I'm using tags [tagsys.net] right now that have 128bits memory.

If you had read the article, then you would have noticed that it said that the current 12 digit barcode is running out of room, and that they are having to move to a 14 digit barcode system in the next year. It also said this new system would take around a decade to catch-on, because obviously the cost of printing a bar code on an already existing bit of paper on the product is a lot less than creating a little microchip/transmitter/thingy.

Passive RFID [inkode.com] can already do that.

...and can be read at greater distances, can't be duplicated, can be used in any type of material, is more durable, etc...

Um, Gillette wasn't the one taking photos of customers. It was Tesco. Gillette just happens to make the Mach 3 razors which were being watched.

The 12-digit bar code that's used across the United States was introduced in the 1970s, and the retail industry is close to running out of new combinations.

UPC-A barcodes are 12 digit long. There are many many other types of barcodes, including 2D barcodes that can hold up to 1K of data on them. They just have to pick another type of barcode, like CODE128, for consumer products and declare it the new standard. No need for revolutionary changes here.

Look in the SUPPORTED_BARCODES file in the cuecat driver [easyconnect.fr] archive to see how many 1D barcode types already exist.

Do you know barcode tech?

Current UPC barcodes use only digits 0-9 so they are only 10^12 in range, which is a lot smaller than 2^64, or for that matter 2^96.

My question is whether they are still stripes or use 2D coding (I am assuming 2D, unless they use compressed printing and or improved 'variable width' scanning units).

Barcodes are a series of wide and thin transitions (or heights as in postnet) which in certain combinations of multiples of transitions represent numbers. The stripes themselves may either be static representation of each character (code 3 of 9) or more complex representations (like interleaved 2 of 5) but in general they are binary, even 2D codes are also mainly binary in design either on or off but in a grid or hexgrid format.

2^96 is not nearly enough for every molecule on earth. Avogadro's number is 6 * 10^23, which is approximately the number of protons that weigh 1 kilogram together. Most molecules weigh less than 100 protons. 2^96 = 8 * 10^28. So at most 10^7 kilogram can be tagged uniquely with ECP. The earth weighs approximately 6 * 10^24 kilograms. Yeah, those "MIT boys" are really smart...

Did you mean to type http://www.pdf417.com/ [pdf417.com]?

I am not a number. I am a free man!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.