WEBVTT - What are QR codes? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:17.760 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:19.919 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:22.160 and I'm an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:25.480 Sitting across from me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:27.480 It's silly to be depressed by it. I mean, one 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:29.760 thinks of it like being alive in a box. One 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.000 keeps forgetting to take into account the fact that one 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.199 is dead, which should make all the difference, shouldn't it. 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:36.600 I mean, you never know you were in a box, 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:38.519 would you? It would just be like you were asleep 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:40.960 in a box. Not that I'd like to be sleep 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.239 in a box, mind you that, not without any air. 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:45.160 You'd wake up dead for a start, And then where 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.320 would you be in a box? That's the bit I 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:49.559 don't like. Frankly, That's why I don't think of it, 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.200 because you'd be helpless, wouldn't you stuffed in a box 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.240 like that? I mean, you'd be in there forever, even 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:57.000 taking into account the fact that you're dead. It isn't 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:00.760 a pleasant thought, especially if you're dead. Really, ask yourself 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:03.040 if I asked you straight off, I'm going to stuff 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:05.720 you in this box now, would you rather be alive 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:09.560 or dead? Naturally, you'd prefer to be alive. Life in 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.360 a box is better than no life at all. I 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:16.399 expect you'd have a chance at least that if you 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:20.520 are tuning in for the first time. Jonathan is always 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:22.720 starts off the episode with a quote, and that is 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:26.280 now the longest quote on record to begin an episode 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:28.720 of tech Stuff. It's also one of my favorite plays 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:32.080 in the whole wide world. Right, Well, let us know 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:36.479 if you can identify the source of the quote. As always, Um, 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:38.880 I was gonna say something about living in a box, 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:42.520 living in a cardboard box, but that would have been 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:45.479 yeah anyway, So today we actually aren't going to talk 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:49.520 about things that are in fact square. Uh in a way, 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.000 they're a little square too in the slang sense, because 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.160 we're just talking about you know, what's there in black 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.880 and white encoded information in the form of a QR 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:03.920 code q R meaning quick response. Yes, Um, I guess 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:05.960 we should probably give a little background, kind of do 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:08.880 a little backtracking before we actually talk about QR codes 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:13.400 and maybe talk about bar codes. Yep, that's that's true. Um. Also, 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.920 we've had several people mentioned this over the course of 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.480 tech stuff, and it's sort of, I think come up 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.280 for Jonathan and me both lately in real life, sort 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.440 of a oh yeah, look at that. They're they're sort 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.440 of showing up everywhere. So we decided to go ahead 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:28.800 and tackle it in bar codes. UM. If you've just 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:33.799 finished our episodes on IBM, IBM was actually where the 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:38.639 traditional uh you know, vertical series of vertical line barcodes 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.919 first made their appearance. Yeah, and and the concept is 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.919 deceptively simple. It's the idea that you you create this 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.120 series of lines and then you have a scanner. The 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:54.640 skinner uses light to to bounce off of that series 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:56.880 of lines, and technically it's just bouncing off the white 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:02.400 spaces in between the lines, and the the with between 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.200 the lines determines what information is encoded there. And so 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.960 by standardizing this information, you can make this series of 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:16.840 lines and you can create a a digital code there, 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:20.480 you scan it and it it converts that physical format 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:25.720 into a digital uh digital information. Now, with barcodes, that 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.400 information is somewhat limited to around twenty characters or so, 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:33.799 and that's a problem if you want to store more 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.040 information than just twenty characters. It's great if you want 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:39.200 to do things like create an inventory. So lots of 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:44.040 lots of retailers have used these barcodes to create inventories. Yes. 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.680 In fact, it's known as the UPC or Universal Product code. Yeah, 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:52.400 so that allows you to establish, all, right, everything that 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:56.160 bears this barcode is this product, and then you can 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.320 further go on to define everything that is this product, 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.600 is this price and this This was a huge boon 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:07.400 for retailers when people would purchase lots of goods. You 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:11.440 have a scanner set up. The scanner is practically instantaneous, right, 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.160 I mean, it just takes the speed of light, the 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:15.800 speed that the light takes to go from the scanner 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.760 to hit the code and bounce back to the the 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:22.840 photo sensors that are part of the scanner. Uh, that's 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:24.599 you know, it just takes an instant which is why 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:26.800 you know, it seems crazy to us. All we have 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.159 to do is hold up this little series of bars 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.200 up to a screen and then almost it seems like 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:36.440 it's