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The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

wired.com

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Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#31

Post by digi_owl »

mrspeaker wrote: post #16
digi_owl wrote: post #9

Maybe i am completely out of the WXSW loop but when did QR become a joke? To me it always seemed like a nice and simple piece of tech.

Like, forever: http://picturesofpeoplescanningqrcodes.tumblr.com/ They just never caught on in the west - but for a while at least they were popular in Japan (maybe they still are). For me if I see a QR code and there's also a printed url then I'll just google it faster than finding my qr app. If it was more complex data than that it might be useful but I'm looking in my QR code history and I don't see them being use…

Ah yes, Tumblr. I rest my case...

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#32

Post by pishpash »

teddyh wrote: post #19
rsync wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Scanning QR codes to enter an address when making a transaction is pretty much the only feasible option I know of. Manually entering a very long random string is too much of a hassle, especially if you'd want to do real-world transactions." You can use an Oh By Code.[1] From the "HN FAQ":[2] "You don't need any software or tools to create them. You don't need a reader or an app to read them. You can write them down…

That’s basically an URL shortener without the URL part. A centralized service to store all your codes and the logs of all accesses. In short, a twitter for pastebin. No thanks.

Store all your messages with a random site, what could possibly go wrong?

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#33

Post by rsync »

teddyh wrote: post #19
rsync wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Scanning QR codes to enter an address when making a transaction is pretty much the only feasible option I know of. Manually entering a very long random string is too much of a hassle, especially if you'd want to do real-world transactions." You can use an Oh By Code.[1] From the "HN FAQ":[2] "You don't need any software or tools to create them. You don't need a reader or an app to read them. You can write them down…

That’s basically an URL shortener without the URL part. A centralized service to store all your codes and the logs of all accesses. In short, a twitter for pastebin. No thanks.

"That’s basically an URL shortener without the URL part."

Close. It is an everything shortener.

URLs are indeed something you could shorten, and I would argue that it is the best URL shortener because it has no javascript, tracking, login, etc. and no ads/delay on redirect.

But I don't know how relevant or useful URL shortening is in 2017.

As for logs of accesses, you are right to be cautious and be mindful of your risk profile / threat model. However, it's worth noting that you can create Oh By Codes completely anonymously.

"Twitter for pastebin" - thanks, that's a good line :)

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#34

Post by nayuki »

This article gets many things wrong. First, I don't understand why they call QR codes "dreaded". They are simply a standard for communication, not unlike writing down an http:// URL in human-readable text.

> Don't look now, but QR codes have begun to creep back. They have different names now—Snap Codes and Spotify Codes and Messenger Codes and Other Things Codes—and a much improved sense of style, but the idea hasn't changed.

Snapchat ID codes and Facebook Messenger ID codes are NOT based on QR Code technology. They don't look remotely the same. My guess is that they are proprietary and have no published standard. Because of their geometry and layout, they both probably have much lower raw information density than QR codes.

What's funny is that in China QR codes are commonly called by the generic name of 二維條碼 (two-dimensional barcodes), but the Wired article makes the opposite mistake of calling every 2D barcode as "QR Code".

However, note that WeChat/Weixin/微信 2D barcodes are valid QR codes. (The picture in the middle is treated as a correctable error.)

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#35

Post by dmoy »

rsync wrote: post #21
digi_owl wrote: post #9

Maybe i am completely out of the WXSW loop but when did QR become a joke? To me it always seemed like a nice and simple piece of tech.

I think you are indeed out of the loop, as this has been a punchline for several years now and is often mentioned in HN threads discussing QR Codes: http://picturesofpeoplescanningqrcodes.tumblr.com/ I myself have never seen or heard of anyone actually using a QR code. However I read with great interest the HN thread two days ago about how cashless purchasing is done in China with wechat and QR codes, etc. This is al…

Yea last time we went back to China to visit relatives, every other person we saw in a store or restaurant was buying by using a qr code. People rented bicycles using qr codes.

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#36

Post by oobey »

Our software uses QR codes for inventory tracking. They're absolutely wonderful - you can store loads of data in a format that's very easily parsed by handheld scanning devices. So much data that you can completely do away with having to call out to a central database for item information, as you do with bar codes.

QR codes are great, and I never understood why they're treated as such a joke.

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#38

Post by rsync »

pishpash wrote: post #32
teddyh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s basically an URL shortener without the URL part. A centralized service to store all your codes and the logs of all accesses. In short, a twitter for pastebin. No thanks.

Store all your messages with a random site, what could possibly go wrong?

"Store all your messages with a random site, what could possibly go wrong?"

We don't think of it as storage - although you can indeed use it as such. We think of it as messaging. Oh By gives you a way to send messages to unknown people at unknown future dates which don't require any special tooling (apps) to decode.

You can just take a piece of chalk and write your message on the sidewalk.

As for longevity, I think we have a good track record having run rsync.net for 16 years now.

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#39

Post by drawkbox »

QR codes are making a blip comeback mainly because people have their cameras on more for augmented reality and computer vision will be more and more used.

Before you had to actually open up an app to scan one, now you might already be in an app that is constantly scanning for AR targets, UPC, QR codes etc. In a few apps we have done that use AR for retail they look for AR targets/trackers, cloud targets, marks, UPC, qr codes, and more.

Along those lines, Vuforia AR has VuMarks[1] that are replacements for their framemarker targets (similar to QR codes) that are further on the mark detection.

With augmented experiences we'll definitely be scanning more with cameras already on in the future. So there will be more marks/scannables out there.

[1] https://library.vuforia.com/articles/Training/VuMark

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#40

Post by nayuki »

fhood wrote: post #2

Can someone explain to me what the advantages of QR codes are over bar codes or other similar methods?

QR codes are much more information-dense than 1D barcodes. Try encoding a string like "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" (43 ASCII characters) using these tools and seeing how much space they take up:

* https://www.nayuki.io/page/1d-barcode-generator-javascript

* https://www.nayuki.io/page/qr-code-generator-library

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