1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:17,760 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:19,919 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:22,160 Speaker 1: and I'm an editor at how stuff works dot com. 6 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 1: Sitting across from me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 7 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:27,480 Speaker 1: It's silly to be depressed by it. I mean, one 8 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: thinks of it like being alive in a box. One 9 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: keeps forgetting to take into account the fact that one 10 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:34,199 Speaker 1: is dead, which should make all the difference, shouldn't it. 11 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: I mean, you never know you were in a box, 12 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:38,519 Speaker 1: would you? It would just be like you were asleep 13 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: in a box. Not that I'd like to be sleep 14 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 1: in a box, mind you that, not without any air. 15 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 1: You'd wake up dead for a start, And then where 16 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: would you be in a box? That's the bit I 17 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:49,559 Speaker 1: don't like. Frankly, That's why I don't think of it, 18 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 1: because you'd be helpless, wouldn't you stuffed in a box 19 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: like that? I mean, you'd be in there forever, even 20 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: taking into account the fact that you're dead. It isn't 21 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: a pleasant thought, especially if you're dead. Really, ask yourself 22 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: if I asked you straight off, I'm going to stuff 23 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: you in this box now, would you rather be alive 24 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: or dead? Naturally, you'd prefer to be alive. Life in 25 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: a box is better than no life at all. I 26 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:16,399 Speaker 1: expect you'd have a chance at least that if you 27 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: are tuning in for the first time. Jonathan is always 28 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 1: starts off the episode with a quote, and that is 29 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: now the longest quote on record to begin an episode 30 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff. It's also one of my favorite plays 31 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: in the whole wide world. Right, Well, let us know 32 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,479 Speaker 1: if you can identify the source of the quote. As always, Um, 33 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: I was gonna say something about living in a box, 34 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: living in a cardboard box, but that would have been 35 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,479 Speaker 1: yeah anyway, So today we actually aren't going to talk 36 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: about things that are in fact square. Uh in a way, 37 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: they're a little square too in the slang sense, because 38 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: we're just talking about you know, what's there in black 39 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: and white encoded information in the form of a QR 40 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: code q R meaning quick response. Yes, Um, I guess 41 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: we should probably give a little background, kind of do 42 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: a little backtracking before we actually talk about QR codes 43 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: and maybe talk about bar codes. Yep, that's that's true. Um. Also, 44 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:15,920 Speaker 1: we've had several people mentioned this over the course of 45 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 1: tech stuff, and it's sort of, I think come up 46 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: for Jonathan and me both lately in real life, sort 47 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: of a oh yeah, look at that. They're they're sort 48 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: of showing up everywhere. So we decided to go ahead 49 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:28,800 Speaker 1: and tackle it in bar codes. UM. If you've just 50 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:33,799 Speaker 1: finished our episodes on IBM, IBM was actually where the 51 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:38,639 Speaker 1: traditional uh you know, vertical series of vertical line barcodes 52 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,919 Speaker 1: first made their appearance. Yeah, and and the concept is 53 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,919 Speaker 1: deceptively simple. It's the idea that you you create this 54 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: series of lines and then you have a scanner. The 55 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,640 Speaker 1: skinner uses light to to bounce off of that series 56 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: of lines, and technically it's just bouncing off the white 57 00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: spaces in between the lines, and the the with between 58 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: the lines determines what information is encoded there. And so 59 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: by standardizing this information, you can make this series of 60 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: lines and you can create a a digital code there, 61 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: you scan it and it it converts that physical format 62 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: into a digital uh digital information. Now, with barcodes, that 63 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: information is somewhat limited to around twenty characters or so, 64 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,799 Speaker 1: and that's a problem if you want to store more 65 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: information than just twenty characters. It's great if you want 66 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: to do things like create an inventory. So lots of 67 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 1: lots of retailers have used these barcodes to create inventories. Yes. 68 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: In fact, it's known as the UPC or Universal Product code. Yeah, 69 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: so that allows you to establish, all, right, everything that 70 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: bears this barcode is this product, and then you can 71 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: further go on to define everything that is this product, 72 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: is this price and this This was a huge boon 73 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 1: for retailers when people would purchase lots of goods. You 74 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: have a scanner set up. The scanner is practically instantaneous, right, 75 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 1: I mean, it just takes the speed of light, the 76 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: speed that the light takes to go from the scanner 77 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: to hit the code and bounce back to the the 78 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:22,840 Speaker 1: photo sensors that are part of the scanner. Uh, that's 79 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:24,599 Speaker 1: you know, it just takes an instant which is why 80 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: you know, it seems crazy to us. All we have 81 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:29,159 Speaker 1: to do is hold up this little series of bars 82 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: up to a screen and then almost it seems like 83 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: it's instantaneous. Beep, there goes the price. And um, of course, 84 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:38,840 Speaker 1: unless there's some problem with the barcode, in which case 85 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,599 