instantaneous. Beep, there goes the price. And um, of course, 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:38.840 unless there's some problem with the barcode, in which case 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:43.599 you scan, you scan, you scan, you rub it against something, 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:46.880 you scan it again. Then eventually you you type in 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:50.920 physically the the series of numbers underneath the barcode UH 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.400 two into the computer so you can register your purchase 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.920 uh those series of numbers. That's actually what is encoded 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:00.360 in that barcode. There's not There have been CONSI the 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:02.880 theories about things that have been encoded in barcodes, but 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.320 really barcodes just cannot hold the sort of information, nor 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.960 is there any real way of of establishing that that 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.040 product belongs to you the person, unless you're you've also 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:17.680 got like a frequent buyers card type thing, right right, Yeah, 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.240 it's it's it's useful um for inventory keeping it as 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:23.520 you pointed out, that's that's why it was created. UM. 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.680 The thing is, you know, if you have a store. UM. 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:30.200 And this is something that we've mentioned before and other 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:34.280 people mentioned before about the difference in internet retailers and 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.520 physical what they call brick and mortar stores. There are 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:40.600 only so many items that you can hold in most 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.960 brick and mortar stores, even the superstores. I would say, 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:47.200 you're not going to exhaust um. I mean, it would 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:50.240 be hard to hold a variety of of stuff in 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.360 a brick and mortar store. That would exhaust the number 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.040 of UPC codes that you might use. Yes, that was 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:58.440 redundant UPC code. You're talking about twenty digit number. I 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.080 mean that's yeah, that's that's a lot of N has 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.080 a lot of digits. So but then, but then there 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.839 are times when you would like to have a way 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:10.840 to store more information. Yeah, it might be that you 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.640 want to be able to create, um uh, something that 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.719 can allow you to to categorize and subcategorize and sub 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:22.320 subcategorized product or a piece. Um let's say that you 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:26.119 are a car manufacturing plant. I am a car manufacturing plant, 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:29.479 and you have very many pieces that you have to 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.880 keep track of for an individual car, and you make 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:37.960 several different models of cars. So therefore you have a plethora, 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.919 if you will, a plethora of car parts. Do you 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:45.000 know what a plethora means? Um? So, Yeah, You've got 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.000 all these different parts and pieces and they all fit 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:50.039 in different ways, and you need to be able to 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.680 encode that information so you make it very uh efficient. Well, 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:57.120 the barcode may not give you the flexibility you need 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:01.320 because we call the barcode a one D code, meaning 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.360 that the direction is encoded or the information is encoded 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:08.000 in one direction, all right, So that one direction would 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:10.160 be the fact you know that these little gaps between 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:13.960 the bars that's where the info is encoded. You would 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:17.040 want to create a different encoding device, something that perhaps 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:20.640 is a two D code, and two D means that 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:24.400 you can the information is encoded both horizontally and vertically. 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:28.720 So now you've got a much larger playing ground where 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:33.280 you can create, um far more detailed information encoding than 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.760 you could with a bar code. That was the idea 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.480 of the come up that that Toyota came up with 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:44.440 UM actually a Toyota subsidiary called Dense so wave back 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.920 in they came up with this concept of a q 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.000 R code, which was a type of two D code. 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.040 Now we should also stress QR code is not the 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:57.040 only kind of two D code. There are others as well. 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:01.960 Ups uses a two D code believe UM on their packaging, 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:04.480 but it's not a QR code. It's similar to it 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.760 UM it's the MAXI code that's the one they use 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.520 um so, but the concept is is very much the same. 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:14.800 It's the idea that you have this and you've probably 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.280 seen these. It's the that that box with all the 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:21.680 little black dots in it. Yes, it looks like there's 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.200 usually three boxes that are well, there's always three buckses. 