Create Your Own QR Code With an Army of Little Robots

A company called Cross Border Inc. created a fun little program that lets you generate your own QR codes—a 3-dimensional bar code common that can be read by cell phone camera. All you have to do is enter a URL, and the service dispatches an army of little robots that start off standing at random but quickly start hopping into position until they make sense together and can be scanned by IR.

QR Bar Code Meta Data

QR bar codes (photo right) embedded into the mosaic of the station posters (photo left) - each 'tile' is a separate bar code. Snap a photo of the bar code with an appropriate camera phone to follow the link. From Shibuya station.

Last call: Japanese tombs link up with cell phones

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Bereaved Japanese will be able to keep in touch with their loved ones beyond the grave by using mobile phones to scan bar-coded tombstones and view photos and other information about the deceased.

Fans rush for 'mobile-compatible' new England kit

England football fans will from today be able to buy their national team's new away kit – which can interact with their mobile phones. The new Umbro strip contains a Japanese-developed QR code which can be read by mobiles and allows owners to access a special WAP internet site.

News International aims for young readers with quick response codes in news stories

News International is looking to drive younger readers onto its mobile internet site, with the company's mobile strategy chief revealing that its newspapers could be using quick response codes (QR codes) in its news stories within 18 months.

TEC-IT releases High-Quality Barcode Software for Mac OS X

Mac OS users and developers using TBarCode benefit from the most complete bar code software available on the market. The product generates more than 80 different linear, 2D and composite bar code symbologies. Especially the outstanding support for 2D codes like QR Code, Data Matrix, Semacode and PDF417 makes TBarCode the first choice for professional users from all industries.

iMatrix updated, ShotCode support

iMatrix, a universal 2D code processing tool for iPhone has been updated. The new version features quite an interesting update. Universal code recognition application had support for QR codes and Datamatrix codes and now it also added support for ShotCode, making it truly universal.

New Fashion Concept: Analogue meets Digital

Through the integration of so called qr or mobile codes emma cott picks up a Japanese trend and combines the latest progress in technology with classical couture. Therefore, the label enables the wearer to communicate attitude and emotion through a mysterious kind of way and offers a whole new possibility of self portrayal.

Trend: QR code-only Print Magazine

The print magazine Tada Gets, which basically means “things for free” is a magazine composed entirely of QR codes. By scanning the codes, users link via mobile phone to free ringtones, decorations, games, music, pictures, and other content.

Keep your shirt on

England’s rich heritage is married with revolutionary technology by incorporating a QR (Quick Read) code into the shirt’s label. This effectively serves to bring the shirt to life, enabling fans to access a unique QR website.

Upon photographing the code with their mobile phones, fans will be taken to the website where they can obtain exclusive content about UMBRO and England.

Will Google Make Scanbuy A Mobile Barcode Winner?

One company that could benefit from Google's mobile-barcode push: New York's Scanbuy, which makes barcode reading software for cellphones.

Google is pushing its newspaper advertisers to try out "2D barcodes," which, when scanned by a cellphone camera, take you to an advertiser's mobile Web site, coupon, map, etc. If that kind of technology ever takes off in the U.S., one winner could be Scanbuy, which is already making and distributing barcode scanning software.

QR code for camera phone decoding comes to UK

The QR code, which is already widely used in Japan but is new to the UK, will be contained in a square box on the film poster. It comprises black and white dots which contain details about the DVD and links to relevant material on the Internet.

QR codes, which can also contain information such as web addresses and phone numbers, can be decoded by a camera on a mobile phone, providing the correct software is installed. The information can then be stored on the phone.

The 28 Weeks Later DVD is currently being advertised in Shoreditch, London, with a giant poster which shows nothing but a QR code.

High-end phones such as the Nokia N93 come equipped with QR readers, but QR code-reading software is available to install on camera phones which do not have a reader already in place.

It is also possible to easily create QR codes to serve as hyperlinks to mobile content.

With nearly all new phones coming equipped with a camera, it seems that QR codes could soon be as prevalent in the UK as they are in Japan.

The Next Generation of Barcodes: QR Codes

It's something of a cliché to say that something or other is "just so 20th century," but in the case of barcodes, it's kinda true. For proof look no further than Japan, which has a history of exporting ideas to us after they've been fully baked into the culture, for good (anime) or ill (I'm still on the fence about karaoke).

QR Codes are essentially two-dimensional bar codes, and they've been in use in Japan for about seven years. As camera-enabled mobile phones became more popular, companies found a nifty application for them: they made QR Code-recognition software available to phone users, who could snap a picture of a QR Code on a product and have more information sent to them instantly. The two great things about QR Code implementation is that companies have found creative uses for placement and the type of information you can get, and that patent holders Denso-Wave have made the spec available to all, which fosters that kind of creativity.

Alan Schulman has written a great article on QR Codes on iMedia Connection, but also points out that Japanese companies aren't the only ones who have been noticing the pixellated squares. Microsoft is planning to launch its High Capacity Color Barcode later this year, which uses the same concept but with, as the name implies, color. And if Microsoft is looking to one-up someone else's idea, you know it's probably a good one

Barcode, Move Aside - QR CODE is Here!

Ugur Akinci, PhD -June 2, 2007

Soon we will be pushing flash movies, coupons, MP3 files, good-old text and god knows what else to our cell phones by pointing their tiny built-in cameras to a QR Code, taking a snapshot, and then pressing the SEND button.

A QR (from "Quick Response") Code can store a dozen to a few hundred times more data than a barcode because it can be programmed along both its horizontal and vertical axes.

Since it can be programmed in both directions, a QR Code can be 90% smaller than a barcode.

QR Codes can also be read from any direction. They do not need to be aligned perfectly like a barcode in order to be read correctly.

Data can be restored even if QR code is damaged or torn partially. Data from a torn barcode cannot be retrieved.

The revolution is already well underway in Japan and it's just a matter of time before it becomes just as common in America as well.

Actually I've seen two different versions of it used by a package delivery service and also by a direct mail company but its use is not widespread yet in the USA (as of June 2007).

Imagine, you are at the supermarket. You see an odd looking bottle of something on the shelf with a QR Code on it.

You point your cell phone camera at it, take a snapshot and push SEND and presto!

Soon you are watching a video about how to use the product, its benefits, complete with a 15% discount coupon that you can use right there at the same store!

McDonald's in Japan has already started tagging their food packages with QR Codes so that the consumers can download all kinds of nutrition information with their cell phones.

Welcome to the 21st century and make all your marketing plans accordingly.