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QR Codes, Viewpoints And Curved Surfaces

About the author: Patrick Scheibe is head of the image processing core unit at the Translational Centre for Regenerative Medicine (TRM) Leipzig. Beside working in medical image processing he loves interesting problems, is an enthusiastic user of Wolfram Mathematica and an active member of mathematica.stackexchange.com When I come across QR Codes they are usually printed in [...]

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Use A Google Short URL In A QR Code And Get Sued

It’s a story you couldn’t make up. Five months ago I wrote about the relentless decline of Neomedia, the only publicly quoted company in the QR Code space. Since then their stock price has fallen by a further 90% but they have stepped up their activity as a patent troll. Companies such as Taco Bell, [...]

Asides (Latest News)

• Toronto saw its first commercial QR Code almost exactly five years ago today, with a Vespa scooter campaign. The latest QR Code campaign is from Walmart Canada and Procter & Gamble who have launched QR Code virtual stores in 50 bus shelters (images below). Toronto consumers can purchase a variety of items online with Walmart in categories such as baby and beauty, with free shipping. The campaign is expected to run for four weeks. Marketers believe that consumers waiting for a bus are more likely to scan a QR Code than consumers on the move. Hence bus shelters have become a popular location for QR Codes, as you can see from these examples: Bus shelter headphones Tesco Homeplus bus shelter virtual stores Musical bus shelter HMV bus shelter movie store Sears and Kmart bus shelter shopping More...
• A designer QR Code is being used on Burger King boxes in Kuwait to launch a new game (image below). ‘Go Mega’ is an interactive shootout style soccer game that can be played from any mobile device. Players defend the goal while collecting Burger King burgers along the way and are encouraged to share through social media channels. Players are automatically entered into a prize contest by creating a user profile and entering a code on the box. There is a leader board and the top 3 eligible scorers receive two tickets to Spain to watch a Spanish Soccer League (LaLiga) match in Barcelona. Snipp Interactive of Washington, DC designed the QR Code and HTML5 mobile site. There is a location filter so the QR Code only resolves if you are in Kuwait. More...
• Ukraine’s PrivatBank is one of the most hi-tech banks in the world. Using a QR Code PrivatBank’s customers can log in to their online bank account, make and pay for an order in a restaurant, withdraw cash at ATMs, fill up at a gas station and use other contactless services. In a recent press release the bank claims that the architecture of their numerous mobile applications means they do not have to adapt anything for Google Glass. The promotional video below shows how their applications will look with Google Glass as a customer pays a bill by taking a picture, transfers money by giving voice commands, withdraws money, pays for purchases by reading a QR Code and refuels their car. More...
• There were two interesting QR Code related slides (images below) in Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker's annual Internet Trends presentation at the D11 conference earlier today. The first shows a large QR Code on the wall of the UK Embassy in China that resolves to the Embassy's Weibo Account. (More about Weibo QR Codes). The second slide shows the year on year fourfold increase in QR Code scanning in China. Major uses are: Passcode - Coupons, Rewards, Tickets, Check-ins, etc. (42%), Promotions - Billboard Advertising, etc. (33%) and Information - Nutrition Info, Business Card Exchange, etc. (22%). QR Codes for payment account for only 3% of scans. More...
• The final last week of the Spanish reality TV show the Incredibles showed a contestant sight-reading QR Codes. Martin Lopez, a Galician engineer was able to sight-read QR Codes on T-shirts worn by the studio audience. The T-shirts were encoded with the wearers name and ten members of the audience were chosen at random to participate in the challenge. Martin successfully completed the task scoring ten out of ten. The video below is in Spanish and just under 14 minutes long if you want to see Martin in action. The question is did he really sight-read the QR Codes or was there some trickery involved. Give your verdict in the poll below. Were the QR Codes sight-read? Thanks to Jordi Hernández for the heads up. More...
• Rublon, the cryptographic login system that eliminates passwords has published an API for their secure QR Code enabled login. Rublon's system uses cryptographic methods (asymmetric 2048-bit RSA keys) and secure encryption algorithms (AES 256-bit) but no passwords. It is two-factor authentication without the need for any specialised device like an electronic card or token but it simply transforms the users smartphone into a private key (video below). The free API is available to web developers and website owners and there are already plugins for popular online community platforms and WordPress. There is also direct access to the REST API so Rublon may be serviced by websites based on any programming language. More...
• Mercedes-Benz used a QR Codes livery for the 2013 Mercedes-Benz A-Class last year but now they have found a serious use. From this year all new Mercedes vehicles will have a safety QR Code. In the event of an accident the QR Codes will provide fire-fighters, police and paramedics the information they need in order to facilitate a rescue. The QR Codes resolve to rescue sheets developed by the German Automobile Association (image below). There will be two identical QR Codes, one on the fuel tank flap and the other on the B-pillar on the opposite side of the vehicle to make them easily accessible on the outside. Apparently it is rare that both these parts are badly damaged at the same time in an accident. More...
• More and more outdoor advertising and tourist information is being made available by both QR Codes and NFC. Jeju Island is South Korea's largest island and is a World Heritage Site with a thriving tourist industry. The tourist board there have recently installed information signs (image below) that use both NFC and QR Codes. Tourists scanning the code or tapping the NFC tag are not only taken to descriptions of the immediate surroundings but are also invited to download an app (link to mobile site). Using the app gives tourists the opportunity to win prizes, access to a whole range of discount coupons, notification of upcoming events and social network sharing. More...
• QR Code posters have been used to advertise a film festival before, even as far back as 2010. They were also used in 2011 to enable a virtual film festival to take place anywhere in the world but Brooklyn Film Festival 2013 have come up with a new concept - 'FilmCodes' (video below). Compressed frames from a movie are used to create a barcode like image that can be scanned by the WiMO app. A successful scan resolves to a video showing the movie that it was compressed from. Melvyn Laily has a Movie Barcode Generator here if you want to try making one yourself. More...
• Gebr Heinemann have 230 travel and duty free shops at 54 international airports in 22 countries and have chosen Frankfurt Airport for their first QR Code shopping wall (images below). The 6 month trial displays 60 different fragrances, cosmetics, spirits and confectionery products. Each product has a QR Code which travellers can scan to get more information and if they wish place orders for the goods. The products are delivered to a pick-up point next to the QR Code wall in under 15 minutes at which time the passenger pays for the items. If the passenger has to leave before the goods are delivered the order is automatically cancelled. Other airport shopping walls in the last year include New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, Tesco's Virtual Grocery Store, LaGuardia and JFK airports. More...