Global Economic Supply Chain Issues:

- Global economic conditions in 2009 caused the global semiconductor supply chain to dramatically reduce capacity as demand dried up. Due to this constriction many smaller manufacturers went out of business

- As the demand for semiconductor products has increased due to improving global economic conditions semiconductor manufacturers have not been able to ramp quickly enough to keep up with demand.

- Increased demand compounded by the insolvency of smaller manufactures & the understanding that there is a global shortage (Everyone is requesting larger than normal supply to build buffet stock & get ahead of the line) has only exacerbated the issue. The two primary vendors that manufacture our specific chip-set are dealing with the same issues.

- This is not a vendor specific issue but a global one.-

Bluetooth Scanners now designed for iPhone, iPad, and iPod.

KoamTac, Inc. announced today the release of the KDCi range of Bluetooth barcode scanners designed specifically for use with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. At less than two cubic inches and weighing only 1.2 ounces, KoamTac’s KDCi offers enterprises the opportunity to add professional barcode scanning to their mobile workers’ handset of choice in many industries including: transportation, field service, retail and health care.

802.11n The New Standard in Wireless

The 802.11 family includes over-the-air modulation techniques that use the same basic protocol. The most popular are those defined by the 802.11b and 802.11g protocols, which are amendments to the original standard. 802.11-1997 was the first wireless networking standard, but 802.11b was the first widely accepted one, followed by 802.11g and 802.11n. Security was originally purposefully weak due to export requirements of some governments,[1] and was later enhanced via the 802.11i amendment after governmental and legislative changes. 802.11n is a new multi-streaming modulation technique. Other standards in the family (c–f, h, j) are service amendments and extensions or corrections to the previous specifications.

What about Printer Resolution?!?!? Difference between 200 & 300 dpi.

All of thermal barcode printers can produce a 2D barcode and all of them also have fixed resolutions. The fixed resolution is desirable because this is what allows them to produce perfect barcodes at speed. The higher resolution printers also cost more; a 600dpi printer is generally twice the price of a 200dpi. The difference the resolution makes is that the smallest barcode one of these printers can make has a narrow element of a single pixel and a 300dpi printers pixels are 33% smaller than a 200dpi printer. Therefore if you were making a barcode (2D or 1D, doesn’t matter) on a 300dpi printer the smallest size it could make is a 3mil barcode, in order to read a barcode this small you would need a special purpose high density scanner, the smallest size a standard 2D scanner will read is 10mil. A 3mil datamatrix 2D barcode with 10 characters would measure be a .048 inch square. The smallest barcode you could make on a 200dpi printer would measure 5mil, if this barcode had 10 characters it would be a .08 inch square, still too small to be read with a standard imager. When barcodes are made larger their size is determined by a factor of how many pixels make the narrow bar, so the smallest barcode has a narrow bar made with 1 pixel, the next largest barcode is made with 2 pixels, then 3 and so on, this means on a 200dpi printer your choices for barcode size would start at 5mil, the next size larger would be 10mil, then 15mil, then 20mil, etc. on a 300dpi printer your size choices would be 3mil, 7mil, 10mil, 13mil, 17mil, 20mil, etc. So if the intent is to make a small barcode both resolutions can produce a 10mil barcode, which would be a .16 inch square, but with a 300dpi printer you have more flexibility in size choices.

The mil size of a barcode refers to the measurement of the narrowest element, which is the width of the smallest bar in a 1D barcode and the width of one of the square elements in a 2D barcode. 1mil = 1/1000 in.

Emkat Press

Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal has announced that Emkat made #38 in the Twin Cities Fastest-Growing private companies in Minnesota. We are proud of this accomplishment, especially with the economic activity that has taken place this past year. The Emkat team, partners, vendors, and most importantly our loyal customers deserve a pat on the back for making this happen. Thank you to all.

ITalkie™

Turn your Mobile handheld computer into a walkie-talkie with iTalkie™
iTalkie™ is a groundbreaking solution to painlessly add the efficiency of voice and text communications into your business workflow.

Add walkie-talkie, messaging and phone-like intercom to your mobile computer. iTalkie™ combines the ease of use and deployment of traditional walkie- talkies with the benefits of serverless one-to-one calls and presence!

Social Networking

Emkat is pleased to announce The” Emkat” Linked In Group. The purpose of this group is to embrace our customer base and give you access to collaborate with each other. We will keep this updated with all of the latest industry information and promotions from our vendors.


*If you are not already a linkedin subscriber we encourage you to sign up and join the group. This is a valuable tool for all professionals to build your network. If you are a current subscriber, simply log in and request to join the group.