tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52316432211474230172011-07-08T10:44:57.490+01:00Mobile tagging for individuals and businessStewart McKienoreply@blogger.comBlogger2481100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-25395153368406723312009-12-09T18:19:00.005Z2009-12-11T11:35:51.771Z

Google has obviously decided that despite their new MIR offering - Google Goggles - they will also continue to evangelize the QR Code format. Probably just to piss off Microsoft.We use Google's QR Code generation API to provide QR codes for Vizitag users but now Google are going into the delivering mobile content and microsite game with their Favourite Places Initiative. Google is evangelising

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-83997958803557365112009-12-09T18:04:00.005Z2009-12-11T11:36:07.454Z

Mobile Image Recognition (MIR) looks certain to hit the big time now that Google have embraced the technology as part of their new visual search service called Google Goggles. As with any MIR app you point your mobile phone camera at something - Google gives examples of landmarks, books, business cards, artworks etc. - and the image is checked against a back end database of images to resolve to

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-41684761571886538412009-12-03T09:41:00.002Z2009-12-03T09:51:42.420Z

I wish TrackPlus the best of luck with evangelizing the use of QR Codes for improving customer service in retail outlets. Almost when we first started Vizitag, we discussed using tags to provide product information with various retailers. Elevator Pitch: You put a tag by/on a product in a showroom or on a shelf so that prospective customers can snap the tag to get more information about that

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-329564766850962582009-12-03T09:35:00.003Z2009-12-03T09:38:53.484Z

One of Microsoft's typically overlong case studies about the recent Country Music Association Music Festival is noteworthy from a tagging perspective for this paragraph about the integration of tagging with other Microsoft online services: Known as “Where Am I,” the geo-mapping solution incorporated elements of the Microsoft Virtual Earth™ online mapping platform and Microsoft Tag technology to

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-75340894240019582802009-12-03T09:29:00.002Z2009-12-03T09:32:37.500Z

Lots of breathless Tweets about the fact that the MS Tag Reader can now automatically recognize tags on the iPhone 3G (OS3.1 +). What everyone seems to have forgotten is that this is the way it used to work originally on the iPhone before it was mysteriously switched off some months ago. So what is all the fuss about? We've gone forward to the past.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-58676362977844881422009-11-30T09:50:00.002Z2009-11-30T09:52:34.678Z

This paper from the Information Technology Standards Committee (ITSC) in Singapore is an excellent and in-depth introduction to both the technology of and uses for QR Codes.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-53186516877747948802009-11-25T09:14:00.006Z2009-11-25T09:25:38.921Z

Adding a QR code to a wine bottle is not a new idea but the tagging twist added by 94wines is quite interesting. When you order a bottle of wine from 94wines they put a QR Code on the label that resolves to online content - just like any other QR Code. The twist is that you can upload your own personal content to the 94Wines webspace and that is where the tag resolves to. If I've understood it

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-54310508417180536582009-11-25T09:03:00.003Z2009-11-25T09:08:52.429Z

Another technology is emerging that may impact mobile tagging according to Mobile Crunch. Japanese heavyweights are reportedly working on a solution that uses the capability of LEDs to blink a few million times a second to pass a signal to a device that could then resolve that signal to online content based on the blinking frequency. Apparently you can stand up to 5m away from the signal source,

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-3794892797245956512009-11-19T09:51:00.003Z2009-11-19T10:17:08.351Z

It's useful to review this Nov. 18 2009 Gartner report of their top 10 consumer mobile apps for 2012 from a mobile tagging perspective.1. SMS Money Transfer - Can be done by snapping a tag using something like PayPal mobile or one of many other mobile money transfer services - for example to buy a ticket to an event by snapping a tag on a poster. 2. Location Based Services - Tags located in the

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-42822720315725766682009-11-17T10:19:00.002Z2009-11-17T10:22:01.168Z

QR Code inventor Denso and mobile marketing agency JMango have partnered to help create and deliver new QR Code solutions being developed by Denso's Global QR Project team.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-57445578102600580102009-11-17T10:14:00.003Z2009-11-17T10:19:12.307Z

Adobo magazine reports on the use of QR Codes in Indonesia, including the use of codes in newsprint by leading publisher Kompas Gramedia.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-83998492914388690622009-11-11T10:40:00.007Z2009-11-11T11:09:03.797Z

The mobile web's momentum continues unabated with Google's acquisition of AdMob and Apple's Shocking Numbers for iPhone app usage. The whole thing is reminiscent of the introduction of the IBM PC back in 1981(?). Brief memory lane diversion: I sold my first PC system in 1982 and it ran a company's whole accounting system off a single 5.25 inch floppy drive. But reminiscent only in a far-off,

