1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:20,760 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works and I love all things reruns. That's right, 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,599 Speaker 1: it's time for another classic episode of tech Stuff. This 6 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: episode originally aired on May two thousand and eleven when 7 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: I was a young and Callo lad and Chris Palette 8 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,880 Speaker 1: and I decided we would tackle the topic of q 9 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: R codes. What are they, how do they work, why 10 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,599 Speaker 1: are they important? And we find out and so will 11 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: you in this classic episode enjoy. So today we actually 12 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: are going to talk about things that are in fact square. 13 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: Uh in a way, they're a little square too in 14 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: the slang sense, because we're just talking about you know, 15 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: what's there in black and white encoded information in the 16 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:09,760 Speaker 1: form of a QR code q R meaning quick response. Yes. Um, 17 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: I guess we should probably give a little background, kind 18 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: of do a little backtracking before we actually talk about 19 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: QR codes and maybe talk about barcodes YEP, that's that's true. Um. Also, 20 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: we've had several people mentioned this over the course of 21 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: tech Stuff, and it's sort of I think, come up 22 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,400 Speaker 1: for Jonathan and me both lately in real life sort 23 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: of a oh yeah, look at that. They're they're sort 24 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:32,559 Speaker 1: of showing up everywhere. So we decided to go ahead 25 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: and tackle it in bar codes. Um, if you've just 26 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: finished our episodes on IBM, IBM was actually where the 27 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:44,760 Speaker 1: traditional uh you know, vertical series of vertical line barcodes 28 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,400 Speaker 1: first made their appearance. Yeah, and and the concept is 29 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: is deceptively simple. It's the idea that you you create 30 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: this series of lines and then you have a scanner. 31 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: The skinner uses light to to bounce off of that 32 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: series of lines, and technically it's just bouncing off the 33 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: white spaces in between the lines, and the the width 34 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: between the lines determines what information is encoded there. And 35 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:16,959 Speaker 1: so by standardizing this information, you can make this series 36 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: of lines and you can create a a digital code there, 37 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: you scan it and it it converts that physical format 38 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:31,839 Speaker 1: into a digital uh digital information. Now, with barcodes, that 39 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: information is somewhat limited to around twenty characters or so, 40 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:39,919 Speaker 1: and that's a problem if you want to store more 41 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: information than just twenty characters. It's great if you want 42 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: to do things like create an inventory, so lots of 43 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: lots of retailers have used these barcodes to create inventories. Yes. 44 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:53,800 Speaker 1: In fact, it's known as the UPC or universal product code. Yeah, 45 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: so that allows you to establish, all, right, everything that 46 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: bears this barcode is this product, and then you can 47 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: further go on to define everything that is this product, 48 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 1: is this price and this This was a huge boon 49 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:13,520 Speaker 1: for retailers when people would purchase lots of goods. You 50 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: have a scanner set up. The scanner is practically instantaneous, right, 51 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: I mean, it just takes the speed of light, the 52 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:21,920 Speaker 1: speed that the light takes to go from the scanner 53 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: to hit the code and bounce back to the the 54 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: photo sensors that are part of the scanner. That's you know, 55 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:31,240 Speaker 1: it just takes an instant which is why you know 56 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: it seems crazy to us. All we have to do 57 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: is hold up this little series of bars up to 58 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: a screen and then almost it seems like it's instantaneous. Beep, 59 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: there goes the price. And of course unless there's some 60 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: problem with the barcode, in which case you scan, you scan, 61 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: you scan, you rub it against something, you scan it again. 62 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: Then eventually you you type in physically the the series 63 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: of numbers underneath the barcode UH two into the computer, 64 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: so you can register your purchase those series of numbers. 65 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: That's actually what is encoded in that barcode. There's not 66 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: There have been conspiracy theories about things that have been 67 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: encoded in barcodes, but really barcodes just cannot hold the 68 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: sort of information, nor is there any real way of 69 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: of establishing that that product belongs to you the person, 70 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:21,479 Speaker 1: unless you're you've also got like a frequent buyers card 71 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: type thing, right right, Yeah, it's it's it's useful um 72 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,280 Speaker 1: for inventory keeping it as you pointed out, that's that's 73 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: why it was created. Um. The thing is, you know, 74 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: if you have a store. Um. And this is something 75 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: that we've mentioned before and other people mentioned before about 76 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: the difference in internet retailers and physical what they call 77 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: brick and mortar stores. There are only so many items 78 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: that you can hold in most brick and mortar stores, 79 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: even the superstores. I would say, you're not going to 80 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: exhaust um. I mean, it would be hard to hold 81 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:57,119 Speaker 1: a variety of of stuff in a brick and mortar 82 00:04:57,160 --> 00:04:59,599 Speaker 1: store that would exhaust the number of UPC codes that 83 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: you might used. Yes, that was redundant UPC code. You're 84 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,840 Speaker 1: talking about twenty digit number. I mean that's yeah, that's 85 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: that's a lot of enough, that's a lot of digits. 