strangnet.tech

I just found a really good barcode reader for Symbian Phones. I’m most probably late to the party, but better late than sorry.

I’ve previously used the built-in code reader that comes with newer Nokia phones, simply titled Barcode, but it only supports those 2d codes you see pop-up here and there (for example in my left column here on the blog). A featue it is lacking is to be able to scan EAN codes you find on products you buy, so for those needs I’ve used a free software called ZebraScan.

Now enter UpCode – an application that does both. It’s easy to install and almost easier to operate. Just point and it even shoots on its own. If it’s a 2d barcode it launches your web browser, or whatever the code is meant to do, and if you shoot a 1d code (EAN), it saves it to the clipboard so that you could paste it into a document or a search field on a web site.

According to their web site, it supports a plethora of phones (tested on 292 models) either as a native Symbian application or in Java.

Now if it only was able to launch a list of web sites, pre-chosen or by the user, that could use the scanned EAN- or ISBN-code for price comparison – it’d be awesome.

Secunia’s software version checking tool PSI has given them data on how many of the scanned systems that are fully patched, and the number seems rather poor at first glance. 1.91% of all the PCs that has used the tool, since its version 1.0 was released, were fully patched. 45.76% had 11 or more unpatched applications.

Secunia emphasizes that this is to be considered as a best case scenario, as users of their tool are to be considered security aware.

From my own experience of running the tool, it is that these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. Even though all software are up-to-date on a system, the tool still finds old files remaining but not in use – Flash tends to be a good example where a plethora of versions can be spread out on your system without being in use. It also won’t take into account whether the unpatched applications are even used anymore – they might have been installed once and just forgotten.

Sometimes updated software could mean that other software or features become incompatible, and would be another reason for not updating.

Even still, it’s always best to keep most software updated. It usually isn’t much hassle at all any longer, just a few clicks with your mouse (or a few more if on Vista with UAC). The way that software repositories in popular Linux distributions work, is really to the advantage when it comes to everyday software update checking.

(via: IDG)