tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81109829009368441282024-12-19T11:22:06.205+08:00a random blog about random things...mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-62825040952386845762010-01-30T00:43:00.023+08:002011-03-01T11:55:24.958+08:00

Stackus is a physics puzzle game for the iPhone that I downloaded while it was on a time limited sale (free) a couple of weeks or so ago. The goal of the game is very simple, move all objects from the left hand side of the screen to the right half of the screen. It was actually more fun than I initially expected and I ended up completing a stage or two (50 total) every once in a while and finally

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-22342613251113053412009-11-16T23:25:00.028+08:002009-11-18T03:51:42.750+08:00

第一次看到壹斑碼這個名詞應該是在幾個月前，因同事偶然發現 iPhone 的 App Store 上出現了一個叫壹斑碼的 QR Code 解碼程式，所以就去下載了回來玩玩看。從後來該程式莫名的偷偷下架以及最近這幾天壹傳媒的宣傳報導的情況來看，當時上架的應該是 beta 版。由於該 beta 版真的很不好用 (而且因為內容都還沒出來，導致沒甚麼用處)，所以沒幾分鐘就刪掉了，不過還是有注意到壹傳媒在開始動作了。而就在我快要忘記這件事的時候，Twitter 上面接二連三地出現有關於壹斑碼的消息。原來壹傳媒在上週邀請了多位頗有影響力的台灣部落客來參與壹蘋果"動新聞"的發表。如果還沒看過的話，建議您先拜讀一下這些第一手的資料：Jeremy - 我看壹傳媒動新聞！鄭蛋蛋 - [座談會]壹蘋果動新聞 - 充滿震撼的有影片有真相電腦王阿達 - 蘋果動新聞即將在各平台啟動壹斑碼是甚麼？根據報紙上的官方描述，

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-14323804566632549122009-03-24T12:55:00.004+08:002009-03-24T15:01:53.171+08:00

QuickMark has made several new releases lately, first being its new QuickMark v3.8. Which adds the following new capabilities:1) 1D barcode support (EAN 8/13, Code 39, Code 128)2) Redierct Settings (This is most useful when used in conjunction with 1D barcodes)3) QuickMark API (for developers interested in commercial use)In terms of device support, QuickMark has increased its support for Symbian

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-6320526256103571152009-02-11T12:06:00.002+08:002009-02-11T13:44:46.120+08:00

Jiou Fen, a popular tourist spot in Taiwan seem to have quite a few of the shops and restaurants nearby implement QR Codes. Previously I have only noticed the barcodes on their website, but visitors seem to be taking notice of the strange looking symbols and someone has posted an actual sighting on his blog. The QR Code appears quite large, perhaps containing a lengthy text intro of some sort,

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-60826798498073254212008-10-14T20:44:00.004+08:002008-10-14T21:00:01.666+08:00

Heinenken's official Taiwanese website now sports QR Codes for its marketing events. The QR Codes are of vCard format (LBS specification as defined in OMIA Barcode Standard 3.2) and contain geo-coordinates. This is quite useful for users that get lazy or sloppy in jotting down destination addresses. For instance, one can use QuickMark to scan the barcode, and either choose to save the

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-57702445655613531902008-10-06T15:17:00.005+08:002008-10-06T15:34:25.847+08:00

A QR Code is spotted on the back cover of a new book titled Buying Good Products by Alice Ju (link). The book is about how to pick/buy healthy food products. The QR Code is a link to a webpage that contains a short video by the author sharing more information on the topic.

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-88662264472566637532008-08-07T11:53:00.003+08:002008-08-07T13:45:33.331+08:00

A couple more photos of QR Codes spotted on food products: Also noticed is that some 2D barcodes seem to be damaged to the point that recognition is no longer possible.

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-16553554430145000612008-07-20T23:44:00.006+08:002008-07-21T00:32:26.041+08:00

Yet another full page newspaper ad (from last month actually, 6/15/08 on United Daily News) from GigaHouse that uses QR Codes for real estate advertisements. This time, there are a whopping 64 QR Codes to be found on the page. However the barcodes' usability has not yet been improved, they are still dense and consist of small module size (due to the long URLs that they encode). End users equipped

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-23705289766002270912008-07-08T15:00:00.004+08:002008-07-08T15:22:45.956+08:00

Tickets for Air Supply's concert in Taiwan a couple of weeks ago could be purchased via 2D barcodes on their event posters (the photo depicts one poster spotted in the MRT station). The tickets were sold by the largest online tickets vendor ERA. Users need to be ERA members and download the QuickMark barcode reader to participate. Users that purchased tickets via this new method (scanning the QR

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-65850307742671470202008-07-06T11:17:00.002+08:002008-07-06T11:27:39.708+08:00

QR Code mobile marketing materials from last year (2007). It was a 7 month trial run by a Taiwanese marketing company to distribute these booklets (free) loaded with advertising using QR Codes.After the end of the trial, they merged their efforts into a different booklet that is distributed for free at various convenience stores in Taiwan.

