WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: What are QR Codes? 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:14.040 stuff Works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:16.640 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:20.760 How Stuff Works and I love all things reruns. That's right, 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:25.599 it's time for another classic episode of tech Stuff. This 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:30.960 episode originally aired on May two thousand and eleven when 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:35.040 I was a young and Callo lad and Chris Palette 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:38.880 and I decided we would tackle the topic of q 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:43.320 R codes. What are they, how do they work, why 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.599 are they important? And we find out and so will 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:50.920 you in this classic episode enjoy. So today we actually 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.640 are going to talk about things that are in fact square. 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.240 Uh in a way, they're a little square too in 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:00.480 the slang sense, because we're just talking about you know, 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:03.760 what's there in black and white encoded information in the 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:09.760 form of a QR code q R meaning quick response. Yes. Um, 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:11.840 I guess we should probably give a little background, kind 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.280 of do a little backtracking before we actually talk about 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:19.520 QR codes and maybe talk about barcodes YEP, that's that's true. Um. Also, 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:22.080 we've had several people mentioned this over the course of 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:24.600 tech Stuff, and it's sort of I think, come up 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:27.400 for Jonathan and me both lately in real life sort 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:29.560 of a oh yeah, look at that. They're they're sort 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.559 of showing up everywhere. So we decided to go ahead 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:34.920 and tackle it in bar codes. Um, if you've just 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:39.920 finished our episodes on IBM, IBM was actually where the 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:44.760 traditional uh you know, vertical series of vertical line barcodes 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:49.400 first made their appearance. Yeah, and and the concept is 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.840 is deceptively simple. It's the idea that you you create 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:55.880 this series of lines and then you have a scanner. 0:01:56.160 --> 0:02:00.240 The skinner uses light to to bounce off of that 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:02.680 series of lines, and technically it's just bouncing off the 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:07.360 white spaces in between the lines, and the the width 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.120 between the lines determines what information is encoded there. And 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:16.959 so by standardizing this information, you can make this series 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:22.960 of lines and you can create a a digital code there, 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.600 you scan it and it it converts that physical format 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:31.839 into a digital uh digital information. Now, with barcodes, that 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:35.520 information is somewhat limited to around twenty characters or so, 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.919 and that's a problem if you want to store more 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:42.160 information than just twenty characters. It's great if you want 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:45.320 to do things like create an inventory, so lots of 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:50.160 lots of retailers have used these barcodes to create inventories. Yes. 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.800 In fact, it's known as the UPC or universal product code. Yeah, 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:58.520 so that allows you to establish, all, right, everything that 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.280 bears this barcode is this product, and then you can 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:05.440 further go on to define everything that is this product, 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.720 is this price and this This was a huge boon 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:13.520 for retailers when people would purchase lots of goods. You 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:17.600 have a scanner set up. The scanner is practically instantaneous, right, 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:19.320 I mean, it just takes the speed of light, the 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:21.920 speed that the light takes to go from the scanner 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.880 to hit the code and bounce back to the the 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.200 photo sensors that are part of the scanner. That's you know, 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:31.240 it just takes an instant which is why you know 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:33.120 it seems crazy to us. All we have to do 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:35.600 is hold up this little series of bars up to 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.680 a screen and then almost it seems like it's instantaneous. Beep, 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.360 there goes the price. And of course unless there's some 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.880 problem with the barcode, in which case you scan, you scan, 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.880 you scan, you rub it against something, you scan it again. 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.560 Then eventually you you type in physically the the series 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:58.120 of numbers underneath the barcode UH two into the computer, 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.760 so you can register your purchase those series of numbers. 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.240 That's actually what is encoded in that barcode. There's not 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.680 There have been conspiracy theories about things that have been 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.120 encoded in barcodes, but really barcodes just cannot hold the 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:14.480 sort of information, nor is there any real way of 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:18.000 of establishing that that product belongs to you the person, 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:21.479 unless you're you've also got like a frequent buyers card 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:25.880 type thing, right right, Yeah, it's it's it's useful um 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.280 for inventory keeping it as you pointed out, that's that's 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.440 why it was created. Um. The thing is, you know, 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.920 if you have a store. Um. And this is something 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.520 that we've mentioned before and other people mentioned before about 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:42.040 the difference in internet retailers and physical what they call 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.560 brick and mortar stores. There are only so many items 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:47.640 that you can hold in most brick and mortar stores, 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:49.800 even the superstores. I would say, you're not going to 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:54.080 exhaust um. I mean, it would be hard to hold 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:57.119 a variety of of stuff in a brick and mortar 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.599 store that would exhaust the number of UPC codes that 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.680 you might used. Yes, that was redundant UPC code. You're 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:05.840 talking about twenty digit number. I mean that's yeah, that's 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:07.880 that's a lot of enough, that's a lot of digits. 