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The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

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Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#51

Post by digi_owl »

pwinnski wrote: post #50
digi_owl wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did i strike a nerve?

We get it. You don't like Tumblr. Really, we get it. It's completely irrelevant to the fact that QR codes have been a punchline in the west since shortly after their introduction, but yes, we understand that you don't like Tumblr. That's the takeaway.

Not really Tumblr, but what it represents. A focus on form over function, for lack of a better explanation.

The west have gotten a very warped idea of "social" these days. Where we will decide of we accept some tech or not depending on how it makes us look on the social sphere more than how it will help us in our daily lives.

Tumblr as a service seems like a focal point of this warping, by way of shaming everything "we" don't approve of.

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#52

Post by digi_owl »

astrodust wrote: post #28
toinetoine wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And China also, the Weechat app uses them for so much: paying at restaurants, adding contacts, etc.

For explicit data transfer (e.g. point of sale payment, Bitcoin address exchange) they work well. For marketing they're stupid.

So we let one (ab)use of it tar and feather the whole technology in the social sphere. Gotta love how we approach tech these days...

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#53

Post by digi_owl »

rblatz wrote: post #17
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.

5-6 years ago when it seemed like every ad/poster ha a stupid QR code on it for no apparent reason.

And so one kind of (ab)use gets to dictate our entire perception of the tech? Are we really that shallow?

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#55

Post by astrodust »

digi_owl wrote: post #52
astrodust wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For explicit data transfer (e.g. point of sale payment, Bitcoin address exchange) they work well. For marketing they're stupid.

So we let one (ab)use of it tar and feather the whole technology in the social sphere. Gotta love how we approach tech these days...

What I mean is it's useful when people aren't being punched in the face with them. A QR code to pay for things makes sense. For consumers it's "scan this thing and it transfers", not unlike a tap. In that mode it's a transparent technology. Nobody needs to know what an RFID chip is, or what NFC means. They're all "tap to pay" or "tap to open door".

For other applications where the QR code itself is grandstanding as being somehow important or novel it's ridiculous. In other words, anything that says "Scan our QR code" is an automatic fail because you'll have to open a special app to read it, not the payment app that just happens to use them as a method of data exchange.

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#56

Post by scrollaway »

digi_owl wrote: post #51
pwinnski wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We get it. You don't like Tumblr. Really, we get it. It's completely irrelevant to the fact that QR codes have been a punchline in the west since shortly after their introduction, but yes, we understand that you don't like Tumblr. That's the takeaway.

Not really Tumblr, but what it represents. A focus on form over function, for lack of a better explanation. The west have gotten a very warped idea of "social" these days. Where we will decide of we accept some tech or not depending on how it makes us look on the social sphere more than how it will help us in our daily lives. Tumblr as a service seems like a focal point of this warping, by way of shaming everything "…

I flagged your posts because you're either trolling or actively trying to derail a conversation about QR codes to be about how you dislike Tumblr and "what it represents". Get a hold of yourself.

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#57

Post by astrodust »

pmlnr wrote: post #42
astrodust wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Robot barf on everything.

Sure, mate, robot. And it's kind of the case: if you read the article it starts with when x in 2014 in China ... WeChat...

WeChat doesn't always have a QR code showing. The idea is it shows up when you need it. If NFC takes over some day, so long QR codes.

Re: The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

#59

Post by nayuki »

crispyambulance wrote: post #46
oobey wrote: post #36

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.

I think they're great too, but they don't hold more info (per unit area) than other types of symbology like, for example, datamatrix. If you really want to stuff tons of data in the symbol itself, you need PDF417. That can be scanned by a specialized line scanner (admittedly not convenient for phone cameras) QR codes often encode URL's/URI's and the application typically hits up a database upon scanning them just lik…

It is not clear whether these statements are true.

* QR codes mandate a minimum of 15% area used for error correction and a maximum of 60%.

* Data Matrix codes mandate a minimum of 0% area used for error correction and a maximum of 50%.

* The amount of overhead in QR codes (finders, timing, alignment) is probably in the same ballpark as Data Matrix codes (black lines, checkered lines).

* PDF417 codes demand low vertical resolution (e.g. 15 thick steps) but high horizontal resolution (e.g. 200 thin steps). They are hard to scan on a phone camera. Although this thick-thin design is appropriate for line scanners, the asymmetry in horizontal-vertical information density leads to poor information density overall and higher susceptibility to damage and unreadable barcodes. Square primitive blocks make sense because they are more spatially balanced.

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