QRCodes
Latest
Snapchat lets you add friends with a link, at last
Snapchat is a messaging platform that's so cool that the primary way to connect two people is by using... a QR code. Or at least it did, since its creators are now rolling out a way for you to add friends by creating a URL. That means that if you want to add Engadget to your feed, you can do so by heading over to snapchat.com/add/gadgetsnaps. It's not clear if this will make Snapchat more acceptable to the people who think it has a awful user interface, or if doing so will make the service less desirable to millennials. Either way, it's probably better pointing people to a URL than trying to make sharing a screenshot of a QR code seem cool.
Acoustic barcodes store data in sound, go on just about anything (video)
Technologies like NFC, RFID and QR codes are quickly becoming a normal part of everyday life, and now a group from Carnegie Mellon University has a fresh take on close-quarters data it calls acoustic barcodes. It involves physically etching a barcode-like pattern onto almost any surface, so it produces sound when something's dragged across it -- a fingernail, for example. A computer is then fed that sound through a microphone, recognizes the waveform and executes a command based on it. By altering the space between the grooves, it's possible to create endless unique identifiers that are associated with different actions. It's easy to see how smartphones could take advantage of this -- not that we recommend dragging your new iPhone over ridged surfaces -- but unlike the technologies mentioned earlier, not all potential applications envisage a personal reading device. Dot barcodes around an area, install the sound processing hardware on site, and you've got yourself an interactive space primed for breaking freshly manicured nails. We're pretty impressed by the simplicity of the concept, and the team does a good job of presenting scenarios for implementing it, which you can see in the video below. And, if you'd like to learn a little more about the idea or delve into the full academic paper, the source links await you. [Thanks, Julia]
Target adds QR codes to hot holiday toys for secret shopping
Well, this one should give parents with ever-present ankle-biters reason to celebrate. Starting Sunday, October 14th, Target will make a special in-store area available highlighting 20 of the most sought-after toys -- all tagged with QR codes for one-stop, secret mobile shopping. The initiative is being targeted at consumers (read: frazzled Moms and Dads) who need to conduct their frenzied gift-buying without the prying eyes of curious children. You'll have to install the company's app to scan the codes and opt-in for the free shipping, but it's really no more complicated than that. All told, it's an added bit of convenience that should relieve some of that mad holiday stress, but it's definitely bad news for the impulse buyer. You can check out the PR after the break for the full list of included products.
Bank of America testing iPhone payment system
Bank of America is testing a new system that will let customers make mobile payments with smartphones, including the iPhone, Reuters reports. Testing has begun in Charlotte, N.C., where the bank is headquartered. Reuters reports the bank is using technology from Paydiant, whose mobile payment solution is in trials with several banks. The system works by printing a QR Code on a receipt or price tag. It's scanned with an iPhone or some Android models and the transaction is launched. QR coding is just one method being studied. Previously, Bank of America explored Near Field Communication (NFC) chips, but appears to be moving on to this technology that doesn't require special hardware, just a high-quality camera phone. Some Apple fans and industry analysts have expected Apple to adopt NFC, but it hasn't happened yet.
New 'nano-code' could help fight banknote forgery by embedding invisible QR-style ciphers
We've all seen (and probably used) QR codes at some point. And, handy as they are for quick linking to apps, or value added content etc, there's usually not much else going on. Unless you're one of the team at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, that is, who have created a tiny version of the quadrilateral-codes that could be used to spot counterfeit money. The invention uses nanoparticles combined with blue and green fluorescent ink, and can be sprayed onto surfaces such as glass, plastic film, or of course, pictures of American presidents. The nano-code remains invisible until placed under a near-infrared laser, making it ideal for helping spot legit bank notes. The creators say they have done significant wear tests, which suggest that it's durable, but they also accept that eventually criminal technology could eventually catch up, in the constant cat and mouse game between mandated money producers and forgers. Whether there'd be links to the Benjamin Franklin Wiki page is unclear.
