QR_STENCILER and QR_HOBO_CODES

Wow – the links are coming fast and furious. Critical mass reached?

The most frightening QR Hobo Code – Bad Coffee:

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We present QR_STENCILER, a free, fully-automated utility which converts QR codes into vector-based stencil patterns suitable for laser-cutting. Additionally, we present QR_HOBO_CODES, a series of one hundred QR stencil designs which, covertly marked in urban spaces, may be used to warn people about danger or clue them into good situations.*

Via @doingitwrong.

Beaded QRCodes

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According to Arnadottir, “Beads have been used as a communication tool and to express individual identity in African culture and we also use “beads” (pixels) in the digital culture as a communication tool and to express our identities online.” *

Via +Justin Pickard on Google+.

QRCode as signifier of hip

Via my contact Flickrstream, this photograph of a QRCode in the NYC subway. Problem the first (as identified by the photoprapher, Adam Greenfield): no connectivity in the New York subways. So you scan and then… Problem the second (may be user error): I couldn’t scan the thing. I have successfully scanned QRCodes from my monitor – no luck this time. I fed the image to ZXing – the image crashed the application. It may well be scannable, but the noisiness of the code itself and the overlay of the surfer’s head make me suspicious. I’m thinking this may be code used as a signifier as much as anything else. “We’re beyond the leading edge here! Look – a decorative bar code!” If you’re using a QRCode as part of a marketing effort and want it to be read, keep it simple. If I go to the trouble of pointing a device at your ad to get more info, I’ve made an effort. If I’m rebuffed because your code is made of fail, you are much worse off than if you hadn’t used a QRCode at all. High contrast. Non-reflective surface. Short URL. Or not – it’s your wasted marketing budget.

ur(L) doin it rong

Photo by Adam Greenfield, Urbanscale

Update: I stand corrected. Sharper-eyed Flickrer Vidiot detects the scanable QRCode buried in the designed-up larger version – look at the center of the square at 7 o’clock. Looks like a hella long URL (yes, I know, I’m ass-covering).

Nerdlepoint

Tikaro does it again!

Just finished marking a Nerdlepoint canvas

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Each Nerdlepoint canvas is a unique QRcode marked on a piece of 13-count Zweigart “orange stripe” mono canvas. (It doesn’t really need all those adjectives, but I like describing the canvas as though it were a blued-steel submachine gun in a pompous 80s spy novel.)

Each canvas contains a unique QRcode. When you buy the pattern, you get a passcode that lets you redirect that QRcoded URL anywhere you like. The back-end platform is the same as the one I use for www.p8tch.com.

Available for purchase here.

NYT discovers QRCodes

LEV QR code

We here at The Local East Village wanted to know how many people in our community were using QR codes. To find out, over the next several days we will be distributing Local East Village flyers – on brightly colored paper – to local businesses. When the code is scanned, your smart phone visits a site that we run so we can keep a tally of visitors and then is directed to The Local East Village. We are distributing four different versions of our flyer so that we can see how many people are using QR codes in different areas. We’ll publish our findings in a few weeks and share our data with you. If you see one of our flyers be sure to scan it so you can take part.

Via @jayrosen_nyu

Goo.gl URL Shortener.qr

Earlier today, Google formally released Goo.gl, their URL-shortener, to the public. They’re calling it the “stablest, most secure, and fastest URL shortener on the web.” But it also may be the coolest thanks to an easter egg.As Google’s Matt Cutts’ just tweeted out, if you simply add “.qr” to the end of any goo.gl URL, it will create a QR code. Scanning this with any QR code reader will take you to the URL. *

So – I run the URL for this post (http://mtoynbee.com/blog/?p=176) into goo.gl and get goo.gl/5LQW. I add .qr to it – goo.gl/5LQW.qr – and get:

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Nicely done, Google, nicely done.

TechCrunch via @leslie.