Barcodes and QR Codes

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I recently purchased a USB CueCat from eBay to play around with UPC barcodes, which I found out about from comments posted in a Scott Hanselman blog entry. It's fun to run around the house scanning in UPCs from household items, although the low-powered LED reader in the CueCat definitely pales in comparison to the industrial laser readers you'll find at your local supermarket. Still, you can't beat it for $15, and the PS2 version can be had for even less. If you're wondering why exactly you would want to do this, check out Delicious Library (review). Like so many things Apple, it's self-consciously cute where it should be practical, but the concept is sound.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original blog entry at: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2005/04/barcodes-and-qr-codes.html
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Some comments on semacode (appears to be a western variant of QRCode) and the ubiquity of QRCode in Japan:

http://www.mobilestartup.com/mt/archives/2005/02/qr_codes_semaco.html

http://www.mobilestartup.com/mt/archives/2005/02/more_qr_code.html

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Interesting (and funny) background from Joel on the CueCat:

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000037.html

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The Pet Shop Boys embed QR codes in latest Orwellian video

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/08/the-pet-shop-boys-embed-qr-codes-in-latest-orwellian-video/

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Google tries this again, Joel objects: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/01/29.html

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I am an idiot… I rant and complain about ideas I wish I had because I actually think people listen to me. I apologize for my pessimistic attitude and my lack of originality. This is a great idea. Just color me an idiot!

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Here we are, so many years (17?) later, and QR codes are everywhere…

On top of that, you can generate QR codes representing URLs from the browser itself, via the “share” menu in the address bar on Chrome:

image

Here’s the Chrome-generated QR code for the blog post itself:

qrcode_blog.codinghorror.com

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