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-81449885937916897652009-11-10T08:51:00.003Z2009-11-10T08:56:32.183Z

I think Kooaba are now on the right track with their basic marketing message by positioning their mobile image recognition software as a "visual search" engine that returns a highly focused result (i.e. whatever the image owner wants to return). Visual search has a lot of possibilities that are not just related to brand advertising and selling products. For example if my headshot is saved to

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-31111806356924374162009-11-09T13:58:00.003Z2009-11-09T14:02:04.708Z

GoMo News reports that Columbia Records and We Love Mobile have launched the UK's first campaign to use 'Rich' QR Codes. These new codes feature album artwork (see image) and links to free tracks or videos.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-73902880462644943532009-11-09T13:50:00.004Z2009-11-09T13:58:35.861Z

The new mobile portal for Austrian Airlines is now connected via a QR Code so that snapping a tag links you to online content to help you to book a flight or checkin and reserve a seat.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-41145271993776199232009-11-09T13:39:00.003Z2009-11-09T13:42:44.012Z

Razcodes are MS tags that are added to healthcare 'event' documents so that you can snap the tag and upload the event data to your preferred online health management tool (like Google Health for example). This is an interesting use of tags that combines an offline event (e.g. a visit to your doctor) with online healthcare tracking systems.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-29809716079775841612009-11-06T11:04:00.003Z2009-11-06T11:09:21.076Z

Massive French hypermarket chain Auchan is using MS Tags in its catalogs to resolve to mobile optimized product pages. It only works if you are smoking a Gauloise when you snap the tag.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-49517854922025905802009-11-04T09:08:00.003Z2009-11-04T09:10:33.659Z

Despite the fact that you can print a QR Code on practically anything yourself someone has a business promoting ID Shirts - tee shirts with your QR code on them for €15.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-78397984242914776572009-10-30T11:32:00.003Z2009-10-30T11:34:10.418Z

Cultural Fuel highlights a QR Code on a pumpkin that resolves to a Youtube video. Whatever next.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-25680846512956387862009-10-30T11:24:00.003Z2009-10-30T11:27:25.314Z

An initial release of a PHP library to utilize the MS Tag API has been made available here. I would be interested to know how you get on if you try it out. The download site states:This is the first version of the MSTagLib. A PHP library to use the Microsoft Tag API by proxying request as REST through a third-party REST service. Currently it is only possible to create a uri tag using this library.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-48358114683913085422009-10-29T18:37:00.004Z2009-10-29T18:43:52.886Z

Useful article in IconEye on how Augmented Reality (AR) is driving "reality 2.0" and moving us on from today's "stone-age technology" - the QR Code. As the author rightly says:In the longer term, AR could lead to the effective “merger” between the internet and the world around us. Objects and buildings wouldn’t just be what they are – they would be the portals to a wider world of data.It has

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-72410747132180681592009-10-29T18:27:00.003Z2009-10-29T18:34:11.231Z

Embedding tags in books is probably the most obvious way to connect print content with online content so it's surprising more book publishers' are not following Rough Guide's lead. Their new coffee table book, Earthbound: a Rough Guide to the World in Pictures is tag-enabled.Each image in the book is linked to a QR Code that resolves to a Google map of the location for more context-specific

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-53269096315477012182009-10-20T10:30:00.004+01:002009-10-20T10:40:49.798+01:00

Kooaba's mobile image recognition (MIR) technology will be used in the November edition of Wired magazine (US) to link print advertisements to online content. Kooaba claims this as a US first. Oddly enough Wired online are also running a vstory on augmented reality (AR) here. The advantage of using Kooaba's MIR technology rather than tags as the page-to-promotion link is that MIR can leverage

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-21537252036947995602009-10-20T10:11:00.002+01:002009-10-20T10:14:56.666+01:00

Tags are not only 'snappable' by mobile phone cameras, they are also 'scannable' by traditional fixed scanning devices - like this QR Code Scanner from Sumlung. What this device allows you to do is scan QR Codes printed on vouchers/e-tickets - such as a product discount or event entry pass - in order to transfer information to a PC for further processing.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-47756516293316010602009-10-16T11:41:00.006+01:002009-10-16T12:00:35.728+01:00

Some years ago I had the idea of Contentstores - a new kind of bookstore with a print-on-demand (POD) book printing machine at its core. Now this idea is becoming a reality with the Expresso Book Machine, I'm thinking about the link with tagging.The Expresso Book machine is essentially a node on the Internet of Things. So why not link a tag to it? Here is the use case:1. I see a tagged ad for a

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-11650367272099109682009-10-16T11:28:00.002+01:002009-10-16T11:36:09.970+01:00