Visualized: World's largest QR code is a Canadian maize maze
And why wouldn't it be? That's how the Kraay family of Lacombe, Alberta, Canada gets down, as evidenced by the family's past 13 years of elaborate corn maze designs -- from a logo of the Edmonton Oilers to a 25th anniversary commemoration of Rick Hansen's "Man in Motion" tour. Said QR code sends adventurous scanners to a website for the Kraay's family farm website. The code also got the Kraays into the Guinness Book of World Records for "World's Largest QR Code," which was really what drove this whole project. At approximately 29,000 meters (1.1 square miles), that's quite a bit of carefully crafted corn designing. It's certainly more elaborate than the previously claimed record holder, and a lot more official. "It was something that we didn't think would happen. There were a lot of little things we had to do and Guinness is pretty picky with how you collect your evidence. We were a little bit on edge on whether it would come through so we were very relieved and very excited," Rachel Kraay told CTV News about the project. To verify that the code works, the Kraays had to commission a helicopter to fly them over their own farm, allowing them to scan it while hovering hundreds of feet above. And then, at the end of last week, the Guinness folks sent over a package certifying the bizarre world record. "They didn't even call. I just went to the door and there was a large package and inside was the certificate and a letter. I guess that's how they do it." [Image credit: Facebook]
LevelUp unveils payment docks that take both NFC and QR codes, leave out the guesswork
Most stores accepting mobile payments usually have to take just one format, whether it's Google Wallet, Square or another flavor that you probably can't use. LevelUp is convinced you shouldn't have to choose platforms: it just revealed a new payment dock that will recognize both the company's existing QR code system as well as NFC. It's much easier sight on the eyes than typical NFC terminals, to boot. Just don't expect a one-for-one recreation of systems like Google Wallet or Isis. Rather than expose your banking details by holding them in a chip, LevelUp's NFC is just used to move the transaction along -- if it's used to get things started, shoppers can either switch to a QR code or complete the transaction with a second tap. The company is mostly planning to replace its existing payment points across the US with the NFC-aware models. Bluetooth 4.0 is an option for the future, however, which could make LevelUp even more of a Swiss Army Knife for the world of mobile commerce.
Austrian city builds public library with nothing but QR codes, NFC and stickers
Strangely, the Austrian city of Klagenfurt doesn't have a public library, even though it hosts the Festival of German-Language Literature. However, an initiative dubbed Project Ingeborg is turning the municipality into a book repository of sorts with 70 QR code and NFC chip-equipped stickers. Plastered throughout town, they direct users to web pages where they can download public domain works, largely from Project Gutenberg. Oftentimes, e-books will be located in relevant locations -- so you'll be sure to find Arthur Schnitzler's The Killer near the police station, for example. Come August, the team behind the effort will partner with local talent to distribute books, music and other digital content too. In an effort to build a stronger bond to the location, the organizers have prevented search engines from indexing the links, so you'll have to visit Klagenfurt to access the curated goods. If you'd like to turn your city into a library, the group hopes to release instructions for replicating their system soon. [Thanks, Michael]
QR codes get gussied up in 'Beautiful Traps,' become art (video)
Louis Vuitton QR codes not your thing? Leave it up to Yiying Lu -- illustrator of the infamous "fail whale" -- to make QR codes presentable enough to bring home and show the family. As part of an art project called Beautiful Traps, Lu hand painted codes into portraits featuring carnivorous plants. The codes aren't just for show -- scanning them pulls up a video of the painting process, handily viewable on your mobile device of choice. Roll past the break for a timelapse video of their creation.
Student's push to make Raleigh more walkable relies on homemade signs and QR codes
Walking is apparently underrated. So University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student Matt Tomasulo decided to engage in some "guerilla urbanism" in January with fellow fans of bipedal activity, posting 27 signs at three Raleigh, NC intersections as part of the "Walk Raleigh" project. The cardboard and vinyl signs contained snippets about how many minutes it would take to walk to must-see destinations like Raleigh City Cemetery, as well as QR codes for downloading directions. Like the activity it promotes, Tomasulo says the idea behind the project is simple: It's OK to walk. Apparently, Tomasulo and his buddies did such a great job with the signs that it took the sharp folks at the city government a month to catch on and take the stuff down. The city has since walked back its opposition to the signs, however, and put them back up as part of a 90-day pilot project. In the meantime, Walk Raleigh has turned into a Walk [Your City] Kickstarter campaign to put your wallet where your feet are.
