Latest News From Nutcracker - October 2010

QR Codes - What are they?
QR Codes are two-dimensional bar codes that can contain any alphanumeric text and often feature URLs that direct users to sites where they can learn about an object, company or place (a practice known as “mobile tagging”). Decoding software on tools such as mobile phones interprets the codes, which represent considerably more information than a one-dimensional code of similar size.

The codes are increasingly found on items such as product labels, literature, business cards, exhibition stands, billboards, and website, inviting the viewer to pull out their mobile phones and uncover the encoded information. Codes can provide tracking information for products in industry, routing data on a mailing label, or contact information on a business card. Small in size, the code pattern can be hidden or even integrated into an aesthetically attractive image within newspapers, magazines, or clothing.

How do they work?
Data can be translated into a QR code by any QR generator, many of which are available free online. Users can simply enter the data to be translated, and the generator produces the code, which can then be displayed electronically or in printed format. Decoding the information can be done with any mobile camera phone that has a QR reader, which is freely available online for most devices.

Once the software is loaded, a user points the cell phone camera toward the code and scans it. The software interprets the code, and the cell phone will either display the text or ask for permission to launch a browser to display the specified web page. Within the domestic and business environments, the codes are being used for labeling specific products, marketing applications and on modern mobile phones for information exchange.

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