2d Code had a good post on the use of QR Codes by ANA to facilitate paying the carbon offset 'fee' for a flight taken on the airline. This illustrates a great use of tags to make impulse/feelgood decisions easier. No need to go to a website, search for what you need etc. just snap the tag, fill in the form and bask in the knowledge that you have done your bit for the environment.I'm pretty sure

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-14052040050032776062009-10-15T11:40:00.003+01:002009-10-15T11:46:09.715+01:00

My New Zealand correspondent - world famous cartoonist Sean Gaskin - alerted me to the fact that Discovery magazine is now including zapcode tags in their magazine to connect the printed page to online content.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-58252205512164781442009-10-09T11:12:00.000+01:002009-10-09T11:13:08.715+01:00

Good to see the New York Times using a QR Code in an advertisement, but no, it's hardly the first time this has been done. Unless the writer means first time in the NYT.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-52729594639905712362009-10-06T09:04:00.004+01:002009-10-06T09:07:07.897+01:00

In its October 6th edition, Golf Digest will use Microsoft Tags to link article readers to online content. Snapping the tag will provide more instruction on the golf tips provided in the magazine and equipment demonstrations.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-72433045180965591342009-10-05T11:37:00.002+01:002009-10-05T11:39:53.208+01:00

Came across this press release - from 2 years ago and in German - explaining and showing the use of QR codes on railway timetables by the Swiss Railway System. We're still a long way behind here in the UK...

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-81441930118565707492009-10-02T11:38:00.003+01:002009-10-02T11:55:42.012+01:00

The aim of most online marketing is to get your content in front of eyeballs so that it can prompt some kind of action (buy, visit, respond etc.). Facebook, Twitter and any other social networking tool are also ways to get your content in front of people - that's why businesses have wised up to leveraging social media for marketing purposes.Tags are no different. Tags are a way to get content in

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-9409032142339648202009-10-02T11:19:00.002+01:002009-10-02T11:32:02.927+01:00

Wired UK has some new QR codes designed by Japan's SET agency. They are looking for feedback on the best design here.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-92069199028174469822009-10-01T10:38:00.004+01:002009-10-01T11:15:31.893+01:00

Vizitag has been a user, supporter and promoter of Microsoft Tags since they were available in early 2009. However, in the last 9 months Microsoft has done very little to promote the technology themselves. So I was quite jazzed to see that Microsoft had launched 3 videos to promote their tag technology: Production quality videos full of cool images, creamy tag lines and culminating in a new

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-86081208851421551402009-09-30T08:57:00.003+01:002009-09-30T08:59:48.541+01:00

There are loads of one-off QR Code generators on the web, so here's another one from tagsolute. It's in German but perfectly easy to understand.Tagsolute also provide an API that can generate a QR Code for the current web page in your browser.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-40245209956060520272009-09-29T11:25:00.006+01:002009-09-29T11:49:00.399+01:00

We've upgraded our UI and functionality for business customers so that a tag can link to a mobile microsite (Vizisite) containing multiple pages of user-defined content. You can do a lot with these Vizisites both easily and at very low cost compared to building a bespoke mobile site using traditional web developers. - Your pages can link to external URLs and internal Vizisite content pages-

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-50026615544346203942009-09-29T11:07:00.004+01:002009-09-29T11:15:16.300+01:00

Investor Relations (IR) information communication is being transformed by new social media such as Facebook and Twitter. So why not leverage tags?We created a basic IR tag for Microsoft Corporation using one of their own tag formats. By using an XBRL web service or SEC RSS feed for example, it's almost certainly possible to update the tag content automatically each time an SEC Q10 filing is

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-54785803134869873732009-09-29T10:07:00.002+01:002009-09-29T10:10:50.839+01:00

A Pittsburgh Tribune article on mobile tagging cites Carnegie Mellon University as considering QR Codes to help people to login to websites:Carnegie Mellon University researchers are looking into how QR codes could help people remember Web site passwords.CMU would create a Web tool that's built into a browser and allows people to create QR codes containing their login information for, say, an

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-8727406106871057562009-09-25T11:45:00.003+01:002009-09-25T11:49:48.244+01:00

Tags are often described as linking print content to online content but what about using a tag to cause a document to be printed on any printer able to scan the tag?This Xerox video show how a specially equipped Xerox photocopier/printer can scan the tag on your phone in order to download details of a document and then print it. You pull up the tag on your phone, lay it on the printer's scanner

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-52553531109006139852009-09-25T11:33:00.005+01:002009-09-25T11:42:47.793+01:00

A Box Life is a cute idea for QR Codes sponsored by clothing firm Columbia as a recycling initiative. Put a tag on a cardboard box so that when the box is reused you can track the 'life' of the box. By snapping the tag and providing your location data or entering the tracking code printed under the tag with your current location via a widget on the website, you update the box's current location

