Paper Uses 2D Barcode

New use of 2-D Barcodes in newspapers. A good idea. Newspapers have included URLs for a long time now, though I have also seen a reluctance to provide them this since it takes you away from the paper and leaves you on the Internet. Not what they want these days. The vendor is ScanLife, which we used for demonstrations and tests and worked very well. My only criticism is that it uses a proprietary 2D code. Why?

I would also like to read the standard 1D barcodes, as other vendors of this idea can. See also my previous test of Microsoft Tag, which also uses a proprietary code. And previously about ScanLife.

The process is that you can use a smart phone and take a picture of the code in the newspaper with with its camera. Then software in the camera converts it into an address, such as a URL. This can provide you more information about an article or product, lead to a promotion, or get you to anything you can point to. I do much like the use of a camera phone as a scanner. Great multitasking idea.

Article via Richard James.