bluetooth barcode scanner

Veritec Appoints New President and CEO

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn., Dec 08, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Veritec, Inc. (Pink Sheets: VRTC) today announced the appointment of Jeffrey J. Hattara as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Hattara succeeds Van Tran who will become the company's Executive Chairman of the Board. Mr. Hattara's appointment comes at a time when the company is preparing to launch a variety of new products for Identity, PhoneCodes, Mobile Banking and 2D-Barcode solutions using the company's patented technologies. Mr. Hattara has an extensive and proven background in global identity and e-payment solutions. Most recently, he was the President and CEO of Datacard Group, which provides the world's best selling secure ID and card personalization solutions. In addition, he has a long and substantial finance background in international business. Ms. Tran stated, "We are excited to have Jeff join our team. His experience and management skills are exactly what we need to take Veritec technologies onto the global stage as designed. In addition, his financial acumen will bring the desired fiscal and infrastructure oversight needed as we prepare for growth. The Board of Directors joins me in welcoming Mr. Hattara and also looks forward with great confidence to his leadership."ABOUT MR. HATTARAA native Chicagoan, Mr. Hattara earned his undergraduate degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Illinois in Chicago and his MBA from Northwestern University, J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, in Evanston Illinois. Before joining Veritec, he was most recently the President and CEO of Datacard Group in Minnetonka, Minnesota for the past four years. Prior to that he was the Senior VP and CFO for Datacard, VP and CFO for BMC Industries (NYSE) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and before that had a long management career at USG Corporation in Chicago. There he held numerous corporate and operating finance positions, including serving as Director of Corporate Finance during an extensive period of capital market restructurings. While at USG, he also served as Head of Finance for USG International, the company's international component. Jeff and his wife, Bethe, have three children.ABOUT VERITEC, INC.Founded in 1982, Veritec offers a patented line of microprocessor-based encoding and decoding system products that utilize Matrix Symbology(TM) or 2-Dimensional Barcode technology owned by Veritec's wholly-owned subsidiary, VCode Holdings, Inc.Veritec's encoding and decoding systems allow users to create and apply the unique identifiers to the products in the form of a coded matrix symbol called the VeriCode(R) which enable automated manufacturing control, as well as identification, tracking and collection of data via cameras, readers and scanners. The collected data is then stored in the 2-D barcode available for contemporaneous verification or other user-defineable purposes.In 2003, Veritec introduces a new version of matrix symbology called the VSCode(R) to compete in the Biometric Identification markets that required robustness, security, larger data capacity and low cost. With a large data storage capacity of up to 4,500 bytes, the VSCode(R) can store biometric markers such as fingerprint minutiae along with other critical personal information.In 2007, using the large data capacity of the VSCode(R), Veritec introduced its new "multi-purpose-all-in-one" card, called the VSCard(C). Using special banking software and the magnetic stripe on the card, the VSCard(C) functions as a banking debit card, and the VSCode(R) with biometric markers functions as a Bio-ID card. The front of the card has a picture ID along with the owner's information.In 2007, Veritec also introduced its PhoneCodes technology. By transmitting information via the electronic media with a VeriCode(R), the consumers simply use a mobile phone to perform banking transaction, purchase a ticket, send or receive a coupon, a receipt, or purchase a gift.Information about Veritec technologies is available at www.veritecinc.com.Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon our current expectations and speak only as of the date hereof. Our actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors and uncertainties affecting technology companies, our ability to successfully develop products, rapid technological change in our markets, changes in demand for our future products, legislative, regulatory and competitive developments and general economic conditions. Our SEC filings discuss some of the important risk factors that may affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason unless otherwise required to do so by SEC Regulations.SUMLUNG Tech. (http://www.sumlung.com/) (info@sumlung.com) is an emerging high tech enterprise, in 2D and 1D barcode image recognition field. We focus on developing creative and cost-effective barcode products for mobile phone, such as Bluetooth barcode scanner suite, barcode reader software and device, barcode scanning basis on mobile phone, which provide the basic products for solution enterprise. We look forward to mobile applications of 2D and 1D barcode.

