readwriteweb.com— A 2-dimensional barcode. These barcodes contain data that can be decoded using the Smartpox reader. You can create a Smartpox tag using a URL, an email address, a telephone number, or just plain text.
Sep 11, 2006View in Crawl 4
Yeah, they're called QR codes, and can be found just about anywhere. I was at a fancy restaurant the other night and there was a QR code pasted on the toilet, which, when you snap it with your cell phone, will take you directly to the website for that restaurant.
"I think this curiosity factor works well with these things. "You're right. How sweet would it be to be able to walk down the street, see a poster for a new local band and be able to hear how they sound right there and then... It's great marketing and actually gives something extra to the consumer (but only if they want it). Much less intrusive than audio or bluetooth posters.
Wasn't just ratshack though. They were mailed out with an issue of Wired magazine and a couple of local papers/mags in Texas IIRC. Also you could get a USB version from IBM and for awhile some of their paper catalogs had the CueCat bar codes in them. I have a couple of the IBM USB versions and half a dozen of the keyboard port version. And I use one frequently with DVDProfiler to keep my inventory of DVDs up to date.
I don't understand why this simplifies anything other than purchasing out of magazines billboards. As has been noted, people can more readily deal with a legible url for most purposes anyway and if anything it adds an unnessesary level of complexity. The other issue is the gateway service, why must a barcode like this contain proprietary data as opposed to simply encoding the url itself? The requirement that a certain business hold all of the keys is an obvious business model but it benefits no one.Also, QR code could be used as it already exists, has a good data capacity for reasonable length urls and posseses fairly good image distortion handling.
I take it you're from the US?Its not just .jp that have IM and Email on their phones you know.. Its pretty much every where "1st world" bar the US for some reason. There must just be too much land to cover in 3G I guess.
"Useless" cell phone integration? Cell phone integration is the *only* thing that makes such technology potentially useful, at least on the consumer level.
rcomegysSep 12, 2006
Yeah, they're called QR codes, and can be found just about anywhere. I was at a fancy restaurant the other night and there was a QR code pasted on the toilet, which, when you snap it with your cell phone, will take you directly to the website for that restaurant.
stouSep 12, 2006
Yea I it's pretty common in Japan, I saw one that was about 10m x 10m on the side of a building.
simdSep 12, 2006
"I think this curiosity factor works well with these things. "You're right. How sweet would it be to be able to walk down the street, see a poster for a new local band and be able to hear how they sound right there and then... It's great marketing and actually gives something extra to the consumer (but only if they want it). Much less intrusive than audio or bluetooth posters.
camillerSep 12, 2006
Wasn't just ratshack though. They were mailed out with an issue of Wired magazine and a couple of local papers/mags in Texas IIRC. Also you could get a USB version from IBM and for awhile some of their paper catalogs had the CueCat bar codes in them. I have a couple of the IBM USB versions and half a dozen of the keyboard port version. And I use one frequently with DVDProfiler to keep my inventory of DVDs up to date.
dhughesSep 12, 2006
Well they did mention viral marketing *groan*.
orbatosSep 12, 2006
I don't understand why this simplifies anything other than purchasing out of magazines billboards. As has been noted, people can more readily deal with a legible url for most purposes anyway and if anything it adds an unnessesary level of complexity. The other issue is the gateway service, why must a barcode like this contain proprietary data as opposed to simply encoding the url itself? The requirement that a certain business hold all of the keys is an obvious business model but it benefits no one.Also, QR code could be used as it already exists, has a good data capacity for reasonable length urls and posseses fairly good image distortion handling.
alex_wSep 12, 2006
I take it you're from the US?Its not just .jp that have IM and Email on their phones you know.. Its pretty much every where "1st world" bar the US for some reason. There must just be too much land to cover in 3G I guess.
Closed AccountSep 12, 2006
"Useless" cell phone integration? Cell phone integration is the *only* thing that makes such technology potentially useful, at least on the consumer level.
vibri2001Sep 13, 2006
For anyone who still has a cuecat, catnip is a very useful app. <a class="user" href="http://www.cedmagic.com/cuecat/cuecat.html">http://www.cedmagic.com/cuecat/cuecat.html</a>It allows you to use the cuecat as a normal bar code scanner. I've found it useful when listing items on Amazon or Half.com
dig19975Apr 1, 2008
Here is a cool online barcode generator tool that I found. It's Free! <a class="user" href="http://www.waspbarcode.com/Barcode_Maker/generator.aspx">http://www.waspbarcode.com/Barcode_Maker/generator ...</a>