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-50575581639178306692009-09-25T08:20:00.004+01:002009-09-25T08:26:51.621+01:00

The New York Times reported on the use of QR Codes by Starbucks. The code is used to trigger a mobile payment and is part of their myStarbucks app on the iphone. An analyst quoted doubted whether using mobile tags for payment in this way will catch on when compared to the option to use near field technology that reads passive RFID tags.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-47789701075261173792009-09-24T17:40:00.005+01:002009-09-25T15:47:23.419+01:00

MIT's Technology Review recently published an interesting article on Augmented Reality (AR) - What's Augmented Reality's Killer App - that raises a number of good points.1. AR is not just about wandering around holding up your phone and pointing it at things. If you do that in some parts of the Bronx your reality may be augmented rather abruptly.2. Embedding AR capability into Goggles and

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-70269405200155128432009-09-23T10:52:00.001+01:002009-09-23T10:55:01.133+01:00

Useful post from Simon Morgan at Myne discussing the current position of QR Code adoption and potential in the Australian market.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-71776297766956466842009-09-23T10:42:00.005+01:002009-09-23T10:55:45.973+01:00

Le Book, described as "the go-to guide for the creative industry", is reported to be adding the capability for contributors featured in the 2010 edition to place a Microsoft Tag on their page to link the print page with online content.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-64602797540202543812009-09-21T06:55:00.003+01:002009-09-21T07:19:23.445+01:00

Interesting post from Joe Wilcox on betanews that discusses tagging as a form of augmented reality (AR) and suggests that tagging could cut into Google's search business on mobiles. I have a few comments on this.1. Tagging is not AR - yes, snapping a tag augments something physical e.g. a product package, book or movie poster with online information. But AR really means augmenting with online

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-25120383708559112892009-09-17T18:13:00.006+01:002009-09-17T18:40:26.512+01:00

As a denizen of Dorset, all my efforts to interest various people/businesses in mobile tagging seem to have been to no avail. So it was a surprise to see that neighbouring Somerset is using QR Codes on London Tube posters to encourage relocation to the county. This comes hot on the heels of Somerset's interesting tube map for alternative commuters (which also could benefit from a few tags).

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-46658113766936114532009-09-15T10:24:00.002+01:002009-09-15T10:31:29.422+01:00

My 3 Rules of Mobile Tagging - published a couple of months ago - just turned up again on the 2-D Codes blog as the 3 rules of QR Codes. Roger left out my rule number one, the tag must be accessible. But at least he substituted one of his own, use a short url. As he points out the longer the URL the denser the QR Code image and the more likelihood that the tag snap will not resolve first

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-9687217722148618942009-09-15T10:12:00.004+01:002009-09-15T10:17:45.405+01:00

Widgets, like this excellent 'next train times' from Deutsche Bahn, highlighted by Torsten Weber, are ideal applets to link to mobile tags to resolve to when a tag is snapped. So why aren't more widgets available for phone rather than desktop deployment and why aren't more widgets resolved to from tags. I'm curious.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-41268298139337106672009-09-15T08:35:00.002+01:002009-09-15T08:40:17.106+01:00

Advertising Age recently published an article, Marketers, Take Note: The Experts Choose Their Favorite Things, which pretty much does what it says for the mobile marketing space. Augmented reality is in there along with Mobile Image Recognition (MIR) and something they call 'optical messaging' i.e. mobile tagging.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-36589256293801911212009-09-14T10:05:00.004+01:002009-09-14T10:09:17.002+01:00

If all you want to do is create a QR Code and link a simple bit of text to it then QR Code Maker may be all you need. Basically the service lets you specify a piece of text to display on a 'web page' and then provides the QR Code to snap and a shortened URL to access your page. Snap the tag to see what I mean or click this URL - I think you will find the information useful.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-27014345031769878992009-09-13T22:01:00.004+01:002009-09-13T22:11:57.963+01:00

Templar Publishing has announced that their forthcoming book Dr. Drake's Comprehensive Compendium of Dragonology will be enhanced by Augmented Reality (AR), using technology provided by Total Immersion. According to the press release:Amongst its fully illustrated chapters, the book contains a drawing of a European dragon. By visiting the Dragonology website and holding the drawing up to an active

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-49494108777705801292009-09-12T10:48:00.004+01:002009-09-12T10:53:40.125+01:00

Hot on the heels of my last post comes the discovery that Océ Breaks Ground at Print 09 with Quick Response-enabled Applications! Apparently their printers can now print QR Codes in advertisements on newspaper/magazine copy - something my home Laserjet has been doing for some time now. The code generating service they are using does enable brand logos to be overlaid in the code but that's hardly