86 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 1: So but then, but then there are times when you 87 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:15,559 Speaker 1: would like to have a way to store more information. Yeah, 88 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 1: it might be that you want to be able to create, 89 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:22,280 Speaker 1: um uh, something that can allow you to to categorize 90 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: and subcategorize and sub subcategorized product or a piece. Um 91 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 1: let's say that you are a car manufacturing plant. I 92 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,559 Speaker 1: am a car manufacturing plant, and you have very many 93 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 1: pieces that you have to keep track of for an 94 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:41,039 Speaker 1: individual car, and you make several different models of cars. 95 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:45,160 Speaker 1: So therefore you have a plethora, if you will, a 96 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:50,719 Speaker 1: plethora of car parts. Do you know what a plethora means? Um? So, yeah, 97 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: You've got all these different parts and pieces and they 98 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:55,840 Speaker 1: all fit in different ways, and you need to be 99 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: able to encode that information so you make it very 100 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: uh efficient. Well, the barcode may not give you the 101 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: flexibility you need because we call the barcode a one 102 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: D code, meaning that the direction is encoded or the 103 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: information is encoded in one direction. All right, so that 104 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:15,280 Speaker 1: one direction would be the fact, you know, that these 105 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:18,840 Speaker 1: little gaps between the bars that's where the info is encoded. 106 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: You would want to create a different encoding device, something 107 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: that perhaps is a two D code, and two D 108 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:29,840 Speaker 1: means that you can the information is encoded both horizontally 109 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: and vertically. So now you've got a much larger playing 110 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: ground where you can create um far more detailed information 111 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: encoding than you could with a barcode. That was the 112 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:45,600 Speaker 1: idea of the come up that that Toyota came up with. 113 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:50,560 Speaker 1: UM actually a Toyota subsidiary called Dense so wave back 114 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: in they came up with this concept of a q 115 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,119 Speaker 1: R code, which was a type of two D code. 116 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 1: Now we should also stress QR code is not the 117 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: only kind of two D code. There are others as well. 118 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: Ups uses a two D code I believe UM on 119 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 1: their packaging, but it's not a QR code. It's similar 120 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: to it UM it's the MAXI code that's the one 121 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: they use UM. So, but the concept is is very 122 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: much the same. It's the idea that you have this 123 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: and you've probably seen these. It's the that that box 124 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: with all the little black dots in it. Yes, it 125 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: looks like there's usually three boxes that are, Well, there's 126 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: always three buckses. There's three buckses there. They have a 127 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: little border around them at at the top right, top left, 128 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: and bottom left corners. And then if you look carefully, 129 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 1: you might see that there's a tinier little dot. Uh 130 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: that's a little bit set in from the bottom right 131 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: corner that also has a little border around it. Well, 132 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: that's a QR code and them the information that can 133 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: be stored in theo QR code far outstrips that of 134 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: a bar code. Yes, Now some people have said that 135 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: they are read codes. They're not because you know, really 136 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: they're square and they're flat, so they're not. When they 137 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: say too D, they're they're not talking about dimensions. They 138 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: are two D. But there but they but remember what 139 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: Jonathan was just saying, as directions, and yes, it because 140 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: the different directions. I think some people sort of started 141 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:23,600 Speaker 1: calling them that. But that's a that's a sort of 142 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: a slang term and it's not really uh technically correct 143 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: when referring to it. But I have heard them called 144 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: that um And yes, it does add some some serious 145 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:36,960 Speaker 1: dimension to it. Um. Now, uh, you know, there is, 146 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: as Jonathan said, some limitation, uh to the amount of 147 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,680 Speaker 1: information even at the size it is. But QR codes 148 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:47,679 Speaker 1: of have uh sort of moved out into the public eye, 149 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:50,920 Speaker 1: not just for use at uh you know, a dens 150 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: O wave in Toyota. UM. They've actually sort of started 151 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 1: to become a lot more popular here in the United States, 152 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,840 Speaker 1: I would say probably over the last eighteen months or so. Yeah, 153 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 1: in Japan they've been popular for a while. But the 154 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,520 Speaker 1: reason why they've been popular longer in Japan than in 155 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: the United States is that in Japan, smartphone adoption UH 156 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: started much earlier in Japan than in the United States. 