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European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls
(arstechnica.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
You're probably thinking of something else. You can't read anything with those
They're thinking of optical pens
https://www.datalogic.com/eng/media-center/news/the-first-optical-pen-nd2-8116.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/ja6mc0/does_anybody_remember_these_barcode_readers_at/