Speaker 1: you scan, you scan, you scan, you rub it against something, 86 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: you scan it again. Then eventually you you type in 87 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,920 Speaker 1: physically the the series of numbers underneath the barcode UH 88 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: two into the computer so you can register your purchase 89 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: uh those series of numbers. That's actually what is encoded 90 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 1: in that barcode. There's not There have been CONSI the 91 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: theories about things that have been encoded in barcodes, but 92 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: really barcodes just cannot hold the sort of information, nor 93 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: is there any real way of of establishing that that 94 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: product belongs to you the person, unless you're you've also 95 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: got like a frequent buyers card type thing, right right, Yeah, 96 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: it's it's it's useful um for inventory keeping it as 97 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: you pointed out, that's that's why it was created. UM. 98 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: The thing is, you know, if you have a store. UM. 99 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: And this is something that we've mentioned before and other 100 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,280 Speaker 1: people mentioned before about the difference in internet retailers and 101 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: physical what they call brick and mortar stores. There are 102 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,600 Speaker 1: only so many items that you can hold in most 103 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: brick and mortar stores, even the superstores. I would say, 104 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: you're not going to exhaust um. I mean, it would 105 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 1: be hard to hold a variety of of stuff in 106 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:52,360 Speaker 1: a brick and mortar store. That would exhaust the number 107 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,040 Speaker 1: of UPC codes that you might use. Yes, that was 108 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: redundant UPC code. You're talking about twenty digit number. I 109 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 1: mean that's yeah, that's that's a lot of N has 110 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: a lot of digits. So but then, but then there 111 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 1: are times when you would like to have a way 112 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,840 Speaker 1: to store more information. Yeah, it might be that you 113 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: want to be able to create, um uh, something that 114 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,719 Speaker 1: can allow you to to categorize and subcategorize and sub 115 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:22,320 Speaker 1: subcategorized product or a piece. Um let's say that you 116 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:26,119 Speaker 1: are a car manufacturing plant. I am a car manufacturing plant, 117 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: and you have very many pieces that you have to 118 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: keep track of for an individual car, and you make 119 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: several different models of cars. So therefore you have a plethora, 120 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,919 Speaker 1: if you will, a plethora of car parts. Do you 121 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: know what a plethora means? Um? So, Yeah, You've got 122 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: all these different parts and pieces and they all fit 123 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:50,039 Speaker 1: in different ways, and you need to be able to 124 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: encode that information so you make it very uh efficient. Well, 125 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,120 Speaker 1: the barcode may not give you the flexibility you need 126 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: because we call the barcode a one D code, meaning 127 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,360 Speaker 1: that the direction is encoded or the information is encoded 128 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: in one direction, all right, So that one direction would 129 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 1: be the fact you know that these little gaps between 130 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: the bars that's where the info is encoded. You would 131 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: want to create a different encoding device, something that perhaps 132 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: is a two D code, and two D means that 133 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: you can the information is encoded both horizontally and vertically. 134 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: So now you've got a much larger playing ground where 135 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: you can create, um far more detailed information encoding than 136 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: you could with a bar code. That was the idea 137 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: of the come up that that Toyota came up with 138 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: UM actually a Toyota subsidiary called Dense so wave back 139 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: in they came up with this concept of a q 140 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: R code, which was a type of two D code. 141 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: Now we should also stress QR code is not the 142 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: only kind of two D code. There are others as well. 143 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 1: Ups uses a two D code believe UM on their packaging, 144 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 1: but it's not a QR code. It's similar to it 145 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: UM it's the MAXI code that's the one they use 146 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: um so, but the concept is is very much the same. 147 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: It's the idea that you have this and you've probably 148 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: seen these. It's the that that box with all the 149 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: little black dots in it. Yes, it looks like there's 150 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: usually three boxes that are well, there's always three buckses. 151 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: There's three buckses there. They have a little border around 152 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 1: them at at the top right, top left, and bottom 153 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: left corners. And then if you look carefully, you might 154 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,520 Speaker 1: see that there's a tinier little dot. Uh, that's a 155 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: little bit set in from the bottom right corner that 156 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:44,559 Speaker 1: also has a little border around it. Well, that's a 157 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: QR code. And the information, the information that can be 158 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:49,720 Speaker 1: stored in the QR code far outstrips that of a 159 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: bar code. Yes, Now some people have said that they 160 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 1: are three D codes. They're not because you know, really 161 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: they're square and they're flat, so they're not when they 162 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: say two D, they're they're not talking about dimensions. They 163 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 1: are two D but there, but they but remember what 164 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: Jonathan was just saying is directions, and yes, it because 165 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:14,880 Speaker 1: of the different directions, I think some people sort of 166 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:17,400 