Occasional Brief Observations

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

In the wild - XIV

A few recently observed examples of QR codes "in the wild" - on a Heinz ketchup bottle, a print BMW QR code, a QR code on a Time Warner cable bill, and advertising an upcoming charity occasion... The first three resolved to mobile sites, the fourth did not!

Previous QR and Tag entries:
BB QR readers
QR codes "in the wild" (14 links)
QR-and Tag-related entries (22 links)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Easier to find?

The following is a list of links reviewing various BB QR Code readers. It's the same list that you get here in this bit.ly bundle, however it occurred to me that the application names were not easily visible in the bundle, so one might end up clicking through a number of links if searching for a particular application... Thus, in the interest of making things easier, here's a list that provides the application name:

On my BB 9800 Torch I used to keep Barcode Assistant (the best all round scanner & generator), i-nigma (which sometimes could read QR codes that could not be decoded by the other readers), Biz Barcode and Mception Scanner, mobiletag (for 1D bar codes and price benchmarking), and, finally, MicroSoft Tag reader.

Having now switched to the OS 7 BB 9810 (a.k.a Torch 2), not all of these are available, see the screen shots below for those that show they are available for the Torch 2 in the BB App World. Current "keepers" include Barcode Assistant, ScanLife, QR Scan (for its speed), AT&T Code Scanner (which came pre-installed on my ATT phone), and MicroSoft Tag (note: OS 7 is not listed as supported (as of today), however it downloads and works just fine).

Previous QR and Tag entries:
BB QR readers
QR codes "in the wild" (12 links)
QR-and Tag-related entries (22 links)

Additional BB QR readers - XXII

Another QR scanner for the BB is the compactly-named QR Scan by B Gibbons. $0.99 On firing it up you get to a simple main screen with one option - 'Scan QR Code'. This application directly reads the QR code and does not take a photo... As always, I head over to the QR Code Quality Standards Test v1.02, screenshots of the results below:

The application certainly lives up to its billing as a "Simple QR Scanner." The Pros? It read every QR code I threw at it, even the pretty 'dense' vcard QR code. And what is more, it was the fastest to read of every application I have tried (almost 30 so far). The Cons? On reading the QR code your choices are limited to 'Open in Browser', 'Send in Email', 'Save to Memopad', and 'Copy to Clipboard' regardless of what type of QR code you have read, thus is not the most useful or easiest for mecard, vcard, sms, vevent, geo, etc. QR codes. It also does not keep track of codes read in any sort of history. Finally, the integration is not quite up to the level of the best such as Barcode Assistant.

The bottom line? It has some limitations, but given the read success rate and speed to decode, it's definitely a keeper!

Final note: Tested on a BB 9810 Torch II i.e. BB OS 7

Previous QR and Tag entries:
BB QR readers
QR codes "in the wild" (12 links)
QR-and Tag-related entries (22 links)

Great quotes

"... Afghanistan and other troubled lands today cry out for the sort of enlightened foreign administration once provided by self-confident Englishmen in jodhpurs and pith helmets...

... Once Afghanistan has been dealt with, America should turn its attention to Iraq. It will probably not be possible to remove Saddam quickly without a U.S. invasion and occupation--though it will hardly require half a million men, since Saddam's army is much diminished since the Gulf War, and we will probably have plenty of help from Iraqis, once they trust that we intend to finish the job this time. Once we have deposed Saddam, we can impose an American-led, international regency in Baghdad, to go along with the one in Kabul. With American seriousness and credibility thus restored, we will enjoy fruitful cooperation from the region's many opportunists, who will show a newfound eagerness to be helpful in our larger task of rolling up the international terror network that threatens us... "

- Max Boot, October 15th, 2011

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Additional BB QR readers - XXIa

Additional BB QR readers - XXI noted the appearance of the Arion and Carpet One QR scanners... these appear to be clones of the Mception Scanner, reviewed here. The screen shots below show the same look and feel, differentiated only in the 'About':