157 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: Chris and I will talk a little more about QR codes, 158 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:21,320 Speaker 1: probably make some puns, maybe references to early twenty ten 159 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:24,400 Speaker 1: pop culture. You'll have to find out in just a second. 160 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: But first let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. 161 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 1: And here's the neat thing about these QR codes. If 162 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 1: you have a phone that has a camera in it 163 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:43,680 Speaker 1: and it's capable of running apps, then you can create 164 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: an app that can read QR codes. And because smartphones 165 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: also have web connectivity ability as well as other abilities, 166 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:56,320 Speaker 1: you can design a QR code so that you know 167 00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:59,440 Speaker 1: you you create a scanner that uses your phones camera 168 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:03,720 Speaker 1: to to capture the image of the QR code. It 169 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:08,800 Speaker 1: analyzes the QR code and then translates that into whatever 170 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: the QR code is is encoded to do. So it 171 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: might be a website. So let's say that you create, um, 172 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: an advertisement for some sort of product and you, uh, 173 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: you know, you have a QR code right there, and 174 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:23,679 Speaker 1: you use your smartphone to capture that information and then 175 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 1: it takes you to the website for that product, or 176 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: perhaps it takes you to a video showing that product 177 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: being used by someone. So you know, you might look 178 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 1: at a probably to say, why would I ever want that? 179 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:36,360 Speaker 1: And there's a little QR code. You're like, all right, whatever, 180 00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: I'll see what this has to do with it. And 181 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: there might be actually a video there that shows you 182 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,559 Speaker 1: what that product is good for, and maybe that convinces 183 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: you to buy it. So it's it's added a new 184 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: dimension to advertisement. But and even then, that's not the 185 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: only thing QR codes are being used for, but it's 186 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 1: very popular one. That's that's true. UM. Yeah, it's funny 187 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: because um, you can also use it as sort of 188 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: note to yourself to um, you know, when you're seeing 189 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:07,120 Speaker 1: something out in public and you go, oh, I need 190 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: to remember that I want to look up, you know, 191 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: look that up for more information later. Uh. Well, you 192 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:13,960 Speaker 1: know if you you scan the QR code and add 193 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: it to your phone, um, then you can you know, 194 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 1: save that for later. At least the application in my 195 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: phone will allow me to store some for later, so 196 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:24,560 Speaker 1: I can go back and look it up. But yeah, 197 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 1: I was. According according to denso Um, the QR code 198 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,840 Speaker 1: has a maximum numeric capacity of seven thousand, eighty nine 199 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:37,080 Speaker 1: characters UM. Alpha numerica is four thousand, two hundred ninety 200 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: six UM. And if you want to store uh kanji, 201 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: you can also do that as well. Although it can 202 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:48,400 Speaker 1: hold one thousand, eight hundred seventeen character characters. That's still 203 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 1: that's still very impressive. And you can store quite a 204 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: lot of information about something. And I can see lots 205 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: of interesting applications, particularly in things like alternate reality games 206 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:01,120 Speaker 1: to use QR codes for example, UM, if you guys 207 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:03,600 Speaker 1: are familiar with alternate reality games at all, these are 208 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,200 Speaker 1: the games that often are are created by a marketing 209 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: firm to to be part of a guerrilla marketing campaign 210 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: for something else. One of the popular ones was along 211 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 1: with It was called The Beast and it was part 212 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 1: of the marketing push for the film AI. Yeah, we 213 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,840 Speaker 1: talked about that in a previous episode, I mean way previous. 214 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:29,079 Speaker 1: So so these these games, they they bridge the gap 215 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:32,680 Speaker 1: between reality and fantasy. You know, you you usually take 216 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: an active part in trying to play a role within 217 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 1: a fantasy setting, but you're doing it through real life actions. 218 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,720 Speaker 1: And that might be as simple as sending an email, 219 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:46,960 Speaker 1: or it may mean that you fill out some information 220 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,040 Speaker 1: and occasionally you get phone calls from characters within the game, 221 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,280 Speaker 1: and you in in real life have an impact on 222 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: fictional characters within the game. And it's a very flexible, 223 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,240 Speaker 1: malleable type of gaming. And it's it's kind of fighting 224 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:01,760 Speaker 1: because it means that you get to play a part 225 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:05,000 Speaker 1: that's that's akin to what we think of as you know, 226 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,200 Speaker 1: secret agents. Right, It's kind of like this this crazy 227 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: conspiracy written world where you are one of the people 228 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: who are running around trying to to solve the world's 229 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: problems and things you do have real impact and it 230 00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:19,679 Speaker 1: makes you feel like a hero and it's kind of awesome. 