QR codes to organize my life

March 8, 2010 10:33 AM

What are the most inventive uses of QR codes that you have seen?

I recently discovered a free iphone app that can read QR codes. Can these little data squares help to organize and revolution my life? Not sure but maybe you know....
I would love to find out ways in which people have incorporated these codes into how they work, communicate and organize.
How do you manage the production of QR codes? I have found a couple of websites (like here) that will produce these codes for free but would really like to utilize a native OSX app to make them - any suggestions?

posted by SueDenim to Technology (22 answers total)

There's a QR generator dashboard widget.
posted by Mwongozi at 10:40 AM on March 8, 2010

My Android based phone can install apps from the Android App store using QR codes. If I browse to an app I like on a PC, I can hold my phone up to the bar code on the screen to scan and install it.
posted by Babblesort at 10:44 AM on March 8, 2010

Android does this stuff by default. A co-worker of mine has a G1 and I've seen him scan codes right off the monitor before. I've also read someplace that japanese cell phones generate a QR and can be scanned and used as debit/credit cards.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:51 AM on March 8, 2010

I like this real-life QR code: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Japan-qr-code-billboard.jpg.
posted by jrockway at 10:53 AM on March 8, 2010

A couple of courses in information technology here at MIT have started advertising themselves by placing large (8" square) QR codes on billboards. Reading the code on an iPhone (or whatever) gets you a link to the course website with a suggestion that you're probably the sort of person who would be interested in the class.
posted by range at 10:55 AM on March 8, 2010

This QR velcro patch was kind of a cute idea.
posted by zamboni at 10:59 AM on March 8, 2010

My friend is placing them on his business card, the code contains his contact info and other stuff.
posted by hellojed at 11:00 AM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

As a datapoint, the online passport application in Canada uses them. I am trying to incorporate them into signs in my public library (the end of row signs that summerise the topics in that aisle).
posted by saucysault at 11:11 AM on March 8, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks everyone, keep them coming. some more googling revealed another free site for QR creation.
posted by SueDenim at 11:17 AM on March 8, 2010

Quite often, I notice TV shows will show a QR Code in addition to plaintext URL if they want you to go visit a webpage.

And, naturally, this is a common occurrence in Europe & Asia, but unheard of in the US.
posted by randomstriker at 11:18 AM on March 8, 2010

I like Semapedia, real world links to Wikipedia pages. I've seen public art projects that do something similar. There is potential for adding them to stickers for propaganda or graffiti like purposes -- raising tagging to another level, and I have vague memories of seeing something like this already. Given online games that allow you to 'own' real world locations you could print up stickers that would extend that back into the physical world.
posted by tallus at 11:50 AM on March 8, 2010

I thought this was a pretty amazing application of matrix/QR/semacoding: generating and handpainting as a step for disaster response. (It looks really beautiful, too, like a 60s abstract painting.) So you could put these on the sides of buildings linking to relevant data.
posted by finnb at 1:11 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

(Sorry, I should have included this in my earlier comment -- in terms of productivity, I've been to conferences where the fat printed handout includes a matrix code on the front page that acts as a link to download the handout as a PDF, so you have it searchable and easy to take away with you. It's fun to imagine a time where every printed page includes the code for its data equivalent, and you can transition between the two.)
posted by finnb at 1:13 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

I *just* installed a firefox addon that will generate a QR code for a URL so you don't have to type it in to go there on your phone. Handy.
posted by monkeymadness at 1:26 PM on March 8, 2010

Knitting a QR code into a scarf! (The video shows machine knitting, but it would be easy enough to do it by hand)
posted by moonmilk at 1:49 PM on March 8, 2010

finnb: ..So you could put these on the sides of buildings linking to relevant data.

It's already been done.
posted by charlie don't surf at 1:56 PM on March 8, 2010

Speaking of Android... if you have the Barcode Scanner app installed, you can easily share a contact by creating a QR code and having someone else scan it directly to their phone.

monkeymadness: "I *just* installed a firefox addon that will generate a QR code for a URL so you don't have to type it in to go there on your phone. Handy."

Here's another vote for this great little addon.
posted by aGee at 2:41 PM on March 8, 2010

My friend has a used bookstore, and as a fun side project I've been making "digital title pages" to slip into the covers of the books using QR codes that link to video, highlight more in depth author info, old radio plays of the work at Archive.org, etc. for a nice 3D reading experience while you're in the store. I love books like crazy, and this was one way I could think of dovetailing the digital reading experience with the nice tactile real-world one.
posted by annathea at 4:43 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

A QRcode clock.
posted by zamboni at 12:35 PM on March 10, 2010

I just found a bookmarklet that does the same thing as the Firefox addon, but I can use it in Chrome et al. Just add this as a bookmark to your bookmark bar.
posted by monkeymadness at 12:49 PM on March 10, 2010

...and it didn't work. Here's a link.
posted by monkeymadness at 12:50 PM on March 10, 2010

Google Charts do free QR Codes.
posted by JDHarper at 11:22 AM on March 12, 2010