Oh RBS! Is there anything you touch that doesn't turn to shit? You take our money, lose it, then pay it out to yourself. Still, at least your latest advert contains a QR code. Bet you haven't managed to screw that up. Oh... On the back page of the 25 February 2011 edition of the City AM newspaper, is this lovely specimen. Thankfully, City AM have placed their paper under CC BY NC. Let's take a zoom in on the code and the instructions that accompany it. You Know What's Coming Next,…
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The Metro have been on quite a QR splurge recently - this is their latest effort encouraging people to write in to the paper. On the surface, it's quite a simple idea - yet Metro have needlessly complicated it. The Process The simplest process would be Scan Code Send Email That's not what Metro have done. By using Scanlife as an intermediary, they change the process to Scan Code Connect to web Get redirected Get redirected again Load web page Click on…
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I was reading this article on Armed Services Editions of books distributed during World War 2, when I came across this extraordinary propaganda poster. Original image is from The Boston Public Library on Flickr under CC BY NC. What strikes me is how detailed the poster is. The power of the quote. The sheer neutrality of the sentiment. Books - any book is a weapon. Whether it is The Communist Manifesto or Atlas Shrugged. Imagine a Kindle full of books placed into the hands of a child. If …
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It emerged this morning that the Guardian newspaper has realised that the way it writes is unsuitable for the web. Source: Guardian Newspaper, 18/11/2011, page http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mind-your-language/2011/feb/18/mind-your-language-day-date-time By using non-specific language, I have introduced a degree of ambiguity which makes it hard for reader - both in the present day and the future - to understand the ideas I am trying to convey. For example - the above text doesn't state…
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I have twice been subject to some very inept blackmail over a posts I had made on twitter. The first time was after I called a particularly nasty company "twunts" over a dispute I'd had with them. I'll be the first to admit that it wasn't a particularly mature reaction - but I'm not sure it warranted taking a screenshot of the tweet, threatening to show it to the CEO of the company I worked for, then continually calling the company to complain about me. I was a private citizen, not tweeting …
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It's nearly time for Mobile World Congress - the glittering jewel in the European mobile tech scene. I'm going along with WAC and will be presenting and schmoozing on their behalf. This blog post - and all others on this site - is personal commentary and does not reflect the opinions of WAC or its members. With that said - here are my top five predictions for what we'll see at Mobile World Congress 2011! 1 - Nokia To Announce Android Handset All the engineers at Nokia are busy pouring…
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I get a lot of positive comments about my Moo Cards with QR codes. As I prepare to go off to Mobile World Congress, I thought I'd add a couple of extra designs into the mix. Feel free to use these as templates - but please remember to change the QR Code! (more…) …
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Seen in the latest issue of Sport Magazine - this rather interesting QR advert for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. This is a really well executed campaign which should serve as a template to other advertisers. There are, of course, one or two issues that I have with it. Let's start by zooming in to the QR Code. Explanatory Text It's great to have a little note to explain to people what to do with a QR code. A couple of interesting points. It recommends get.beettagg.com - this is…
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Tom Morris pointed me to this interesting discussion about using Wikipedia QR codes in museums. I think it's an excellent idea. It's something I've briefly discussed with Cristianno Betta for his 100 Objects project. There are five key points to the success of such a scheme. 100% of visitors will be scanning these codes on their mobile phones. The code must point to the mobile version of Wikipedia. <100% of visitors will speak the language of the country where the museum is located …
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Last year I gave a presentation at PayPal to show how charities could harness QR codes. I'm not sure if Oxfam were in the audience that day. But if they were, they missed the point. QR codes are a solution for quick interactions with mobile phones. Let's investigate the Oxfam QR code seen in Metro. The Advert So, can donate by scanning the code? Well, it's not really made clear what the QR code is for. There's no text associated with it. The Code Let's take a closer look at the code. …
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Congratulations to rawedge for this QR campaign for Sky Atlantic. A simple QR code, pointing to a URL (with source=qr for analytics), a mobile website, and a 3gp video. Almost perfect. Why Almost? I'm a nit-picker - but here are a few suggestions to make the campaign better. Make the code bigger. When dealing with newsprint and its fuzzy images, it's always better to make the QR as large as possible - or as large as your advertising team will allows. Larger images are easier to scan. …
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