Speaker 1: started calling them that. But that's a that's a sort 167 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: of a slang term and it's not really uh technically 168 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,199 Speaker 1: correct when referring to But I have heard them called 169 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,600 Speaker 1: that UM, and yes, it does add some some serious 170 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: dimension to it UM. Now uh, you know, there is, 171 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:35,439 Speaker 1: as Jonathan said, some limitation uh to the amount of information, 172 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: even at the size it is. But QR codes of 173 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: have uh sort of moved out into the public eye, 174 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 1: not just for use at uh you know, a dens 175 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: O wave in Toyota. UM. They've actually sort of started 176 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 1: to become a lot more popular here in the United States, 177 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 1: I would say probably over the last eighteen months or so. Yeah, 178 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 1: in Japan they've been popular for a while. But the 179 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: reason why they've been popular longer in Japan than in 180 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: the United States is that in Japan, smartphone adoption uh 181 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 1: started much earlier in Japan than in the United States. 182 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: And here's the neat thing about these QR codes. If 183 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: you have a phone that has a camera in it 184 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: and it's capable of running apps, then you can create 185 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: an app that can read QR codes. And because smartphones 186 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: also have web connectivity ability as well as other abilities, 187 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:30,240 Speaker 1: you can design a QR code so that you know, 188 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: you you create a scanner that uses your phones camera 189 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,599 Speaker 1: to to capture the image of the QR code. It 190 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:42,720 Speaker 1: analyzes the QR code and then translates that into whatever 191 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:44,840 Speaker 1: the QR code is is encoded to do. So it 192 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,920 Speaker 1: might be a website. So let's say that you create, um, 193 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:53,440 Speaker 1: an advertisement for some sort of product and you, uh, 194 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: you know, you have a QR code right there, and 195 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: you use your smartphone to capture that information and then 196 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: it takes you to the website for that producduck, or 197 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,080 Speaker 1: perhaps it takes you to a video showing that product 198 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 1: being used by someone. So you know, you might look 199 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: at it probably say why would I ever want that? 200 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 1: And there's a little QR code. You're like, all right, whatever, 201 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: I'll see what this has to do with it. And 202 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:14,760 Speaker 1: there might be actually a video there that shows you 203 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: what that product is good for and maybe that convinces 204 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:19,960 Speaker 1: you to buy it. So it's it's added a new 205 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 1: dimension to advertisement. But that and even then, that's not 206 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 1: the only thing QR codes are being used for, but 207 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:30,080 Speaker 1: it's very popular one. That's that's true. Um Yeah, it's 208 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: funny because uh um you you can also use it 209 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: as sort of a note to yourself to um, you know, 210 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:40,200 Speaker 1: when you're seeing something out in public and you go, oh, 211 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:42,360 Speaker 1: I need to remember that I want to look up 212 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,520 Speaker 1: you know, look that up for more information later. Uh. Well, 213 00:11:45,559 --> 00:11:47,640 Speaker 1: you know, if you you scan the QR code and 214 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:50,960 Speaker 1: add it to your phone, UM, then you can you know, 215 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:53,320 Speaker 1: save that for later. At least the application in my 216 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: phone will allow me to store some for later so 217 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:58,439 Speaker 1: that I can go back and look it up. But yeah, 218 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:02,800 Speaker 1: I was. According according to and so UM, the QR 219 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 1: code has a maximum numeric capacity of seven thousand, eighty 220 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:10,720 Speaker 1: nine characters UM. Alpha numerica is four thousand, two hundred 221 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: ninety six UM. And if you want to store uh 222 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:16,720 Speaker 1: kanji you can also do that as well. Though it 223 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:22,319 Speaker 1: can hold one thousand, eight hundred seventeen characters. That's still 224 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:24,760 Speaker 1: that's still very impressive. And you can store quite a 225 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: lot of information about something. And I can see lots 226 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:32,080 Speaker 1: of interesting applications, particularly in things like alternate reality games 227 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: to use QR codes for example, UM, if you guys 228 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: are familiar with alternate reality games at all, these are 229 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 1: the games that often are are created by a marketing 230 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: firm to h to be part of a guerrilla marketing 231 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:47,720 Speaker 1: campaign for something else. One of the popular ones was 232 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 1: along with UM. It was called The Beast, and it 233 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: was part of the marketing push for the film Ai. Yeah, 234 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:57,280 Speaker 1: we talked about that in a previous episode, and I 235 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: mean way previous. So so these these games, they they 236 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: bridge the gap between reality and fantasy. You know, you 237 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: you usually take an active part in trying to play 238 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 1: a role within a fantasy setting, but you're doing it 239 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: through real life actions. And that might be as simple 240 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: as sending an email, or it may mean that you 241 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,280 Speaker 1: fill out some information and occasionally you get phone calls 242 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: from characters within the game, and you in in real 243 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:29,080 Speaker 1: life have an impact on fictional characters within the game. 244 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 1: And it's a very flexible, malleable type of gaming. And 245 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: it's it's kind of exciting because it means that you 246 