Mobile Boarding Pass Innovation Takes Off At Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways, one of the fastest growing carriers in the world, has launched an innovative boarding pass delivery service which will allow their passengers to receive a boarding pass straight to their mobile phone. The mobi-pass™ service has been made possible by Mobiqa, the UK-based leaders in mobile barcode solutions and IER, world leader in passenger check-in and processing, who are providing the ground-breaking technology to Qatar Airways.Qatar Airways operates one of the youngest fleets in the world to over 80 destinations across the globe. mobi-pass™ was recently launched at Doha International Airport, the hub of Qatar Airways, and will be available in other selected destinations in the near future.Qatar Airways’ mobile boarding pass incorporates passenger travel details on an industry standard barcode that is sent to the passenger’s mobile device in the form of an MMS, email or WAP Push/Link message. Passengers who opt for this convenient mobile delivery service will be able to enjoy several distinct benefits including; receiving their boarding pass on the move and proceeding directly to the airport security check-points, bypassing check-in queues, not requiring a printer at home or a kiosk to print their boarding pass and choosing the more eco-friendly option compared to traditional paper-based boarding passes. Once the passenger receives their mobi-pass™ they are able to go straight to security and the departure lounge where their mobile phone is scanned to allow them on-board to continue their journey as normal.Nick Rankin, CEO, Mobiqa Ltd adds, “Qatar Airways is an excellent example to the airline industry of how a modern, forward-thinking airline can monopolise innovative and exciting technology to benefit not only their passengers but the airline and the airport as well. Mobiqa is delighted to be able to work with IER to offer mobi-pass™ to Qatar Airways and we firmly believe that this state-of-the-art technology is a perfect fit for this modern and inventive airline.”About Qatar AirwaysDoha-based Qatar Airways will operate a fleet of 110 aircraft by 2013 – almost double the existing size. Qatar Airways has ordered 80 Airbus A350s, 60 Boeing 787s and 32 Boeing 777s, with deliveries of the latter having started in November 2007. The airline is one of the customers of the twin-deck Airbus A380 ‘super jumbos’ with five on order and scheduled for delivery from 2012. At the Farnborough Air Show in July, the airline also ordered six Airbus A321s. Qatar Airways is due to move to the New Doha International Airport in 2011 when the first phase of the new facility is scheduled to open. Qatar Airways (qatarairways.com) is one of only six airlines in the world with a Five Star ranking for service and excellence awarded by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency. Skytrax also named Qatar Airways’ cabin crew as Best in the Middle East for the sixth year running in 2008 and the airline was voted Best in the Middle East for the third year in a row following a survey of more than 15 million passengers worldwide.About MobiqaMobiqa (mobiqa.com) are world leaders in mobile phone barcoded boarding pass, mobile ticketing and mobile couponing solutions. Mobiqa’s mobi-pass™ services are based on the delivery of IATA standard barcodes to mobile phones via MMS, Email and WAP.Advantages of mobi-pass™:• Reduces distribution and operational costs by allowing a reduction in airport counter space and ground crew through increased use of online booking• Improved passenger convenience by reducing queues at check-in and removing the need for a printer to print their boarding pass.• Environmentally friendly. mobi-pass™ eliminates the need for printing paper boarding passes.• Instant delivery• Improved CRM as airlines and airports can provide a range of innovative mobile services to their passengers.• IATA Compatible. mobi-pass™ is compatible with existing airport scanning equipment installed for IATA barcoded boarding passes. Supports agreed industry standards including DataMatrix, Aztec and QR codes.• Mobiqa offers airlines a range of innovative mobile services including WAP and SMS check-in, SMS alerts and sophisticated click-through banner advertising opportunities for corporate partners.• The company has created a number of ‘world firsts’ in the transport, concert, sports and event ticketing industries as well as multimedia coupon promotions.• Mobiqa’s patented barcode technology is available on six continents and in over 40 countries including USA.• Mobiqa is a private limited company headquartered in Scotland.