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.039 So but then, but then there are times when you 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:15.559 would like to have a way to store more information. Yeah, 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.320 it might be that you want to be able to create, 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:22.280 um uh, something that can allow you to to categorize 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:27.560 and subcategorize and sub subcategorized product or a piece. Um 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.680 let's say that you are a car manufacturing plant. I 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.559 am a car manufacturing plant, and you have very many 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.120 pieces that you have to keep track of for an 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:41.039 individual car, and you make several different models of cars. 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:45.160 So therefore you have a plethora, if you will, a 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:50.719 plethora of car parts. Do you know what a plethora means? Um? So, yeah, 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.400 You've got all these different parts and pieces and they 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:55.840 all fit in different ways, and you need to be 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.080 able to encode that information so you make it very 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:02.200 uh efficient. Well, the barcode may not give you the 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:05.880 flexibility you need because we call the barcode a one 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.360 D code, meaning that the direction is encoded or the 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:13.120 information is encoded in one direction. All right, so that 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:15.280 one direction would be the fact, you know, that these 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.840 little gaps between the bars that's where the info is encoded. 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:22.680 You would want to create a different encoding device, something 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:26.240 that perhaps is a two D code, and two D 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.840 means that you can the information is encoded both horizontally 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:33.960 and vertically. So now you've got a much larger playing 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:38.760 ground where you can create um far more detailed information 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:42.440 encoding than you could with a barcode. That was the 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:45.600 idea of the come up that that Toyota came up with. 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:50.560 UM actually a Toyota subsidiary called Dense so wave back 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:54.080 in they came up with this concept of a q 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:57.119 R code, which was a type of two D code. 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:00.120 Now we should also stress QR code is not the 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.159 only kind of two D code. There are others as well. 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:07.240 Ups uses a two D code I believe UM on 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.240 their packaging, but it's not a QR code. It's similar 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:14.520 to it UM it's the MAXI code that's the one 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:18.000 they use UM. So, but the concept is is very 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:19.960 much the same. It's the idea that you have this 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.040 and you've probably seen these. It's the that that box 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.680 with all the little black dots in it. Yes, it 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:30.480 looks like there's usually three boxes that are, Well, there's 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.280 always three buckses. There's three buckses there. They have a 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:37.280 little border around them at at the top right, top left, 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:41.360 and bottom left corners. And then if you look carefully, 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.080 you might see that there's a tinier little dot. Uh 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.000 that's a little bit set in from the bottom right 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:50.400 corner that also has a little border around it. Well, 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.440 that's a QR code and them the information that can 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:55.760 be stored in theo QR code far outstrips that of 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.080 a bar code. Yes, Now some people have said that 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:03.960 they are read codes. They're not because you know, really 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:07.760 they're square and they're flat, so they're not. When they 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:11.240 say too D, they're they're not talking about dimensions. They 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.920 are two D. But there but they but remember what 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.800 Jonathan was just saying, as directions, and yes, it because 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.360 the different directions. I think some people sort of started 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:23.600 calling them that. But that's a that's a sort of 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.920 a slang term and it's not really uh technically correct 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:29.320 when referring to it. But I have heard them called 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.760 that um And yes, it does add some some serious 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:36.960 dimension to it. Um. Now, uh, you know, there is, 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:41.040 as Jonathan said, some limitation, uh to the amount of 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:43.680 information even at the size it is. But QR codes 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:47.679 of have uh sort of moved out into the public eye, 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.920 not just for use at uh you know, a dens 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:54.920 O wave in Toyota. UM. They've actually sort of started 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:58.480 to become a lot more popular here in the United States, 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.840 I would say probably over the last eighteen months or so. Yeah, 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.560 in Japan they've been popular for a while. But the 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.520 reason why they've been popular longer in Japan than in 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.800 the United States is that in Japan, smartphone adoption UH 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.040 started much earlier in Japan than in the United States. 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:16.840 Chris and I will talk a little more about QR codes, 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:21.320 probably make some puns, maybe references to early twenty ten 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.400 pop culture. You'll have to find out in just a second. 