And you're going to have to whip out your smart phone and aim it at the screen if you want to know what that is.
Pain in the ass, right?
So here's what I think about QR codes.
I think QR codes are very useful and very good for certain applications. Very cool idea. Outdoor, transit, temporary tattoos, t-shirts, bar coasters, etc and etc. Airport signs at the baggage claim. On a bag that lives on the baggage carousel. Painted on cabs. On pedicabs. Hell, paint them on cows in a field. Put 'em on small children at the beach. In grocery stores for an instant coupon. On grocery carts. Real estate signs are a great use - someone can get more information immediately about a house they just drove or walked past. Anywhere someone can take advantage of the ease of aiming their phone-camera at a code more easily or more in a better time frame than anything else. And on and on.
We all know I'm an idiot, but I'm not some kind of luddite who uses a manual typewriter and just hates all that gol-danged crazy new-fangled stuff those crazy kids like. But just because something does a cool thing isn't a good enough reason to use it everywhere. For example, put a QR code in a magazine and on a business card and in order to make any use of it, one has to put down the magazine or card, get their phone, aim it at the code and then look at the screen on their phone. As opposed to, I don't know, going to their computer and just typing in an URL?
Never mind the fact that not EVERYBODY on earth has a smart phone - or wants one - it just seems like a case of doing something for the same reason a dog . . . never mind, bad joke. But the punch line is "because he can".
(Added - Since this originally went up, I have been advised to delete the part about not everybody having or wanting a smart phone for fear it is too curmudgeonly. The jury will therefore disregard that part. The crabby old guy who wrote this is not a curmudgeon and does not want to appear to be one.)
I don't have a prejudice against QR codes. But I'm not a big fan of using the latest gimmick just to be using the latest gimmick, either.
Posts
3 comments:
and I an't buyin' one of those dumb, smartphones, just because some one thought up this tag to make me have to buy one to read it! >gasp<
If'n he/she/it can't put it in plain English, etc., I ain't buyin' the product.
Nuf said.
posted by a card carrying Curmudgeon, ID Number 245780-z
QR codes are becoming the way of the world these days. Human ability to adapt is how we've survived throughout evolution. We have Visa Debit cards with this new "Pay Wave" technology, negating the need for money, we have B-pay, Skype and now QR codes.
I'll admit I griped about technology, too, but once I sunk my teeth in I discovered it gets easier as you go.
I think the QR codes are weird but like the bar codes we sue in the supermarket today,it's helpful in their own way.
Post a Comment