Drones Light Up Shanghai’s Sky with a QR Code | Hacker News Reader

Drones Light Up Shanghai’s Sky with a QR Code

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78 pointsalanwong56 comments

Ugh this is so Shanghai and not in a good way. I lived in Shanghai for about 2 years. Certain 'design decisions' that they make are like Times Square with Chinese Characteristics. It feels like a pop-up ad in real life that you physically can't close. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not some architectural taste curmudgeon. I actually like the garish lighting and weirdly shaped vanity projects like the Bottle Opener. I just hate the buildings that literally become building-sized billboards when you look at the skyline at night.

You would hate my view from Hong Kong, where I finally got a sea view from a high rise floor, and I can see the entire city lighting up at night with huge ads and stuff.

It feels so Ghost in the Shell, I reached my goal :D

The tram ride up to the top of Victoria Peak at night should be on every single persons bucket list.

I would love that.

Perfect application for AR with ad blocking.

Haha, the manufacturers will likely do their best to lock them down tight in order to show you their ads.

I've been screaming about this to friends for years hahaha, finally someone who thinks similarly! The best use for AR glasses will be IRL ad blocking.

I was in Shanghai for a couple of days, and I really loved the night, in a Blade Runneresque sort of way. Even watching the smog-filled sky filtering the sun at dawn was mesmerizing, thank you jet lag... but I understand why living there full time couldn't be the best experience.

The Bund is like that but not all of Shanghai is so garish. French district for example - though I agree the city Shanghai feels most like is NYC (just not all copies of Times Square).

There's very little overarching design in the new development, and I grew to like the patchwork quilt-like mismatch of elements. Shanghai is a beautiful city, though if you said "this is so the Bund" then I'd agree with everything you said.

> Is it brilliant or dystopian?

Please help me understand how this could be considered anything but dystopian? The night sky is a commons and a natural wonder that humans have communed with for millennia, and this pollutes it with an obnoxious and un-ignorable visual display that nobody asked for or wanted and that benefits virtually nobody besides its creators. What upside could there possibly be?

This is same feeling I have at the beach and having to see a plane pull a banner over the ocean for Coors Light or the plethora of weed/casino billboards I see driving on public roads. We are forced into ads all around us. I'm not saying this to defend the drones, but to show the ubiquity of ads and how desensitized we've become to their invasion into our lives whether we like it or not.

It's not any more or less dystopian than a plane pulling a Coors Light ad.

However, I've noticed the negativity around anything China related, and it just triggers memories of the kind of double standards my family was subjected to when growing up as a minority in the US.

It's the same pattern as British news coverage of the two princesses, whether we like it or not.

Nobody on this site, I repeat nobody, has any animosity towards a random Chinese citizen for simply being Chinese in China.

What you call „negativity around anything China related“ is people raised in fairly free societies (most of HN) having a gut wrench reaction to whatever overstep-du-jour the Chinese communist elites (the CCP) have committed this week.

I think it is rather dumb and annoying. Dystopian? Far from it.

Do you consider a plane flying by with a banner behind it dystopian? Isn't this more or less the same kind of thing?

Seems to me that some people use dystopian to mean “bad and like something you would see in a dystopian novel/movie.” Which in most cases cashes out to ‘bad and high-tech’

I do consider that similarly bad yes.

Bad, sure, we both agree.

Dystopian has a very specific meaning though.

From Cambridge dictionary: relating to a very bad or unfair society in which there is a lot of suffering, especially an imaginary society in the future, or to the description of such a society.

I fail to see how one can derive "a very bad or unfair society" and "a lot of suffering" from a QR code in night sky.

Using a loud and high visibility technology to inject an unignorable advertisement into a natural space is bad.

I don't know or care what flavor of bad the dictionary would call it. Dystopian works fine for me. Sorry it doesn't for you I guess.

You'd have to take an action to view the advertisement, otherwise, it's just dots.

I kinda wish all other ads were like that, tbh.

Wasn't there some sort of video played before the QR code was displayed? Acting as if it's an opt-in experience feels disingenuous.

And if it's specifically about the night sky and it's integrity, are starlink and iridium satellites distopian?

Absolutely. They take a common good that we have and use it for commercial purpose, Starlink should not be allowed to exist as a product, full stop. It pollutes the view of the sky for the entire Earth, even over countries which do not have access to the service, and for people who aren't happy to have their lives intruded by yet another American corporation.

Do they really "fly" those satellites over areas where they don't provide service and if so, do they have to?

