique features to make it a handy shopping companion when checking prices. Like other apps in the category, ShopSavvy lets you use your iPhone camera to "scan" a bar code then view the item and prices from various locations. The interface is set up to be as simple as possible, but it offers nice touches such as the ability to initiate a scan by swiping upward on the product display screen.

After a bar code scan, … Read more

Since the launch of iOS 4.3, several iPhone users have complained their batteries are draining much faster. I haven't personally noticed a difference, but for those of you who have, you'll happy to know that iOS 4.3.1 unexpectedly launched today. (It was rumored earlier this week that it might launch in two weeks).

Though there aren't many details about the release besides minor security and maintenance updates, it is likely that this early launch for the iOS means that Apple is trying to smooth out the bugs and hopefully take care of battery drain quickly.

Please let us know in the comments if you've experienced issues with iOS 4.3 and whether you noticed a difference in this latest update.

This week's apps include a well-designed barcode scanner and a game that challenges you to race through traffic on a motorcycle.… Read more

The inventors of the digital camera, the industrial robot, public-key cryptography, and the barcode are just some of those being inducted into this year's National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Today, the National Inventors Hall of Fame announced its latest selections of the people responsible for some of the key technologies that we use and rely on today.

In 1975, a Kodak engineer named Steve Sasson built a device that was able to capture an image, convert it to an electronic signal, and then digitize and store that image, leading to the world's first digital camera, according to the … Read more

The FCC is looking into letting people report emergencies over SMS and streaming video

Netflix launches a streaming-only plan, letting people ditch the DVDs

Amazon launches a Black Friday shopping page

Yelp introduces Check-In Offers, giving people discounts for location check-ins

Google TV serves up almost no TV now that Viacom joins the networks that block the service from playing their online content

Amazon allows you to give someone an MP3 as a gift

Google Docs has a Microsoft Office plug-in that lets you sync your desktop documents to Google Docs

Amazon launches … Read more

We've all been there: standing, befuddled, in front of 30 blaring TV sets in a big-box store, struggling to decide which flat-screen TV would work in the living room. Or maybe you urgently need a new digital camera, but once you see dozens on display you forget the features you came for in the first place. These are the moments when you most need CNET's reviews and shopping advice.

The new CNET Reviews iPhone app gives you all our expert shopping advice anywhere you go. The app's bar code scanner instantly returns rated tech reviews and prices … Read more

Bar code readers and scanning applications have slowly been gaining popularity in the United States thanks to apps such as ShopSavvy, Compare Everywhere, and Google Shopper. AT&T is jumping on board with its own bar code offerings that the carrier announced today.

Designed for Android and BlackBerry phones, AT&T's new Mobile Barcode Services primarily serve as shopping tools, according to the carrier. First up is the free AT&T Code Scanner app that lets users scan 2D and 1D barcodes to receive coupons, promotional materials, movie trailers, and more. To download the free app … Read more

Businesses, organizations, and others who have a lot of stuff going out all over the place need to know who's got what stuff where, not only to make sure it doesn't go missing, but also to maximize its usefulness and your return on investment; stuff isn't cheap. Kaizen Software's Asset Manager 2010 Enterprise Edition has an easy-to-apply answer to the problem of keeping track of stuff. This bar code label printer and manager creates custom bar codes that you can attach to equipment, materials, tools, supplies, and anything else that is all too portable. You can … Read more