One day while at the local supermarket I noticed on a product a strange looking square barcode. At home that night I tried to find some information about it but with no luck - Until tonight! While browsing through make I saw a guide for making a cutout “QR Code” business card. Wikipedia to the rescue and now I’m up to scratch. Turns out these things are used in the production process of products, but are starting to appear in other places, viral marketing style with the purpose of giving people who have the ability to read them extra information, addresses, and advertising.

A quick google search turned up a fantastic application compatible with my handset (Nokia N73) and by looking at the download page many more handsets. From what I can tell the product is free after registering on their website (it might be shareware, I honestly don’t think it is though - didn’t see any mention of purchasing or trial). What Kaywa Reader does is use the camera built into the handset to “see” the Code, then decode it and display information on the screen (text and internet addresses). See if you can decode the QR Code I included in this post! I’ll certainly be on the lookout for these codes everywhere I go from now on.