Hand drawn alternative to QR codes? Writing the URL down in letters?
If the problem is machine recognition of handwriting, the Graffiti alphabet is both human readable and writable and easy enough for a 32MHz 68030-ish CPU to recognize in realtime.
Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
41–50 of 140 posts
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#42Very novel, but I feel like its fundamentally flawed; for most people it would easier to remember a URL than it would be to remember a 'meshtag'.
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#43As many have already discussed that this is akin to a URL shortener, and not stand alone (like QR is ), I have a different question. Your app has in-app-purchases. Please provide examples how you are monetizing this? Also, I notice you use a G+ identity to tie all codes to, yet your pictures shows "Anonymous" as creator. Is that really anonymous, or fakenonymous?
It appears you'll be able to purchase tags. No info on how long the purchase lasts for.
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#44Unfortunately, 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…
> Unfortunately, and unlike a QR code, the data is not encoded in the drawing itself.
Obviously, there is data in the drawing. Just that data is a symbol which is resolved through some proprietary app, which maintains the association in a private database where it is subject to expiry and such.
Just some third party has to develop an independent app to open up access to the data in the drawing and use it outside of the original system.
There might not be enough data in the drawing for it to satsify the same use cases as QR codes.
For private labeling, it could be good enough.
For private labeling, though, I'd prefer something that just scans alphanumeric labels, and not some silly triangles. I don't want to rack my brain inventing a triangle code for my Lady Diana collectible #153 that is different from those which I tacked onto 1 through 152. :)
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#45As many have already discussed that this is akin to a URL shortener, and not stand alone (like QR is ), I have a different question. Your app has in-app-purchases. Please provide examples how you are monetizing this? Also, I notice you use a G+ identity to tie all codes to, yet your pictures shows "Anonymous" as creator. Is that really anonymous, or fakenonymous?
As for monetization, I figured why the hell not. If somebody really wants to buy a simple meshtag that they can memorize and reuse (maybe it has their contact info), I'm not gonna stop them :). This isn't really a moneymaking scheme, this is a side project and my first Android/iOS app.
As for anonymity, it's anonymous to other users. If you deselect the anonymous checkbox when editing the tag, other users will see your name, and that's it
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#46> No. Unlike QR codes, meshtags of any color on any background can be scanned. There just needs to be enough contrast between the meshtag and its background, and the background must be a solid color. qr codes can be any color, just need to have enough contrast, also depending on the redundancy level of it you can actually omit a significant fraction of the qr code and still have it scan
You can take it up to 11 like this: http://files.rya.nc/qr.png
I don't see anything on your blog about how that QR code can possibly work (I just scanned it, it does work, but my eyes tell me that's impossible)
You have any background on how that QR was constructed?
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#47Funny, not long ago I created a writing system that worked on the same principle. It proved a bit too unwieldy for writing but it was a fun exercise.
Have you heard of elian script? This reminds me a bit of it. Also, elian script is fairly easy to write once you get the hang of it, if you were very good at it it could be faster than the latin alphabet, as it takes less movements per character.
Just looked it up. Interesting. Thanks.
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#48"A meshtag is a "drawable barcode" that you can create by drawing straight line segments at 6 different angles." I count only three angles. The entire grid can be constructed via a series of parallel lines extending infinintely: one horizontal, one diagonal left, one diagonal right. There aren't any other angles.
This is what I need you guys for!
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#49So this is a program that can analyze an image for a structured drawing, encode it as a unique bit-stream, and translate that bit-stream into a URL.
I can very easily draw "https://goo.gl/e0aeeD" on a chalkboard. Android users could use Google Goggles to grab the text without typing it in, and paste the URL into Chrome. If I had to, I could leave off the "https://" part, and it could still work.
I get how it's easier to process the triangle-based image into a usable bit-stream than it is to do OCR, but how does that make things easier for the user?
Re: Show HN: A Hand-Drawn QR Code Alternative
#50I still remember how this went.
Connect the dots… la, la, la-la.