Yes, the way these orbits work, in order to cover one area, they orbits cover the entire globe up at least to that latitude. A geostationary orbit can "fly" above one specific spot, but that's limited to being above equator and very, very far compared to these orbits (~35000 km vs ~1000 km) which makes it worse for communications.

Here's an illustration of the coverage - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink#/media/File:Starlink_...

Yes and yes. The stated goal of Starlink is to provide entire world coverage.

https://satellitemap.space/

It's a balance I'd say. Arguably those satelites serve a purpose that ads don't.

The brilliant night sky exists on 95% of the planet's surface.

Think you'll be fine here, suggest travelling outside of the city for better views.

its cool? common you don't have to take everything so serious. Yes oh my that marvelous night sky... in the center of Shanghai. Better stay clear of Vegas.

I mean isn't it kinda magical we're having coordinated drones form bits and bytes made of light in the sky, that people can scan using ubiquitous carry on computers?

It depends on the culture of the person experiencing it. We don't all share the same cultural values. So, there is no reason this is not dystopian for many many people.

My friend grew up in Shanghai and spent pretty much all of his time there, and told me he never saw a star until he went to western China.

What night sky are you talking about?

I think the big thing that will determine if this is brilliant or dystopian is whether it gets repeated. As a one-off stunt to show off the ability to do it, it's awesome.

If it now means the sky will be an advertising billboard every night, then it's very much dystopian.

It's painfully gimmicky if it's just a product ad.

Potentially very interesting as a way to find out how many IoT cameras in an entire region automatically and insecurely decode qr codes and have line of sight in a specific direction...

>The night sky is a commons and a natural wonder

In the middle of a big city?

I have been doing an art project about life on a space colony where the sky is a screen (sorry we can't afford enough nitrogen to fill up huge airspaces.)

I was looking at the possibility of turning the sky into a kaleidoscope with multiple laser projectors under conditions where there is a cloud layer within (say) 1000ft of the ground. I'm pretty sure I could get a permit from the FDA/FAA to do a scale test but I don't know if you could make a real show or art installation of it because whether or not it works depends on the weather, air traffic, etc.

That drone array is another attack on the same problem.

I love the drone videos produced to replace Edinburgh's traditional new year celebrations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV4jNWZlmEU

Am I old fashioned? I treat opening some random QR code with the same hesitation as clicking a random link in an email.

And with a QR code I can't even 'hover' to inspect the link

You can do that with iOS, when you scan a QR it pops a notification showing the domain and asks if you’d like to open it.

The same is true for android, at least on a Pixel 2 XL

Depends on the scanner/camera app, but yes, similar situation for Xiaomi's MIUI builtin camera.

A QR code contains text. If your QR code reader automatically opens any link it finds in that text, it is defective. You should replace it.

As a link can be changed just before it activates, hovering over a link to check if it’s malicious is not very useful.

This is the link contained in the QR code: https://game.bilibili.com/pcr/1anniversarytocode/

I wonder why they didn't use a URL shortener to make the code easier to scan?

> "....During the COVID-19 pandemic, local governments assigned citizens colored QR code images that indicate their risk of exposure to the coronavirus in order to manage the public health crisis. Residents need to show the code on their smartphones before entering public venues. ..."

This bit is utterly disturbing.

My mom lives in Shanghai, and yes, that's how automated contact tracing works. You have to show that you're not in the "potentially exposed" category before potentially being a super spreader in a crowded place.

It makes me not worry about her safety from over here in Texas where, sadly, half the people walking out and about don't know how to wear a mask correctly.

I'd argue 600k dead is more disturbing, but let's agree to disagree

right, tweet 3 days ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26850839

This article does not answer the only question I had: where does it go? My phone cannot scan any of these pictures.

The article answers the question twice.

> 1,500 illuminated drones formed into the game’s logo and characters before transforming into a floating QR code that links to its homepage.

> (Caption) THE FLOATING QR CODE LINKS TO A VIDEO GAME'S WEBSITE. PHOTO: BILIBILI

Hm, weird. I had grepped for "link" et al just to make sure I didn't miss it. My bad.

It won't be long until they run actual video ads with drones.

Looking at the pictures, seems like they did that on purpose but I am also curious.

"How can we report about this publicity stunt without giving them free publicity?"

It goes to the website of the company named in the article: bilibili.com

All the people here complaining about light pollution, but no one worried about starlink and the likes...

There are lots of people here worried about starlink, if you looked at any of the articles on starlink. No one brought it up here because that's not what this article is about.

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