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: get to play a part that's that's akin to what 247 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,199 Speaker 1: we think of as you know, secret agents. Right, It's 248 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: kind of like this this crazy conspiracy written world where 249 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 1: you are one of the people who are running around 250 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 1: trying to to solve the world's problems and things you 251 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:52,200 Speaker 1: do have real impact and it makes you feel, like 252 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: he wrote, it's kind of awesome. Um, well, QR codes 253 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 1: could play a big part in that. I mean, imagine 254 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 1: that you create a movie that's all about conspiracy theories, 255 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,280 Speaker 1: and you create the posters for this movie, and you 256 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:06,400 Speaker 1: have in the corner of the poster a little QR code, 257 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:09,559 Speaker 1: and if you scan the QR code with a a smartphone, 258 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:12,240 Speaker 1: then it pulls up maybe a page of information. You've 259 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 1: got You've got four thousand alpha numeric characters you can 260 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,960 Speaker 1: play with. You might have a secret message in there 261 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: directed to people who are going to take the time 262 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: to scan that, or it may send you to a 263 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: website that starts you on this journey. And it's a 264 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: great way to pull people in. And the thing about 265 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:32,640 Speaker 1: the thing one of the reasons why advertisers love QR 266 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 1: codes is because even though it only hits a small 267 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: percentage of the population, uh, you know, only a fraction 268 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: of the people who see an advertisement with a QR 269 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: code are going to take the time to actually scan 270 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: that QR code, right right, But that section of the 271 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 1: population is the are the people you want to go for, 272 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: because one, they are engaged, they're interested enough in whatever 273 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:59,280 Speaker 1: is going on to take the time to scan that, 274 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 1: so you already have their attention. Too. They are at 275 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:07,960 Speaker 1: least somewhat affluent because they have a device capable of 276 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: scanning a QR code. So it's insidious right, you've got 277 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:16,680 Speaker 1: this engaged somewhat wealthy or at least they have some 278 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 1: discretionary income. Uh. This audience here, that's who you want 279 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:24,600 Speaker 1: when you're selling stuff. So uh, in a way, we're 280 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:28,320 Speaker 1: playing to their um, to their game. And also we 281 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:30,320 Speaker 1: should keep in mind that if it's a QR code 282 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: where you are using it to to navigate to a 283 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 1: web page, they can time stamp when you come to 284 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:39,040 Speaker 1: their web page and they can even get the information 285 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: depending on on the way they've they've coded the page 286 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: to know when and approximately where you are when you 287 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:50,200 Speaker 1: navigate to that that website. So now they have even 288 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:53,280 Speaker 1: more information on you. So they know one you're engaged to, 289 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,400 Speaker 1: you are you have enough money to have a smartphone? Three, 290 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: they know what time you visited the site and for 291 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:04,160 Speaker 1: where you are. Mm hmm. No, Now that's not so 292 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 1: scary to the point where you know you're gonna have 293 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: guys in black suits knock on your door in the 294 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: middle of the night and escort you to a secret 295 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: military base, unless you're playing a really cool alternate reality game. Um. 296 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: But it's one of those things where you know you've 297 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:20,120 Speaker 1: got to remember, like, yeah, these things are fun and 298 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: they give you a lot of information. But they don't 299 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 1: just give you a lot of information. They give the 300 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 1: people behind the QR code a little information. It might 301 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 1: not be a lot, it may not be enough to 302 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: invade your privacy, but it's still something to think about. Yeah. Yeah, well, 303 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:36,840 Speaker 1: and and the thing is, the people who are collecting 304 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:39,640 Speaker 1: this type of information don't are They're not really interested 305 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: in doing those things. They want marketing information because for 306 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 1: them it's more valuable anyway, it's a sure thing. So 307 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:49,160 Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about how this actually works 308 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,720 Speaker 1: because it's kind of interesting. Um, there are different zones 309 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 1: on a QR code, and there are different boxes that 310 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: that mean different things. So those those three larger boxes 311 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 1: that are in the corners the or three of the 312 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: corners the the again the top right, top left, and 313 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,400 Speaker 1: bottom left, those corners that that's that's a those are 314 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,159 Speaker 1: positioning so it helps identify the fact that, yes, this 315 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,399 Speaker 1: is a QR code. There the smaller boxes in the 316 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:17,399 Speaker 1: bottom right corner. It's in set a little bit, but 317 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:19,720 Speaker 1: it's got its own little border around it. That's an 318 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:25,480 Speaker 1: alignment box, and that helps the the software determine, uh 319 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: the angle that the camera is at because that's one thing, right. 320 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 1: You can't predict how a person is going to hold 321 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:33,760 Speaker 1: the camera when they take up an image of a 322 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:38,119 Speaker 1: QR code, So the QR code has to be readable 323 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,639 Speaker 1: from various angles and distances. Otherwise it's not useful. If 324 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:45,359 Speaker 1: if you always had to be directly above the QR 325 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:49,120 Speaker 1: code at a specific distance, it would be it wouldn't 326 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: be user friendly enough for it to have wide adoption. 