What happens when you use the T-Mobile G1 barcode reader on itself?

Planning to get one of those fancy T-Mobile Google phones this weekend? If you are, don't ask a friend who has one to use the phone's barcode reader to find the best deal. Every G1 can use ShopSavvy, an Android app that uses the phone's camera to scan barcodes, then checks the Internet to call up a list of sites where you can buy the product you scanned.Using ShopSavvy on UPC code on the G1's box, the phone gave me just one result — that it's available unlocked from UnlockedFones.com for $595 (it's since been reduced to $495). That's pretty nuts since you can get one direct from T-Mobile (locked, of course, with a two-year contract) for $180, and the suggested retail, before rebates and discounts, is listed as $400. It's not even a good price for an unlocked G1, according to this Google search.It seems a little odd to us that an app designed for this phone can't find a good price on the phone itself. Practically, it's not a big deal (it's pretty obvious where you can buy one, and phones don't make good gifts anyway), but to give no legit results at all? We're stumped.SUMLUNG Tech. (http://www.sumlung.com/) (info@sumlung.com) is an emerging high tech enterprise, in 2D and 1D barcode image recognition field. We focus on developing creative and cost-effective barcode products for mobile phone, such as Bluetooth barcode scanner suite, barcode reader software and device, barcode scanning basis on mobile phone, which provide the basic products for solution enterprise. We look forward to mobile applications of 2D and 1D barcode.

University of Pennsylvania Health System Selects Idhasoft Mobility Division To Integrate Tracking System for Department of Pharmacy

University of Pennsylvania Health System Department of Pharmacy Selects Idhasoft Mobility Division to Achieve Data Accuracy through Customized Integrated Tracking System Software Solution.(1888PressRelease) December 13, 2008 - The department of pharmacy dispenses approximately 2000 – 3000 doses of medication daily. These are comprised of a combination of tablets, capsules, single use liquid cups, vials/ampules, pre-filled syringes, and IV bags/bottles. As each medication is prepared for dispensing, a label is affixed to the item to identify the patient, the drug, and the unique order number (barcode 3 of 9 or 128) which identifies the drug order for a specific patient. Once a pharmacist checks the medication/contents the initial the label and release the item for delivery by a technician. At set times throughout the day one or more technicians will pickup items to be delivered for “route” and deliver them. Pickup can occur simultaneously from several locations and delivery can also occur simultaneously to several locations.The pharmacy needed the ability to track the medication, location, time/date stamp, and the technician picking up and delivering items within the hospital. The hospital had a wireless network running in approximately 70 percent of the hospital not 100 percent coverage. The pharmacy department needed the ability to track if their technicians were delivering the medications according to hospital policy that required deliveries at specific intervals according to hospital policies. For example a “stat” order was an emergency order and had a different threshold then a standard order. The system’s main goal was to track the delivery of pharmacy items from the pharmacy out to the secure nursing dispensing stations and provide the pharmacy with accurate data to maintain their compliance to the hospital’s policy.Idhasoft Mobility Division created a custom software solution that interfaced with the University of Pennsylvania’s legacy SQL database. Our solution created a middleware application that allowed for the use of Symbol/Motorola MC-3070 CE mobile devices with and integrated scanner, WiFi radio and full keyboard to create a chain of custody when the pharmacy order was picked up to the time that it was delivered to the nursing dispensing stations. Zebra Technology barcode printers were used to create barcode labels to create unique barcode labels for the pharmacy items as well as the technicians. We created a hybrid wireless-batch application to run on the mobile device overcome the challenge of the hospital not having 100 percent coverage in the facility. We created a thick application client that ran on the mobile device to run when the device was not in a coverage area of the hospital. When the mobile device sensed WiFi coverage it would do a send and receive to upload/download data files to the Idhasoft transaction server which was connected to the University of Pennsylvania SQL server. The Idhasoft technical team also helped the University of Pennsylvania personnel to create reports in their SQL database to prove compliance of the hospitals policies.About University of Pennsylvania Health System: University of Pennsylvania Health System has been named one of the top hospitals in the United States. The University of Pennsylvania Health System is dedicated to high-quality patient care and service, advancing medical science through research, and educating the next generation of leaders in medicine. UPHS includes three hospitals in Philadelphia and outpatient centers throughout the region. For more information, please visit www.pennhealth.comAbout Idhasoft Ltd:Idhasoft is a software products and IT services provider serving enterprise customers in the United States, Europe and Asia. Idhasoft provide services to industry segments including BFSI, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Public sector, retail and Telecommunication. With a reputation for high quality and reliability, Idhasoft, one of the fastest growing companies with revenue of over $150 million provides a range of IT services, from Software Application Development and Strategic IT Consulting to Recruitment Process Outsourcing, and Implementation of Third Party Enterprise-wide products including Oracle, SAP, Cognos and TIBCO. For more information, please visit www.idhasoft.comSUMLUNG Tech. (http://www.sumlung.com/) (info@sumlung.com) is an emerging high tech enterprise, in 2D and 1D barcode image recognition field. We focus on developing creative and cost-effective barcode products for mobile phone, such as Bluetooth barcode scanner suite, barcode reader software and device, barcode scanning basis on mobile phone, which provide the basic products for solution enterprise. We look forward to mobile applications of 2D and 1D barcode.