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-50681026147599317072009-09-12T10:33:00.005+01:002009-09-12T10:52:57.040+01:00

Like any other technology niche, mobile tagging is fraught with smoke and mirrors. I had to laugh reading a recent press release for yet another QR Code generation and management site attempting to charge for basic services that are available for free from practically every other provider of QR Code tag management (including Vizitag). One of the services offered as part of a paid package is to "

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-88218742418691140012009-09-12T10:10:00.005+01:002009-09-12T10:23:03.701+01:00

Strategy+Business is normally a very reliable and insightful publication but the recent article Reinventing Print Media was not up to their high standards. How could an article discussing - in depth - the future of print media leave out mobile tagging, MIR and AR? All three of these technologies will be vital to re-invigorating a print media industry that is on its last legs. All three provide

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-59056911080259394932009-09-11T09:12:00.003+01:002009-09-11T09:15:59.350+01:00

Tokyo resident Jean Snow reports an innovative QR code design being used at Glaceau's Vitamin Water event.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-42585129343988287712009-09-11T09:08:00.002+01:002009-09-11T09:10:57.559+01:00

Mobile Marketer reported that Guinness is using QR codes in Canada as part of a campaign to celebrate its 250th anniversary.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-87659305629648323742009-09-11T09:03:00.002+01:002009-09-11T09:05:55.052+01:00

One of the presentations at the upcoming DemoFall09 conference, Innovation on the Horizon, promises: An executive at Microsoft will reveal the latest developments with Microsoft's Tag system. This innovation lets you take a picture of a barcode with your mobile phone, and it instantly connects you to information about that barcode. But now Microsoft is moving beyond barcodes, and the company will

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-37725526710840566522009-09-11T08:58:00.002+01:002009-09-11T09:01:25.542+01:00

Microsoft Tags are being used in Amsterdam to provide traveller information, diversions and prizes. According to the Microsoft blog entry:By snapping the Tag they receive free access to specific arrival and departure information, latest news on public transportation, a mobile movie series and art of the day. Three randomly selected people who snapped the Tag will win a €100 euro (about $140)

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-474236326050483612009-09-10T10:11:00.003+01:002009-09-10T10:16:16.068+01:00

It was good to see that Carolyn Pittis of Harper Collins was presenting on the use of QR Codes as Booktags at the recent annual meeting of the BISG. Harper Collins has already been experimenting with Booktags as reported by Mobile Marketing in July. FYI - We have our own Booktag microsite at mybooktag.com.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-22833632385163722292009-09-10T10:00:00.002+01:002009-09-10T10:05:41.752+01:00

Randy Matheson spotted this QR Code for Stella Lager at University and King (Seattle?). It resolves to clubstellaartois.mobi - where you are warned "You must be legal drinking age to enter this site". So if you are not please don't.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-24118845905544977392009-09-09T10:13:00.003+01:002009-09-09T10:18:14.793+01:00

No not Italian cellulite! It's the new QR code campaign from Latterie Friulane that is printing QR Codes on its milk products so when you snap the tag you can benefit from promotions and prizes.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-1411846424876502252009-09-09T10:11:00.005+01:002009-09-09T21:43:13.214+01:00

Reuters reports that Dick's Sporting Goods used a QR code to provide interactivity from a stadium video billboard. The tag resolves to a DSG mobile site.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-73184366435500857262009-09-08T09:56:00.000+01:002009-09-08T09:56:32.214+01:00

GPS co-ordinates, camera angle and range are among the key data points needed for Augmented reality (AR) to work (apart from the ability to 'layer on' content and context in the mobile display - no minor feat either). But it is worth remembering that it is possible just to tag an object so that with a snap you can find out more about it even if you have a 'legacy' phone with no GPS or

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-19416177124071472672009-09-02T12:35:00.004+01:002009-09-02T12:38:53.588+01:00

One of the other Augmented Reality (AR) or Mobile Image Recognition (MIR) initiatives out there is MOBVIS, which is well-summarized by ReadWriteWeb. So is it AR or MIR or some hybrid? I'll leave you to be the judge but either way, the technology looks like it has a lot of potential.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-38938706124844523802009-09-02T12:10:00.002+01:002009-09-02T12:13:52.178+01:00

This seems to be cheese week. Hot on the heels of a recent TV news report on Italy's Parmesan bank (where loans are backed by physical deposits of parmesan cheese) comes the news from Packaging Digest of QR codes being used to identify cheeses. As the article says:The ability to identify each individual cheese as a unique item in the production chain is an essential component. Actually applied to

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-22355280117081238392009-09-01T09:38:00.004+01:002009-09-01T09:44:45.917+01:00