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.120 There's three buckses there. They have a little border around 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.680 them at at the top right, top left, and bottom 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:35.520 left corners. And then if you look carefully, you might 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.520 see that there's a tinier little dot. Uh, that's a 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.360 little bit set in from the bottom right corner that 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.559 also has a little border around it. Well, that's a 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.400 QR code. And the information, the information that can be 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:49.720 stored in the QR code far outstrips that of a 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:53.120 bar code. Yes, Now some people have said that they 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:57.840 are three D codes. They're not because you know, really 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:01.640 they're square and they're flat, so they're not when they 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:05.120 say two D, they're they're not talking about dimensions. They 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.800 are two D but there, but they but remember what 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:12.640 Jonathan was just saying is directions, and yes, it because 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:14.880 of the different directions, I think some people sort of 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:17.400 started calling them that. But that's a that's a sort 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.360 of a slang term and it's not really uh technically 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:23.199 correct when referring to But I have heard them called 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.600 that UM, and yes, it does add some some serious 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:30.840 dimension to it UM. Now uh, you know, there is, 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:35.439 as Jonathan said, some limitation uh to the amount of information, 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:37.840 even at the size it is. But QR codes of 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.520 have uh sort of moved out into the public eye, 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:44.800 not just for use at uh you know, a dens 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.800 O wave in Toyota. UM. They've actually sort of started 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:52.360 to become a lot more popular here in the United States, 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.720 I would say probably over the last eighteen months or so. Yeah, 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.400 in Japan they've been popular for a while. But the 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.360 reason why they've been popular longer in Japan than in 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.720 the United States is that in Japan, smartphone adoption uh 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.920 started much earlier in Japan than in the United States. 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.800 And here's the neat thing about these QR codes. If 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.360 you have a phone that has a camera in it 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.600 and it's capable of running apps, then you can create 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:21.720 an app that can read QR codes. And because smartphones 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:26.640 also have web connectivity ability as well as other abilities, 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:30.240 you can design a QR code so that you know, 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.360 you you create a scanner that uses your phones camera 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:37.599 to to capture the image of the QR code. It 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:42.720 analyzes the QR code and then translates that into whatever 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:44.840 the QR code is is encoded to do. So it 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.920 might be a website. So let's say that you create, um, 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:53.440 an advertisement for some sort of product and you, uh, 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:55.280 you know, you have a QR code right there, and 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:57.600 you use your smartphone to capture that information and then 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:00.360 it takes you to the website for that producduck, or 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.080 perhaps it takes you to a video showing that product 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:06.040 being used by someone. So you know, you might look 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.240 at it probably say why would I ever want that? 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:10.280 And there's a little QR code. You're like, all right, whatever, 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:12.080 I'll see what this has to do with it. And 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:14.760 there might be actually a video there that shows you 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.480 what that product is good for and maybe that convinces 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:19.960 you to buy it. So it's it's added a new 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.960 dimension to advertisement. But that and even then, that's not 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.520 the only thing QR codes are being used for, but 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:30.080 it's very popular one. That's that's true. Um Yeah, it's 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.160 funny because uh um you you can also use it 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:37.160 as sort of a note to yourself to um, you know, 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.200 when you're seeing something out in public and you go, oh, 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.360 I need to remember that I want to look up 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.520 you know, look that up for more information later. Uh. Well, 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:47.640 you know, if you you scan the QR code and 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:50.960 add it to your phone, UM, then you can you know, 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.320 save that for later. At least the application in my 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.240 phone will allow me to store some for later so 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:58.439 that I can go back and look it up. But yeah, 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:02.800 I was. According according to and so UM, the QR 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:06.480 code has a maximum numeric capacity of seven thousand, eighty 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:10.720 nine characters UM. Alpha numerica is four thousand, two hundred 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:14.240 ninety six UM. And if you want to store uh 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.720 kanji you can also do that as well. Though it 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:22.319 can hold one thousand, eight hundred seventeen characters. That's still 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:24.760 that's still very impressive. And you can store quite a 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.520 lot of information about something. And I can see lots 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:32.080 of interesting applications, particularly in things like alternate reality games 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:35.040 to use QR codes for example, UM, if you guys 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:37.520 are familiar with alternate reality games at all, these are 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.120 the games that often are are created by a marketing 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.040 firm to h to be part of a guerrilla marketing 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:47.720 campaign for something else. One of the popular ones was 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.720 along with UM. It was called The Beast, and it 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.880 was part of the marketing push for the film Ai. Yeah, 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.280 we talked about that in a previous episode, and I 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:02.040 mean way previous. So so these these games, they they 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.720 bridge the gap between reality and fantasy. You know, you 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:10.280 you usually take an active part in trying to play 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.120 a role within a fantasy setting, but you're doing it 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:15.920 through real life actions. And that might be as simple 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:19.520 as sending an email, or it may mean that you 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.280 fill out some information and occasionally you get phone calls 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.480 from characters within the game, and you in in real 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.080 life have an impact on fictional characters within the game. 