One of our clients have terminals that sell scratch tickets and they scan using a barcode scanner. There is a test on the terminals that allows you to see if the scanner is working properly. The test is positive if an image is displayed on the screen. It works pretty much the same as a handheld scanner of days gone by except you don’t need to run it up and down the page or have it directly on the page.

I READ that. It sounds as though Apple has created a custom solution themselves, not clear if this is a card reader/scanner or a card reader and a separate scanner. I cannot find any mention anywhere else of a barcode scanner for sale that works with the iPod touch. Now if a vendor has created a barcode scanner attachment for the iPod that Apple has first crack at, great. But until I see it, I’m skeptical that this would work for our companies’ purpose.

Don’t be an idiot. Of course they will sell it, Apple’s big push (but one that most people don’t know about) is business. When I mentioned I intended to use my new machine for business, the guy who was helping us got all excited, and tried to tell me about the business pages.

It was quite funny really. My daughter and I knew more about the hardware, and what Apple was doing, than the poor guy that was taking care of us did. I’m not sure whether he was annoyed, or mortified by the end.

I been meaning to go down there and see it too since I read about it a few weeks ago.

There already are a few barcode related applications in the app store, but they all have one thing in common – they don’t really work. Red Laser, which has just hit the iTunes App Store, is the ultimate iPhone barcode scanner, which works just like one of those red-laser scanners at the checkout (hence the name.)

Red Laser is made by Occipital, the minds behind ClearCam, the application which is responsible for greatly enhancing your iPhone’s camera.

What Red Laser Does

Scan an item, and instantly have access to a bunch of online prices and information. Scan movies at the store and beam them to your TiVo. Scan a book and check for online reviews. Scan a food item and add it to your grocery list.

Features

Beyond the fact that it’s the first accurate iPhone barcode scanner for UPC and EAN, probably the most noteworthy thing about RedLaser is that the developers are not keeping the technology locked in their own products. Instead, they’ve made an SDK available so others can integrate it in their apps too.

The RedLaser application allows you to use Google product search to find online prices, and allows you to keep a list of all your scanned items.

RedLaser is certainly a great shopping assistant for every iPhone user.

enjoy the tip…

I just may go to my local Apple store and see if I can get an associate to show it to me, most likely these will be rolled out in the next month for all the stores in advance of the Christmas crunch.

You couldn’t have – or you were asleep while doing it. Read this:

Multiple sources have noted that Apple will be transitioning its retail store EasyPay handheld checkout systems from Windows-based PDA devices to iPod touch hardware for the 2009 holiday season.

Apple retail stores upgrading EasyPay from Windows to iPod touch
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Tipsters have all confirmed that Apple is already in the final stages of rolling out new EasyPay terminals based on the iPod touch combined with a credit card reader and barcode scanner.

One reader reported that the new devices are already being used to ring up sales at Apple’s Valley Fair Mall store in Santa Clara, California, the closest retail outlet to the company’s corporate headquarters in Cupertino.

The text in bold italics is what you missed.

Ah, but there is. Read Daniel’s article.