327 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:59,160 Speaker 1: So using the distance and the orientation of these boxes 328 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:02,400 Speaker 1: in relation to one another, the software on your scanner, 329 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:04,640 Speaker 1: and your scanner again is just a piece of software 330 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:07,760 Speaker 1: that's on your smartphones. Using your camera, the software can 331 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:11,399 Speaker 1: determine the orientation of that QR code, the angle, and 332 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,680 Speaker 1: then be able to take that into account when reading 333 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:16,919 Speaker 1: the other dots that are further in the center. That's 334 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: where the actual data is encoded, um it, you know, 335 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:24,800 Speaker 1: just based upon which areas are covered in black ink 336 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,919 Speaker 1: and which ones aren't. That's where it learns, you know, 337 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:30,679 Speaker 1: this is what it translates into, this this particular kind 338 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 1: of information. But it has to be able to determine 339 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:37,160 Speaker 1: that orientation and angle first, or else the distance may 340 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,199 Speaker 1: not seem quite right, you know, it may look like 341 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:44,000 Speaker 1: to two blocks of black ink are further apart than 342 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: they actually are, which would that would that would mean 343 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: that it would uh identify the information incorrectly if that 344 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: were the case. So there's actually some error correction in 345 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:57,160 Speaker 1: this QR software as well. Yes, it's a matter of fact. 346 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 1: You can do damage to the QR code and within 347 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: a reasonable amount of damage, the QR code can still 348 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:06,480 Speaker 1: be read because of the error correction. Yeah. Without that 349 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:09,520 Speaker 1: error correction, then you would have some real problems. Whenever 350 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:12,640 Speaker 1: let's say that you put a poster with a QR code, 351 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 1: but you put on, say a a light post or 352 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,920 Speaker 1: or a telephone pole. Um Now, so now you're talking 353 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,920 Speaker 1: about a surface that's curved, it's no longer a flat surface. 354 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:26,359 Speaker 1: Well that could, uh, that could make the QR code 355 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:29,680 Speaker 1: look a little funky to the camera. But the error 356 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: correction in the q R software is more often than 357 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,200 Speaker 1: not capable of taking that into account and still giving 358 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 1: you the correct information on that QR code, assuming that 359 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 1: no one's gone in and like use the black marker 360 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:45,199 Speaker 1: to blackout half of the code. So it's it's a 361 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:50,120 Speaker 1: very robust kind of software and it's a very simple, 362 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: um uh code. Actually, if you I mean, it's not 363 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 1: hard to build an application that can actually encode information 364 00:19:58,000 --> 00:19:59,920 Speaker 1: in the q R format. In fact, there are plenty 365 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:02,800 Speaker 1: out there that lets you do it for free. Yeah. 366 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,919 Speaker 1: I've created several QR codes just for fun. Uh, I 367 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:09,720 Speaker 1: just use the website, um that you can, and there 368 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: are several out there that you you can just plug 369 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: in a r L or even a short message. Um, 370 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:17,760 Speaker 1: you know, and and uh printed out. One of the 371 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:19,719 Speaker 1: things that you'll notice if you do that though, if 372 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,600 Speaker 1: you know, you start playing around when you have something 373 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,680 Speaker 1: fairly short, the boxes are are considerably larger. You can 374 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 1: once you've done this a couple of times, you can 375 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 1: look at a QR code and go, Okay, that one 376 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: has a lot of text in it, and this one 377 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,639 Speaker 1: over here doesn't. Just by just by looking at it 378 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:37,880 Speaker 1: and just from the experience of having having played around 379 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,120 Speaker 1: with it, you'll be able to tell. But um, yeah, 380 00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:45,240 Speaker 1: the Denzel Wave website has some information that sort of 381 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: suggests that, uh, you know, it takes some special equipment. 382 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: And at this point, um, they're so common that you know, 383 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,960 Speaker 1: you really don't need anything very special. I mean, you 384 00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:59,159 Speaker 1: could you could print them out on on stickers. They 385 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:00,560 Speaker 1: don't have to be you know, it could be something 386 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:02,479 Speaker 1: that you pick up at your office supply store if 387 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:04,119 Speaker 1: you wanted to do that, or you know, just a 388 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,560 Speaker 1: plain piece of paper that you put up with a 389 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: piece of tape. UM. It really doesn't take anything special. 390 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:13,159 Speaker 1: You just want to make sure that that there's not 391 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:16,960 Speaker 1: a lot of blurring. But even there UM marketing companies 392 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: now that it's become common to use QR codes for 393 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: these purposes, marketing companies are starting to experiment with them 394 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:30,160 Speaker 1: and add things like color and designs within that because uh, 395 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: again it sort of depends on how much information you 396 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:35,960 Speaker 1: have stored in there. If you don't have very much information, 397 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:37,919 Speaker 1: if it's like a a short U r L, the 398 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: r L to your company, for example, you could put 399 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:44,440 Speaker 1: a design that's pleasing to the human eye in there. 