Will biometrics measure up to the future?

(CNN) -- Who could forget the scene from John Woo's 1993 B-movie "Hard Target," where an imprisoned Jean-Claude Van Damme burns the skin off his index finger, attaches it to an impromptu mechanical contraption and booby-traps it to hit the scanner at precisely the scheduled time each morning, so that his captors don't notice his escape?A customer at a supermarket in Breukelen, Netherlands, pays for goods with her fingerprint on June 17, 2008.1 of 3Indeed, biometric identification systems are a bit harder to fool than simply getting the password right. And as this technology advances, so do people's concerns over its true effectiveness."Public acceptance of biometrics has been slow to grow, and will continue to be an issue until issues of privacy and security of data have been brought up to a level acceptable by the majority of people," says Isabelle Moeller, general manager of the Biometrics Institute.The concept of biometric identification systems actually dates back to 1879, when French police clerk Alphonse Berthillon suggested that individuals could be identified through precise measurements of the body.Argentina was one of the first countries to widely implement fingerprint records.By 1976, Argentine police were using a system that combined scanned fingerprints with digital processing and radio technology to send biometrical information from the police cars to a central database, in order to track down suspected individuals in Buenos Aires.Today, fingerprints are used not only for forensic investigation, but also commonly for passports, ID cards, border surveillance, access control, and even shopping.Don't MissInternetting every thing, everywhere, all the timeSynthetic biology inches toward the mainstreamFighting the agents of organized cybercrimeSpecial report: Digital BizThe German company IT-Werke, specializing in biometric applications, has successfully implemented its digiPROOF system of payment by fingerprint in 120 Edeka stores in Germany. In June 2008, it launched a six-month trial of a similar system in collaboration with the payment processor Equens, in the Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn.One to manyBesides fingerprints, other physiological biometrics include face recognition, iris scan, retina scan, hand geometry, facial thermogram, body odor, hand or finger veins, footprints and palm prints.Of these, iris scanning is the most accurate -- with an average of approximately 250 distinctive characteristics in an iris, the odds of two people having the same pattern are 1 in 7 billion. And as it is relatively difficult to copy, it's also considered of one the most secure biometrics.However given the complexity of the process, it's also the most costly, and its accuracy depends on the cooperation of the subject. (For example, criminals have been known to use eye drops to dilate their pupil, thus masking the majority of their iris.)Conversely, face recognition is technically the least intrusive, as faces can be scanned at a distance by surveillance cameras (although this also poses privacy issues), but its accuracy varies greatly according to light, exposure, etc.Another biometric identification system currently under development by Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Biometrics Research Center is tongue scanning."The tongue shapes of different people are different, and thus the tongue can be used to tell different subjects," says Lei Zhang, assistant professor at the university."Our system uses laser scanning to construct the 3-D shape of the tongue. The tongue shape information can be collected in about two-three seconds. Then after feature extraction and matching, the person's identity can be determined."Other biometric identification systems, which require capturing the subject in action and similarly comparing it to a database of samples, are behavioral. These include voice print (the way a person talks), signature or handwriting dynamics (the way a person writes), keystroke dynamics (the way a person types, most often used as an extra layer of