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.240 But first let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:37.880 And here's the neat thing about these QR codes. If 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.480 you have a phone that has a camera in it 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:43.680 and it's capable of running apps, then you can create 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.800 an app that can read QR codes. And because smartphones 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:52.760 also have web connectivity ability as well as other abilities, 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:56.320 you can design a QR code so that you know 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.440 you you create a scanner that uses your phones camera 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:03.720 to to capture the image of the QR code. It 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:08.800 analyzes the QR code and then translates that into whatever 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:10.920 the QR code is is encoded to do. So it 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:15.000 might be a website. So let's say that you create, um, 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:19.520 an advertisement for some sort of product and you, uh, 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:21.360 you know, you have a QR code right there, and 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:23.679 you use your smartphone to capture that information and then 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.440 it takes you to the website for that product, or 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:29.120 perhaps it takes you to a video showing that product 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.120 being used by someone. So you know, you might look 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:34.360 at a probably to say, why would I ever want that? 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:36.360 And there's a little QR code. You're like, all right, whatever, 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:38.160 I'll see what this has to do with it. And 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:40.640 there might be actually a video there that shows you 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.559 what that product is good for, and maybe that convinces 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.040 you to buy it. So it's it's added a new 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:50.240 dimension to advertisement. But and even then, that's not the 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:52.800 only thing QR codes are being used for, but it's 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:56.480 very popular one. That's that's true. UM. Yeah, it's funny 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:59.920 because um, you can also use it as sort of 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:04.000 note to yourself to um, you know, when you're seeing 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.120 something out in public and you go, oh, I need 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:09.080 to remember that I want to look up, you know, 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.720 look that up for more information later. Uh. Well, you 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:13.960 know if you you scan the QR code and add 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:17.040 it to your phone, um, then you can you know, 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.440 save that for later. At least the application in my 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.400 phone will allow me to store some for later, so 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:24.560 I can go back and look it up. But yeah, 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:29.240 I was. According according to denso Um, the QR code 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.840 has a maximum numeric capacity of seven thousand, eighty nine 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:37.080 characters UM. Alpha numerica is four thousand, two hundred ninety 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:40.920 six UM. And if you want to store uh kanji, 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:43.120 you can also do that as well. Although it can 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:48.400 hold one thousand, eight hundred seventeen character characters. That's still 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:50.840 that's still very impressive. And you can store quite a 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.600 lot of information about something. And I can see lots 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:58.120 of interesting applications, particularly in things like alternate reality games 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.120 to use QR codes for example, UM, if you guys 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:03.600 are familiar with alternate reality games at all, these are 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.200 the games that often are are created by a marketing 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.640 firm to to be part of a guerrilla marketing campaign 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:14.360 for something else. One of the popular ones was along 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:17.160 with It was called The Beast and it was part 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:21.080 of the marketing push for the film AI. Yeah, we 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:24.840 talked about that in a previous episode, I mean way previous. 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:29.079 So so these these games, they they bridge the gap 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.680 between reality and fantasy. You know, you you usually take 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:37.120 an active part in trying to play a role within 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.760 a fantasy setting, but you're doing it through real life actions. 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:43.720 And that might be as simple as sending an email, 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:46.960 or it may mean that you fill out some information 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:50.040 and occasionally you get phone calls from characters within the game, 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.280 and you in in real life have an impact on 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.400 fictional characters within the game. And it's a very flexible, 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:00.240 malleable type of gaming. And it's it's kind of fighting 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:01.760 because it means that you get to play a part 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:05.000 that's that's akin to what we think of as you know, 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.200 secret agents. Right, It's kind of like this this crazy 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.760 conspiracy written world where you are one of the people 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:15.240 who are running around trying to to solve the world's 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.640 problems and things you do have real impact and it 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:19.679 makes you feel like a hero and it's kind of awesome. 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:22.400 Um well, QR codes could play a big part in that. 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:25.360 I mean, imagine that you create a movie that's all 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:29.000 about conspiracy theories, and you create the posters for this movie, 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.480 and you have in the corner of the poster a 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:34.560 little QR code, and if you scan the QR code 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.160 with a a smartphone, then it pulls up maybe a 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.040 page of information. You've got You've got four thousand alpha 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.480 numeric characters you can play with. You might have a 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:46.360 secret message in there directed to people who are going 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.160 to take the time to scan that, or it may 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:52.079 send you to a website that starts you on this journey. 