231 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: Um well, QR codes could play a big part in that. 232 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: I mean, imagine that you create a movie that's all 233 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:29,000 Speaker 1: about conspiracy theories, and you create the posters for this movie, 234 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: and you have in the corner of the poster a 235 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,560 Speaker 1: little QR code, and if you scan the QR code 236 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: with a a smartphone, then it pulls up maybe a 237 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: page of information. You've got You've got four thousand alpha 238 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: numeric characters you can play with. You might have a 239 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 1: secret message in there directed to people who are going 240 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:48,160 Speaker 1: to take the time to scan that, or it may 241 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:52,079 Speaker 1: send you to a website that starts you on this journey. 242 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:54,680 Speaker 1: And it's a great way to pull people in. And 243 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: the thing about the thing one of the reasons why 244 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:01,440 Speaker 1: advertisers love QR codes is because even though it only 245 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: hits a small percentage of the population, uh, you know, 246 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:09,559 Speaker 1: only a fraction of the people who see an advertisement 247 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 1: with a QR code are going to take the time 248 00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 1: to actually scan that QR code, right right. But that 249 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 1: section of the population is the are the people you 250 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:21,240 Speaker 1: want to go for, because one, they are engaged, they're 251 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: interested enough in whatever is going on to take the 252 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:27,880 Speaker 1: time to scan that, so you already have their attention. Too. 253 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: They are at least somewhat affluent because they have a 254 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 1: device capable of scanning a QR code. So it's insidious, right, 255 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 1: You've got this engaged somewhat wealthy or at least they 256 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 1: have some discretionary income. Uh. This audience here, that's who 257 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: you want when you're selling stuff. Yep. So uh, in 258 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 1: a way, we're playing to their um, to their game. 259 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:55,720 Speaker 1: And also we should keep in mind that if it's 260 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: a QR code where you are using it to to 261 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: navigate to a web page, they can timestamp when you 262 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 1: come to their web page and they can even get 263 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,280 Speaker 1: the information depending on on the way they've they've coded 264 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:11,200 Speaker 1: the page to know when and approximately where you are 265 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: when you navigate to that that website. So now they 266 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: have even more information on you. So they know one 267 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,080 Speaker 1: you're engaged to, you are you have enough money to 268 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: have a smartphone? Three, they know what time you visited 269 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:29,560 Speaker 1: the site and for where you are. M hmm. Now 270 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: that's not so scary to the point where you know 271 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: you're gonna have guys in black suits knock on your 272 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: door in the middle of the night and escort you 273 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: to a secret military base, unless you're playing a really 274 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 1: cool alternate reality game. Um. But it's one of those 275 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:45,080 Speaker 1: things where you know you've got to remember, like yeah, 276 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: These things are fun and they give you a lot 277 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: of information, but they don't just give you a lot 278 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,960 Speaker 1: of information. They give the people behind the QR code 279 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:55,480 Speaker 1: a little information. It might not be a lot, it 280 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: may not be enough to invade your privacy, but it's 281 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: still something to think about up well. And and the 282 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,360 Speaker 1: thing is, the people who are collecting this type of 283 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 1: information don't are They're not really interested in doing those things. 284 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: They want marketing information because for them it's more valuable anyway. 285 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 1: It's a sure thing. So let's talk a little bit 286 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:17,240 Speaker 1: about how this actually works because it's kind of interesting. Um, 287 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:20,120 Speaker 1: there are different zones on a QR code, and there 288 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: are different boxes that that mean different things. So those 289 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: those three larger boxes that are in the corners the 290 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: or three of the corners the the again the top right, 291 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:33,800 Speaker 1: top left, and bottom left, those corners that that's that's 292 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,080 Speaker 1: a those are positioning so it helps identify the fact that, yes, 293 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 1: this is a QR code. They're the smaller boxes than 294 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: the bottom right corner. It's in set a little bit, 295 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: but it's got its own little border around it. That's 296 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 1: an alignment box, and that helps the the software determine, uh, 297 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: the angle that the camera is at because that's one thing, right, 298 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:57,800 Speaker 1: You can't predict how a person is going to hold 299 00:16:57,880 --> 00:16:59,840 Speaker 1: the camera when they take up an image of a 300 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:04,160 Speaker 1: R code, So the QR code has to be readable 301 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,679 Speaker 1: from various angles and distances. Otherwise it's not useful. If 302 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,440 Speaker 1: if you always had to be directly above the QR 303 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:15,200 Speaker 1: code at a specific distance, it would be it wouldn't 304 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 1: be user friendly enough for it to to have wide adoption. 