Lightning Labels Blog

Ralph Lauren and QR Barcodes

I was reading the latest issue of TIME magazine over the weekend and came across this interesting article about a new initiative from fashion house Ralph Lauren. In conjunction with the US Open tennis tournament beginning on Monday August 25th, Ralph Lauren is launching a campaign featuring a QR Code - these are basically a two dimensional barcode like the one pictured above. 

This is how it will work. Ralph Lauren has placed these barcodes on billboards, in store windows, in magazine ads and catalogs. You will need a cell phone with a camera and software to read the QR barcode. There are plenty of web sites that provide free QR barcode readers - Ralph Lauren has one available for download on its mobile web site. I was able to download one called NeoReader quite easily for my iPhone. When the QR reader is loaded on your phone you scan the barcode by taking a photo within this software. Then the software will take you to the web site using your phone's browser. The QR codes used in the Ralph Lauren promotion will take you a special web site created just for mobile phones where you can buy merchandise direct from your phone.

In Japan there has been widespread use of QR barcodes for a couple of years now. In this country, we are still in the very early stages, but rest assured this technology will become very widespread in the near future. I don't think Ralph Lauren will be making much money on their first foray into QR barcodes, but they are positioning their company as being on the cutting edge, and they are certainly getting good PR out of it.

The QR barcode pictured above is something I created. If you print this page and scan this QR barcode it will take you to Lightning Labels' website on your cell phone. One day soon you will be able to scan one of these codes at the supermarket to find out more information about the product you are buying. For example you could scan a QR barcode label on a banana and immediately find out when the banana was picked, where it was grown and how it was transported. All the technology is available right now to do this (check out ScanLife or Winksite if you want to create QR barcodes), so I expect forward thinking companies to start using this technology in coming months. Of course, if you want someone to print QR barcode labels then Lightning Labels will be happy to assist you.

Scanning a Barcode With a Cell Phone

As you might have heard Google wants to get into the mobile phone business. Instead of writing all the applications themselves, in typical Google fashion they are having a competition called the Android Developer Challenge and awarding $10 million to developers. One of the winners in the first round is Jeffrey Sharkey, a graduate student at Montana State University, who developed an application that can scan barcodes with the camera on your cell phone.

Of course, it does more than just scan a barcode. His software actually analyzes the barcode to determine the UPC or ISBN numbers and then using the internet connection on the cell phone it looks up a database to give you more information. For example, a scan of the UPC code on a music CD (pictured above) returns information about this CD. You get reviews on Amazon, a list of the tracks on the CD, and most importantly a list of places selling the CDs including prices. It searches both online stores as well as brick and mortar stores near your location.

Right now this software only works for CDs, DVDs, and books, but it will only be a matter of time before this spreads to all retail products with a UPC code. Imagine you are about to buy a nice $25 bottle of wine from your local liquor store, but you are not sure whether you are getting the best value. A quick photo of the barcode and within a few seconds you will have a list of all the places near you, as well as online, that have this same wine available and the prices they are charging.

I thought this technology might be ten years away or more, but after seeing this new application it will probably be less than five years when the above scenario becomes reality.

Printing Without Ink

One of my favorite blogs is The Next Net by Erick Schonfeld, the editor of Business 2.0 magazine. He also produces a short video series for CNN titled the New Disruptors, that features new companies who are really disrupting their industry. The latest video I found particularly fascinating.

The company is called Zink, they are a new company spun off from Polaroid, the venerable old photography company. The engineers at Zink (short for Zero Ink) have invented this incredible new way of printing photos - without using ink. How can you possibly print without ink? That was my first question. Well the secret is in the paper. Zink use a special paper with millions of embedded crystals that when heated by the Zink "printer" melt to form one of the primary colors - Cyan, Magenta and Yellow.

The beauty of the technology is that the printers can be impossibly small - the photo here shows a device about the size of a cell phone. And another really cool thing about it is that the device will be able to wirelessly communicate with your cell phone so you can snap a picture with your phone and then print it out moments later. No word on pricing but they say the Zink printer (and paper) will be available by Christmas of this year. Check out the New Disruptors video here. Very Cool.

Podcast - The Future of Labels

Earlier this week, I did an interview with the people at PodcasterNews. For the uninitiated a podcast is really just like a radio show except the audio file is stored on a web site - here is a formal definition of podcast.

The Better Process Podcast discusses manufacturing news and they conduct interviews several times a week with business managers in the manufacturing sector. Our interview was quite short but covered a wide range of topics such as the advantages of being a small business manufacturer to the future of label printing. Here is the link to the podcast - just click on download show to listen to the MP3 file.

I subscribe to several business podcasts that I regularly download to my iPod. I listen to them when I am working out or just walking around the park in the morning. It is another great 21st century tool that you can use to further your business education.

Sony Announces Paper Thin TV Screen

Last week Sony announced that it has invented a flexible plastic display that bends like paper while showing full color video. Even though we are years away from this becoming a commercial product, it is truly an amazing breakthrough. You can see the video released by Sony (in Japanese) on YouTube.

The screen is a 2.5" display and amazingly only 0.3mm thick (about 0.01") and the video seems to be very high quality. You can easily see this leading to ever thinner cell phones, video iPods and other similar applications.

I also see the day in the not too distant future where you will be browsing the supermarket shelves and the "product labels" will actually be a TV screen on this kind of material. Right now, if you order product labels on our white BOPP with a gloss laminate then your labels are 0.0036" thick, slightly less than half the thickness of the plastic TV screen. So you can see that adding some adhesive to this plastic display and including a power source such as the paper batteries that are just around the corner, and you have a viable new kind of "product label" - the ultimate product sales tool.

