(OT) What are those Square Smart phone things?

[tangerine3]

Everywhere I look lately I see these square boxes that are filled with a bunch of dots and three of the corners have small boxes in them. I had no idea what they were until eating at Taco Bell, and there was one on their packaging that said "scan with your smartphone app". HUH?????

I must be too old to understand any of this stuff anymore. My cellphone makes phone calls and can send texts (if I knew anyone that knew how to read or respond to a text). There is no scanner, no camera, no internet, nothing but a basic phone.

Anyhow, what do these square things do? Is there actually some information inside of it? To me it looks like nothing but a bunch of ink sprayed in the box randomly. And while I'm asking about this, what is an "APP"?

About all I can figure is that these are similar to a barcode..... But for what reason????

I'll probably never own a smart phone, since my standard cellphone is all I need for emergencies or to make an occasisonal call from my car. My computer takes care of my internet needs, and my digital camera takes pictures, so I see no reason to have any need for a smartphone. But since I am seeing these things everywhere lately, I had to ask what they are for.

The older I get, the more useless all this technology seems to be!!!! Even the internet is becoming useless as everyone leaves the newsgroups and websites in favor of Facebook, which (in my opinion) is totally worthless.

Thanks

[DerbyDad03]

They are called QR codes, short for Quick Response codes.

If you use a bar code reader app (application) on your smart phone, they will take you directly to the website for the product the code was on.

They were originally used in the auto industry (I think Toyota invented them) to track vehicles as they went down the line. As far as I understand it, they are faster than bar codes.

They are now used in various marketing venues, such as on products, in magazines, store fronts, etc. Since anyone with a smart phone can download a free bar code reading app and use the phone's camera to read bar codes and QR codes, it's a great way for companies to get consumers to visit their websites.

BTW...bar code reading apps are one of the reasons places like Best Buy are struggling. A tech savvy consumer can go into Best Buy, etc., put their hands on various items, talk to the salespeople and gather a lot of knowledge. They can then pull out their smart phones, scan the bar code, find the best on-line price and purchase it before they even the leave the store.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I agree about Facebook, but I've changed my mind about smart phones.

You'd be amazed at how handy it can be to find information about many things. I'm travelling right now and I stopped at a motel. They gave me a rate and I told them it was not the best they could do. I had already checked rates and showed the girl at the desk the rate on my phone. $10 saved!

At the hotel I'm at in Savannah, we were looking for a place to eat. I went to the app called "Places" and found restaurants near us and reviews for them.

The list goes on and on. I'm very happy with my Android based phone.

[krw]

Do you know what a UPC is? These square thingys are 2-D UPCs. An "App" is a small application program (applet). It runs on the cell phone's computer.

The same reason. The camera takes a picture and decodes it. It can then hop on the web and look for the product that matches that "code". With a cell phone, you can walk into a store and take a picture of the 2-D UPC glyph, and an APP will tell you where on the web you can buy it the cheapest. BestBuy doesn't like these things. ;-)

I once though I didn't need a cell phone. I was wrong. In fact, I'm using it now. I just moved into a new house and have no Internet or TV service yet. My cell phone is connecting my laptop to the Internet now. I had to stick it in a window upstairs to get 3G service, but it works.

It's not the technology that's getting useless.

We agree there.

[krw]

Ditto, though it has done some goofy things.

[IGot2P]

As other have stated they are QR (Quick Response) codes. If you would like to make one or more just go to

and make them free. In fact, you can even email them directly from that site. Now go there, do it, and impress someone. :-)

Don

[Marina]

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in news:NbedneuJqL_b2gLSnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

My phone isn't smart enough, but this site lets you send a picture of a code in a text or email. Then you get a response in a few minutes.

[DerbyDad03]

No, they are not UPCs. They are QR (Quick Response) codes. Two very different things.

A QR code usually contains much more information than a UPC considering that it can hold more than 4000 characters (letters, numbers and symbols) while a UPC can only contain 12 numbers.

A QR code is not product specific like a UPC. It can provide a web address, link, or even a phone number.

[Tegger]

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in news:NbedneuJqL_b2gLSnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Yep. The more functions they build into smart phones, the better those phones get.

Since I got my BlackBerry, I haven't opened the map book that's in my briefcase. The online map combined with the little moving dot that shows my location is WAY handier than any paper map, and a lot more convenient than a Garmin.

[Tegger]

" [e-mail]" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

The ones the OP is referring to are bar codes, but they're /not/ UPCs.