400 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,159 Speaker 1: I've seen all kinds of of things. I actually have 401 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,199 Speaker 1: Jonathan's sort of craning to see my notes. Here's what 402 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,879 Speaker 1: I'm showing him. One with an elephant And Mashable actually 403 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:56,000 Speaker 1: had an article if you want to find it, um 404 00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: where that was made from? Uh it was written by 405 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:03,639 Speaker 1: a Hamilton Channa believe UM and his company makes it 406 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:07,800 Speaker 1: an iPhone app that that scans QR codes. But basically 407 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:09,520 Speaker 1: you can do things like you can round the corners 408 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:11,480 Speaker 1: of the boxes. They don't have to be square. You 409 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:13,160 Speaker 1: can put images in there as long as it doesn't 410 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:16,520 Speaker 1: interfere with the message you're trying to do. Um you 411 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:21,359 Speaker 1: can you can basically make them into uh read within reason. 412 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:23,760 Speaker 1: You can add some artistic qualities to it and still 413 00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:28,959 Speaker 1: readable by a QR code reader. And there's some also, 414 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: there's some pretty cool applications that you and I could 415 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: could put QR codes too. Besides, just you know, playfully 416 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,080 Speaker 1: like I created a secret message. I mean you could 417 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,879 Speaker 1: do that. There are enough kids out there now have smartphones. 418 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:42,560 Speaker 1: Like I remember back in the day, you would write 419 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 1: little secret messages to your buddies using whatever very simple 420 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: replace code. Right, yeah, this symbol means A and this 421 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,240 Speaker 1: symbol means B. But QR codes give you the option 422 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,679 Speaker 1: of actually creating a message, encoding it in a into 423 00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: a QR code, and then handing it to someone else. 424 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: And it's only if you have a scanner that you're 425 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:03,679 Speaker 1: able to read it. Now, granted that's not safe information, 426 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:05,679 Speaker 1: anyone with a scanner would be able to read it. 427 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,119 Speaker 1: You would you might want to encode it. Yes, you 428 00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:11,399 Speaker 1: would have to encrypt it as well as as encoded 429 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,240 Speaker 1: into the so there'll be encryption and encoding in the 430 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: same message. Otherwise, anyone with a smartphone, anyone with a 431 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:23,399 Speaker 1: smartphone with a QR code reader could intercept it. But 432 00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:25,960 Speaker 1: think of it like this. Like let's say that I 433 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,400 Speaker 1: wanted to make new business cards for myself. I might 434 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,360 Speaker 1: create a QR code that if you scanned, it would 435 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:37,080 Speaker 1: take you to a full profile website about myself, and 436 00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:40,840 Speaker 1: it might have my resume, it might have uh samples 437 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:43,919 Speaker 1: of my writing, it might have maybe a sample of 438 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,959 Speaker 1: the podcast, It might have a demo reel of my 439 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 1: video work. All of that could be linked to my 440 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:53,440 Speaker 1: my business card. Now, I wouldn't want to put all 441 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: those u r l's on a business card because it 442 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:58,400 Speaker 1: would just take up too much space. And you want 443 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,679 Speaker 1: a business card to look fairly elegant um now, so 444 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:03,480 Speaker 1: you could do that where you have your name and 445 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,080 Speaker 1: your title and all of that stuff. Or if it's 446 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:07,800 Speaker 1: a personal business card like the one I was talking about, 447 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: it might be your name and your general area of 448 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 1: expertise and the QR code takes care of the rest 449 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 1: of it. I've actually seen a friend of mine has 450 00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:19,159 Speaker 1: a business card, um where all it had was his 451 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:21,840 Speaker 1: name on it and the QR code, and you would 452 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:23,920 Speaker 1: scan it and would take you to his website where 453 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,240 Speaker 1: it had all the rest of the information and um, 454 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: yeah he's uh, it's eyes actar. I don't mind saying 455 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,720 Speaker 1: his name because he's a uh he's now a journalist 456 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: with This Week in Tech. He's a regular on Tech 457 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: News today. So it worked out for him. So the 458 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,360 Speaker 1: way to go, I is and uh, he's a great guy. 459 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:42,600 Speaker 1: So I was, and I was blown away when I 460 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 1: saw his business card. It was one of the earliest 461 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:46,600 Speaker 1: ones I had seen that used the QR code, So 462 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:48,520 Speaker 1: he was really on the cutting edge of that as 463 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 1: far as the United States is concerned. Keep in mind 464 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:52,960 Speaker 1: that again in Japan, this has been around for a 465 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,440 Speaker 1: couple of decades, but only since smartphones have really taken 466 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:58,800 Speaker 1: off in the US. So we can really kind of 467 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:01,080 Speaker 1: point our fingers to the iPhone, I think, and say, 468 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,440 Speaker 1: the iPhone is what led the revolution in the consumer 469 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 1: marketplace in the United States for the smartphone to really 470 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,480 Speaker 1: take off. That's why we're starting to see QR codes everywhere. Yeah, 471 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 1: but yeah, it is true. Though that the QR codes 472 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 1: are are so ubiquitous now that uh, you know, all 473 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 1: the major smartphone manufacturers have apps and you can find 474 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 1: if you're interested in doing this, you can find a 475 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:22,800 Speaker 1: free app. I'm pretty sure I know there's there are 476 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,640 Speaker 1: some for iPhone and Android both and I'm assuming probably 477 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:29,560 Speaker 1: for BlackBerry and there's there's BlackBerry. I'm sure there's web 478 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:33,439 Speaker 1: os as os UM. But you know, as you were 479 