305 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:25,240 Speaker 1: So using the distance and the orientation of these boxes 306 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,440 Speaker 1: in relation to one another, the software on your scanner, 307 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: and your scanner again is just a piece of software 308 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: that's on your smartphones. Using your camera, the software can 309 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 1: determine the orientation of that QR code, the angle, and 310 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:40,720 Speaker 1: then be able to take that into account when reading 311 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:43,040 Speaker 1: the other dots that are further in the center. That's 312 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 1: where the actual data is encoded. Um it you know, 313 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:50,840 Speaker 1: just based upon which areas are covered in black ink 314 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: and which ones aren't. That's where it learns, you know, 315 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:56,760 Speaker 1: this is what it translates into, this this particular kind 316 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 1: of information. But it has to be able to determine 317 00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 1: that orientation and an angle first, or else the distance 318 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: may not seem quite right. You know, it may look 319 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:09,879 Speaker 1: like two two blocks of black ink are further apart 320 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: than they actually are, which wouldn't that would that would 321 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:16,199 Speaker 1: mean that it would uh identify the information incorrectly if 322 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: that were the case. So there's actually some error correction 323 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:23,000 Speaker 1: in this QR software as well. Yes, as a matter 324 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: of fact, you can do damage to the QR code, 325 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:29,240 Speaker 1: and within a reasonable amount of damage, the QR code 326 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: can still be read because of the error correction. Yeah. 327 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,199 Speaker 1: Without that error correction, then you would have some real problems. 328 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: Whenever let's say that you put a poster with a 329 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,120 Speaker 1: QR code, but you put on, say a a light 330 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: post or or a telephone pole. Um. Now, so now 331 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,120 Speaker 1: you're talking about a surface that's curved, it's no longer 332 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,200 Speaker 1: a flat surface. Well, that could, uh, that could make 333 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,800 Speaker 1: the QR code look a little funky to the camera. 334 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: But the error correction in the q R software is 335 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:01,240 Speaker 1: more often than not capable of taking that into account 336 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:04,280 Speaker 1: and still giving you the correct information on that QR code, 337 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: assuming that no one's gone in and like use the 338 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:10,200 Speaker 1: black marker to black out half of the code. So 339 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,160 Speaker 1: it's it's a very robust kind of software and it's 340 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:20,159 Speaker 1: a very simple. Um uh code actually if you I mean, 341 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:22,879 Speaker 1: it's not hard to build an application that can actually 342 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: encode information in the q R format. In fact, there 343 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,280 Speaker 1: are plenty out there that lets you do it for free. Yeah. 344 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:32,159 Speaker 1: I've created several QR codes just for fun. I just 345 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:36,160 Speaker 1: use the website, um that you can, and there's several 346 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:38,080 Speaker 1: out there that you can just plug in a r 347 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,960 Speaker 1: L or even a short message, um, you know, and 348 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:44,640 Speaker 1: and printed out. One of the things that you'll notice 349 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:46,520 Speaker 1: if you do that, though, if you know, you start 350 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:50,159 Speaker 1: playing around and you have something fairly short, the boxes 351 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: are are considerably larger. You can once you've done this 352 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:54,479 Speaker 1: a couple of times, you can look at it at 353 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:56,399 Speaker 1: a QR code and go, Okay, that one has a 354 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: lot of text in it, and this one over here doesn't. 355 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:01,239 Speaker 1: Just by just by looking at it and just from 356 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: the experience of having having played around with it, you'll 357 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 1: be able to tell. But um, yeah, the Denzel Wave 358 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:12,680 Speaker 1: website has some information that sort of suggests that, uh, 359 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:16,880 Speaker 1: you know, it takes some special equipment. And at this point, um, 360 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,800 Speaker 1: they're so common that you know, you really don't need 361 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,920 Speaker 1: anything very special. I mean, you could you could print 362 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:25,680 Speaker 1: them out on on stickers. They don't have to be 363 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:27,240 Speaker 1: you know, they could be something that you pick up 364 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:29,240 Speaker 1: at your office supply store if you wanted to do that, 365 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: or you know, just a plain piece of paper that 366 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:35,159 Speaker 1: you put up with a piece of tape. UM. It 367 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 1: really doesn't take anything special. You just want to make 368 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: sure that, uh, that there's not a lot of blurring. 369 00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:44,200 Speaker 1: But even there, UM marketing companies, now that it's become 370 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:49,160 Speaker 1: common to use QR codes for these purposes, marketing companies 371 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,240 Speaker 1: are starting to experiment with them and add things like 372 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 1: color and designs within that because uh, again it sort 373 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:00,680 Speaker 1: of depends on how much information you have stored in there. 