Hand Drawn QR Codes (2025) • Hacker News Board

Re: Hand Drawn QR Codes (2025)

#31

Post by thesuitonym » Tue, May 05, 2026, 1:24 PM UTC

zf00002 wrote: post #29

Anyone else scan their random junk that has QR codes to see where it goes? I've found a fair number of stuff has codes that do nothing. Bought an extra garage door opener remote, qr code on it does nothing. Got some SwitchBot gear, qr codes do absolutely nothing.

QR codes were invented for inventorying and labeling. Sending links to your phone is a side effect.

Re: Hand Drawn QR Codes (2025)

#32

Post by rossant » Tue, May 05, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC

zf00002 wrote: post #29

Anyone else scan their random junk that has QR codes to see where it goes? I've found a fair number of stuff has codes that do nothing. Bought an extra garage door opener remote, qr code on it does nothing. Got some SwitchBot gear, qr codes do absolutely nothing.

They likely encode not URLs for the public, but internal identifiers that are only useful internally.

Re: Hand Drawn QR Codes (2025)

#33

Post by throw0101c » Tue, May 05, 2026, 2:43 PM UTC

2024 video from Veritasium on QR codes:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5ebcowAJD8

Re: Hand Drawn QR Codes (2025)

#34

Post by voidUpdate » Tue, May 05, 2026, 2:49 PM UTC

jiehong wrote: post #21

thih9 wrote: post #14

> (besides micro QR codes) In case anyone else is interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectangular_Micro_QR_Code

this makes me wonder if there is an `infinite` version of QR Code that can be streamed from a printer (well, I guess things can be chunked).

QR codes generally want a marker on all four corners, so streaming one infinitely would mean that some of them would never be printed. You also need a certain amount of whitespace around a QR code so you can't just smush them together to make it looks like one infinite code. You might be able to make an infinite barcode though

Re: Hand Drawn QR Codes (2025)

#35

Post by ProllyInfamous » Tue, May 05, 2026, 4:21 PM UTC

ButlerianJihad wrote: post #25

alexpotato wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a tweet a while back where I guy was riding a train in China and took a photo of the QR code for his seat. He mentioned that you can use the QR code to order food and drinks delivered directly to you. About 5 minutes later there was another tweet from him where: - someone saw the original tweet (Guy 2) - scanned the QR code - ordered the OP a drink - added a note to the order saying it was from Guy 2 Always…

A cautionary tale if your QR Code® is a ticket for the big show, or opens up your HIPAA portal somewhere QR Code® is [sic] registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.

>QR Code®

|| cries into genericized Kleenex™ ||

Re: Hand Drawn QR Codes (2025)

#36

Post by smurpy » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:09 PM UTC

jiehong wrote: post #21

thih9 wrote: post #14

> (besides micro QR codes) In case anyone else is interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectangular_Micro_QR_Code

this makes me wonder if there is an `infinite` version of QR Code that can be streamed from a printer (well, I guess things can be chunked).

Interesting connections with motion jpeg, animated gif and RFB (Remote Frame Buffer as used by VNC). The latter has me particularly curious, though all of them seem like mad hacks in search of faint excuses. Imagining a bi-directional link, still though, without any idea of WHY beyond "Because it was there".

Re: Hand Drawn QR Codes (2025)

#37

Post by opan » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

zf00002 wrote: post #29

Anyone else scan their random junk that has QR codes to see where it goes? I've found a fair number of stuff has codes that do nothing. Bought an extra garage door opener remote, qr code on it does nothing. Got some SwitchBot gear, qr codes do absolutely nothing.

I used to in the mid 2000s but they kinda lost their magic for me at some point. They briefly regained the magic when I realized I could encode arbitrary text and make my own, but then I had so much trouble scanning the giant QR code I made (from printer paper) that the magic was gone again.

Re: Hand Drawn QR Codes (2025)

#38

Post by moralestapia » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:20 PM UTC

zf00002 wrote: post #29

Anyone else scan their random junk that has QR codes to see where it goes? I've found a fair number of stuff has codes that do nothing. Bought an extra garage door opener remote, qr code on it does nothing. Got some SwitchBot gear, qr codes do absolutely nothing.

>qr code on it does nothing

It's like in the 2000s when you opened an .exe and nothing seemed to happen ... bad news.

Re: Hand Drawn QR Codes (2025)

#39

Post by Groxx » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:29 PM UTC

scraft wrote: post #17

I saw similar engraved and then inked onto wooden boards at a restaurant, sadly, despite the error handling, 3 out of 4 I tried were not scannable, the 1 I did manage to scan to me to a reviews site for the restaurant (where a lot of reviews said they struggled to make the QR work - likely not the feedback the restaurant wanted)! I guess it kept me entertained whilst waiting for the bill.

yea - as nice as they can look, many scanners expect very high contrast and a clear, unbroken bright border around the whole thing (many stylized ones I see lack a border). lacking either will mean many failures.

Re: Hand Drawn QR Codes (2025)

#40

Post by sssilver » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC

I feel like Meshtag[1] was built for exactly this. The trick is that the symbol doesn't encode the link the way a QR code does -- it just references one on their server, so the drawing can be loose and imperfect and still resolve. The flipside is of course that if Meshtag ever shuts down, every tag in the world goes dead.

[1] http://www.meshtag.com