Tags and landing pages go together like peaches and cream. The whole point of snapping a tag is to reach content or functionality optimized for your mobile phone. So it makes sense if your landing page does as much work as it can. Ion Interactive focuses on web analytics and has a lot of interesting stuff on landing pages. One interesting idea is to combine a social networking widget with a

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-73321542592926153952009-08-31T17:42:00.003+01:002009-08-31T17:49:53.566+01:00

Kidrobot is using QR codes placed around Manhattan to link to a mobile microsite where snappers can register and win prizes. The more codes you snap the better your chance of winning a prize and each one you snap adds a virtual dunny to your collection. You can use an online Maps & Clues page for hints on where to find codes. BTW A dunny is a collectible vinyl toy. This may all sound rather

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-16044154421669523982009-08-28T10:53:00.001+01:002009-08-28T10:54:59.804+01:00

Mobile Image Recognition (MIR) vendor Kooaba got some nice press recently in this article about making media pay.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-76463063559478488492009-08-28T10:37:00.006+01:002009-09-01T10:47:23.687+01:00

My attempt to tag-enable my local town of Shaftesbury failed dismally. But then Shaftesbury does not have its own CIO with the vision (and budget) of Dustin Haisler, like the city of Manor (CA, USA).Mr. Haisler is an example of what I call a 'tag transformer' someone with the drive to execute on the vision of tags. He started by in a small way - tagging the town's archive filing boxes as an

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-50125394941027214642009-08-28T10:31:00.004+01:002009-08-28T10:34:53.188+01:00

Yelp's new 2.0 version of their review site for the iPhone 3GS leverages that phone's GPS and built-in compass to has add augmented reality (AR) capability. You can find out more about this and some links to other interesting AR stuff at Josh Barretts tinyscreenfuls.com.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-6368595034994136812009-08-27T10:43:00.003+01:002009-08-27T10:47:54.987+01:00

This Flickr page shows a guy installing a large QR code for use as a sign in front of a house/office. Apparently when you snap the tag...The code reads:http://p8t.ch/31by1...which is one of my p8tch redirect-able URLs. We're thinking of things to link it to.For instance: a video of someone scanning the sign, while a person in a gorilla suit sneaks up behind them.OK then...

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-87710577965491169382009-08-27T10:37:00.002+01:002009-08-27T10:38:27.495+01:00

Microsoft Tag app is now available for download from Nokia's Ovi Store.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-7512338803245545662009-08-26T09:09:00.002+01:002009-08-26T09:13:32.385+01:00

Some posts ago I reported on the Venice tourist tag trail called TagMyLagoon. My business partner recently returned from Venice and snapped this shot of one of the tags in situ showing the way to the Peggy Guggenheim museum. Hard to miss and easy to snap.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-35269463774950931522009-08-25T12:55:00.002+01:002009-08-25T12:58:26.114+01:00

Listen from Google Labs brings podcasts and web audio to your Android-powered device. It lets you search, subscribe, download and stream. By subscribing to programs and search terms it will create a personalized audio-magazine loaded with fresh shows and news stories whenever you listen. In this release Listen is indexing thousands of popular English-only audio sources.You can download the app

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-44854381678359554312009-08-25T12:41:00.003+01:002009-08-25T12:49:10.388+01:00

Microsoft's announcement of OneApp means that Wapple et al will soon have more competition in the mobile site generation space. Although OneApp will start by simply delivering a core set of MS mobile apps, once an SDK is available then it becomes a real application delivery platform (based on Javascript and XML).According to Microsoft, OneApp offers a client/server architecture so that: Unlike a

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-21351733326523911142009-08-24T11:00:00.004+01:002009-08-24T11:05:09.245+01:00

Nick Burcher spotted a QR Code in The Times today. It's ultra fashionable because when you snap the tag it resolves to an Italian site. There's also very little in the way of instructions to use it. So it looks like another case of a 'Hey let's slap a tag on our ad and see what happens' kind of campaign.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-35918660324874404602009-08-23T16:51:00.004+01:002009-08-23T16:57:40.100+01:00

Here in the UK it has been a big week for the promotion of various mobile technologies in print and on TV including:Augmented Reality (AR) vendor Layar covered on the BBC's Click showMobile Image Recognition (MIR) in The Economist (see previous post)Mobile Tagging (MT) in The EconomistMobile apps on the iPhone in New ScientistSo I've added a quick 4 page briefing that discusses AR vs. MIR vs. MT.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-47295361232464428282009-08-21T17:12:00.005+01:002009-08-21T17:19:19.227+01:00

One of the first tags we came up with was what we called a 999 tag - a tag that resolves to data about a vulnerable person to help them if they get into difficulty. You can try an example at our microsite 999tag.com.Now Medjet have come out with an iPhone app called, surprisingly, iMedjet, that stores data about you for use in a medical emergency but also provides access to a massive online