Now, we have a lot of obstacles to overcome before this day arrives, but you can be sure this day will come and I expect to start seeing these on the shelves within 10 years. Of course, these "video labels" will be expensive but I also imagine a recycling program that will offset the cost to the consumer. You might spend $2 more for a product with the video label, but then you could send the label back to the manufacturer for a $1 coupon or something like that.

Here at Lightning Labels we like to be on the cutting edge of digital label technology. So even though these video labels are a long way off, when they become commercially available for product labels, we will be at the forefront.

Paper Battery Unveiled

I discovered this amazing news during my Holiday reading. A Korean company has invented a completely new battery technology that does not include any toxic chemicals and is paper thin. There is no talk of when this material will be commercially available, my guess is it will be several years, but if and when it happens the ramifications could be huge. You can read more about it here.

My guess is that if this technology becomes mainstream label material companies will work out ways to print on it and we could have a product label that is a power source. This opens up all kinds of applications. If you combine this product with electronic paper that I have written about before and suddenly the label is transformed and videos on product labels could become a reality.

My guess is we are years and probably decades away from commercial use, but you know when it happens Lightning Labels will be at the forefront.

Happy New Year everyone. Here's to a happy and prosperous 2007.

Electronic Paper is Advancing

Last week Sony released the Sony Reader, a new electronic book reader that features some ground breaking new technology. It is the first electronic reader that can be read from any angle and it can be read equally well in bright sunshine or inside just like a newspaper. But what is most revolutionary is that it only uses power when the display changes for when you are "turning the page". Displaying the page itself consumes no power at all. Sony claims you can read 7,500 pages, roughly 20 good sized novels before needing a recharge.

The size of the reader is just right. It has a 6" screen, it is 0.5" thick and weighs about 9 ounces, less than your average paperback. It can hold up to 80 average sized books at any one time, and with additional memory cards it can hold thousands more. The reviews have been mixed, with many people complaining about the software that runs the reader - but these are problems that are not difficult to fix.

So how is this relevant to the label industry? Well at first glance it may not appear to have a link. But the world is going digital, the music and movie industry have already been transformed, and technology will start impacting other industries soon. The Sony Reader may or may not be a success but one thing is certain, the technology used to create this will be used for other products. Developments are also being made with rollable electronic paper, screens that we will be able to roll up and put in our pocket. Rollable electronic paper that requires very little power - these are developments that will have a future impact on the label printing industry.

One day in the not too distant future product labels will be made from this electronic paper. Today, you could say that product labels have evolved only slightly in the past 100 years, they still contain printed text and graphics that is static. With electronic paper on products, we could have "labels" that are constantly changing. I discussed the efforts that Siemens are making in a post a few months back.

I am convinced that electronic paper is going to revolutionize the printing industry in a similar way that downloadable music has changed the music industry. We may be several years off from electronic product labels, but I for one will be keeping a close eye on all these developments.

What is an RFID Label?

RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification, so an RFID label is electronic circuitry built into an adhesive label that transmits a unique identification code for the product. RFID tags have been in use for years - the most common use they have is for electronic toll collection. You stick the RFID tag on your windshield and you drive through the electronic toll both and the radio receiver there recognizes your car and debits your account without you stopping.

One day all products in the supermarket may well have electronic RFID labels, so instead of scanning your products at the register, you can take your shopping cart and just walk through the checkout where a computer will recognize all the items in your cart, total them and probably charge your credit card all automatically. But we are not there yet. In fact we are probably a long way from this technology reaching broad acceptance.

There are two main problems with RFID labels that really prevents this technology from being incorporated into individual products on the supermarket shelf. The labels themselves are unreliable, with up to a 30% failure rate. Then there is the cost. The RFID label typically adds 20-30c in cost to every product, and consumers are not willing to pay a premium for something that has only limited benefit for them. There are advances being made in both these areas, but we are still many years or even decades away from a commercially viable RFID product label.

If you are interested in reading more about RFID labels, there are plenty of resources online. Wikipedia has extensive explanation of RFID, there are publications such as RFID Journal and Digital RFID magazine with a wealth of information. And of course, there are many blogs - the best one in my opinion is simply called the RFID Weblog. Most of these publications deal more with the RFID technology as it relates to tags (such as the toll collection ones) and not labels. Rest assured I will let you know of any developments in RFID labels here on this blog.

The Smart Pill Bottle

I am fascinated with what the future holds for the label printing industry. I know in my life time it is going to look very different from the way it is now. The future of labeling is with electronic paper and PC Magazine featured a short article recently showing a prototype product with a very interesting application of this technology.

The Smart Pill Bottle will have an electronic paper label that will display information such as when the last dose was taken, when a refill will be needed, and warning messages. It will also communicate wirelessly with your pharmacist. No word on when this prototype will be ready for prime time, but I will be surprised if we don't see products like this appearing on shelves within the next two years.

Siemens Working on "Electronic Labels"

In a previous post I talked about Quantum Paper and their new process for creating electronic paper. I was doing a bit more research on this topic yesterday and I came across a great article from Wired magazine.

Siemens, the huge German electronics company, has been working on developing a paper-thin electronic display for packaging and labels. They intend to make it so cheap that eventually it could replace conventional labels on disposable packaging. They claim that by next year these displays might be appearing on pharmaceutical products.

These electronic displays will be powered by ultra thin batteries and they could provide some basic animation by cycling through multiple pictures or messages. We are a long way from having video on these displays, but even these advances I find particularly fascinating.

Personally, I think we are at least a decade or more before these electronic displays start appearing on products at your local grocery store. In the long run, I know it is going to revolutionize the label printing industry, and here at Lightning Labels we want to be at the forefront when this technology finally goes mainstream.