374 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:02,440 Speaker 1: If you don't have very much information, if it's like 375 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 1: a short U r L, the r L to your company, 376 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,359 Speaker 1: for example, you could put a design that's pleasing to 377 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:12,119 Speaker 1: the human eye in there. I've seen all kinds of 378 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 1: of things. I actually have Jonathan's sort of craning to 379 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: see my notes. Here's what I'm showing him. One with 380 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 1: an elephant. Mashable actually had an article if you want 381 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:23,800 Speaker 1: to find it, UM where that was made from? Uh 382 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:26,920 Speaker 1: that was written by a Hamilton Chan. I believe UM 383 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 1: and his company makes an iPhone app that that scans 384 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:34,680 Speaker 1: QR codes. But basically you can do things like you 385 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 1: can round the corners of the boxes. They don't have 386 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:38,639 Speaker 1: to be square. You can put images in there as 387 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:40,480 Speaker 1: long as it doesn't interfere with the message you're trying 388 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 1: to do. Um, you can you can basically make them 389 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:49,160 Speaker 1: into uh within reason. You can add some artistic qualities 390 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 1: to it and still have readable by a QR code reader. 391 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,760 Speaker 1: That's right, Chris. Actually, I don't know who said the 392 00:21:57,880 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: last thing. Tari is the one who gets to chew 393 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,760 Speaker 1: use that. But whatever the case, I hope you guys 394 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:05,160 Speaker 1: just take a little break with me. Come on, let's 395 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:15,520 Speaker 1: go here from our sponsor, there's some pretty cool applications 396 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,640 Speaker 1: that you and I could could put QR codes too. Besides, 397 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,879 Speaker 1: just you know, playfully like I created a secret message. 398 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:23,880 Speaker 1: I mean you could do that. There are enough kids 399 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:25,920 Speaker 1: out there now have smartphones. Like I remember back in 400 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 1: the day you would write little secret messages to your 401 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:33,679 Speaker 1: buddies using whatever very simple replace code. Right, this symbol 402 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,600 Speaker 1: means A and this symbol means B. But QR codes 403 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,960 Speaker 1: give you the option of actually creating a message, encoding 404 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,200 Speaker 1: it in a into a QR code and then handing 405 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 1: it to someone else. And it's only if you have 406 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 1: a scanner that you're able to read it. Now, granted 407 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,280 Speaker 1: that's not safe information. Anyone with a scanner would be 408 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: able to read it. You would you might want to 409 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: encode it. Yes, you would have to encrypt it as 410 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,440 Speaker 1: well as as encoded into the so there'll be encryption 411 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: and encoding in the same message. Otherwise, anyone with a smartphone, 412 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:05,520 Speaker 1: anyone with a smartphone with a QR code reader could 413 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 1: intercept it. But think of it like this, Like let's 414 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: say that I wanted to make new business cards for myself. 415 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 1: I might create a QR code that if you scanned, 416 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: it would take you to a full profile website about myself. 417 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,160 Speaker 1: And it might have my resume, It might have uh 418 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:28,000 Speaker 1: samples of my writing, It might have maybe a sample 419 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,920 Speaker 1: of the podcast. It might have a demo reel of 420 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: my video work. All of that could be linked to 421 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:37,440 Speaker 1: my my business card. Now, I wouldn't want to put 422 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,680 Speaker 1: all those u r l s on a business card 423 00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: because it would just take up too much space. And 424 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:45,679 Speaker 1: you want a business card to look fairly elegant um. Now, 425 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:47,560 Speaker 1: so you could do that where you have your name 426 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,119 Speaker 1: and your title and all of that stuff. Or if 427 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 1: it's a personal business card like the one I was 428 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,200 Speaker 1: talking about, it might be your name and your general 429 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: area of expertise and the QR code takes care of 430 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,280 Speaker 1: the rest of it. I've actually seen, for the mind 431 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,240 Speaker 1: has a business card, um where all it had was 432 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:05,760 Speaker 1: his name on it and the QR code, and you 433 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:07,880 Speaker 1: would scan it and would take you to his website 434 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,760 Speaker 1: where it had all the rest of the information and um, yeah, 435 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: he's uh, it's his actar. I don't mind saying his 436 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: name because he's a uh he's now a journalist with 437 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,680 Speaker 1: This Week in Tech. He's a regular on Tech News today. 