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Microsoft Tag makes a video appearance, still seeking popularity
"It's the hyperlink in the physical world" says a Microsoft PR man, giving us the most succinct definition of what Redmond's Tag initiative is all about. Having announced its alternative take on the barcode at CES 2009, Microsoft has been working behind the scenes on proliferating the use of these multicolored Tags, which are designed to be snapped by nearby cameraphones. Once the pattern is recognized, you can obtain digital content directly on your phone -- whether it be a website link, YouTube video, or whatever -- and the uses are pretty much limitless: business cards, product packaging, magazines, anything that can benefit from supplemental online content and has a flat surface is a candidate to be Tagged. Such is the theory anyhow, and Microsoft's doing all it can to make it happen, with software for most mobile platforms, including the iPhone. Video demonstration after the break.
Microsoft's 'elite' HCCB barcodes to contain promo extras
High Capacity Color Barcode: Microsoft's solution to the storage-deficient UPC. Up to two-pages of data can be stored in the four- and eight-color geometric patterns. That's double the amount a traditional UPC can store, according to BBC.The HCCB will find its way onto Xbox 360 discs (and standard DVDs) by the end of the year as a 'partner' barcode. "The UPC barcodes will always be there. Ours is more of a niche barcode where you want to put a lot of information in a small space," Microsoft Research engineering director Gavin Jancke told BBC. But why?It seems that camera phones have the iddy biddy keys to unlock the jumbled mess of triangles. Snap a photo and you've got yourself a web address. Hit up the website and you'll find a pot of digital swag. Viva free wallpaper!Eh, anything to turn the tide of a console war, right?
Colored barcode system coming to Xbox 360 games
Later this year Microsoft will incorporate a new High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) into all Xbox 360 games. The new colored barcode can hold twice as much data (3,500 characters) than a standard black and white UPC and has the ability to be read by digital cameras or cell phones. Microsoft says that it is entirely possible to take a picture of a game's colored barcode with a cell phone and access additional content via the internet if such information was embedded in the barcode. Microsoft was also clear in saying that the new HCCB will be a partner to the old UPC code and will not be replacement. Taking a picture of your Xbox 360 game's colorful barcode and being forwarded to some sort of online domain is the sweetness. Though, we doubt it'll ever be used for such purposes, but it's about time we get color in our barcoding system. Now we just have to wait for that new HD barcode to hit the streets.
Microsoft readies colorful QR code competitor
While QR codes and their ilk have been big in Japan for years, they haven't exactly been quick to catch on 'round these parts, where we've had to be content with old school bar bodes for our product identification needs. Microsoft looks to be trying to change that situation, however, with the company set to roll out its so-called High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) later this year with the assistance of the International Standard Audiovisual Number International Agency (ISAN-IA). While their use will apparently initially be limited to DVD media, Microsoft eventually sees the codes being used on TV, in magazines, and on billboards (among other places), from which you'll be able to scan 'em with your cellphone to get additional information about a product. Of course, good looks are the codes' only selling point, with Microsoft also promising that they'll make anything tagged with them harder to counterfeit.