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-63927384523792207812009-08-21T09:46:00.005+01:002009-08-23T17:01:59.148+01:00

Hooray. The Economist discovers mobile tags...In an article entitled Snap it, click it, use it, The Economist provides a view on mobile tagging. The article would have been better named See. Snap. Sorted but you can't have everything.The writer makes the point about mobile tags that calling them bar codes is a bit old-fashioned but then proceeds to continue calling tags 2D-barcodes and harking

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-51149167651398839402009-08-21T09:23:00.003+01:002009-08-21T09:31:35.551+01:00

Startupi has reported a very interesting tagging application in Brazil called Health Tag:Health Tag is a system for supporting health care in remote areas. It allows easy identification of patients and access to patient records. Also, it stores statistical data to aid in research about the spread of disease and the effectiveness of health policies. Health Tag not only uses MS Tags for access to

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-81241770877723159902009-08-20T22:47:00.003+01:002009-08-20T22:53:34.480+01:00

Kooaba claim they have added 4.5 million book covers to their back-end mobile image recognition (MIR) database. And who am I to disbelieve them? I tried a few from my extensive library and they seemed to work fine. I assume they did some deal with Amazon.When you snap your book cover it resolves to a few search and book buying links, which seems rather unimaginative given the hard work they have

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-38162105797252378702009-08-20T17:17:00.002+01:002009-08-20T17:21:58.353+01:00

Mobile Acuity is an image recognition provider that has some interesting twists on image recognition via your mobile phone camera. It uses MMS to transmit an image snapped on your phone and return the content it resolves to via email - which seems rather cumbersome and convoluted if you watch their demo video - but nevertheless the software is capable of doing very clever stuff like recognizing

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-48773049801379108222009-08-20T12:31:00.003+01:002009-08-20T12:41:18.283+01:00

Microsoft recently demoed an MS Tag application called GoMap that uses tags to help you navigate around a building - in this case buildings on the Microsoft campus. It's kind of like a satnav for within a building (or mall or warehouse or conference hall for example). So instead of just having signs pointing to room numbers you snap a tag, tell it the room number you want and the back end content

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-58880200737787937712009-08-19T10:14:00.002+01:002009-08-19T10:23:30.307+01:00

Version 2 of the Augmented Reality (AR) application Layar launched recently, claiming the availability of some 87 content Layars worldwide. A content Layar is a set of content link options that overlays the image of a real world object viewed in your mobile phone camera. Layar matches the view you see to an image in its back end database that is in turn linked to specific content provided either

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-36996118135477815772009-08-17T08:57:00.004+01:002009-08-17T09:01:29.858+01:00

vSendit is a Japanese iPhone app that can send your contact data to another iPhone user by email and automatically generate a QR Code from the same data so when the code is snapped your contact data is displayed.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-75328987656230292212009-08-17T08:49:00.003+01:002009-08-17T08:54:47.843+01:00

Advertixx is an Australian advertising agency that uses an interesting combination of eyeball tracking, QR Codes and Bluetooth messaging to make its digital signage ads more functional. They seemed to have got that mobile tags are just another new channel for reaching prospects.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-1241855120911332722009-08-14T11:04:00.004+01:002009-08-14T11:15:39.751+01:00

The slavering over the new Apple iTablet that is expected to release Q4-09 or Q1-10 has neglected to mention one thing: A tablet, including Amazon's Kindle for example, is also an ideal delivery channel for augmented reality (AR) content. Delivering AR to a mobile is great but the form factor is limiting for this kind of application, whereas a tablet steps up the visual real estate a notch to

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-61237512153130823492009-08-14T10:54:00.003+01:002009-08-14T11:02:48.624+01:00

This informative post about interactive window displays at NYC's RockC extols the virtues of using a text message to spin the slot wheels and see if you have won a prize via the window display. The rationale being that using a text message is better than snapping a tag because it does not require a reader pre loaded on your phone.But I think it would work just as well with a slot tag - snapping

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-60993517019419383852009-08-13T11:44:00.002+01:002009-08-13T11:50:17.452+01:00

This is a great idea for banking checks/cheques that uses a mobile banking app and your phone camera to capture the front and back image of a cheque and deposit funds to your account. Watch the video.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-59218993616923648252009-08-13T10:48:00.005+01:002009-08-13T10:57:00.644+01:00

Dijon now has its own tourist tag trail called Divio that uses QR Codes to deliver more information about places and monuments. The video makes it look as if they just slapped a few stickers around the city and they are all different sizes with no clear branding.But nevertheless this is a use of tags that we expect to be commonplace within a year or two. We've tried to sell this concept a few