438 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,440 Speaker 1: So it worked out for him. So the way to 439 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:24,960 Speaker 1: go I is and uh, he's a great guy. So 440 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:26,960 Speaker 1: I was, and I was blown away when I saw 441 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:28,720 Speaker 1: his business card. It was one of the earliest ones 442 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:30,920 Speaker 1: I had seen that used the QR code, so he 443 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:32,879 Speaker 1: was really on the cutting edge of that as far 444 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:34,960 Speaker 1: as the United States is concerned. Keep in mind that 445 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:37,440 Speaker 1: again in Japan, this has been around for a couple 446 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,800 Speaker 1: of decades, but only since smartphones have really taken off 447 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:43,200 Speaker 1: in the US, so we can really kind of point 448 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 1: our fingers to the iPhone. I think and say the 449 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,160 Speaker 1: iPhone is what led the revolution in the consumer marketplace 450 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:51,320 Speaker 1: in the United States for the smartphone to really take off. 451 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:54,400 Speaker 1: That's why we're starting to see QR codes everywhere. Yeah, 452 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:57,560 Speaker 1: but yeah, it is true though that the QR codes 453 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,560 Speaker 1: are are so ubiquitous now that you all the major 454 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,719 Speaker 1: smartphone manufacturers have apps and you can find if you're 455 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 1: interested in doing this, you can find a free app. 456 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I know there's there's some for iPhone 457 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:11,480 Speaker 1: and Android both and I'm assuming probably for BlackBerry, and 458 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 1: there's there's BlackBerry. I'm sure there's web os as web 459 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 1: os UM. But you know, as you were saying earlier 460 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,760 Speaker 1: in the show, UM, I mean, we don't want to 461 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:23,720 Speaker 1: move too far from QR codes. But in researching this, uh, 462 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:26,200 Speaker 1: you know, the densil Wave website does list some of 463 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: the others. UM. But I found the fp codes service 464 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:37,119 Speaker 1: or standard by Fujitsu, which uses UM basically encodes the 465 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: the code inside an image on a poster UM using 466 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,840 Speaker 1: yellow ink, which makes it more or less invisible. It 467 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,720 Speaker 1: doesn't it's not as obvious as a QR code. UM. 468 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 1: And there have been people who are doing this basically 469 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:54,120 Speaker 1: using steganography, which is the art of hiding hiding messages 470 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,359 Speaker 1: within images. Yeah. So, so like you could say you 471 00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:02,399 Speaker 1: had a um A poster up promoting your company's business, 472 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 1: and you just had a picture of whatever it is 473 00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: that you do, the service that you provide people, you know, 474 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:12,680 Speaker 1: going through business meeting or whatever, and somebody scanned the 475 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 1: picture with their phone and there may not be overtly 476 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:19,719 Speaker 1: a code in there, but just by scanning the the image, 477 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,399 Speaker 1: it would pull up the information just because there's a 478 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 1: code embedded within the image, which I think is fascinating stuff. 479 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: But the downside of that, and and I was thinking, wow, 480 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:31,880 Speaker 1: you know this, this actually has been out for quite 481 00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:35,920 Speaker 1: some time. The press release UM that I read came 482 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,119 Speaker 1: out years ago, and I was thinking, why have you know, 483 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,240 Speaker 1: I've we've heard of QR codes. Maybe it's that the 484 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:45,040 Speaker 1: FP codes aren't um you know, it's like in in 485 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:47,400 Speaker 1: America the same the same thing. We're just not having 486 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:49,920 Speaker 1: the adoption rate that we might for the QR codes. 487 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,040 Speaker 1: Then I thought, well, this is not quite as useful 488 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,679 Speaker 1: for marketing, at least not yet, because with the QR 489 00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:00,720 Speaker 1: codes you have the colorful symbol, you know, black and 490 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:04,159 Speaker 1: white square that's obvious on the poster. And you know 491 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 1: I'm supposed to scan this. I mean, at least if 492 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: you have a phone that that does this. A lot 493 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:09,919 Speaker 1: of people still don't know. Again that's why we're doing 494 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:14,280 Speaker 1: the podcast. But but it's there's no point in embedding 495 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 1: code within an image if people don't think to pick 496 00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:19,320 Speaker 1: up their phone and scan it. And even even if 497 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 1: you pick up your phone and take a picture of it, 498 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: you still have to use the right application to interpret 499 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 1: that code. Right Like, if if I just take a 500 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:29,399 Speaker 1: picture of a QR code, my phone doesn't know that 501 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:32,400 Speaker 1: that's that it needs to decode that information. It's only 502 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: when I open up specific QR code decoders, uh and 503 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:40,880 Speaker 1: and though that will analyze the actual information that's within 504 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: that QR code and then give me the proper response. 505 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,000 Speaker 1: So you would have to know one that you have 506 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,680 Speaker 1: to take an image of whatever that poster is, or 507 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: that or that now anything, it doesn't even have to 508 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,119 Speaker 1: be a poster um. And two you would have to 509 00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 1: use the right the correct application. And if everyone's using 510 00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:59,440 Speaker 1: a different set of standards, then you would have to 511 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,960 Speaker 1: have an application for every single company, right you would 512 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,320 Speaker 1: it would only be if something had become standardized across 513 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:09,159 Speaker 1: multiple companies, like the QR code. People are using that 514 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:11,920 Speaker 1: as a de facto standard. Is not a standard, but 515 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: people are using it as if it were. UH. And 516 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:20,440 Speaker 1: we've seen cure codes used even on UH in in television, 517 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,879 Speaker 1: because remember we watched UH. After we did our our 518 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:29,439 Speaker 1: episode about cyber bullying, we decided to watch the Stephen 519 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:34,680 Speaker 1: Colbert and