Toshiba builds scanner that can identify fruit without a barcode, yup (video)
During our hurried supermarket sweeps, we're aiming for the Granny Smith, yet somehow always come away with French Jonagold. That's why we're in awe of this new supermarket scanner from Toshiba-Tech that can identify individual species of fruit and veg from sight. Rather than a cashier keying in a produce code, a camera with optical pattern recognition technology filters out "visual noise" before identifying the genus of your apple by shape, surface pattern and coloration. It's also able to scan labels and coupons, but so far the database only contains a handful of items. It'll take over a year (when each thing has been harvested and scanned) to build a database necessary to make it commercially useful. Still, if you can't bear to wait those precious seconds as your server finds the right code for lettuce, head on past the break to watch your future in action.
MasterCard's QkR mobile payment system enters trial in Australia
MasterCard is all over the map when it comes to mobile payments. The credit company will partner with anyone, anywhere, anytime if it means getting new customers and making a buck on the deal. Its latest offering is called QkR, an Australian effort with support from the Hoyts chain of movie theaters and Commonwealth Bank. The initial trial run will be at La Premiere cinemas, where customers will be able to order and pay for food and beverages right from their seat with the QkR app. To initiate the transaction a you scan the QR code or tap the NFC tag attached to the arm rest, and a staff member delivers the trough of popcorn and kiddie pool of coke right to your seat. Now all we need is this sort of high-end treatment in American movie theaters. Check out the video after the break to see it in action.
Show off your smartphone photog skills with Sony Ericsson's vscreens
Have you been jonesin' to show off those Epic 4G Touch camera skills on a bit bigger screen? Sony Ericsson has you covered with vscreens, a website / app combo that gets your trip to Everest on your flatscreen to secure bragging rights. Once you install the app from the Android Market, point your internet browsing screen -- PC, Google TV and PS3 included -- to the vscreens website. From there, you simply scan the QR code that appears on your display and presto, you're showing off that trip to the Adirondacks like it's your job, sans cables or Bluetooth. If you're looking to give it a spin, you'll find all you need via the links below. And pretty soon, you'll be able to showcase those Galaxy Nexus panoramas at your next dinner party. Pretty sweet, huh?
Daily Mac App: QREncoder
QR codes are a great way of instantly sharing information with a quick camera snap? QREncoder is app for your Mac that'll let you quickly and easily generate them for printing, uploading and sharing. You can encode almost any sort of text into a QR code: a URL, phone number, text message, email address, twitter handle -- maybe even a haiku. QREncoder makes creating codes easy. Fire up the app, select the type of code you want, and bung your text in the box. You've got a choice of size for your QR code, 5, 6, 9 and 12px and you can save it as a PNG for later use. QREncoder is quick, easy to use and free from the Mac App Store, so is well worth checking out if you want to create quick response codes.
QReo is for cookie, that's good enough to scan (video)
The medium is the message. That's really all you need to know about this junk food marketing. Integrated ad agency RedPepper, which prides itself on communication via "human-centered, highly-spreadable 'things'," assembled a group of stoners employees to answer the age-old question: can cookies convey QR codes? No, never pondered that ultimate mystery before? Well, bust out the smartphone and get to scanning this collection of 441 black and gold Oreos for the answer. We won't ruin the URL-directing surprise for you, but prepare to be minorly underwhelmed -- it's not like the company's heralding the return of glorious trans fat. Curiosity piqued? Then head past the break for the how'd they do that? hyper-speed video and its Daft Punk backing track. (Disclaimer: No cookies were harmed in the filming of this project, only consumed.)
