There's more than one way to scan a bar code
Article Abstract:
Advances in scanning technology allow nearly all products to be scanned successfully on the first pass. Several types of scanners are designed to sweep a beam of light across a bar code, then convert the bar code's black and white spaces into a binary code that a store's computer can recognize. Pen scanners, which require full contact with the bar code, rely on an LED light source at the pen's tip as well as a light detector in the barrel. By comparison, handheld or stationary laser scanners can read bar code from up to several feet away. Most supermarkets operate visible laser diode (VLD) scanners, which emit a highly concentrated laser beam through a small diode. As many as 15 to 50 laser lines can be operated at different angles. A charged couple device (CCD) receives signals from a bar code in the form of a video image. This scanner then decodes the signals in a similar binary method. Many clothing and department stores use CCD scanners, which read paper tags well.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1998
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Putting the RAM in the ram-a-lam-a-ding-dong: playing the keyboard takes on a new meaning when a computer is part of the band
Article Abstract:
Home computers are powering most of the burgeoning home music studio market. The change is rooted in the 1983 conference of the National Association of Music Merchants, which adopted the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) for fostering communication among electronic instruments. MIDI overcame initial opposition to equip some guitars, high-tech wind controllers and drum sets with synthesizing ability. The new interface has driven easier sequencing and digital multitrack recording, which reduces mistakes and allows overdubbing. MIDI also has spawned a growing interest in software that converts home computers into sequencers. Sampling technology, which allows machines to reproduce sounds of acoustic instruments or other musicians, is popular. Other trends are physical modeling and nostalgia for early analog synthesizer sounds.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1998
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A done deal redone anyway: sellers' remorse prompts company to forgo $333 million it was due
Article Abstract:
Kingston Technology has agreed to revise its acquisition by Japanese software company Softbank Corp. The new unwritten arrangement calls for Kingston to forgo Softbank's final $333 million in payments owed in Jan 1998. Softbank in exchange agreed to pay Kingston co-founders John Tu and David Sun $450 million if Kingston reaches one of three goals. The goals consist of averaging $300 million in earnings over the next seven years; the sale of Kingston; or Kingston's going public with a minimum valuation of $1.8 billion. Terms of the original Aug 1996 deal called for Softbank to acquire 80% of Kingston for $1.5 billion. Kingston, the world's largest computer memory board manufacturer, may quiet some critics' charges of abandoning its egalitarian corporate culture. Tu and Sun own 20% of Kingston and 5% of Softbank.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1998
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