How the UPC barcode revolutionized global commerce over the past 50 years

The first modern barcode was scanned 50 years ago this summer—on a 10-pack of chewing gum in a grocery store in Troy, Ohio. Fifty is ancient for most technologies, but barcodes are still going strong. More than 10 billion barcodes are scanned everyday around the world. And newer types of barcode symbols, such as QR codes, have created even more uses for the technology. I would have been like most people, never giving a second thought to the humble barcode, if my research as a...