Support Portal

Give QR Code a Chance

Bob Dunphy — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:22:00 GMT

Check out the new article comparing the use of Data Matrix and QR Code in busy documents. Many people seem to be choosing Data Matrix because it is the current "popular" 2D symbology. But in time critical applications where decode time is an issue, QR Code and its more dense version Micro QR Code provide a significant performance advantage because of their good finder patterns.

Rise of the Aztec Code

Garrett Russell — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:46:00 GMT

The Aztec 2D bar code has been making waves lately, and we have had quite a few requests and sales to various parts of the world for our decoder. Invented by HHP (Welch-Allyn) many years ago, Aztec is a public domain symbology. Historically, Aztec is not as popular as Data Matrix (US/EMEA Markets), nor QR Code (Asia/Oceania Markets), but a recent surge in requests have come from Eastern European nations. Ranking these three 2D symbologies, QR seems to be the best suited for most applications (especially...(read more)

Got Camera Phone?

Garrett Russell — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:49:00 GMT

I read this article on 6/22/07 regarding the number of camera phones will exceed 1 Billion in 2007. A staggering number, and 1/3 of the population (roughly 2 billion) by 2011, truely amazing, and a dream come true for potential applications for bar codes on both the consumer side and enterpise side. Omniplanar is frequently asked for our SwiftDecoder algorithms to run on cell phones. Our code is written entirely in C, which makes porting to WinCE, WinMobile and some other operating systems found...(read more)

Two Cents on the Colorful Microsoft Bar Code - Digital Watermarking is Better.

Garrett Russell — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:30:00 GMT

I have been asked many times in the past month or for my opinion on the launch of Microsoft's multicolored bar code . OK...Here is my Two Cents... The short version....Don't think it will make it in prime time. Digital Watermarking is better. If you want to know why, read the long version below. The long version. Microsoft should have done a better job in researching the bar code market prior to launching the code. Sure there are web cams, and camera phones out there that have color sensors...(read more)

Omniplanar - Premium Product, Premium Price, The Right Choice.

Garrett Russell — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 02:25:00 GMT

After coming out of a seminar on pricing, and as I pondered why we don't have 100% market share in bar code decoding software, I looked back on some of the recent opportunities that we did not win. In each case, our premium price had something to do with it, and I am frequently hit with the comment, "I am just trying to scan bar codes, and this other decoder meets my needs". Lets talk about "needs" for a moment. When selecting a bar code decoder "needs" goes beyond...(read more)

View from the Top

Garrett Russell — Fri, 18 May 2007 23:13:00 GMT

When Omniplanar's parent company, Metrologic, purchased Omniplanar from some really smart guys from Princeton, NJ in September of 2004 and gave me the opportunity to run the company, I was ecstatic. Some might consider inheriting a company with a product that was and still is recognized as being the BEST IN THE WORLD (SwiftDecoder) might be a dream come true, that you can sit back - rest on your laurels and watch the cash roll in.

It is true that having a great product makes for easy competitive analysis and provides added confidence when talking to perspective clients. However, it also creates a forum for your competitors, co-workers and others to try to find a crack in your armor, looking for any sign of weakness that can take away your greatness. So how does one handle this? Quite simply, bring it on!

At Omniplanar we drive for EXTREME COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. Our engineers do not look to simply read more bar codes than our competitors, but we look to do it faster, more reliably, more accurately and with the thought that our product MUST make our customer's product outperform any other on the market (ie those that choose not to buy our software). If the nay-sayers find images with bar codes that we do not read, bring it on, our staff of experts will let you know the whats, whys and hows about the image and if we truly did have a crack in the armor, I can guarantee that it won't last and, by the way, THANK YOU, our software is even better!

Hello, World!

Ben Hejl — Fri, 18 May 2007 20:31:00 GMT

Since we have no idea what we are going to write about, feel free to make requests. In the future, expect to read about our favorite bar codes (RSS, Telepen and UPC), the worst images we have seen, and whatever else we may be in the mood to write about.