[Bryan Scholtes]

[e-mail]:

They ARE UPC codes, but not bar codes per se. They're actually called

2D or Matrix Codes. QR is a marketing term. They're used because they hold LOTs more data than the 13 digits a "bar code" can hold. The UPC organization is involved in their evolution. In 2014, they'll start replacing "bar codes".

The bar code/matrix code technology is old. very old. It's the ability of a smartphoen to read it that is recent.

[DerbyDad03]

[e-mail]:

I beg to differ. I'll agree that they are not bar codes...that's obvious.

However, I don't agree that QR codes are UPC codes.

If you DAGS for UPC codes, you'd be hard pressed to find a site that doesn't define them as "bar code symbology". Logic holds that if UPC's are created using bar code technology and QR codes are not bar codes (which you ahve stated) then QR codes can not be UPC's.

Besides, UPC code are used to identify a specific product or item, using a code that can be understood universally, thus the name.

QR codes rarely specific to single item. They are used mainly to provide information about a brand, a group, a website, etc.

Do a Google Image search on "qr codes" and scan some of the images with a smart phone, then tell me why you feel that QR codes are UPC codes.

[Tegger]

Bryan Scholtes wrote in news: [e-mail]:

They are NOT "UPC" codes. UPC codes are only UPC codes if they are generated in compliance with the GS1 numbering systems, and the GS1-issued company-prefix license. Otherwise they are just bar codes containing whatever information the publisher wanted to put in them.

They ARE considered (and referred to as) bar codes. Not all bar codes have stripes on them.

That's right. Standard linear UPCs contain no information at all other than the company prefix. The product ID in the code is arbitrarily assigned by the company holding the prefix; it means nothing to anybody but that company.

GS1 is the "UPC organization" you mentioned above. But I can't see any mention of this new 2014 system. Got a link?

DataMatrix codes are already in use, and have been for several years. I think they're used more in Europe than here. The GS1 document outlining DataMatrix was translated from the French, and was originally written by GS1 France.

The only "new" thing I can find on GS1 is EPC/RFID, which is not really new anymore either. .

[Tegger]

DerbyDad03 wrote in news: [e-mail]:

UPC codes are /ONLY/ UPC codes if they have been created using the GS1- assigned company prefix (GLN) and numbering scheme.

Anybody can make and code a bar code, but only codes constructed in compliance with GS1 rules qualify as UPC codes. Bar codes can be 1D linear- style, or 2D DataMatrix-style. The linear type is the kind everybody sees and knows.

GS1 is the industry-consortium organization that controls UPCs worldwide. Each major country has its own branch, and it is that local branch which assigns your GLN, and is whom you pay for your GLN.

GS1 is the proverbial horse's mouth. ALL UPCs /without exception/ come from GS1, even though you get somebody else to print the image of the code:

(this is the US site) Lots of info there, even if you don't have a login.

[Tegger]

Bryan Scholtes wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Your "13 digits" must refer to the GTIN-14 case code (minus the check digit).

Linear codes /can/ actually hold quite a lot of information, not just the GLN that I mentioned in another reply.

I have in front of me right now a product box with a US-market linear UPC on it that holds about the same amount of data as the 2D square DataMatrix codes. Its number is 32-digits long, and even contains a letter. We don't use these codes, so I don't know what its type is without checking in GS1 again, which I don't feel like doing right now.

[krw]

No, they're not different at all. Both are means of encoding a string of numbers.

Two dimensions gives you more data than one, who wudda thunk!

[Attila.Iskander]

Only problem is that some of the Direction finders are quite stupid and will often give you a far longer route and not be able to readjust when: a) you don't want to go the way they "suggest" b) you don't go that way. Recent experience, I was directed to do a 30+ mile detour on trafficky highways, instead of going straight down an unused secondary road, which got me there about 10 minutes sooner. Not to mention that it was a more scenic drive.

[DerbyDad03]

Not different *at all*? At all? Wow!

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant that both are means of "encoding a string of numbers, letters and other characters"

Beyond that, the differences are huge, ranging from their intended purpose, the amount of data that can be held, the error correction schemes, the ease of creation, etc.

I guess that makes them different from each other.

[krw]

Every one I've seen has a way of setting a detour. You can also set a waypoint to a location on the desire route.

My wife's old GPS would nag incessantly. My cell phone notices that there is another path the direction I'm headed and will adjust soon enough.

My cell phone can give several possible routes and you can choose the one you want just by tapping it on the screen.

[krw]

You're a member of Pendants of America, right?

No, the difference aren't huge at all. It sorta makes sense that you can encode more data in 2-D than 1-D, and that payload can have more uses. ...but the idea is *exactly* the same.

You're an idiot, but that doesn't make you less of a person.

...can't even be bothered to trim posts. Figures.