Occasional Brief Observations

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Designer QR codes II

The March 23rd blog entry 'Designer QR codes' referenced some examples of "designer" QR codes that were far from the typical black and white, square designs, adding color, pictures, and so much more. Additional examples of some great work can also be found at the links below:

QR Code Designer avec MIMANA on YouTube
Magic hat QR code - QRArts
QR Codes and Fashion - Zophia - QR Arts
personnalisation QRcode
Custom QR Code Design - BeQRious
Examples of QR code design

Below are a few of these, along with what you get when you decode them:

Additional BB QR readers - XIV

Another QR code reader for the Blackberry, albeit one that is focused on a narrower segment, is ContactScanner by appsFX. This is not a free program, but runs at $7.99.

ContactScanner can "... not only create a QR Barcode of your own contact information, but by using the built in camera on your BlackBerry we give you the ability to easily scan and store contact data from other users. When the QRBarcode is scanned, the data can be instantly translated for future reference. Application Features: Easy to use process, supports both VCard and MECard formats, create VCard or MECard QR barcodes from text, automatically convert any contact to QR barcode..."

ContactScanner generates 'vcard' and 'MECard' QR codes from your contacts, which can be saved or e-mailed...

Successful test with a MECard - ContactScanner read the QR code, decoded it, and added the abbreviated contact information...

Not quite the same success with a vcard - ContactScanner read and decoded the QR code, but then when it added the contact to the BB address book it had problems (losing the last name, along with much of the accompanying information, see below)

Confirmed that this was not a problem with the 'vcard' QR code, as the Mception Scanner decoded it and created the contact correctly without a hitch using the identical QR code!

The bottom line? Not sure why one would pay $7.99 for a QR code reader that only does 'vcard' and 'MEcard' QR codes when you can get outstanding free readers that do all of the different types of QR codes... On the other hand, with a paid program you have some support that you can follow up with if it doesn't work as advertised.

Mental health break

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Random charts

Source: Regional Economic Outlook: Middle East and Central Asia (May 2010)

Different Blog(ger) views

Google/Blogger has just implemented 'Views' for their blogs... When at the front page append '/view' (without the quotes) and the blog has five different looks/layouts that can be toggled - Flip, Mosaic, Sidebar, Snapshot, and Timeslide.

Below is this blog's normal view, followed by the five new options:

Additional BB QR readers - XIII

Another QR code reader (tested on a 9800 Torch) is Mception Scanner by Mception, "... an emerging technology company with its next generation platform for Augmented Reality, Smartphone mobile device applications and technologies that integrates traditional, digital, and future innovations that dynamically engage qualified consumers to the product brands and services of their interests for Clients from marketing initiatives to point of interests and product sales. ..." Note: the Mception Scanner is a "take a photo and decode that" QR scanner.

The very first attempt at scanning a QR code was only partially successful - while Mception read the QR code correctly there appeared to be some sort of issue either when it passed the url to the browser or at the Google link shortener, because it produced an error code. This wasn't an issue with the QR code or the shortened url because a) other QR code readers read the same QR code successfully, and, b) typing the shortened url 'http://goo.gl/9dxn0' into a browser resolved correctly...

However, further attempts on other 'url' QR codes did not product the same problem and were successful e.g. see an example below:

Example of a success:

Mception Scanner had no problems with both 'sms' and 'text' QR codes:

Mception Scanner successfully read a 'MEcard' QR code, but subsequently does not seem to be able to automatically add it to your contacts... Note, however, that it was able to decode a 'vcard' QR code and subsequently add it to the BB contacts address book!

Mception Scanner nicely stores your QR code history on your BB...

The bottom line? It only functions as a QR code reader, but does that fairly impressively! Recommended.