cnet
Natali Del Conte: You may have started to notice codes like this in and around magazines, bill boards, online and may be even on TV. You probably thought those codes weren't for you, but guess what they are, those are called QR codes and we're going to show you what in the world you are supposed to do with them.
Cnet: How To
QR Codes
Natali Del Conte: A QR code is short for quick response code, it's a matrix or a two dimensional barcode that can hold a lot of information in just one small little graphic. You may not know how to read it, but guess what your cell phone does. By downloading a simple mobile application you can learn to read this new language. If you are using an Android phone download an application called bar code scanner from the Android market place. If you are using a Windows phone, you want to use a program called Microsoft Tag. If you are using an iPhone, I suggest an application called NeoReader, all of these applications are free. NeoReader also works on BlackBerry, Palm and other non-smart phone as well. So you can use this without all of the fancy phones, you won't be left out.
Once you have the application downloaded just open it, it will access your phones camera and automatically begin searching for a readable code. Sometimes it will lock on to that code without you even hitting the camera shutter other times you will have to actually take a photo of the code and the software will take just a minute to read it. Once the application gets a good read on the barcode it will show you where the code wants to take you. You can approve that, that's useful, so that you don't scan a code that has a virus and then automatically go there, except the location that the code wants to send you and your cell phone will do the rest.
A QR code can link to a website, a calendar appointment, contact information, a geo-location, even a text message. I've seen them here in New York where retailers like Ralph Lauren have them in their window displays, so if you scan that code with your phone may be you get a coupon that you can redeem right there on the spot. I have seen them in magazines where may be an advertiser will send you to the site by the product that they're advertising. I have also seen them on Twitter and Facebook profiles that's where users will link to more information about themselves. Google employees are even putting QR codes on their business card, so that their colleagues can scan their code to get that contact information without having to remember where they place the actual, physical card.
And what if you want to generate a QR code yourself that's actually really easy. Go to the URL on the screen right now, you can create a QR code for anything you want website, calendar appointment, your contact information, whatever. You choose the size of the code that you want to create and then just click generate. You can then download that code as a graphic or you can take the embed code to do with that as you please.
That's it for your tutorial on what to do with QR codes now that you know about them, I suspect you will be spotting them a whole lot more. And if you find interesting ways to use this let me know and here is how? One of the QR code I used for demonstration in this very video links to my contact information here at cnet, so you have to do a little scavenger hunting to find me, but I have faith that you can. Thank you for watching, I am Natali Del Conte with cnet.com. Have a great day.
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