There was a Media Lab project that did something similar 2 years ago -- and is open source https://github.com/JeremyRubin/Graffiti-codes
Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
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Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
All the snarky and negative comments on anything that gets created here is really turning me off. Been using HN for a long time, but it might be time to move on.
OT On snarky and negative comments: you haven't seen habrahabr.ru, a site that fills the niche of HN for Russian speakers almost exactly and is sort of most respected here in tech. It has good articles and often publishes Russian translations of top HN items with about a week's delay. AND it feels like you're walking into a prison cell full of uncivilized criminals cursing at each other when you get to the comments.…
I agree, it's the best I've seen on the internet. Still, I wonder if it would do any good if the site admins would post some kind of civility reminder every month or so, to remind people what good conduct looks like - with examples.
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#93It's a confusing solution for a problem that does not exist, which is how to use a pen to draw readable shapes, a problem many of us learned how to solve in elementary school.[0] [0] http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/lette...
Sorry, but the problem is how to use a pen to draw machine readable shapes. Machines find reading QR codes and OP's triangles easier than reading letters.
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#94Unfortunately, and unlike a QR code, the data is not encoded in the drawing itself, which means an Internet connection is always needed. For URL sharing the Internet connection requirement is not so much of a problem (you'd always need that connection for browsing to the URL, unless it's a local or data URL), for everything else it may be. Also, once the Meshtag service goes down or closes for good, all tags become i…
This is more like an URL shortener than like a QR code.
A URL shortener that requires a proprietary app instead of a web browser.
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#95It's a confusing solution for a problem that does not exist, which is how to use a pen to draw readable shapes, a problem many of us learned how to solve in elementary school.[0] [0] http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/lette...
Sorry, but the problem is how to use a pen to draw machine readable shapes. Machines find reading QR codes and OP's triangles easier than reading letters.
Seems like a more durable solution would be making an encoding of the alphabet that's easier for machines to read.
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry, but the problem is how to use a pen to draw machine readable shapes. Machines find reading QR codes and OP's triangles easier than reading letters.
Seems like a more durable solution would be making an encoding of the alphabet that's easier for machines to read.
Morse code, alpha bravo charlie, ASCII... there's actually a long history of doing this. Maybe not one meant for easy of memorization and drawing though. Even Mark Whatney had to be taught Morse code on Mars.
(Yes the phonetic alphabet is meant for ease of hearing by people, but writing a program to understand 26 distinct sounds can't be nearly as hard as natural language transcription.)
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry, but the problem is how to use a pen to draw machine readable shapes. Machines find reading QR codes and OP's triangles easier than reading letters.
Seems like a more durable solution would be making an encoding of the alphabet that's easier for machines to read.
Like the one we've used on bank cheques* for all of time
MICR E13-B: http://www.micr-fonts.com/MICRfont/micrfont.html
(*British. )
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#98I mean this honestly. Do people actually even use QR codes? Filling up your phone with a bunch of hi-res pictures of bar codes, not to mention having to load: 1. QR code app 2. camera app 3. browser app These things are 100% in the gimmick column in my life.
WeChat (A very popular communication app, ~550 million active users) uses QR codes as a way to add contacts. The app will display a QR code and people you have just met can scan the code to send a friend request. People use this feature quite a bit. It saves time over ensuring that the other party is typing your name correctly.
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#99hey, this is wonderful. it would be great if street painters adopted this to communicate with their audience. i would love to go into a tunnels with cool street paintings and scan these signs and get access to playlists, videos and messages that the painter wants us to visit. these cool triangles could become symbols of an underground movement if promoted in these communities.
Except that the meshtags won't last forever by design.
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#100Even though everyone else is talking about this as an impractical solution, I think it's clever at least.
I don't know that I would ever use it, but I like the novel concept of it. If this was just a for-fun kind of project, I'd think it was pretty awesome. If you're trying to market it as a business, you're going to run into all the problems everyone else has already mentioned.