QR Codes

  So what are all these mixed up checker board looking things you're seeing everywhere? They are called QR codes, and they make your smart phone a whole lot smarter. Imagen you are walking through the mall and you see a poster of that new movie everyone is talking about. You want to discover more about it, but you're never going to remember the web address. Then you see the QR Code in the corner. You scan the code with your phone's camera and you are taken to the web page. All with a few taps of your fingers and none of it typing on a keyboard. Let's find out what else QR codes can do and what is needed to read them.
  QR is the abbreviation for Quick Response, and was named so because the 2D bar code is meant to be decoded at high speed. It was developed in 1994 by Denso-Wave for automobile parts tracking. Since then the technology has evolved to allow much more. To use them you will have to have a camera phone and an app designed to read the QR codes. Google has pushed this most by allowing android phones the ability to scan the code for apps. Blackberry and iPhone users also have apps that allow them to read the codes. Windows Phone 7 users should have one available soon. Just place a search for QR Code reader in your app store to find one you like.
  I already mentioned they are used for URLs. That technique is known as a hard link or real world hyperlink. It allows a user to visit a web page without having to type an address. You might have already seen these hard links for marketing use in magazines or on posters, and even on the back of cereal boxes. More recently they are being adopted by governments for expanding the available information a document, like a building permit, provides. QR codes have added support for much more then visiting web sites though. Now a person can use QR codes as a business card that is saved directly to your contacts , geographic locations, adding calendar events, sending SMS, setting up wireless connections, and plain old text. The possibilities for the technology are growing all the time. I'd love to hear what you have used QR codes for.