security over a password) and gait (the way a person walks).Recent progress on most face recognition, voice recognition or speech recognition algorithms has been made and proved in laboratories," says Professor Hanseok Ko, director of the Intelligent Signal Processing Laboratory at Seoul's Korea University, "but the deployment of such products has been limited to criminal investigations, as opposed to individual personal identification. Commercial products are still primarily limited to fingerprint ID technologies applied to door locks and PC/laptops."Taking it further one step at a time, electronics manufacturer Fujitsu is selling peripherals such as the PalmSecure PC Login Kit with functional mouse, which authenticates users' identity by analyzing the veins under their palm.Meanwhile, Motorola, an active developer of Automatic Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) for over 30 years, is now marketing its own Mobile AFIS device, which captures both fingerprints and facial images, connects to wireless networks to upload data, runs on Windows Mobile, integrates bar code scanners, a smart card reader/writer, GPS, phone, and can be held in the palm of a hand.Security in numbersSo it is only natural that the protection of this highly personal data is taken very seriously. While biometrical identity theft is much more challenging than forging a credit card signature, illegally accessing and copying archived prints, which can then be used to produce artificial models, is still possible."In general, those systems where biometric data is readily obtained (stolen) are expected to be more vulnerable, since the availability of such data increases the number of ways in which a system may be attacked," says Moeller at the Biometrics Institute."We have tested face and fingerprint systems, which fall into this category. Speaker recognition, which we are testing at present, is also of this type. It is slightly more difficult to 'steal' biometric data from hand geometry, iris and DNA, and more difficult still for palm/finger vein and retinal scans, so we would expect decreasing vulnerability for these biometrics."With the aim of applying research to real situations, the Biometrics Institute recently announced its proprietary Biometrics Vulnerability Assessment Service (BVAS)."The customer submits the system to us for independent testing," explains Moeller. "The testing will be conducted in an independent laboratory where biometric devices can be sent to have their vulnerabilities investigated, assessed and reported. The laboratory will then collaborate with the contracting organization to work out how any vulnerability uncovered could be addressed through appropriate countermeasures."One method of increasing security is to ensure that the data is transferred and stored with a strong encryption. Another technique is to use multimodal biometrics (using more than one biometric system simultaneously to confirm identification).At the Biometrics Research Center, Zhang says they are working hard to make counterfeiting as difficult as possible: "We have already developed a 3-D palm-print system, which has a much higher anti-counterfeit capability than the 2-D palm-print system. We also have developed the near-infrared palm-print system, which can do liveness detection.""Anti-hacking techniques are being introduced in the form of laboratory algorithms," adds Professor Ko at Korea University. "For example, impersonation by using fingerprint/palm molding in plastic form can be prevented by tying it to a heat sensor to confirm that an actual human specimen is being presented for verification."SUMLUNG Tech. (http://www.sumlung.com/) (info@sumlung.com) is an emerging high tech enterprise, in 2D and 1D barcode image recognition field. We focus on developing creative and cost-effective barcode products for mobile phone, such as Bluetooth barcode scanner suite, barcode reader software and device, barcode scanning basis on mobile phone, which provide the basic products for solution enterprise. We look forward to mobile applications of 2D and 1D barcode.

