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Why QR Codes Are Here To Stay

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Re: Why QR Codes Are Here To Stay

#21

Post by franze »

artursapek wrote: post #13

Ever since I started seeing QR codes I, admittedly with a lack of interest anyway, just assumed that the iPhone/Android/Blackberry cameras all automatically detect the code and act on it in the built-in camera app, since it seemed like such a standard. It was disappointing to learn that wasn't really the case, and there's a bunch of competing third-party apps for doing it. It's amazing that it's gotten as far as it h…

if you wanna see people scanning QR codes, look no further, there is a website for that: http://replycam.com/browse.php

Re: Why QR Codes Are Here To Stay

#22

Post by jmesserly »

Here's what I don't get about QR codes: why not just use URLs and OCR them? OCR seems to be pretty good these days, and you could always print the URL with a font of your choice (e.g. pick something easy to OCR).

And you get this cool feature ... humans can read them, too.

Re: Why QR Codes Are Here To Stay

#23

Post by bostonvaulter2 »

grimen wrote: post #11
illicium wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, what? Can't all of these magical "state of the art image algorithms" be applied to scanning QR codes?

These algoritms can look for features in the image in a matter of milliseconds and match those against known ones (which is not a problem, the set can be huge withour performance impact if handle correctly). If you want to detect QR codes that works per definition of image detection, but you are not bound to such - a red shirt with a tiny tiny logotype is good enough characteristic. Not sure if I answered your questi…

But how do you know you can scan it in the first place?

Re: Why QR Codes Are Here To Stay

#24

Post by [deleted] »

franze wrote: post #21
artursapek wrote: post #13

Ever since I started seeing QR codes I, admittedly with a lack of interest anyway, just assumed that the iPhone/Android/Blackberry cameras all automatically detect the code and act on it in the built-in camera app, since it seemed like such a standard. It was disappointing to learn that wasn't really the case, and there's a bunch of competing third-party apps for doing it. It's amazing that it's gotten as far as it h…

if you wanna see people scanning QR codes, look no further, there is a website for that: http://replycam.com/browse.php

[deleted]

Re: Why QR Codes Are Here To Stay

#25

Post by querulous »

callmeed wrote: post #2

... says the CEO of a QR code startup. I've been anti-QR code for a while—partly just because I like playing devil's advocate—but mainly because I see little benefit and a lot of friction to use "in the real world" Now, please, someone on HN who isn't a QR-preneur tell me a story of how a QR code in the wild made your life better ...

i was at the beach a couple weeks ago, and a couple of volunteers with an organization that test local beaches for water safety came by and told me about their iphone/android app. i mostly listened politely, ignoring everything they said because there was no way i was going to search the app store for their app and install it when they handed me a card with a QR code on it. scanning it installed their app on my phone. i don't know that it made my life better, but it certainly removed a lot of friction in getting me to install their app.

Re: Why QR Codes Are Here To Stay

#26

Post by artursapek »

franze wrote: post #21
artursapek wrote: post #13

Ever since I started seeing QR codes I, admittedly with a lack of interest anyway, just assumed that the iPhone/Android/Blackberry cameras all automatically detect the code and act on it in the built-in camera app, since it seemed like such a standard. It was disappointing to learn that wasn't really the case, and there's a bunch of competing third-party apps for doing it. It's amazing that it's gotten as far as it h…

if you wanna see people scanning QR codes, look no further, there is a website for that: http://replycam.com/browse.php

Hahah wow. They seem to mostly be indoor shots. I guess I've just never seen anyone scanning one on a billboard or in a magazine in public.

Re: Why QR Codes Are Here To Stay

#27

Post by pagekalisedown »

andymism wrote: post #17
callmeed wrote: post #2

... says the CEO of a QR code startup. I've been anti-QR code for a while—partly just because I like playing devil's advocate—but mainly because I see little benefit and a lot of friction to use "in the real world" Now, please, someone on HN who isn't a QR-preneur tell me a story of how a QR code in the wild made your life better ...

