While smartphones are simplifying life in a variety of new ways, true mobile couponing has not been an option because the vast majority of in-store laser scanners cannot scan barcodes displayed on mobile phone screens.

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Sales of color-laser printers and multi-function devices that copy, print, scan and fax, have provided growth spurts, even as traditional black-and-white printing and copying shrinks.

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Canterbury City Council said the 3D laser scan being applied during the structural survey was planned as part of the year-long closure.

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Moving directly against scan-and-scram, Best Buy began a relationship with Red Laser, the company behind the mobile app that best enables showrooming: the app now lets Best Buy offer coupons and one-click ordering on Bestbuy.com to customers already in the store.

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The laser beams on the Tele Atlas vans scan each building on the road thousands of times, creating a three-dimensional model of the neighborhood that, when matched to photos from the high-resolution cameras, can be used to re-create a realistic cityscape.

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