Hasta La Gadget!

Just how many ways do you think there are around to make good use of QR codes? We have seen them being implemented at graveyards on tombstones before, which is rather creepy when you think about it, but here is yet another way of implementing QR codes without having to be an advertisement of sorts. I am referring to the QR Code Clock – the name itself says it all. The brainchild of Michael Ciuffo, the QR Code Clock could be said to be, in his own words, “technological convenience that really isn’t convenient.” We totally get what he means – most of the time, clocks are meant to be easy to read and decipher, whether they are of the analog or digital variety, but with the QR Code Clock, it is virtually impossible to crack unlike those brain busting watches from Tokyoflash, as all you need to do is snap a photo with your smartphone while using the relevant app in order to tell the time.

Definitely something only you and the other geeky minded folks will be able to appreciate. As for other folks who stroll by your home, they will most probably be wondering just what kind of weird device is there sitting on your shelf, changing its pattern every single second. It is rather ironic that by the time you get an answer from your QR code scanner app on the current time, it would be a few seconds slow.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Chinese e-tailer to launch brick and mortar supermarkets filled with only QR codes, Apple and SBB come to agreement over iOS 6 Clock app ,

Technologies like NFC, RFID and QR codes are quickly becoming a normal part of everyday life, and now a group from Carnegie Mellon University has a fresh take on close-quarters data it calls acoustic barcodes. It involves physically etching a barcode-like pattern onto almost any surface, so it produces sound when something’s dragged across it — a fingernail, for example. A computer is then fed that sound through a microphone, recognizes the waveform and executes a command based on it. By altering the space between the grooves, it’s possible to create endless unique identifiers that are associated with different actions.

It’s easy to see how smartphones could take advantage of this — not that we recommend dragging your new iPhone over ridged surfaces — but unlike the technologies mentioned earlier, not all potential applications envisage a personal reading device. Dot barcodes around an area, install the sound processing hardware on site, and you’ve got yourself an interactive space primed for breaking freshly manicured nails. We’re pretty impressed by the simplicity of the concept, and the team does a good job of presenting scenarios for implementing it, which you can see in the video below. And, if you’d like to learn a little more about the idea or delve into the full academic paper, the source links await you.

[Thanks, Julia]

Continue reading Acoustic barcodes store data in sound, go on just about anything (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Software, Alt

Acoustic barcodes store data in sound, go on just about anything (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 00:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No, supermodels are not the Transformers in any way, although some of them do have more than meets the eye. Here is an interesting way of using QR codes to capture the attention of the masses, although we do admit that it is not too hard to achieve that when you have hot looking faces and bodies looking right back at you. The Wonderbra Decoder is part of Wonderbra’s new marketing campaign, where it will require a QR code reader as well as one to download an app in order to ‘decode’ the underwear secrets of model Adriana Cernanova – basically, you can to see what she is wearing under her normal set of clothes (and don’t worry parents, she did not go commando).

Print adverts of a clothed Adriana have already started to appear, where consumers can scan a QR code on the ad to download the corresponding software, where this app will then be able to scan the clothed image of Adriana in order to reveal her in some tastefully designed underwear. This campaign will run all the way till November, but will it help push the sales of smartphones in the process?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nano-code puts counterfeiters on the backpedal, Man of Steel QR code shows off how Superman’s new costume looks like,

Mobile phones are making a lot of things obsolete – payphones, maps, privacy – because of cheap and easy to use apps. A new open source technology might add keys – and keychains, and locksmiths – to the cellphone hit list. Called LibeTech, the system enables QR codes to be used as door keys.

LibeTech was developed by Jeremy Blum and 3 other students from Cornell during their senior year. The system is very simple to use. Say you have a hotel reservation. All you have to do is go to a website, log in and the hotel will send you a QR code.

When you get to your room, just show the QR code to the webcam at the door and you’re in. You don’t even need to own the latest smartphone to do this; any phone or gadget that can store and show the image of the code will suffice.

Of course, the convenience is a double-edged sword: someone could easily take a copy of your code. Imagine keys to entire hotels being shared on torrent sites. After much thought and consultation with fellow nerds, Blum and his colleagues have decided to make their technology open source instead of building a commercial product based around it. If you want to modernize your doors, head to Blum’s website for more details and links to the necessary code.

[via Hack A Day]

And why wouldn’t it be? That’s how the Kraay family of Lacombe, Alberta, Canada gets down, as evidenced by the family’s past 13 years of elaborate corn maze designs — from a logo of the Edmonton Oilers to a 25th anniversary commemoration of Rick Hansen’s “Man in Motion” tour. Said QR code sends adventurous scanners to a website for the Kraay’s family farm website. The code also got the Kraays into the Guinness Book of World Records for “World’s Largest QR Code,” which was really what drove this whole project. At approximately 29,000 meters (1.1 square miles), that’s quite a bit of carefully crafted corn designing. It’s certainly more elaborate than the previously claimed record holder, and a lot more official.

“It was something that we didn’t think would happen. There were a lot of little things we had to do and Guinness is pretty picky with how you collect your evidence. We were a little bit on edge on whether it would come through so we were very relieved and very excited,” Rachel Kraay told CTV News about the project. To verify that the code works, the Kraays had to commission a helicopter to fly them over their own farm, allowing them to scan it while hovering hundreds of feet above. And then, at the end of last week, the Guinness folks sent over a package certifying the bizarre world record. “They didn’t even call. I just went to the door and there was a large package and inside was the certificate and a letter. I guess that’s how they do it.”

[Image credit: Facebook]

Filed under: Misc, Internet, Alt

Visualized: World’s largest QR code is a Canadian maize maze originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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