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Comment by billybob | Hacker News Reader

I guess I don't get it. If somebody shows me information I can't read with my own eyeballs, I have to really care to take the time to read it with a device. When the novelty has worn off, I'm not going to keep beeping my phone at every code in sight. Especially if they mainly turn out to be URLs I could have read in plain English and/or advertisements.

Is this actually useful, beyond the fad's lifespan?

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Especially if they mainly turn out to be URLs I could have read in plain English

And what good is reading a URL in plain English?

"Find this device online: {QR Code}" is better than "Visit http://www.example.com/cms/products/industrial?product=09278...

I think billybob is arguing that a short message/url like "Find this device online: www.example.com/device" is better than both "Find this device online: {QR Code}" AND "Visit http://www.example.com/cms/products/industrial?product=09278....

I agree completely, I just don't understand the hype??

I have not seen a situation where I have thought this idea really fits

Someone started putting a QR code on the bottom of their email, I scanned it and it turned out to be a link to their vcard? Why not just put on a link to the vcard?

Pointless to me that!

Some airlines are using QR codes now and it's kinda nice... I did a pre-checkin online, had them text me my boarding pass, got a text seconds later with a QR code and was ready to go. The only thing that sucks is if your phone dies waiting to board your flight.

I think the hassle of typing, versus scanning is the purported advantage. But the advantage is offset because an app needs to be launched.

Are there any devices that can recognise something as a QR code, as soon as it they are switched on?

If you could switch a phone camera on (an easy operation on most phones), and, when pointed at a QR code, it automatically figured out that it was looking at a QR, and decoded it, I think QR codes stand a chance. Otherwise, I would tend to agree with you, at least for consumer consumption.

I think you are right in what you are saying but that means that QR codes would have to be widely adopted to make them native to the device you are looking at them on. And as the other commenter noted, what if the device dies?

Airlines have been using QR style codes for years for bags etc so they can probably find a use for them.

I'm all for advancements in technology but I somehow feel that this is a fad that will pass quite quickly unless they find an actual use for it

For Google IO and SF Music Hack Day we passed out 2x2 flyers to promote our brand new music player for Android. People were intrigued by the design - we had our icon/logo in the middle and our url on the sides:

http://blog.cloud.tv/2011/05/18/1000-installs/

It helped us get our first ~1000 users...

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