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-8425787971600762222008-04-21T21:15:00.005+08:002009-03-24T21:58:15.687+08:00

QuickMark's 2D barcode reader appears to be working on the iPhone. The short video shows the QuickMark software successfully decoding a QR Code containing a UTF-8 encoded Chinese string. No download is available yet, but we are not supposed to be able to do that on an iPhone anyway (at least not officially).So far the iPhone is still a supposedly proprietary platform, although several developers

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-3645931683947891882008-04-06T18:11:00.006+08:002008-04-06T22:54:55.316+08:00

User scans an official QR Code label issued by the Council of AgricultureNot only are QR Codes for food traceability promoted by at the national level in Taiwan, I also recently noticed that it is being implemented at a more regional/local level as well. The Hua-Lien Shien Bureau of Agriculture also have their own system for certifying organic agriculture products from Hua-Lien using QR Codes.QR

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-14191811503410383732008-04-06T16:46:00.004+08:002008-04-06T18:06:42.587+08:00

A video by Ming Chuan University students (most likely as an assignment) explaining the benefits of 2D barcodes as opposed to the traditional 1D barcodes. Part of the video was taken during a computer expo in May 2007, featuring QuickMark and 2D barcodes that integrate with map softwares to provide GPS navigational services. The video demonstrates those features using the ETEN glofiish, but they

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-91011971288144835432008-04-06T15:36:00.008+08:002008-04-06T16:45:15.222+08:00

A full page newspaper ad featuring several QR Codes by GigaHouse (a real estate company in Taiwan) was spotted at the end of last year. The ad announced that the real estate company is working with operators to provide mobile search services for real estate items and placed a QR Code for each of their featured items. And apparently, their agents will be printing contact info 2D barcodes on their

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-11399063098339167852008-01-24T13:21:00.001+08:002008-01-24T13:37:42.957+08:00

Just noticed how similar the logo of Google's ZXing project is to the logo of Sourforge's Zebra Barcode Reader. I think both are cool logo ideas. If somebody is trying to come up with a logo for a similar project in the future, I would suggest trying animals such as the cheetah, leopard, or giraffe (I think they all have dots), it should be a lot of fun.The other random observation is that I

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-76164209735536937772008-01-24T12:46:00.001+08:002008-01-24T13:10:41.232+08:00

The billboard pictured above was spotted last month at the Nan-Jing East Road Station of Taipei's Metro Rapid Transport. The purpose of the QR Codes are for food traceability, as mentioned in an earlier post. The sole entrance/exit of this station is just to the left of the billboard, so it is in a perfect spot to attract eyeballs. Unfortunately, due to the limited space, the billboard only tells

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-62173505496915652282008-01-24T09:26:00.000+08:002008-01-24T09:37:21.077+08:00

Just read about the QR-Kill game and it really sounds like fun! I think I would enjoy running around chasing people with my QuickMark decoder.The basic rules are as follows:1. A QR with your name and phone (SMS format) will be printed in a 20cm minimum width sheet of white paper. It will be reinforced by a hard cardboard and stuck to the back using american tape.2. The QR must be visible at all

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-39722304622606453482007-12-24T16:46:00.000+08:002007-12-24T16:59:15.496+08:00

For a lot of mobile barcode users, reading small barcodes is a quite a problem because most phone cameras are without macro mode or auto-focus. Apparently, such problems bother some Japanese users as well (especially if they are using non-Japanese phones) and they have a pretty good looking solution: attachable lens. For about 1000 yen, you can get a nicely designed lens for your barcode reading

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-13342394353104501932007-11-26T23:32:00.000+08:002007-11-27T00:56:31.503+08:00

A group of Taiwanese college students from Tatung University recently added a new element to their already live system for bird ecological information: playing cards with QR Codes. At first glance this might seem like a pretty simple m-learning application as it allows the user to look up various information about the birds in Taiwan via QR Codes. However, these students are smarter than that.

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-14300245397428610542007-10-31T02:27:00.000+08:002007-10-31T09:50:16.991+08:00

What Japan Thinks has a recent great post on the latest survey findings on QR Code usage in Japan. The survey was conducted over a 5 day period earlier this month (10/1 ~ 10/5/2007) with responses from 17091 MyVoice internet community members. The survey is slightly female biased (54% vs 46%) with 58% of the samples from people who are under age 40 (which is usually the main age group that uses

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-70678829612696799392007-10-25T13:00:00.000+08:002007-10-25T13:49:17.506+08:00

The Taiwan Academic Network Conference 2007 is being held this week at Taiwan National University. This year's theme is on ubiquitous campus and mobility, and one of the papers submitted is on using QR Codes to improve campus accessibility and navigation ("Study of Indoor Wayfinding Systems based on QR Codes and Spatial Navigation Models", by Yen-Yin Chu, Chung Yuan Christian University).Chu's

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-88887875640717888282007-10-09T22:58:00.000+08:002007-10-09T23:39:20.942+08:00

Taiwan's first "software art" exhibition was recently held at National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts from 10.2 ~ 10.5.2007. The art exhibit is titled "Eeriness of Simplicity and Complexity" (translated) and the art pieces were created using Design By Numbers (a.k.a. DBN), which is both a programming language and language for visual artists and designers. The art pieces were put on display using

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-52435184973398038832007-10-05T03:47:00.001+08:002007-10-07T00:29:38.759+08:00

Photos from the recent Tokyo Game Show has some show girls from Softbank pointing to their QR Code tattoos, encouraging the visitors to scan the 2D barcodes with their mobile phones. I guess this is a good incentive for people to try to get a mobile barcode reader if their phone doesn't come with one. I wondered if people might find it a little awkward or impolite for people to read QR Codes

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-90673402167605702452007-09-27T22:33:00.000+08:002007-09-27T23:25:35.164+08:00

English music artists the Pet Shop Boys recently released a new album called Disco 4, and in it is a song titled Integral. What is special about it is that the Integral music video is literally littered with QR Codes. Watching the video for the first time today, I was surprised by the number of QR Codes blinking and flashing throughout the music video. I am sure that some people will pull their

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8110982900936844128.post-23388395554010195602007-09-26T23:06:00.000+08:002007-09-27T00:41:47.463+08:00

EzCode is the codename for the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore's mobile barcode initiative, which is basically a government sponsored program with the goal to promote the use of 2D barcodes in Singapore. An IDA representative visited Taiwan's Open Mobile Internet Alliance and its members a few months ago to learn about Taiwan's experience in mobile barcodes and it seems that they are

mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15359712357016120982noreply@blogger.com0