Barcode market offers NeoMedia brighter future

Struggling company will turn it around, CEO saysThe stock's in tatters, actually so much in tatters that has a 52 week high of $0.02 and is currently worth $0.002. The latest accounts show a net loss of $15,179,000 for the nine months to the end of September on revenues of $801,000 for the same period. And that's only good news because in the same period last year the company lost over $40m. The previous CEO left earlier this year with a $187,000 pay off - half of which is still to be paid. You have a recent funding round of $2.1m to take you through to the new year, when the next tranche of funding is due. Finally, you have liabilities exceeding assets of $85,984,000.The company is NeoMedia, known to the mobile industry as the company that delivers 2D bar code readers for phones, plus the attendant back office server software and technology for managing mobile marketing campaigns.And yet CEO Ian McCready is confident that the company is on the cusp of a successful next year. Why?Mobile barcode technology needs a barcode to read - usually sited on some promotional literature, the product or packaging itself, or in a newspaper or magazine. Then you need a reader on the phone, and a system that can then send the data from that barcode back to a server, delivering something relevant back to the phone.NeoMedia develops the reader software for the phone, which can be downloaded as an application or integrated and embedded in the phone itself. It also markets sever software that hosts the campaign information and interacts, through a gateway, with the phone. Its campaign dashboard allows a brand or agency to look at metrics from the campaign, tracing clicks and demographics.In the market so far, the technology used so far has tended to be proprietary, meaning that not all readers can read all barcodes, for instance. Also, each operator needs to have, or have access to, servers that can host the campaigns and respond to the data coming from the phone, meaning that in a given country, not all users could access barcode information, and even if they could scan the code using the phone, it might not interact with the campaign.But in the past few months that has changed. OMA has defined the ecosystem, the actual parts of the industry that are needed to stitch together a standardised system, and is beginning to define the standards required. There are open standards 2D barcodes as well. It is this growth in standards that McCready is positive about. He said that NeoMedia, previously known as a "patent troll" (his words, not ours) is now fully committed to licensing its IPRs on fair and reasonable terms, as part of its commitment to OMA and other standards bodies.He also hinted that the company is close to deals to embed the technology in handsets, although it appeared this might be more likely to happen in US markets first. Handset makers could of course develop their own technology, but they need to weigh up the benefits of doing so, versus licensing solutions that already exists. McCready also claimed that Nokia's existing reader is "rubbish", and that the manufaturer is looking at how it will go forward in this area.He also said that advertisers and agencies are beginning to see the advantages of the system, responding to its ability to offer clear data on who is responding to campaigns, and what they then do with that information.Finally, operators themselves, who for the most part have not tracked this technology, all have it high up their "to do" lists, McCready claimed. In Europe McCready estimated there are currently 12 operators who have deployed mobile barcode systems, with a whole lot more looking at the technology. Recent tenders in Spain showed the way, he said, with operators producing common tender documents, showing a commitment to following a standardised process. "We now have a complete suite of end to end products in this area, and have two customers about to deploy our complete suite," McCready said.There is another headache for NeoMedia to deal with. One of its patents, which includes 97 claims, is being challenged by the EFF, and has been put under reconsideration by the US patent authority. This has meant that legal action against companies consider to be infringing its patents has had to be put on hold. But McCready is confident that the EFF-led action will come to very little. NeoMedia considers rival company ScanBuy is infringing on 6 of its claims."We are committed to open and reasonable licensing of our patents," he said, "but that doesn't mean companies can just ignore us and go ahead anyway," he said.So how long can NeoMedia wait for this market to show real returns? McCready admits that there is still consumer education to be done, so that users can get phones with good readers in them and then recognise what a 2D barcode is, and what to do. But he says that if things start to move within the next 12 months then NeoMedia will be able to deal with that. 36 months would be more problematic, he said.SUMLUNG Tech. (http://www.sumlung.com/) (info@sumlung.com) is an emerging high tech enterprise, in 2D and 1D barcode image recognition field. We focus on developing creative and cost-effective barcode products for mobile phone, such as Bluetooth barcode scanner suite, barcode reader software and device, barcode scanning basis on mobile phone, which provide the basic products for solution enterprise. We look forward to mobile applications of 2D and 1D barcode.