My prototype label for my prototype brew

[PiMaxC]

http://yfrog.com/7dsbrownnamep

this is a programmable label with 30 bytes of memory, the above label has a message encoded in it. I also have a "blank" I can use to write anything on within 30 characters.

 

[coy]

So how exactly does it work? or is it just a looks thing? It's defenatly interesting.

 

[PiMaxC]

Ok the design is a punch card and each black space is essentially a "1". Each white space a "0". There are 8 spaces each representing a bit and for every 8 bits you have a byte. Each line is a byte of storage essentially.

The byte is in binary and you can translate that with an ASCII chart to get characters.

This one translates to Start Text Babbage's Brown Ale V1.0-BB- end of text

 

[coy]

Yeah I knew it was a punch card but wasn't sure if it could be taken off and actually used somehow, since you stated how many bytes of memory it had an all.
I was thinking it was interactive on the computer or some sort of phone app.. You know how you can scan items at the store w/ your phone now. . So if I wanted to read it I'd need the ASCII chart to figure out what beer I'm about to drink.. I LIKE IT!!

That actually gave me an idea. make labels that are UPC symbols that say what kind of beer it is. "i have an ap for that" lol... But I don't know how to creat apps for phones and send it to my buddies.

 

[Tombstone0]

That actually gave me an idea. make labels that are UPC symbols that say what kind of beer it is. "i have an ap for that" lol... But I don't know how to creat apps for phones and send it to my buddies.

Because of your reply I've been looking into adding 2D matrix barcodes, like the ones on the back of a Driver's License (at least a MD driver's license). They can hold a lot of data, I figure they could hold info like the brew date, bottle data, OG, FG, and could be easily importable to a beer Database or something. Either that or it could contain a funny story about the beer that your friends could read if they were adventurous enough to scan it.

The driver's license barcode type is called PDF417, there's also a couple square barcodes called Data Matrix and QR Code. The latter two can be read by a free iPhone app called i-nigma, there are other apps that can read them and PDF417, but i-nigma seemed like the best because it would scan on the fly and then show you what was on the code (unless there was a URL, then it would only show you the URL). I only tried a few free apps so some of the pay apps might be better. The other free apps that I tried would either take you to a website and then show you what was on the code or try to open it as a url and fail.

 

[DrugCoder]

I may be missing something but looking at the label there are 30 rows top to bottom to represent your 30 available chars. However there are only 7 columns to represent the bits. Don't you need 8? Is one of the columns on the far left or right never used in the current message?

 

[DrugCoder]

Nevermind. Just looked at my ASCII table and realilzed all of the normal letters and characters you use are less than 128 which would leave the last column blank. It's been a long day......

 

[Gremlyn]

That gives me an idea.... QR labels. That'd be sweet.