Have You Seen this Funny Little Box?
It's called a QR Code — and it's popping up everywhere! Some of you have seen these codes all over magazines,
books, catalogs, blogs, television commercials, on buses, restaurant menus, direct mail flyers, advertising billboards and posters. At your local supermarket, you might have even seen them emblazoned
on bags of your favorite coffee beans! And some of you may be asking yourself, “What on earth is a QR Code?”
“QR” stands for “Quick Response” and the code works directly with your Smartphone.
These codes have information embedded into them, and when read can trigger actions like launching a website, interacting with a social media page, playing a video, or downloading a file. They are
very easy to use... simply download a QR reader app and install it on your Smartphone. Activate the app and scan the QR Code. It will be instantly read and you'll immediately jump to the promoted
content without having to manually — and tediously, and boringly, and distractingly — type in a long hard-to-remember string of cryptic characters on a teeny, tiny keyboard.
Here are a few of the more popular FREE apps you can try:
- KAYWA Reader
- Microsoft Tag Reader
- Qrafter
- TapMedia QR Reader
- UpCode
- Or, do some “Google-ing” and search out the perfect app for your Smartphone.
Give it a test run. Just for grins, scan the code above and Ariel Ministries' home page will automagically appear on your Smartphone. Pretty cool, heh? Next time, you might snag a serious discount coupon or a great freebie. If you're not a geek, skip to the end of this article and finish reading about why any of this is relevant.
Technical History and Geek Links (For Those Few Who Really Care)
The QR Code was created by the Japanese corporation DENSO WAVE in 1994. It was specifically designed for use in tracking automobile components during manufacturing. The “QR” means “Quick Response” because the code allows its contents to be decoded at high speed. Essentially, a QR Code is a two-dimensional bar code (or matrix code) but with some major advancements.
Traditional bar codes proved inadequate to contain the amount of information needed in a limited space. DENSO set up a team in 1992 to develop a new code, and in two years the QR Code was developed. The QR Code carries information in both the vertical and horizontal direction, which allows it to store up to several hundred times the amount of data carried by a bar code. The astounding result was that up to 4,000 alphanumeric characters, or over 7,000 numeric characters, can be encoded in one QR code! Furthermore, the code was designed to withstand stains and damage that can occur in a factory environment. Amazingly, a QR Code's data can be restored even if a maximum of 30 percent of the code is damaged.
The patent rights for the code are owned by DENSO
WAVE, but the specifications and use of the code were made open and free to the public to widely expand its use in the market. The code was also approved as an ISO international standard
in 2000. In Japan, the QR Code holds commanding share for two dimensional codes. Worldwide, its adoption for use in production and distribution management is growing.
Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging). QR Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards, or just about any object that users might need information about. Users with a camera equipped Smartphone and the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone's browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks. Warning: Super Geek Link!
Perhaps the most extreme example of Japanese cultural infiltration by the code is Tokyo's N Building, a commercial structure located in the shopping district near Tachikawa station. Designed by TERADADESIGN ARCHITECTS, the building incorporates a dynamic QR Code as the facade itself, visible day or night! Shoppers can scan the building to access up-to-date shopping information, make reservations and download coupons — simultaneously cool and a bit crazy.
Japan's NTT DoCoMo is one of the world's largest mobile communications operators providing leading-edge mobile voice, data and multimedia services. A few years ago the company produced the following video advertisement to educate its more than 57 million Japanese customers about QR codes:
Since QR Code reader functions were installed to cellular phones over a decade ago, their usage has vastly expanded to the European and American consumer market in many areas of marketing and advertising. These “funny little boxes” have finally traversed the yellow brick road from east to west, commensurate with the meteoric proliferation of Smartphones. Androids, iPhones and Crackberries, Oh My!
So why is all this this relevant to Ariel Ministries?
Simple. We're featuring QR Codes in our quarterly newsletter. So get those scanners ready... you never know, you might just find a free teaching by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum on your Smartphone!
In fact, check out Ariel's Spring 2011 Newsletter and scan the QR Code located on page 8 to enjoy a free Messianic Bible Study.
Shalom!
