QR code

Wikipedia says it is old and was created in 1994 but to me it is very new and a funky looking code! Though I wish it was pink and black instead of the boring white n black! 😛 ( Somethings just dont change! ). I first heard about it when my techie brother-in-law told me about some geek friends of his who has the icing of the cake in the form of a QR code of the flicker album url! I was totally fascinated by the idea and I am dedicating this post just for QR codes!
 

A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The “QR” is derived from “Quick Response”, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. QR Codes are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes. Moreover, most current Japanese mobile phones can read this code with their camera.

A giant QR Code linking to a website, to be read with a mobile phone. These kind of banners and messages invoke an instant interest in people to get to know what it really means and thus solve the purpose when it comes to getting publicity! 😛 

See, film stars are the only creatures who suffer from attention deficit disorder! 😛
 

Some features of QR codes that make them next thing to look out for are:

High Capacity of encoding Data

Conventional bar codes are capable of storing a maximum of approximately 20 digits, QR Code is capable of handling several dozen to several hundred times more information.

Small Printout Size

Unlike Bar code which hold information only horizontally, QR codes hold information both horizontally and vertically. This makes the printout size extremely small.

 Dirt and Damage Resistant

Even if the symbol is dirty or damaged, data can be restored.

Readable from any direction in 360°

This feature enables high speed reading. This is accomplished by position detection patterns in the code itself.

Structured Append Feature

QR Code can be divided into multiple data areas. Conversely, information stored in multiple QR Code symbols can be reconstructed as single data symbols.
One data symbol can be divided into up to 16 symbols, allowing printing in a narrow area.

 

 

As I already mentioned in the beginining that Qr codes are really becoming the ‘in’ thing for techies. There are some pictures of Bday cakes and chocolated where the birthday messages are encoded as QR codes! The person will have to feed this image to a QR code decoder which is inbuilt in many of the phones these days.

This is a chocolate bar with a Happy B’day QR code encoded on it! Cool huh?
 

Even on business cards we find QR codes to see more click here

After doing some research I realized that QR code was also making its presence felt in the arena of art. Dont believe it. Well see this for yourself.

Here, Artist Pedro Morales creates Qr codes like the one on the right here using small cloth flowers!!!! He calls his latest art ‘Puras Flores'(Pure Flowers).
I know it is a little hard to believe! But it is true! 

Here is a closer view of the same Qr code: