thetinypixel

QR Codes - the future is here!

2012-03-17T00:01:00.001+00:00

Confused translation available on the link below

QR codes, a digital dodo

2012-03-14T17:51:00.002+00:00

Love or hate them, this is probably the technology most certain to be dead (in its current form) in the near future.

I don't know about you, but I find QR codes clumsy, awkward to use and rarely give me any value as a user/customer. They are about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike in everyday scenarios and in terms of marketing a brand, any time I see these now I think there has probably been a meeting were someone has said "We need QR codes, because everyone else has them"

Why you don't need what everyone else has.
Do you find it strange that only planes and birds have wings, have you ever thought why don't they put them on houses? Well here is the thing, planes have wings because they use them to fly, other things which don't fly don't need wings.

Apply that now to QR codes, do you find it strange that there isn't a QR code on every product packaging, marketing copy or any conceivable place you could stick a QR code. Well that's because sometimes it really is quicker and easier for your brain to interpret words and pictures.

Quick test
Without using any technology can you tell me what this says:

Unless you are seriously smart and can decode this in your head, I doubt you have gotten any value out of this.

Why are they used?

Well they seem to be used a lot to hold web addresses in, but to read them you need a code reader app for your smartphone then you need to point your smartphone at the code wait for it to be recognised and then ask to open the web address in a web page, which all takes time.

We can take a lot from the fact that the predecessor to QR codes aka the barcode is most commonly used in supermarkets and shops, it is for machines to read not humans, because machines are dumb and can't read so well...yet, so I think in the long run this is what the humble QR code will go into retirement doing.

Why write this rubbish

I suppose what I don't really get about the use of QR codes, is when they are used like this:

That last one is very funny, what you can't see is the 50 people all trying to to snap the code with their smart phones.ha

It is really that last image that sums it all up for me, they don't give any more value (and if anything less value) than putting a web address on her skirt, plus if I can only get the info from that QR code then that means if I don't scan it I won't know what it even was.

The End

HTML Codes - List of escape characters

2012-03-12T23:45:00.002+00:00

Handy reference for the web developers among you

Symbol	Code	Entity Name
™	™
€		€
Space
!	!
"	"	"
#	#
$	$
%	%
&	&	&
'	'
(	(
)	)
*	*
+	+
,	,
-	-
.	.
/	/
0	0
1	1
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7
8	8
9	9
:	:
;	;
<	<	<
=	=
>	>	>
?	?
@	@
A	A
B	B
C	C
D	D
E	E
F	F
G	G
H	H
I	I
J	J
K	K
L	L
M	M
N	N
O	O
P	P
Q	Q
R	R
S	S
T	T
U	U
V	V
W	W
X	X
Y	Y
Z	Z
[	[
\	\
]	]
^	^
_	_
`	`
a	a
b	b
c	c
d	d
e	e
f	f
g	g
h	h
i	i
j	j
k	k
l	l
m	m
n	n
o	o
p	p
q	q
r	r
s	s
t	t
u	u
v	v
w	w
x	x
y	y
z	z
{	{
\|	\|
}	}
~	~
Non-breaking space
¡	¡	¡
¢	¢	¢
£	£	£
¤	¤	¤
¥	¥	¥
¦	¦	¦
§	§	§
¨	¨	¨
©	©	©
ª	ª	ª
«	«
¬	¬	¬

®	®	®
¯	¯	¯
°	°	°
±	±	±
²	²	²
³	³	³
´	´	´
µ	µ	µ
¶	¶	¶
·	·	·
¸	¸	¸
¹	¹	¹
º	º	º
»	»	»
¼	¼	¼
½	½	½
¾	¾	¾
¿	¿	¿
À	À	À
Á	Á	Á
Â	Â	Â
Ã	Ã	Ã
Ä	Ä	Ä
Å	&#197	Å
Æ	Æ	Æ
Ç	Ç	Ç
È	È	È
É	É	É
Ê	Ê	Ê
Ë	Ë	Ë
Ì	Ì	Ì
Í	Í	Í
Î	Î	Î
Ï	Ï	Ï
Ð	Ð	Ð
Ñ	Ñ	Ñ
Ò	Ò	Ò
Ó	Ó	Ó
Ô	Ô	Ô
Õ	Õ	Õ
Ö	Ö	Ö
×	×	×
Ø	Ø	Ø
Ù	Ù	Ù
Ú	Ú	Ú
Û	Û	Û
Ü	Ü	Ü
Ý	Ý	Ý
Þ	Þ	Þ
ß	ß	ß
à	à	à
á	á	á
â	â	â
ã	ã	ã
ä	ä	ä
å	å	å
æ	æ	æ
ç	ç	ç
è	è	è
é	é	é
ê	ê	ê
ë	ë	ë
ì	ì	ì
í	&#237	í
î	î	î
ï	ï	ï
ð	ð	ð
ñ	ñ	ñ
ò	ò	ò
ó	ó	ó
ô	ô	ô
õ	õ	õ
ö	ö	ö
÷	÷	÷
ø	ø	ø
ù	ù	ù
ú	ú	ú
û	û	û
ü	ü	ü
ý	ý	ý
þ	þ	þ
ÿ	ÿ
Ā	Ā
ā	ā
Ă	Ă
ă	ă
Ą	Ą
ą	ą
Ć	Ć
ć	ć
Ĉ	Ĉ
ĉ	ĉ
Ċ	Ċ
ċ	ċ
Č	Č
č	č
Ď	Ď
ď	ď
Đ	Đ
đ	đ
Ē	Ē
ē	ē
Ĕ	Ĕ
ĕ	&#277
Ė	Ė
ė	ė
Ę	Ę
ę	ę
Ě	Ě
ě	ě
Ĝ	Ĝ
ĝ	ĝ
Ğ	Ğ
ğ	ğ
Ġ	Ġ
ġ	ġ
Ģ	Ģ
ģ	ģ
Ĥ	Ĥ
ĥ	ĥ
Ħ	Ħ
ħ	ħ
Ĩ	Ĩ
ĩ	ĩ
Ī	Ī
ī	ī
Ĭ	Ĭ
ĭ	ĭ
Į	Į
į	į
İ	İ
ı	ı
Ĳ	Ĳ
ĳ	ĳ
Ĵ	Ĵ
ĵ	ĵ
Ķ	Ķ
ķ	ķ
ĸ	ĸ
Ĺ	Ĺ
ĺ	ĺ
Ļ	Ļ
ļ	ļ
Ľ	&#317
ľ	ľ
Ŀ	Ŀ
ŀ	ŀ
Ł	Ł
ł	ł
Ń	Ń
ń	ń
Ņ	Ņ
ņ	ņ
Ň	Ň
ň	ň
ŉ	ŉ
Ŋ	Ŋ
ŋ	ŋ
Ō	Ō
ō	ō
Ŏ	Ŏ
ŏ	ŏ
Ő	Ő
ő	ő
Œ	Œ
œ	œ
Ŕ	Ŕ
ŕ	ŕ
Ŗ	Ŗ
ŗ	ŗ
Ř	Ř
ř	ř
Ś	Ś
ś	ś
Ŝ	Ŝ
ŝ	ŝ
Ş	Ş
ş	ş
Š	Š
š	š
Ţ	Ţ
ţ	ţ
Ť	Ť
ť	&#357
Ŧ	Ŧ
ŧ	ŧ
Ũ	Ũ
ũ	ũ
Ū	Ū
ū	ū
Ŭ	Ŭ
ŭ	ŭ
Ů	Ů
ů	ů
Ű	Ű
ű	ű
Ų	Ų
ų	ų
Ŵ	Ŵ
ŵ	ŵ
Ŷ	Ŷ
ŷ	ŷ
Ÿ	Ÿ
Ź	Ź
ź	ź
Ż	Ż
ż	ż
Ž	Ž
ž	ž
ſ	ſ
Ŕ	Ŕ
ŕ	ŕ
Ŗ	Ŗ
ŗ	ŗ
Ř	Ř
ř	ř
Ś	Ś
ś	ś
Ŝ	Ŝ
ŝ	ŝ
Ş	Ş
ş	ş
Š	Š
š	š
Ţ	Ţ
ţ	ţ
Ť	Ť
ť	Ɂ
Ŧ	Ŧ
ŧ	ŧ
Ũ	Ũ
ũ	ũ
Ū	Ū
ū	ū
Ŭ	Ŭ
ŭ	ŭ
Ů	Ů
ů	ů
Ű	Ű
ű	ű
Ų	Ų
ų	ų
Ŵ	Ŵ
ŵ	ŵ
Ŷ	Ŷ
ŷ	ŷ
Ÿ	Ÿ
Ź	&#377
ź	ź
Ż	Ż
ż	ż
Ž	Ž
ž	ž
ſ	ſ

Why a wheelchair symbol doesn't mean accessibility

2012-03-12T14:42:00.004+00:00

I have seen this often enough, to make a comment on, what I am talking about is the practice of using a wheelchair symbol to give the impression that something is "accessible" or conforms to accessibility guidelines, see the examples below.

http://umbraco.com/products/more-add-ons/contour.aspx

figure 1

Google Captcha

figure 2

As someone who is colour blind, dyslexic and wears hearing aids I would class myself as disabled in some capacity in the fact that I have trouble with colour and sound but I would not say that the wheelchair symbol would summarise the fact that I have a disability.

Taking the image 'figure 1' to mean this conforms to WCAG, I lifted the overview from the W3C website (http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php):

"The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) documents explain how to make Web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Web "content" generally refers to the information in a Web page or Web application, including text, images, forms, sounds, and such."

I am pretty sure the W3C's explanation is not just solely talking about wheelchair users, so why is it used? It's because some people just don't think. Reading deeper into it, you will find its really about providing content in different formats or presenting the information in a format which is usable for other software (screen reading software etc).

Lets take the image in 'figure 2' and apply the meaning of the wheelchair, is the designer/developer who used this picture implying that only wheelchair users should click that button? Well, I don't think they mean that, because when you click that button the text shown is read out a loud so the user can hear it, I don't know about you but wouldn't a speaker icon or some graphic that says, listen to the text in the image, be more suitable?

Why is this imagery used so often, it can only be because that is what everyone else is doing. I hope by reading this you will inform others and think does this image convey the real meaning of what I am trying to say.

Edit:

When I tried to post this on facebook it gave me a captcha, which is a great example of how to do it:

Facebook Captcha

UK2.net they never want you to leave!

2012-03-11T19:17:00.001+00:00

Domain hosting seems sometimes to be the bain of my life, I always seem to pick companies who are not so hot on their customer service. Cue uk2.net.

I have registered 2 domains with them, but just today I needed to amend my dns. But alas I had not purchased the dns management @ £20.39 (add the domain hosting and this is almost £30 per year for one domain!):

Having had access to amend the dns record included in the cost of the domain previously, I was obviously a bit aggrieved to say the least. So I began looking around for some where to transfer my domain to, I found a place and started the transfer out, which I can only compare to like sitting down to watch all the lord of the rings movies back to back, talk about a saga. (I do like Lord of the Rings, by the way), I have included the instructions below.

and then on top of doing all this you have to pay if you have had the domain with them for less than 2 years.

Now to be fair, I was able to chat with someone online, and that was ok and I was able to ask them to check to see if I has completed everything needed.

I can't say I have had a problem with my time at uk2.net because there haven't been any issues until I wanted to leave, but I feel ripped off price wise when comparing to other domain hosts and extorted. I wouldn't have minded too much paying to transfer the domain out, but the fact that I am basically doing all the admin work on my own account is insane, these guys run a tech company and they can't have a system that could handle this. My guess is, they think the harder they make it the more people it is likely to put off.

I wrote this mainly to vent my anger at a waste of a saturday morning, when I should be spending it with my wife and to show other people who are less technical that this is wrong and not all companies are like this, uk2.net are cheap but if you are leaving before 2 years or want full control of your dns records look elsewhere.

Edit:

The news I was waiting for:

Radiohead - UK Tour

2012-03-10T12:41:00.001+00:00

I am finally going to be able to see my super fav band of all time....

RADIOHEAD

Having already asked them once to come and gig at my wedding last year, (and got no reply haha) I am so excited to finally see them. I have been listening to them for year and if your reading this thinking who the hell are they, give them a listen.

If you are quick, you should be able to see them too!

http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/search?tm_link=tm_header_search&user_input=&q=radiohead&search.x=0&search.y=0

What is in a name... the new iPad

2012-03-06T17:00:00.000+00:00

No matter your mobile religion there is no denying that all eyes will be on this next installation in the iPad update. As usual much has been rumoured about the specification and more importantly what the updated device will be named.

What is in a name
I thought it might be fun to ask around work what people would call it:
iWouldButIt'sApple
iPad 3
iPad HD
iPood
iDontCare

As you can tell many of our people at work are super excited about this (some more than others) and I am too, but to be honest it doesn't matter what you call it as long as it works! Although it does matter what you call it, if another company has the rights to that name, which is what happened earlier in the year when Proview contested that Apple had conned them out of the rights to the name 'iPad', by using another company to buy the rights through. But as usual all is well, after the lawyers have battled it out.

What to expect
Many of you will know that the iPhone 4 brought the high resolution retina display, so obviously the next natural beneficiary of such technology would be the iPad. Developers have been uncovering what looks like high resolution graphics for the iPad for a while and some even thought we would see the retina display in the iPad 2, but it didn't materialise. So it seems likely that we will see a significant upgrade in this area this time, no doubt it will be amazing to see.

Another area of much discussion has been the processor, with many thinking we might see a quad core processor. I know the processor upgrade on the iPad 2 made a real difference with apps loading so much faster and animations looking even better. Any upgrade in this area would be very welcome, as in any computer the software always demands more power over time.

To conclude, I know this next iPad will be great as the ones before it and if you have invested in the iOS ecosystem then for sure it will a great upgrade to an original iPad or first buy, but I can't help feel like there needs to be something else, something that will blow your mind (and the other companies wanting to copy it).

And one more thing
As always we won't know the full story until after the event, and who knows we may even get a sneak at iOS 6, so stay tuned.

If live blogs of Apple events are your bag, be sure to check out http://live.theverge.com/Event/Live_from_Apples_iPad_3_event_in_San_Francisco from 6pm GMT tonight.