On a Saturday morning with major rain going on outside, it was a great time to do some reading, catch up on a few bits of this and that, and explore on the internet a bit. (Don’t get me wrong, we needed the rain after a week of 90-plus degrees of heat each day.)
I stumbled across one of those things that I have been interested in before, and find myself amazed to discover the progress that was made since the last time I looked into it.
I’m talking about bar codes here, folks. Bar Codes. Does it get any more exciting than that?
OK, perhaps you don’t share my enthusiasm for the world of those odd lines and blocks that seem to be on,,,well, everything.
But I think it is just interesting that there is this whole eco-system of information that is on just about anything, that we don’t pay that much attention to–but really tracks a great deal of our lives. Even more interesting to me is that you can now carry a tool that can help you decode and use much of this information on your own, in some cases to learn information that you wouldn’t otherwise know, or even to save some cash.
The tool I am talking about is not one of those handheld scanners that you may be able to use at your local supermarket (though I do think those are a much better way to do the grocery shopping) but rather something you probably already own.
Your high-tech telecommunications gadget, known as your smart phone.
If you have taken the plunge and own an iPhone, Android, or even heaven forbid–a Windows Mobile or other odd phone that you can download and install applications to (otherwise known as “apps”) then chances are you can use your phone as a pocketable bar code reader. This means your cell phone’s camera can be used to read or “look” at bar codes and turn them into information you can use.
Standing in a store and wondering how much less you might be able to buy the same thing at other stores or maybe even online? Your barcode scanner app can “read” the barcode as easily as you would take a picture. A few seconds later, you can do some instant comparison shopping to find out how much less the item is elsewhere–or that you have a great bargain on your hands and you should march directly to the checkout.
Don’t scoff at this little scenario. I did this comparison shopping in the local Best Buy recently, and when I said that the item I wanted was on Amazon for twenty bucks less, they looked up the Amazon price and matched it on the spot. Not all stores will be this aggressive about price matching, but it is worth a shot.
The other part of my little barcode fascination is around a newer type of barcode that you might be seeing more of recently. It is called a QR code. The QR stands for “quick response” and what’s interesting about these is that you can create them yourself and use them in ways that are pretty interesting.
I had noticed a QR code on a business card I was recently given by a colleague. I wondered why the code was on his card, when he explained that the code could be read by smartphones and computer scanners, and it would display his full contact information that could then be pulled into the phone or computer with a single click. No more retyping or cut and pasting, just scan and click.
This seemed like a pretty cool deal, so I downloaded an app to the closest phone at hand, a Droid, and began playing with it. The app is simply named “barcode scanner” and it works exactly as advertised, except that you can also use it to create your own QR codes. The idea is that you can turn your information into a QR code and then either email it to someone or even have someone “scan” it off your phone’s screen into their phone.
There are a number of different barcode scanning apps for every kind of phone, I’ve already repeated this little bit of discovery on my trusty iPhone and it works equally well. Some of the apps are free, others might run you a dollar or two for increased features.
So if you see me at the store picking up different things and appearing to take pictures of those things, note that I am not some kind of odd freak, cataloging the various items on the shelves.
No, I’m probably just trying to save some money.
By the way, if you have read this far and are thinking about playing with barcodes on your own, here’s a QR code from me to practice on:
