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Comment by jacalata | Hacker News Reader

There are a lot of offline ads (billboards, magazines, TV spots) that give out a URL.

Even as a technical person, I hardly use URLs apart from sites I know well.

I've noticed more and more recently a trend of billboards and things that just say 'Search [name]' instead of putting their URL there.

I've seen it too. That's a lot of confidence in their SEO.

Not really, if I were doing this, I'd buy ads for the search term so I can guarantee (within reason) I'm at the top.

I bet the sign itself serves as search engine optimization. If everybody starts searching for "foo" and clicks on my site in the result set then a reasonable search engine might bump my site up higher for searches for "foo."

That's an interesting hypothesis. It makes sense for the company both as optimization of their web pages for search engines and as making good impression on customers.

More likely a QR code these days

http://picturesofpeoplescanningqrcodes.tumblr.com/

Thanks for sharing. I was a bit dense for a few minutes.

Haha, yeah I get it. But I scan QR codes all the time, maybe I'll take a photo and submit it.

Is there a good (or even native) app to scan these on iPhone?

Everything I have tried is lackluster. I'm to the point where if something is qr only I just don't care enough and move on

RedLaser works well. Really well, actually. I'm not a QR fan, but hey every now and again I do scan one (usually out of some weird curiosity) and RedLaser is the best app for the job.

Opera mini does its job, and approaches QR codes the right way, being an input alternative to the keyboard reachable from the omnibox

Scanbot. Great app for scanning documents, but when you scan a QR code, it handles it.

People still use QR codes?

They ever did?

Well I think people did, once, but then immediately discovered it wasn't worth the effort.

I do for any printed media. It makes it easier for people to look up the corresponding electronic version of a document. QR code has its uses, but tends fail when misused. QR code is best when interacting with it is strictly optional.

For loading two-factor authentication secrets. Or anything else you can think of that has too much information to convey with a short link. If you are directing people to a web site using QR codes then you're doing it wrong. Well, wrong now that everyone has realized just how limited QR codes are.

I use them at bus stops to pull up live tracking

They're great for managing parts in a manufacturer's storeroom. A QR code is more information-dense than a barcode.

Right. By the time most people remember how to scan a QR code, they could've typed in the URL.

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