A new word in communications: barcoding

On the Internet, more and more talk about the prospects of barcoding as a channel for communication. The popular site readwriteweb.com explored current and future barking opportunities. Translation of this article is offered to the attention of the Habrahabr audience (translation by Vladimir Shilov, toodoo ).



Until recently, barcodes existed only on paper, but this is not the only way to use them. The ultimate goal of barcodes is to make them everywhere, from t-shirts and stickers to television. Let's look at the innovations that are happening in this area today.



To interest you, we will look at the current capabilities of this technology and its latest trends. Since this is still a novelty in the USA, this material can be shown uninteresting to many foreign visitors, but show at least a shred of mercy, we are trying to catch up with you!

1. Tag the world using the wiki

Instead of waiting for someone to give you barcodes, you can join Semapedia.org and start making them yourself. The purpose of the resource is to connect the world and Wikipedia articles by putting up barcodes on various objects. In the barcode, the link to the article about the subject on which it is located is encrypted. The idea is very interesting, however, judging by the map of this resource, it is not particularly popular.

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2. Share your contact information using your iPhone / Cameraphone

In Japan, you can find QR codes everywhere, even on business cards, magazines, newspapers, flyers, posters, stickers, food, websites, bulletin boards, etc. If you own an iPhone, then you can use the iTunes application, which is called QRContact . It allows you to transform your contacts into a barcode. Several free applications to choose from that allow you to read all this - and now you are already in the code exchange system.

3. Stickers and pillows.

John Young, the barcode freak, told us about his products. He creates stickers, patches and pillows with QR codes, which can be found at nerdlepoint.etsy.com .

4. Scan products in the store (maybe this will be available soon)

Storexperience.net thinks to use barcode reading from a phone in stores. The bottom line is that the barcode placed on the product can lead the user to a page telling about this product, which is quite convenient. So you can learn about the most adequate prices for this product and reviews about it, which will save. Unfortunately, this practice is still not widespread in stores and it’s not very successful at this time, but who knows ...

5. Looking for a home?

John Young (the same one) is currently investing in the use of barcodes to sell real estate. He believes that potential buyers should be able to read and learn more about the house and do it standing right in front of it. How about a webpage that can be accessed using a barcode? To find out exactly how you can create your barcode, read on.

6. Put up your own reader and make your own codes.

We mentioned NeoReader earlier, but, as many have noticed, that its creators are not quite honest in this space. There are other readers that you can use. For example: Kaywa Reader , Google's zxing reader for android, i-nigma , http://mobilecodes.nokia.com for Nokia. And others.



Why do you think you need a reader of codes, if they have nothing to read? Set yourself a generator and start what companies will have to pick up. Try Kaywa QR-code generator , Nokia Mobile Codes , Winksite or Mobile Barcoder .



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If you are not too good at dealing with such questions on your own, the chances that the technology itself will come to you are quite large. Earlier, CTIA announced the “ Camera-Phone Based Barcode Scanning White Paper ”.



During the presentation, two Data Matrix and EZ Code formats were presented . Vice-president of CTIA said that the first devices with this technology will appear in a year.



It seems that this is great news, but it's not that simple. EZ Code is not readable by anything other than ScanLife, it turns out that CTIA advertises a product of Scanbuy. Of course, it is absolutely not important that Scanbuy were in the team that defined the standards, or rather, that they worked on the development of a project to popularize barcodes.



The other format, Data Matrix, is free and standardized. Well, except that you have to go through the Scanbuy page every time in order to get to the site you need. Data Matrix does not allow typing the URL, only the code that will need to be entered on the Scanbuy page before going to the site you need.



That is why free barcoding lawyers are calling for support of the QR Code, which is the most popular all over the world. All thanks to the open format and free readers.



Many companies are ready for this technology, by the time it enters the US market. CEO Ron Feldman of Kwiry internet pager tells us that his company plans to introduce 2D barcode support when a lot of users with the right tools are ready to use it. We hope that this is only a matter of time.