Jimmy Fallon UH tribute to the song Friday Yes. 520 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:36,359 Speaker 1: And at the end of the song there was a 521 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:40,840 Speaker 1: guy in the back holding up a QR code UH sign. 522 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:43,800 Speaker 1: And if you were to pause the video as we did, 523 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: and then use a QR code reader as we did 524 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: to determine what that was, you would be led to 525 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:54,080 Speaker 1: a special video that Jimmy Fallon made as a thank 526 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,960 Speaker 1: you to people who had donated to the cause and 527 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 1: UH and and just kind of rambled it wasn't sort 528 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:03,800 Speaker 1: of like this podcast, but it didn't. It didn't UH. 529 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: It was It was interesting that they had done it. 530 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:07,680 Speaker 1: It was kind of a cool thing, and you might 531 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: actually see that that could be even a neat thing 532 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:13,160 Speaker 1: that you start seeing in incorporated into say web series. 533 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: It would be very easy to do television and movies, 534 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:19,600 Speaker 1: i'd be probably, I'm guessing won't happen as often, especially 535 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: for films, because one, you don't want to encourage everyone 536 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:25,160 Speaker 1: to whip their smartphone out and light up the theater 537 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:27,880 Speaker 1: with all all those screens, and too, you would have 538 00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:29,840 Speaker 1: to have it on screen long enough for people to 539 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:33,080 Speaker 1: be able to train their cameras on it. Um. So 540 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 1: if it would work from that distance, yeah, no, I've 541 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 1: heard of I've heard of QR codes that are on 542 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,760 Speaker 1: billboards that could and at least in theory, on a 543 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,720 Speaker 1: clear day, be scanned from up to one mile away. Well, sure, 544 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: on a clear day you could see forever. I'm good. Uh, 545 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 1: it's so good that you're just out of smack and range. Um. 546 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,760 Speaker 1: But yeah, it's it appears that they finally made their 547 00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 1: their appearance for good over here. I'm sorry I used 548 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,720 Speaker 1: appearance too many times. Um, But yeah, I think I 549 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 1: think they're sort of around to stay for the short term. 550 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:08,240 Speaker 1: I think they will eventually be replaced by something a 551 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 1: little bit more, um, something less obvious to the eye. 552 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: But right, it'll take some time for people to get 553 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:18,480 Speaker 1: used to the idea that they're hidden messages and their 554 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: their real life Easter eggs everywhere I go, and all 555 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:23,600 Speaker 1: I need to see them as a smartphone. Yeah, it's 556 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:25,800 Speaker 1: really just a matter of time before we start seeing 557 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: smartphones with cameras that have that capability already built into 558 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 1: the camera feature where automatically detect that sort of stuff 559 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:36,080 Speaker 1: without you having to tell it to go to a 560 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,520 Speaker 1: special a special application, that sort of thing. I mean, 561 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:44,120 Speaker 1: we also see it with the augmented reality uh applications, 562 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:47,920 Speaker 1: where like the idea of having the facial recognition software 563 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:50,360 Speaker 1: so that you can recognize a specific person's face, you 564 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 1: create a profile of that person. I think that's fascinating, right, 565 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:55,320 Speaker 1: and then you would hold like let's say I hold 566 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:57,480 Speaker 1: up my camera to to Chris here, and I've I've 567 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,880 Speaker 1: built in his profile, and then I see floating around 568 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,720 Speaker 1: his head his Twitter feed or his Facebook feed, which 569 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,840 Speaker 1: are all empty because he never updates them. But uh, 570 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,520 Speaker 1: but let's say that then that that could be a 571 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:13,720 Speaker 1: something that you would build into the camera feature as well. 572 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:16,640 Speaker 1: So there may come a day where your basic smartphone 573 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:20,480 Speaker 1: camera will have all these features built in specifically to 574 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 1: the to the system. Yeah. Yeah, although I hope they, 575 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:29,680 Speaker 1: the people who make these devices will put an off 576 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 1: switch for that because I guess he you know, taking 577 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,600 Speaker 1: the family to the amusement park. You get everybody in 578 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: the shot and you're like, okay, everybody say cheese and 579 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:41,680 Speaker 1: over their shoulders, like you know, buy so and so 580 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:44,800 Speaker 1: soft drink. Everything is. I don't want that now. I 581 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:46,400 Speaker 1: just want to take a photo of my family. I 582 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: would imagine that you would be able to set layers. 583 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: I'm really hoping, just like just like with mapping applications, 584 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:53,720 Speaker 1: where you can look at things like traffic layers and 585 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:57,760 Speaker 1: satellite images as opposed to maps. I would imagine. Uh. Granted, 586 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 1: I'm not the one who's um design these things, so 587 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:04,400 Speaker 1: we know sometimes the manufacturers go, but everyone wants that 588 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:09,239 Speaker 1: the kitchen sink, that's what we should throw in there. Well, 589 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,080 Speaker 1: that wraps up this classic episode of tech Stuff. We laughed, 590 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:18,520 Speaker 1: we loved, we learned so so much. 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