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,320 Speaker 1: saying earlier in the show, UM, I mean, we don't 480 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:38,199 Speaker 1: want to move too far from QR codes. But in 481 00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 1: researching this, uh, you know, the densil Wave website does 482 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:45,399 Speaker 1: list some of the others. UM. But I found the 483 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 1: FP codes service or standard by Fujitsu, which uses UM 484 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:56,439 Speaker 1: basically encodes the the code inside an image on a 485 00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: poster UM using yellow ink, which makes it more or 486 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,159 Speaker 1: less invisible. It doesn't it's not as obvious as a 487 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 1: QR code. UM. And there have been people who are 488 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:08,359 Speaker 1: doing this basically using steganography, which is the art of 489 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:13,040 Speaker 1: hiding hiding images. Yeah. So so like you could say 490 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: you had a UM a poster up promoting your company's business, 491 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:19,879 Speaker 1: and you just had a picture of whatever it is 492 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:22,840 Speaker 1: that you do. The service that you provide people, you know, 493 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:27,760 Speaker 1: going through business meeting or whatever. And uh, somebody scanned 494 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:31,959 Speaker 1: the picture with their phone, and there may not be 495 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:34,920 Speaker 1: overtly a code in there, but just by scanning the 496 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,920 Speaker 1: the image, it would pull up the information just because 497 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:40,479 Speaker 1: there's a code embedded within the image, which I think 498 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: is fascinating stuff. But the downside of that, and I 499 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:47,040 Speaker 1: was thinking, wow, you know this, this actually has been 500 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,399 Speaker 1: out for quite some time. The press release UM that 501 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,160 Speaker 1: I read came out years ago, and I was thinking, 502 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:55,320 Speaker 1: why have you know I've we've heard of QR codes. 503 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:59,560 Speaker 1: Maybe it's that the FP codes aren't um. You know, 504 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 1: it's like in America the same the same thing. We're 505 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:04,679 Speaker 1: just not having the adoption rate that we might for 506 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 1: the QR codes. Then I thought, well, this is not 507 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,879 Speaker 1: quite as useful for marketing, at least not yet, because 508 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 1: with the QR codes, you have the the colorful symbol, 509 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 1: you know, black and white square that's obvious on the poster. 510 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:21,879 Speaker 1: And you know, I'm supposed to scan this. I mean, 511 00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 1: at least if you have a phone that that does 512 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:25,239 Speaker 1: this a lot of people still don't know. Again that's 513 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,320 Speaker 1: why we're doing the podcast. But but it's there's no 514 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:32,400 Speaker 1: point in embedding code within an image if people don't 515 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:34,399 Speaker 1: think to pick up their phone and scan it. And 516 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:36,080 Speaker 1: even even if you pick up your phone and take 517 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:37,679 Speaker 1: a picture of it, you still have to use the 518 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,160 Speaker 1: right application to interpret that code. Right Like if if 519 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: I just take a picture of a QR code, my 520 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,160 Speaker 1: phone doesn't know that that's that it needs to decode 521 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,119 Speaker 1: that information. It's only when I open up specific QR 522 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: code decoders uh and and though that will analyze the 523 00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:58,640 Speaker 1: actual information that's within that QR code and then give 524 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,360 Speaker 1: me the proper response. So you would have to know 525 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,400 Speaker 1: one that you have to take an image of whatever 526 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:06,920 Speaker 1: that poster is or that or that you know anything. 527 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:09,119 Speaker 1: It doesn't even have to be a poster um. And 528 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:11,879 Speaker 1: two you would have to use the right the correct application. 529 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,800 Speaker 1: And if everyone's using a different set of standards, then 530 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:17,680 Speaker 1: you would have to have an application for every single company, 531 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:19,919 Speaker 1: right you would. It would only be if something had 532 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:24,399 Speaker 1: become standardized across multiple companies, Like the QR code. People 533 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 1: are using that as a de facto standard. Is not 534 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: a standard, but people are using it as if it were. 535 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,920 Speaker 1: Uh And we've seen QURE codes used even on uh 536 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 1: in in television, because remember we watched UH. After we 537 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:44,200 Speaker 1: did our our episode about cyber bullying, we decided to 538 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:48,600 Speaker 1: watch the Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon UH tribute to 539 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:51,520 Speaker 1: the song Friday Yes. And at the end of the 540 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 1: song there was a guy in the back holding up 541 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,920 Speaker 1: a QR code UH sign. And if you were to 542 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,760 Speaker 1: pause the video as we did, and then use a 543 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:04,320 Speaker 1: QR code reader as we did to determine what that was, 544 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:08,600 Speaker 1: you would be led to a special video that Jimmy 545 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:11,120 Speaker 1: Fallon made as a thank you to people who had 546 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:15,479 Speaker 1: donated to the cause, and UH and and just uh 547 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,040 Speaker 1: it kind of rambled. It wasn't sort of like this podcast, 548 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:21,440 Speaker 1: but it didn't. It didn't. Uh. It was interesting that 549 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:23,080 Speaker 1: they had done it. It It was kind of a cool thing, 550 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,080 Speaker 1: and you might actually see that that could be even 551 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,000 Speaker 1: a neat thing that you start seeing in incorporated into 552 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 1: say web series. It would be very easy to do 553 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 1: television and movies, I'd be probably, I'm guessing won't happen 554 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:37,719 Speaker 1: as often, especially for films, because one, you don't want 555 