QR-Code

Last year, when we had the idea of organizing the First international QR-tales Contest (tales that fit in a qrcode) we couldn’t imagine it would reach a minimum success to consider the possibility of a second edition.

But, a year later, here we are, announcing the second edition of the most freaky contest of the literary scene:

The guilty, is all the people who last year racked one’s brain to write a tale that fits into a qrcode, despite it means contain just 100 characters. The result was 332 tales from more than 15 different countries. To all of them, qr-writers, thanks!

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A few days ago, we were surprised about the great number of ideas going around on internet on the uses of qrcodes in educational environments. Is seems that teachers have recently discovered the eyecathing power of qrcodes and they start using them to liven up learning activities.

So, we decided to write a post about this topic commenting some of the best and most curious proposals about qrcodes pedagogical possibilities. Here they are:

The periodic table of chemical elements

An italian university student designed a curious poster based on the classic periodic table but adding a qrcode to each element. The code containes the complet name of the element, its atomic weight an its density.

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Last november, Pepsi annouced they’re launching of a marketing campain in the United Kingdom based on qrcodes. The codes would be printed on 400 Million cans, and they would drive you into a especially designed for mobiles Pepsi website , offering games, rigtones and wallpapers…

Some months after, through  2D Code Blog, we heard about the last news related this campain. Pepsi signed up the model Kelly Brook to explain what qr-codes are and to promote them on different signs:

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Qrcode.es bunch moved last 9th Jannuary to Alicante with the assignment to give a lecture on the QR-Codes subject in the Camon Center (a New Technologies Center).

The talk was divided in two parts. First, we tried to explain: what a qrcode is, which was its origin and evolution, how do they work, which are the most common uses and a little ‘bits and pieces” related to this kind of codes.  And the second part was an interactive game, based on qrcodes distributed all around the city.

The video is avalaible on the camon website but only in Spanish.  In case you’re just interested on seeing our faces, it works the same.

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It seems, we’re not the only ones who think qrcodes are the future (this is the moment we could say “Told you so!”… but we won’t…)

The magazine WIRED, one of the most prestigious and influental journal about new technologies, publishes every month an ilustration or photo collage making a some future predictions

The last predition included on the Artifacts from the Future’s Section (Jan 09) was the following:

(Watch carefully the qrcode into HappyMeal packaging)It’s very significant that Wired include a qr-code into its particular view of the future, even if it doesn’t seem a very utopic future…

It’s december, so we’ve thought it’s a good moment to set the classic good intentions for the new year: our ”new year resolutions”.

With this post, we would like to make a purpose for a common good intention for 2009: start new design on the new year thinking, a little bit more, on users with different resolutions, and from differents access devices.

On the following table, just to take one anecdothic case, there’s a distribution of qrcode.es Blog visitors based on their screen resolution.  (Source: Google Analytics)

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The qr-codes are also conquering the art world.

Today, we’ve known that the next Festival Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo de Barcelona (BAC!08)  will include a huge canvas with more than 500 QRcodes.

The name of the work is LIVESHOW! and it’s divided in two parts: a qrcoded mural and a bluetotooh dish or antenna which will allow visitors to download free a qrcode reader application on their mobile phones.

With the application installed on the phone, visitors will be able to decode the messages on the qrcodes: 500 famous slogans on ads from international brands.

The artist, Sergio Kano,  considers/explaines the work “(…) shows in a subliminal and direct way, the reality of a social phenomena, the communication one, and more directly, the advertising one, and its influence on human’s life(…)

If you’re interested on seeing it inperson, you could found LiveShow! on the CCCB Museum in Barcelona from 2nd to 28th December. Come on, it’s on ours! ( Yes,… it’s free)

For further information:

http://www.bacfestival.com/2008/index.html

http://www.sergiokano.es/projects/liveshow/liveshow.html

http://www.cccb.org/ca/

One year ago, when we launched this blog, QR-codes had just came into fashion in Japan meanwhile in Spain nobody knew knows what a QR-code was is.

Lately, we’ve seen some interesting iniciatives with QRcodes involved in Spain, but the users are still a minority.

There is a list of technological reasons that were holding back the QR-code expansion in Spain:

- Not all the mobile phones in Spain comes with camera/ Camera included in mobile phones was not so common in Spain and photo resolutions/quality was not good enough to read qr-codes.

- Internet access from cellphones was not really widespread, and the prices were really elevated.

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Maybe because we’ve been looking for a new office during months, in qrcode.es we lately feel very aware of real-state issues.

So, we really appreciate the idea of Idealista.com, commented on the last post. The only point was Idealista.com poster was too small to hang it on a balcony. So in qrcode.es we made our own version. It is a little less discreet but…

PS: If you’re looking forward to know the end of our real-state adventure, we finally got a new office!

Lately, internet have changed the way people look for a flat.

Despite this change, on-line ads with photos, virtual 3D visits, and google maps haven’t substituted completely the traditional paper posters yet.

According to this, the spanish real state website Idealista.com offers now the possibility of link your on-line ad with a paper one using a QR-code.

If you have an ad placed at Idealista.com, you can either go to LABS section and download a PDF version of your flat ad ready-to-print or do so when publishing.

This poster includes some data, a photo, and a QR-code with the URL of the on-line ad, so as to make easier the access to the complete index card, with the rest of the photos, videos and extra data.
In crisis times, any idea to sell a flat could become really useful.

Thanks to Fernando for this information!