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:33.120 And it's a very flexible, malleable type of gaming. And 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:34.800 it's it's kind of exciting because it means that you 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.160 get to play a part that's that's akin to what 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:40.199 we think of as you know, secret agents. Right, It's 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:44.240 kind of like this this crazy conspiracy written world where 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:47.200 you are one of the people who are running around 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.240 trying to to solve the world's problems and things you 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:52.200 do have real impact and it makes you feel, like 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.040 he wrote, it's kind of awesome. Um, well, QR codes 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:57.120 could play a big part in that. I mean, imagine 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.520 that you create a movie that's all about conspiracy theories, 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.280 and you create the posters for this movie, and you 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:06.400 have in the corner of the poster a little QR code, 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.559 and if you scan the QR code with a a smartphone, 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.240 then it pulls up maybe a page of information. You've 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.000 got You've got four thousand alpha numeric characters you can 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:17.960 play with. You might have a secret message in there 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.960 directed to people who are going to take the time 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:23.280 to scan that, or it may send you to a 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:26.960 website that starts you on this journey. And it's a 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:29.480 great way to pull people in. And the thing about 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:32.640 the thing one of the reasons why advertisers love QR 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:36.520 codes is because even though it only hits a small 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:41.280 percentage of the population, uh, you know, only a fraction 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:43.960 of the people who see an advertisement with a QR 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:46.280 code are going to take the time to actually scan 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.920 that QR code, right right, But that section of the 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:52.560 population is the are the people you want to go for, 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.560 because one, they are engaged, they're interested enough in whatever 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.280 is going on to take the time to scan that, 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:04.000 so you already have their attention. Too. They are at 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:07.960 least somewhat affluent because they have a device capable of 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:11.760 scanning a QR code. So it's insidious right, you've got 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:16.680 this engaged somewhat wealthy or at least they have some 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:20.280 discretionary income. Uh. This audience here, that's who you want 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:24.600 when you're selling stuff. So uh, in a way, we're 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.320 playing to their um, to their game. And also we 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.320 should keep in mind that if it's a QR code 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:32.760 where you are using it to to navigate to a 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:36.360 web page, they can time stamp when you come to 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.040 their web page and they can even get the information 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.640 depending on on the way they've they've coded the page 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:46.160 to know when and approximately where you are when you 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:50.200 navigate to that that website. So now they have even 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.280 more information on you. So they know one you're engaged to, 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.400 you are you have enough money to have a smartphone? Three, 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.200 they know what time you visited the site and for 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:04.160 where you are. Mm hmm. No, Now that's not so 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:06.080 scary to the point where you know you're gonna have 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:08.560 guys in black suits knock on your door in the 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:10.360 middle of the night and escort you to a secret 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:15.800 military base, unless you're playing a really cool alternate reality game. Um. 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:17.920 But it's one of those things where you know you've 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:20.120 got to remember, like, yeah, these things are fun and 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:21.880 they give you a lot of information. But they don't 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:25.080 just give you a lot of information. They give the 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.640 people behind the QR code a little information. It might 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:30.280 not be a lot, it may not be enough to 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:34.640 invade your privacy, but it's still something to think about. Yeah. Yeah, well, 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:36.840 and and the thing is, the people who are collecting 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.640 this type of information don't are They're not really interested 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.000 in doing those things. They want marketing information because for 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:46.760 them it's more valuable anyway, it's a sure thing. So 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.160 let's talk a little bit about how this actually works 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.720 because it's kind of interesting. Um, there are different zones 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:56.080 on a QR code, and there are different boxes that 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.880 that mean different things. So those those three larger boxes 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.480 that are in the corners the or three of the 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:04.720 corners the the again the top right, top left, and 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:08.400 bottom left, those corners that that's that's a those are 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.159 positioning so it helps identify the fact that, yes, this 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.399 is a QR code. There the smaller boxes in the 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.399 bottom right corner. It's in set a little bit, but 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:19.720 it's got its own little border around it. That's an 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:25.480 alignment box, and that helps the the software determine, uh 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:29.480 the angle that the camera is at because that's one thing, right. 