We just had an interview the russian daily kommersant about semapedia and the state of 2D barcodes in general:

http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1211376

Love that they published the Bernie Madoff Tag:
http://www.kommersant.ru/dark-gallery.aspx?PicsID=354650&stpid=71

The google translation is hilarious:
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kommersant.ru%2Fdoc.aspx%3FDocsID%3D1211376&sl=ru&tl=en&history_state0=

Neomedia holds the patent 6,199,048 for indirect resolution of barcodes :

1.) the user initiates the code scan on his device and the scanner software retrieves the Identifier encoded in the barcode
2.) the scanner sends the Identifier to a online service to retrieve the associated URL
3.) the scanner is handing the URL to the browser or a different app to display the content

How about the following:

1.) the user initiates the code scan on his device and the scanner software retrieves the Identifier encoded in the barcode
2.) scanner uses the Identifier to assemble a URL like “http://www.online-db.com/resolve?id=[identifier]” and hands it *directly* to the browser
3.) the online service does a HTTP redirect to the content associated with the Identifier

That would turn indirect resolution into direct resolution insofar as the network triggers the final content URL and not the software on the device.

For the user the result is the same. It saves one network request from the scanner at the cost of one more redirect.

Would that bypass the neomedia patent? I am of course a big supporter of the QR code based direct encoding, but if you want to i.e. write a reader/browser based service that make use of the billions and billions of UPC Barcodes out there then you might run into patent issues if you go the first route, that why i hope that the second route might bypass the patent. Would be great if somebody could confirm that!

Interesting Article on QR Codes and the US, yes there is a future for QR codes in the US.
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=138154

What I find really amusing about the article are the comments, always those stupid patent claims by neomedia. Wonder why they not get tired of that, they don’t have the QR Code patent or a patent that describes what QR Codes do. And why they don’t realize that it does NOT DO THEM ANY GOOD, the comments are so bad that you might think the competition if posting them to discredit them. They still try to keep the “fear” up, uh neomedia, we come for you if you use QR Codes. Don’t worry about them, QR Codes are they way to go, sorry Neomedia/ScanLife/…

If you are looking for a reader try this: http://www.tigtags.com/getqr

What?? As many of you probably know, Alexis and me run TigTags and PercentMobile together with Dave Harper. We provide professional mobile analytics. We have a comprehensive database of devices with tons of properties, one of them is whether the device supports QR Codes and what reader you can download. We ran a query over the most used devices worldwide and crossed that with the QR Code capabilites and according to that:

63% of Phones can install a QR Code Reader App

This is good news, especially in an environment where people are getting too used to the idea that they can download applications to their phones. No need to rely on handset manufacturer to pre-install those devices, users can download the barcode readers themselves. Sometimes standards are imposed on us and there are quite a few barcode reader companies who want to impose their reader on us, but really if you create interesting QR code applications and people get the QR code reader on their phone, that beats imposition. Paying for barcodes is not en vogue, especially in a cash strapped environment.

To get a barcode for your phone try our QR Coder Reader download service.

Enjoy

Last weekend we went for a family trip up north to Detroit. It always confuses me to see such a large and important city in such state of decay in a nation that calls itself the leading country of world, clearly not, not when the nation lets a city on that scale rod to its bones. Burned down family houses en masse, car wrecks, factory ruins, the ghostly train station and abandoned sky scrappers. Desolate and depressing. The more important that it has people like Tyree Guyton who started with his Grandfather the Heidelberg Project. He uses empty lots and abandoned houses as canvas for his uplifting, inspiring and positive art. The radiation of hope can be felt all around it. It was a pleasure talking to him and I feel very honored that he put a semapedia sticker on his work. Ein Man der Tat.

When you around make sure to visit him and also don’t forget the close by urban farmers that provide an excellent model for sustainability in difficult urban environment such as Detroit.

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