This was a timely article as I recently had a fun time playing devil's advocate regarding QR codes in a friend's start up idea. She insists that they are a useful, convenient, and a big trend. I countered that they require too much effort and precision to be mainstream in their current incarnation. While the promised convenience sounds great (which was basically her argument), the current implementation does not live…

I've notice I've been using my business cards less and less over the years. Nowadays, it's more common for me to have the other people simply type-in their information directly into my iPhone.

Re: Why QR Codes Are Here To Stay

#28

Post by pak »

Here I'll give you a "real world hyperlink": print the damn URL in English so that I can remember it if I don't have my phone handy. If you're running a print ad you can afford a short snappy URL. Bonus, I can even use it on my laptop that doesn't have a QR code app! Or any other browser for that matter!

The main problem I have with QR codes is that humans can't read them. Therefore, they will be relegated forever to the sphere of computerish heiroglyphics that normal people will always ignore, because they have no obvious real world relevance. By way of contrast, most of the old EAN barcodes have the number printed under them, so a human can see what they encode when the barcode scanner breaks. QR codes, not so easy.

As suggested by another commenter, decide on some way of making the URL easy to OCR, perhaps by surrounding it with targeting sentinels and using a standard font. I mean, if Google Goggles can OCR text on a menu or poster in real time... a QR code is just making things complicated.

Also, let me tell you this really great joke: CueCat.

Re: Why QR Codes Are Here To Stay

#29

Post by andymism »

[deleted] wrote: post #20
andymism wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a timely article as I recently had a fun time playing devil's advocate regarding QR codes in a friend's start up idea. She insists that they are a useful, convenient, and a big trend. I countered that they require too much effort and precision to be mainstream in their current incarnation. While the promised convenience sounds great (which was basically her argument), the current implementation does not live…

[deleted]

> It could also be that they just aren't being implemented in a very intelligent way that makes them easy for people (or that the nerds are wrong–gasp! :)

I agree. They are not implemented in an intelligent way which makes them clumsy and painful to use.

My point about nerds is that us nerds are much more likely to live with pain to use fun, new tech. And as far as my experience from Google IO and my day-to-day work life, it doesn't seem to be the case here.

Re: Why QR Codes Are Here To Stay

#30

Post by buro9 »

A few simple thoughts about QR codes.

NFC fails on some advertising... advertising on a metro system? Your advert is likely to be the other side of some high voltage train tracks, no-one could scan the NFC, but people can still scan a QR code from that distance.

For transactions printed QR codes are a poor choice. A lot of the time transactions want to prove that you are there performing the transaction. As an example, think of payments and cardholder-not-present... the magnetic stripe and the chip on a debit card both hold more information (just a few extra bytes) than the 16-digit number printed on a card. It is possible to prove the debit card (and implicitly 'you') were there.

With QR codes someone is able to take a photo of a QR code and then scan it again else where. It's very hard to prove you were there for the sake of a transaction. Ignoring payments, think FourSquare check-ins that are tied to promotions where check-ins are done via QR scanning at a café, you're giving away a deal based on something you cannot prove and is open to fraud.

QR codes do help with transactions that don't require security, and with storing a fair amount of info in a dense area. Think vcards stored in a QR code on badges in a conference, or a bicycle with security QR stickers declaring ownership located in places where a bike mechanic would find them (under innertube on wheel rim, inside handlebars)... the ubiquity of QR readers (pretty much all smart phones) makes them ideal for communicating a small chunk of data to anyone and not requiring specialist equipment to read that data.

Where QR codes have weaknesses are related to storage of hidden data, and different values per instance of a code. Financial transactions depend on this to prove cardholder is present, and stock management depends on this to accurately count stock.

QR codes have their place (advertising, conference badges, tagging things, small chunks of dense data), and NFC has it's place (transactions, stock management). Sometimes these use cases overlap (conference badges) but mostly they do not.

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