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Enough with the QR Codes

ramisayar.com

21–30 of 76 posts

Re: Enough with the QR Codes

#21
I like the QR codes at Best Buy; I use them all the time when I'm just starting to research electronics and I make a visit to one of their stores. It's convenient, I can store it on my iphone for later, and I can read user reviews, etc.

That being said, I'm not sure if they help or hurt sales because when I do scan a QR code, I typically end up doing comparison shopping and typically Best Buy's prices don't compete well with online retailers.

Re: Enough with the QR Codes

#23

I like the QR codes at Best Buy; I use them all the time when I'm just starting to research electronics and I make a visit to one of their stores. It's convenient, I can store it on my iphone for later, and I can read user reviews, etc. That being said, I'm not sure if they help or hurt sales because when I do scan a QR code, I typically end up doing comparison shopping and typically Best Buy's prices don't compete w…

I'm on the wrong side of the planet to check, but I'm bet reasonable money that Best Buy are running privacy-dubious redirection/browser-fingerprinting/analytics on the urls those QR code send you too.

Or if they're not, does anyone have a contact in marketing at Best Buy?

Re: Enough with the QR Codes

#24
I think in SOME situations it's a good thing to have. But there are some horrible uses, such as while I was driving down the interstate the other day, on the complete opposite side to which I was driving, there was a billboard for the National Guard that had a QR code.

There is no way in hell I am or evan can pull out my phone, open the qr reader app, point it at that billboard in a steady enough motion WHILE driving 70mph on the OTHER SIDE of the highway and go to their website. We aren't even supposed to be using devices while driving and the freaking National Guard does that. I hope our tax dollars (wishful thinking, I know) didn't go to this. But it's plain ridiculous.

Re: Enough with the QR Codes

#25
post #7

Context is everything. For example, QR codes are huge in Japan. Witness this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myzLAXtqoa8&feature=playe... ! People literally lining up to take snapshots of QR codes.

The current use of QR codes in Japan seems to mainly be for specials, bargains and contests tied to a physical location (i.e. you don't want it to spread virally). For instance, when a new single is released, they'll put up QR codes that link to random cell phone wallpaper downloads in different record stores, to get you to go around and collect them all (and presumably spend money).

For regular ads, it seems advertisers have moved to the method of showing a picture of a search bar+button with the keywords to find the homepage pre-filled out. (URLs are much harder to remember than words, especially when you barely know any english). I think this practice has come with the rise of smartphones and laptops).

I have lined up for a QR code here. But the site it linked to didn't support smartphone...

Re: Enough with the QR Codes

#26
> Firstly, that’s a huge security risk in my mind, it’s like I am trying to open an email attachment from an unknown sender because nobody knows who put up these ads.

It's not like opening an email attachment, it's more like opening a URL. The only documented QR code attack I know of consists of a QR code with a malicious URL (http://isc.sans.edu/diary.html?storyid=12760). The QR code only served as a 'mask' to the URL, where the users were too ignorant to look at the URL before visiting it.

I don't think embedding malicious code in a QR code is practical or possible, mostly because the amount of data it can hold is very small. The only binary format I know of that is commonly used on a QR code is vCard; the rest are plaintext based formats.

Re: Enough with the QR Codes

#27
post #7

Context is everything. For example, QR codes are huge in Japan. Witness this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myzLAXtqoa8&feature=playe... ! People literally lining up to take snapshots of QR codes.

Playing the Japan card during discussion of a cultural phenomenon is the equivalent of playing the Hitler card in a political debate.

If there's one thing that's clear, it's that they will do absolutely anything in Japan.

EDIT: In Japan, this is the kind of thing they watch on TV: http://youtu.be/xqoXcLqVemA

Re: Enough with the QR Codes

#28
If QR codes were automatically detected with the iPhone camera app, they would boom.

95 percent of the problem is non-tech people don't know they need an app to scan or can't be bothered with getting one.

I've literally seen a friend of mine try to take a photo of a QR code and complain it doesn't work.

It's like having a PC without a web browser -- what the hell do you do with a URL then?

Re: Enough with the QR Codes

#29
I do believe I've found a decent use for them - I wrote an app that can push an iOS mobile provisioning wifi profile to an iPhone - this allows your guests to scan a QR code to have their iOS device connect to your wifi network (without directly sharing your WPA key with them). You can even geofence the QR code so that if it is scanned > 1/2 mile from your home, the profile will not be pushed.

You must use RedLaser to scan the QR code - it is the only that pushes URLs out to Safari (instead of to an internal web-view) which allows the profile to be pushed.

http://www.getonmywifi.com.

Re: Enough with the QR Codes

#30
Essentially the biggest reason they are used so much is because of the argument "why not?"

I was in a meeting with the organisers of a pretty big consumer tech event, a couple of clever, successful people, and they mentioned that they were going to be putting QR codes on nearly all branding at the event we were discussing. I, slightly rudely, chuckled and asked why on earth they would do that; the answer: "We've found a site where you can make them really, really cheap - like, almost free - so we might as well!"

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