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:54.680 And it's a great way to pull people in. And 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.400 the thing about the thing one of the reasons why 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:01.440 advertisers love QR codes is because even though it only 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:05.800 hits a small percentage of the population, uh, you know, 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.559 only a fraction of the people who see an advertisement 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:11.520 with a QR code are going to take the time 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:15.360 to actually scan that QR code, right right. But that 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:17.920 section of the population is the are the people you 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:21.240 want to go for, because one, they are engaged, they're 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.000 interested enough in whatever is going on to take the 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.880 time to scan that, so you already have their attention. Too. 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:32.400 They are at least somewhat affluent because they have a 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:37.280 device capable of scanning a QR code. So it's insidious, right, 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:42.440 You've got this engaged somewhat wealthy or at least they 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:45.960 have some discretionary income. Uh. This audience here, that's who 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:50.040 you want when you're selling stuff. Yep. So uh, in 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.360 a way, we're playing to their um, to their game. 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.720 And also we should keep in mind that if it's 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.080 a QR code where you are using it to to 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:01.760 navigate to a web page, they can timestamp when you 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.400 come to their web page and they can even get 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.280 the information depending on on the way they've they've coded 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:11.200 the page to know when and approximately where you are 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.400 when you navigate to that that website. So now they 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.400 have even more information on you. So they know one 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.080 you're engaged to, you are you have enough money to 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.440 have a smartphone? Three, they know what time you visited 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:29.560 the site and for where you are. M hmm. Now 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:31.520 that's not so scary to the point where you know 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.320 you're gonna have guys in black suits knock on your 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:35.760 door in the middle of the night and escort you 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.360 to a secret military base, unless you're playing a really 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:43.160 cool alternate reality game. Um. But it's one of those 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.080 things where you know you've got to remember, like yeah, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:46.880 These things are fun and they give you a lot 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:49.120 of information, but they don't just give you a lot 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.960 of information. They give the people behind the QR code 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.480 a little information. It might not be a lot, it 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:58.160 may not be enough to invade your privacy, but it's 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:01.240 still something to think about up well. And and the 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:03.360 thing is, the people who are collecting this type of 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:06.760 information don't are They're not really interested in doing those things. 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:10.840 They want marketing information because for them it's more valuable anyway. 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:13.720 It's a sure thing. So let's talk a little bit 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.240 about how this actually works because it's kind of interesting. Um, 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.120 there are different zones on a QR code, and there 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.800 are different boxes that that mean different things. So those 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.600 those three larger boxes that are in the corners the 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.200 or three of the corners the the again the top right, 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.800 top left, and bottom left, those corners that that's that's 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:37.080 a those are positioning so it helps identify the fact that, yes, 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:40.360 this is a QR code. They're the smaller boxes than 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.920 the bottom right corner. It's in set a little bit, 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:45.640 but it's got its own little border around it. That's 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:51.360 an alignment box, and that helps the the software determine, uh, 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:55.520 the angle that the camera is at because that's one thing, right, 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:57.800 You can't predict how a person is going to hold 0:16:57.880 --> 0:16:59.840 the camera when they take up an image of a 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:04.160 R code, So the QR code has to be readable 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:08.679 from various angles and distances. Otherwise it's not useful. If 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:11.440 if you always had to be directly above the QR 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:15.200 code at a specific distance, it would be it wouldn't 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:19.080 be user friendly enough for it to to have wide adoption. 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:25.240 So using the distance and the orientation of these boxes 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.440 in relation to one another, the software on your scanner, 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:30.720 and your scanner again is just a piece of software 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.800 that's on your smartphones. Using your camera, the software can 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.440 determine the orientation of that QR code, the angle, and 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.720 then be able to take that into account when reading 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.040 the other dots that are further in the center. That's 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:47.000 where the actual data is encoded. Um it you know, 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:50.840 just based upon which areas are covered in black ink 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.960 and which ones aren't. That's where it learns, you know, 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.760 this is what it translates into, this this particular kind 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.320 of information. But it has to be able to determine 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:03.000 that orientation and an angle first, or else the distance 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.080 may not seem quite right. You know, it may look 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.879 like two two blocks of black ink are further apart 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:12.840 than they actually are, which wouldn't that would that would 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:16.199 mean that it would uh identify the information incorrectly if 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:19.800 that were the case. So there's actually some error correction 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:23.000 in this QR software as well. Yes, as a matter 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.000 of fact, you can do damage to the QR code, 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:29.240 and within a reasonable amount of damage, the QR code 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:32.040 can still be read because of the error correction. Yeah. 