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Most of us are familiar with those bar code scanners built into supermarket check out counters that make our egress a more efficient and quicker experience. More than likely you've also seen stock clerks scanning product labels on shelves using one of those bulky hand held scanners that look like a calculator on steroids. Wouldn't it be cool to own a scanner so tiny that it fit on your key chain, had only one button to make it work and it could instantly tell you everything you wanted to know about that product? Evidently, these questions occurred to the CEO and co-founder of Qode, Inc. (pronounced "Code") and he's made it all happen.

The metallic gray and black Qoder looks and acts exactly like something you'd see a Star Trek character using. It weighs about an ounce and is shaped like a squashed football with one of the pointed ends cut off at an angle. On one side is an oval button. Press it and a safe to look at red LED glows. Pass it over any Universal Product Code (UPC) and another light signals green indicating the Qoder has performed a successful scan. You can scan up to 100 items into your Qoder before you have to transfer its data to your computer. Included with the Qoder is a small docking station that is also esthetically pleasing in its modern design and functionality. Hookup and installation is a breeze. Unplug your keyboard from the PC, plug it into the docking station and plug the station's cord into the computer. The tiny software driver installs in a moment.

UPC bar codes appears on most every consumer product you can find. Unfortunately not much information of interest to consumers is associated to the UPC code. Fortunately, Qode has a growing database of over a 100 million products with well over a billion related pieces of consumer data. A typical shopping experience example might be in a department store. Let's say you are in the music department and you spy a CD you might want to buy. You simply scan it along with a few more titles you hadn't considered but would like to check out and then move on. During your visit at the mall, you scan in a book, a bottle of cologne, a pair of jeans and a magazine. Typically while shopping for a particular product we usually see several other items of interest but by the time we get home, we've usually forgotten what they were. The Qoder remembers everything for us.

When you get back to your computer, simply insert the Qoder into the docking station and press its button. The unit automatically launches your web browser, takes you to your own Qode home shopping page and proceeds to display each item you scanned on the screen. Then just point and click on the items you wish to explore and delete the ones which no longer hold an interest. Because of Qode's extensive database, you will see not only the product name and picture but other relevant information. The magazine you scanned might offer a special subscription rate. The CD may display the artist name, songs on the album, a schedule where the artist is appearing, ticket information, MP3 audio samples of the songs and even a promotional discount coupon you can print out. You may also be shown additional stores in your area when you can buy the CD as well as where you can purchase it online. As to those other items you scanned, they can be organized into categories you set up such as clothing and food. You can even have different home pages for each family member whether you're sharing your Qoder or even if each member has their own unit.

As to privacy, read about the company's "Qode of Honor" on their web site. All inquiries made by Qode users are held totally anonymous.

The Qoder, docking station and software sells for $79. The service is free. At this time, units only work on Windows PCs but a USB unit that works on both PCs and Macintosh is due by the end of the year.

www.qode.com