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 1: to encourage everyone to whip their smartphone out and light 556 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 1: up the theater with all all those screens and to 557 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:45,240 Speaker 1: you would have to have it on screen long enough 558 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: for people to be able to train their cameras on it. Um, 559 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:52,080 Speaker 1: So it would work from that distance. Yeah, no, I've 560 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,600 Speaker 1: heard of I've heard of QR codes that are on 561 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: billboards that could and at least in theory, on a 562 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,560 Speaker 1: clear day, be scanned from up to a mile away. Well, sure, 563 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:04,080 Speaker 1: on a clear day you can see forever. I'm good. Uh, 564 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:09,200 Speaker 1: it's so good that you're just out of smack and range. Um. 565 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: But yeah, it's it appears that they finally made their 566 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,760 Speaker 1: their appearance for good over here. I'm sorry I used 567 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,480 Speaker 1: appearance too many times. Um, But yeah, I think I 568 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: think they're sort of around to stay for the short term. 569 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,080 Speaker 1: I think they will eventually be replaced by something a 570 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:29,040 Speaker 1: little bit more, um, something less obvious to the eye. 571 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 1: But it'll take some time for people to get used 572 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:34,760 Speaker 1: to the idea that they're hidden messages and their their 573 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,760 Speaker 1: real life Easter eggs everywhere I go, and all I 574 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: need to see them as a smartphone. Yeah, it's really 575 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,360 Speaker 1: just a matter of time before we start seeing smartphones 576 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:46,480 Speaker 1: with cameras that have that capability already built into the 577 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:50,360 Speaker 1: camera feature where automatically detect that sort of stuff without 578 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 1: you having to tell it to go to a special 579 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:55,800 Speaker 1: a special application, that sort of thing. I mean, we 580 00:30:55,840 --> 00:31:00,280 Speaker 1: also see it with the augmented reality uh applications, where 581 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: like the idea of having the facial recognition software so 582 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:06,560 Speaker 1: that you can recognize a specific person's face, you create 583 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,480 Speaker 1: a profile of that person. I think that's fascinating, right, 584 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 1: and then you would hold like let's say I hold 585 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:13,280 Speaker 1: up my camera to to Chris here, and I've I've 586 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:16,680 Speaker 1: built in his profile and then I see floating around 587 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:20,480 Speaker 1: his head his Twitter feed or his Facebook feed, which 588 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: are all empty because he never updates them. But uh, 589 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:27,280 Speaker 1: but let's say that that that could be a something 590 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 1: that you would build into the camera feature as well. 591 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:32,440 Speaker 1: So there may come a day where your basic smartphone 592 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 1: camera will have all these features built in specifically to 593 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:40,600 Speaker 1: the to the system. Yeah. Yeah, although I hope they, 594 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,240 Speaker 1: the people who make these devices, will put a an 595 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:47,400 Speaker 1: off switch for that, because I guess he you know, 596 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: taking the family to the amusement park, you get everybody 597 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: in the shot and you're like, okay, everybody say cheese 598 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:57,360 Speaker 1: and over their shoulders, like you know, buy so and 599 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: so soft drink. Everything is I don't now, I just 600 00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:02,440 Speaker 1: want to take a photo of my family. I would 601 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:04,480 Speaker 1: imagine that you would be able to set layers. I'm 602 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 1: really hoping, just like just like with mapping applications, where 603 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,240 Speaker 1: you can look at things like traffic layers and satellite 604 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,560 Speaker 1: images as opposed to maps. I would imagine. Uh. Granted, 605 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:16,520 Speaker 1: I'm not the one who's um designing these things, so 606 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 1: we know sometimes the manufacturers go, but everyone wants that 607 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:24,920 Speaker 1: the kitchen sink, that's what we should throw in there. Well, 608 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,920 Speaker 1: let's wrap this up. That's a good discussion on QR codes, 609 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:29,720 Speaker 1: and like we said, they're probably just going to get 610 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 1: more and more popular or be replaced by a comparable 611 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:37,280 Speaker 1: technology that everyone uses, because again, smartphones are everywhere. In fact, 612 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:40,320 Speaker 1: you know, we're starting to see smartphones take over where 613 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:43,000 Speaker 1: U where we used to see laptops ring supreme. So 614 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 1: that's kind of interesting. So you guys, if you have 615 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 1: any other kinds of cutting edge tech or actually this 616 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:49,720 Speaker 1: isn't really cutting edge because it's been out for a 617 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:51,840 Speaker 1: couple of decades, but if you have some technology you 618 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:53,920 Speaker 1: would like us to tackle, you think that it's interesting 619 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:55,239 Speaker 1: and you want to know more about it, let us 620 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,440 Speaker 1: know You can let us know on Twitter or Facebook 621 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:00,880 Speaker 1: are handled. There is tech stuff hs W break Insider. 622 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,920 Speaker 1: This an email that addresses text stuff at how stuff 623 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:05,480 Speaker 1: works dot com and Chris and I will talk to 624 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: you again really soon. For more on this and thousands 625 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,760 Speaker 1: of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. To 626 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 1: learn more about the podcast, click on the podcast icon 627 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:19,240 Speaker 1: in the upper right corner of our homepage. The how 628 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:23,080 Speaker 1: Stuff Works iPhone app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes. 629 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,320 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 630 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:31,800 Speaker 1: It's ready, are you