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:35.199 Without that error correction, then you would have some real problems. 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:38.080 Whenever let's say that you put a poster with a 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:42.120 QR code, but you put on, say a a light 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.600 post or or a telephone pole. Um. Now, so now 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:48.120 you're talking about a surface that's curved, it's no longer 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.200 a flat surface. Well, that could, uh, that could make 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:54.800 the QR code look a little funky to the camera. 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:58.159 But the error correction in the q R software is 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.240 more often than not capable of taking that into account 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.280 and still giving you the correct information on that QR code, 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:06.800 assuming that no one's gone in and like use the 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:10.200 black marker to black out half of the code. So 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.160 it's it's a very robust kind of software and it's 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:20.159 a very simple. Um uh code actually if you I mean, 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:22.879 it's not hard to build an application that can actually 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:25.639 encode information in the q R format. In fact, there 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.280 are plenty out there that lets you do it for free. Yeah. 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:32.159 I've created several QR codes just for fun. I just 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:36.160 use the website, um that you can, and there's several 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:38.080 out there that you can just plug in a r 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:41.960 L or even a short message, um, you know, and 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:44.640 and printed out. One of the things that you'll notice 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:46.520 if you do that, though, if you know, you start 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:50.159 playing around and you have something fairly short, the boxes 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:52.800 are are considerably larger. You can once you've done this 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:54.479 a couple of times, you can look at it at 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:56.399 a QR code and go, Okay, that one has a 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.000 lot of text in it, and this one over here doesn't. 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:01.239 Just by just by looking at it and just from 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:04.480 the experience of having having played around with it, you'll 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.000 be able to tell. But um, yeah, the Denzel Wave 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:12.680 website has some information that sort of suggests that, uh, 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:16.880 you know, it takes some special equipment. And at this point, um, 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.800 they're so common that you know, you really don't need 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:23.920 anything very special. I mean, you could you could print 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:25.680 them out on on stickers. They don't have to be 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:27.240 you know, they could be something that you pick up 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:29.240 at your office supply store if you wanted to do that, 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:31.320 or you know, just a plain piece of paper that 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:35.159 you put up with a piece of tape. UM. It 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:37.600 really doesn't take anything special. You just want to make 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:40.000 sure that, uh, that there's not a lot of blurring. 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:44.200 But even there, UM marketing companies, now that it's become 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:49.160 common to use QR codes for these purposes, marketing companies 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:52.240 are starting to experiment with them and add things like 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:57.560 color and designs within that because uh, again it sort 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:00.680 of depends on how much information you have stored in there. 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:02.440 If you don't have very much information, if it's like 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:04.960 a short U r L, the r L to your company, 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:08.359 for example, you could put a design that's pleasing to 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:12.119 the human eye in there. I've seen all kinds of 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:15.240 of things. I actually have Jonathan's sort of craning to 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:17.520 see my notes. Here's what I'm showing him. One with 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:20.879 an elephant. Mashable actually had an article if you want 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:23.800 to find it, UM where that was made from? Uh 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:26.920 that was written by a Hamilton Chan. I believe UM 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:32.119 and his company makes an iPhone app that that scans 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:34.680 QR codes. But basically you can do things like you 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:36.520 can round the corners of the boxes. They don't have 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:38.639 to be square. You can put images in there as 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:40.480 long as it doesn't interfere with the message you're trying 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:43.800 to do. Um, you can you can basically make them 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:49.160 into uh within reason. You can add some artistic qualities 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:52.800 to it and still have readable by a QR code reader. 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:57.760 That's right, Chris. Actually, I don't know who said the 0:21:57.880 --> 0:21:59.960 last thing. Tari is the one who gets to chew 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:02.760 use that. But whatever the case, I hope you guys 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:05.160 just take a little break with me. Come on, let's 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:15.520 go here from our sponsor, there's some pretty cool applications 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:18.640 that you and I could could put QR codes too. Besides, 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:21.879 just you know, playfully like I created a secret message. 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:23.880 I mean you could do that. There are enough kids 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:25.920 out there now have smartphones. Like I remember back in 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:28.000 the day you would write little secret messages to your 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:33.679