Learning to QRawl

Posted on March 15, 2008 by Mike

Just a quick brain dump of QR related stuff…

The BBC are playing with QR:

BBC Logo in QR Code

The destination couldn’t be duller or more short sighted, but it’s interesting that they tweaked the code to include their logo.

Here’s what the Japanese have been doing for years:

Colour QR codes with graphics

And this popped up today:

QR face code

I did find a temporary QR tattoo in Taiwan:

Temp QR tattoo

If you’re only using them for advertising you probably don’t want a permanent one. But we need to think beyond this:

Da Vinci Code tshirt in Taiwan

Most images via and

Been playing with colour myself this evening

Colour QR

But now more interested in what can be done with the 30% of the code that the reader isn’t interested in…

Also thinking about 3D models of 2D codes and Paul Auster a lot…

I’ve also been asked by two companies to explain a bit more about QR and help work out where exactly they should implement them.

Extra linkage:

A Chinese Social Networking site built up around QR, QR now attached to footy kits, QR embedded into news stories in the UK while Japan has a magazine made up of nothing but QR codes

Comments

  • gia on March 15th, 2008

    Yay! I’m so glad everyone’s getting into QR! Weeeeeeeee!!

  • Mecca on March 15th, 2008

    The destination couldn’t be duller or more short sighted

    One thing people do need to recognise with QR codes in UK & probably the EU too is that it is REALLY new technology and people are really at an experimental stage with it. So try not deride companies for putting “dull or short sighted” destinations in their codes right now. The fact they are even testing this puts them head and shoulders above so many other companies and makes them “interesting & foresighted”.

  • Mike on March 15th, 2008

    Hey Mecca, not often we disagree, but on this I stand by what I wrote. For the BBC to be playing with the codes is great, but the fact that they produced a code that directs here:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes

    a page that is half assed on my laptop and looks a million times worse on a mobile is just laziness.

    I don’t mind that the Beeb piss away my license fee on crap like Torchwood, but again and again they fail horribly online. I’m still sore after the iPlayer and now they’re being as half witted with QR. The Beeb should be way past the experimenting stage and showing us what you can do with a little time and money behind the tech.

    I want the Beeb to do something spectacularly innovative with QR so that the rest of can watch, learn and push it forward.

    Then again their TV making abilities peaked with Quatermass back in the 50’s so maybe I should cut them some slack :)

  • Mecca on March 17th, 2008

    You make some fair points there Mike. It would be nice if someone from the BBC could respond as I really don’t know enough about it to defend them any further.

    BTW - I love Paul Auster - although can’t for the life of me think about what you’re planning with 2D codes and his work. Although I’ve not read anything of his since The Music of Chance so praphs it’s something to do with his later works. :)

  • James Cridland on March 17th, 2008

    Man from the BBC here,

    So, your real beef is with the /programmes site, not with QR codes? OK, cool.

    You say it looks dull and half-arsed; well, there’s a reason it says ‘beta’ there, y’know. Give us a day or two, and we’ll add a lick of paint to it just for you. And enable the mobile views. And possibly fiddle with some extra feeds. Next job is to tidy up the rather messy data (not our fault) and then it’ll be much finer.

    That’s a promise, even if you’re so rude about my team’s hard work! (grin)
    Good. Bye then,

    J

  • Benny on March 17th, 2008

    would be great if we could send out some short shorts using QR. a few quirky little badboys.

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