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-64890810397065602092009-08-12T15:36:00.008+01:002009-08-13T11:37:10.158+01:00

Despite not being able to get the M&S Food To Go tag to resolve on my iPhone you can get some idea of what it resolves to via this image from the excellent iphone emulator site testiphone.com.This mobile site is a pretty good effort and the numeric voucher code is a simple way to get some payback for having snapped the tag. Full marks to the M&S agency that worked on this for giving it a go

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-28933536278444901352009-08-12T09:37:00.004+01:002009-08-12T14:26:43.432+01:00

According to NMA, leading UK retailer M&S is trialling the use of QR codes on Food to Go juice bottles. But judging by the image on the left these are in fact Datamatrix codes not QR Codes.The tags are supposed to resolve to a mobile site and a redeemable voucher for future purchases but I was unable to get this one to resolve on my iPhone.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-90086387145149154852009-08-12T09:17:00.003+01:002009-08-12T09:22:40.440+01:00

Bloggers are already questioning the initial limitations imposed on use of the MS Tag API i.e. 50 tag categories5000 tags30,000 snaps per hourThis seems a little puzzling given that everything is currently free and I doubt if many businesses in the tagosphere outside Japan has more than 5000 customers or a snap volume of over 30,000 per hour.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-69662519878271654482009-08-11T12:17:00.004+01:002009-08-11T12:24:52.173+01:00

Enticed by the claim that MS Tags had been integrated into this website using the new API, I signed up for Hear It Live and downloaded their app to my iPhone.Hear It Live is a gig search app that finds gigs up to 100 miles from your current location and provides gig information, artist biography and live track downloads. It's a nice idea - just needs some gigs :)The Hear It Live 'Artist Portal' -

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-33653431426924351252009-08-10T12:01:00.003+01:002009-08-10T12:12:20.580+01:00

More and more supermarkets now have those self-scanning checkouts where you scan the barcode on the products and pay. Imagine the cost of all that scanning and payment hardware -and even that is apparently cheaper than employing a checkout person.Now imagine an Argos-type (UK) or Best-Buy type (US) warehouse operations where higher-value non-food products are displayed in a showroom, each with a

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-61989756967613469542009-08-10T11:54:00.002+01:002009-08-10T11:58:55.685+01:00

B&T reported that Telstra and Pacific Magazines will make more use of QR codes following the success of an earlier trial. But what is most interesting about this brief press release is some real world stats from the trial campaign. Apparently, the 50 QR codes deployed across different magazines generated some 20,000 snaps, which Telstra claimed represented a 6.1% response rate.

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-32012168000542499432009-08-07T12:25:00.005+01:002009-08-07T12:31:33.581+01:00

Smartpox looks like a great mobile tag management idea and site that was just too early to market and suffered from an unfortunate name. I wonder what ever happened to it?

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-55648872682787501032009-08-07T12:07:00.004+01:002009-08-07T12:17:38.517+01:00

Mobile Marketer reported that Sprint will be preloading the Scanbuy ScanLife app on its Samsung Exclaim mobile phone. Let's hope it's is the first of many pre loads as this can only help the adoption of mobile tagging generally as more users become familiar with it.Scanbuy have also done an interesting deal with carriers in Spain by providing: an interoperable 2D (two-dimensional) barcode system

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-25372618098402436562009-08-06T18:59:00.004+01:002009-08-06T19:12:01.785+01:00

Interesting article from wi-fi planet on how wi-fi is driving innovation in tourism. By wi-fi enabling towns and cities or venues like art galleries, mobile tagging gets a chance to add value to the visitor experience without out-of-country tourists incurring hefty 3G roaming fees.The article discusses the use of QR Codes in Venice to provide more information about lesser known locations in the

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-68616001579499565152009-08-06T09:41:00.004+01:002009-08-07T12:19:01.922+01:00

Although I'm a big fan of mobile image recognition (MIR) and wish Kooaba and Pongr and others the best of luck, I just wonder if MIR is not a hammer to crack a nut.The great advantage of MIR is that you just need to snap a poster or brand logo in situ, not a predefined tag, and assuming the poster or logo image can be resolved in the MIR vendor's back-end database, you'll get content delivered to

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5231643221147423017.post-59894048671199958572009-08-06T09:23:00.003+01:002009-08-06T09:33:59.858+01:00

Neomedia's press release of a tag-enabled print solution from the Brown Printing Company sounds interesting until you see the name they selected for their service: B.Mobile. No, not bmobile the phone reseller or b.mobile in Brunei or b-mobile the mobile movie/show booking service.I think the "be mobile" idea has been done. As a primting company they might have had more fun with P.Mobile...

Stewart McKienoreply@blogger.com0