Editing Product identification

==Current situation==

Currently most [[retail]] [[product]]s have [[barcode]]s that uniquely identify a product within a store. There are a wide variety of barcode systems in use, the most prevalent being [[EAN]] (Europe) and [[UPC]] (US). Both of these schemes are contained within [[GTIN]] space, which stands for Global Trade Item Number.

==Future developments==

===Barcodes===
In [[w:2005|2005]] all US barcode readers should be upgraded so that they can read [[EAN]] as well as [[UPC]] thus reducing the need for redundant [[relabeling]] of products [[import]]ed in US. Input methods for [[barcode]]s are described in [[Hardware Requirements]] among other places
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===Near Field Communications===

[[Near Field Communication]] Technology could make this a snap since it operates only at distances '''under 15cm''' and enables bootstrapping other [[short-range wireless]] protocols such as [[Bluetooth]]. If NFC devices were embedded into shelves with appropriate iconic and textual representations it would make for really intuitive access to [[features]] provided by [[Consumerium Services]]
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===Conductive ink and conductive plastic===
Research into [[Printed electronics|printing electronics]] with conductive ink and [[conductive plastic]]s are really hot areas of research in Finland for some time now.

Using either conductive ink or conductive plastic covering in the [[package]] and then swiping the package, touching the reader, promises to enable storing much more information in the package itself without the use of RFID, which is a good developlement

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===RFID===
An possibly upcoming technology in '''Product identification''' is [[RFID]] which stands for Radio Frequence IDentification. RFID technology has raised concerns of misuse, such as '''''covert involuntary tagging''''' wherein you don't know you are carrying a RFID tag.

To counter these kinds of threats we encourage to develop '''touch activated RFID''' wherein the RFID tag requires '''''conduction of electricity instead of induction''''' to activate itself. These Conduction RFID tags would be a ecologically sane option for product identification if they were embedded in the [[retail shelf]] with iconic and/or textual indexing to products in the shelf for high usability. This way the [[packaging]] wouldn't have to contain wasteful, disposable chips.