MasterCard demos Google Wallet, QkR platform for mobile payments
You've most likely heard plenty about NFC-capable smartphones, but little in the way of actual real-world uses for the chip. Well, MasterCard's looking to change all of that, and throw in a few innovations of its own courtesy of its in-house R&D labs and Google. Shown off at an event today, the company demoed the Google Wallet application we first learned about back in May -- which is gearing up for an official launch sometime "soon." Running on Sprint's Nexus S 4G -- with a planned expansion to multiple devices -- users can connect a Citi MasterCard account to the service, and tap-to-pay at any retail location outfitted with a PayPass station. The transactions take place as instantaneously as you'd expect, with spending alerts notated automatically in-app, as well as via text message. If you're the paranoid type or just a spendthrift, the app offers plenty of options to set spending limits, approve / block purchases via category (i.e. dining, entertainment) and enable alerts for overseas activity. Currently, the Google Wallet service is Android-only, and that's probably a direct result of the AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile backed mobile payment rival, ISIS. But the company's also got one eye fixed squarely on the future -- scheming up alternate implementations for payment on-the-go through its MasterCard Labs division. Focusing on its QkR platform (an obvious play on QR codes), these concepts ranged from television audio signals encoded with purchase data, audible to a phone running the QkR app, or fast-food tabletops embedded with NFC and QR codes that'll allow customers to scan for coupons, order remotely and apply the discount -- all without leaving their seats. The most interesting use of the new platform, however, had nothing to do with mobile phone use and everything to do with an Xbox Kinect. Utilizing the gesture recognition tech, items could be selected on-screen by holding your hand over an item and navigating through the checkout process. We know, yet another great proof-of-concept, but tuck away that cynicism for a second -- a company representative confided to us that soft-pilot testing of QkR is already underway, with an official announcement slated in the next two weeks. And don't worry about it being a Google OS-only affair, QkR's been tested across iOS, Windows Phone Mango and even BlackBerry. Whether or not the innovative payment system'll launch with all of these mobile OS on-board wasn't clear, but we were assured there'd be at least two partners on board. Jump past the break to get a close-up view of our hands-on with the future of payment. %Gallery-133981%
Comscore finds 6.2 percent of smartphone users scan QR codes
QR codes may be turning up in more places than ever these days, but are people actually using them? According to market research firm Comscore, at least some of them are -- 14 million in June in the US alone, to be specific, or about 6.2 percent of all smartphone users. As for who makes up that slice of the smartphone market, Comscore says that just over 60 percent are male, 53 percent are between the ages of 18 and 34, and 36 percent have a household income of $100k or more. Folks are also apparently more likely to scan QR codes at home than at a retail store, and magazines and newspapers edge out websites or product packaging when it comes to the top source of the QR code being scanned. So, not exactly an explosion in use, but still fairly impressive for a weird-looking barcode that was rarely seen outside of Japan until a few years ago.
Microsoft 'Tags' 2 billion real-world objects with its phone-friendly barcodes
Microsoft might be late to the cameraphone-able barcode game, but it appears to be making up for lost time. Its multi-colored (and, frankly, rather attractive) Tag barcodes added a few important innovations on top of the general QR code concept, and apparently to good effect: 2 billion Tags have been printed since the January 2009 launch, and 1 billion of those Tags were printed in the past four months. Sounds like Microsoft has found some momentum, and they claim to have gained a lead in the publishing industry already. Obviously, the analytics, customization, and anti-fragmentation nature appeals to Big Barcode, but we'll have to wait and see if Tag is the ultimate choice of the everyman. Plus, won't ads be able to hack our brains and implant URLs at-will soon enough? We're holding out for that.
Goo.gl URL shortener can also spit out QR codes, if you ask it nicely
Once again, Google fails at being ordinary. Although the claim with its Goo.gl URL shortener is that it's more about quality than features, the search giant couldn't help itself and has inserted a QR code easter egg into the mix. Should you be so daring as to append a .qr at the end of your contracted hyperlink -- such as turning http://goo.gl/JCKW into http://goo.gl/JCKW.qr (both point to this post) -- you'll be treated with a QR code, built especially for you by the company's imaging smurfs. So, in case you still don't have Android 2.2 and its awesome Chrome to Phone functionality, here's an alternative method for transitioning the webpage you're reading onto your phone. Heavens forbid we'd ever have to actually type anything out ourselves.
Pioneer shares affordable line of speakers, snobs sob
After releasing a bevy of value-packed Elite receivers, iPod Docks, and Blu-ray players in recent months, Pioneer has now announced a new line of entry-level speakers just in time for man cave upgrade season. Consisting of the SP-DS21-LR and smaller SP-BS41-LR bookshelf monitor, the SP-FS51-LR floor standing mini tower, the SP-C21 center channel, and SW-8 sub, the entire line is on sale now at selected retailers for a reasonable $79 to $199 depending on the component. Despite these wallet-friendly price tags though, all of the speakers sport higher-end details like radio frequency bonded, curved cabinets, improved multi-component crossovers, and gold-plated five-way binding posts -- which seems to fall nicely in line with Pioneer's recent recession-appropriate bang for your buck approach. In case that idea alone wasn't enough to make audiophiles roll over in their acoustically-perfect coffins, Pioneer's release also says the speaker packaging will feature QR barcodes that, when scanned, will direct consumers to YouTube videos of lead designer Andrew Jones discussing the new line. Luckily for you, we've embedded the video along with the full PR after the break, so you can skip the unnecessary mobile hassle and get straight to the unintentional laughs.