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:31.720 You can't predict how a person is going to hold 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:33.760 the camera when they take up an image of a 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:38.119 QR code, So the QR code has to be readable 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.639 from various angles and distances. Otherwise it's not useful. If 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:45.359 if you always had to be directly above the QR 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:49.120 code at a specific distance, it would be it wouldn't 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:53.000 be user friendly enough for it to have wide adoption. 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:59.160 So using the distance and the orientation of these boxes 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.400 in relation to one another, the software on your scanner, 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:04.640 and your scanner again is just a piece of software 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.760 that's on your smartphones. Using your camera, the software can 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:11.399 determine the orientation of that QR code, the angle, and 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.680 then be able to take that into account when reading 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:16.919 the other dots that are further in the center. That's 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:20.960 where the actual data is encoded, um it, you know, 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.800 just based upon which areas are covered in black ink 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.919 and which ones aren't. That's where it learns, you know, 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:30.679 this is what it translates into, this this particular kind 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.240 of information. But it has to be able to determine 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:37.160 that orientation and angle first, or else the distance may 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:40.199 not seem quite right, you know, it may look like 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:44.000 to two blocks of black ink are further apart than 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:46.960 they actually are, which would that would that would mean 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:50.240 that it would uh identify the information incorrectly if that 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:54.080 were the case. So there's actually some error correction in 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:57.160 this QR software as well. Yes, it's a matter of fact. 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:00.280 You can do damage to the QR code and within 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.600 a reasonable amount of damage, the QR code can still 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.480 be read because of the error correction. Yeah. Without that 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:09.520 error correction, then you would have some real problems. Whenever 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.640 let's say that you put a poster with a QR code, 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:17.280 but you put on, say a a light post or 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:19.920 or a telephone pole. Um Now, so now you're talking 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:22.920 about a surface that's curved, it's no longer a flat surface. 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:26.359 Well that could, uh, that could make the QR code 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:29.680 look a little funky to the camera. But the error 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:33.000 correction in the q R software is more often than 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:36.200 not capable of taking that into account and still giving 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:38.679 you the correct information on that QR code, assuming that 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:41.320 no one's gone in and like use the black marker 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:45.199 to blackout half of the code. So it's it's a 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:50.120 very robust kind of software and it's a very simple, 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.840 um uh code. Actually, if you I mean, it's not 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:58.000 hard to build an application that can actually encode information 0:19:58.000 --> 0:19:59.920 in the q R format. In fact, there are plenty 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.800 out there that lets you do it for free. Yeah. 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:05.919 I've created several QR codes just for fun. Uh, I 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:09.720 just use the website, um that you can, and there 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:11.560 are several out there that you you can just plug 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:15.440 in a r L or even a short message. Um, 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:17.760 you know, and and uh printed out. One of the 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:19.719 things that you'll notice if you do that though, if 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:22.600 you know, you start playing around when you have something 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:25.680 fairly short, the boxes are are considerably larger. You can 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:27.760 once you've done this a couple of times, you can 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:29.960 look at a QR code and go, Okay, that one 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.080 has a lot of text in it, and this one 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.639 over here doesn't. Just by just by looking at it 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:37.880 and just from the experience of having having played around 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.120 with it, you'll be able to tell. But um, yeah, 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:45.240 the Denzel Wave website has some information that sort of 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:49.240 suggests that, uh, you know, it takes some special equipment. 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:53.520 And at this point, um, they're so common that you know, 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:56.960 you really don't need anything very special. I mean, you 0:20:56.960 --> 0:20:59.159 could you could print them out on on stickers. They 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:00.560 don't have to be you know, it could be something 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:02.479 that you pick up at your office supply store if 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:04.119 you wanted to do that, or you know, just a 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.560 plain piece of paper that you put up with a 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:10.720 piece of tape. UM. It really doesn't take anything special. 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:13.159 You just want to make sure that that there's not 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:16.960 a lot of blurring. But even there UM marketing companies 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:20.800 now that it's become common to use QR codes for 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:24.840 these purposes, marketing companies are starting to experiment with them 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:30.160 and add things like color and designs within that because uh, 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:33.800 again it sort of depends on how much information you 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:35.960 have stored in there. If you don't have very much information, 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:37.919 if it's like a a short U r L, the 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:40.280 r L to your company, for example, you could put 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:44.440 a design that's pleasing to the human eye in there. 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:47.159 I've seen all kinds of of things. I actually have 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:50.199