Happy Birthday to an Unsung Hero!

Or maybe it's more of an anniversary. 35 years ago, at 8:01am on June 26th 1974, a now-common event happened for the first time ever: a barcode was scanned at a retail checkout. Exciting? Maybe not. World-changing? Definitely.

Out of a whole shopping-cart full of barcoded items, the cashier happened to first pick out and scan a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit. That pack is now on display in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

These days, barcodes are taken utterly for granted, and must surely count as one of the most successful - and unsung - technologies ever invented. Try to imagine a modern supermarket without them.

The technology is still developing, however. A new breed of 2-dimensional barcodes can store far more information than the traditional 'linear' ones, and are in use in places ranging from medicine packaging to the International Space Station.

Because barcodes are required on almost all retail products, many companies find themselves in need of a barcode graphic - but there are pitfalls, and it is important that barcode images are created properly.

Barcode software such as "AVS Barcode Source" can be used to produce high-quality graphics for use on product packaging, books, magazines, ID badges, right through to aviation and aerospace components. Contact Alver Valley Software Limited for more information.

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"AVS Barcode Source" is software for creating graphics files containing barcodes - the images can be imported into desktop-publishing software. "AVS Barcode Source" is in use on six continents and has overwhelmingly positive customer feedback.

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