QR Codes are big news at the moment - both Google and Bit.ly announcing URL to QR services. What's interesting is their differing approach to error correction. From the creators of QR Codes, Denso Wave QR Code has error correction capability to restore data if the code is dirty or damaged. Four error correction levels are available for users to choose according to the operating environment.…
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Two of the biggest "mass market" brands are using QR Codes in their advertising. ASDA - the UK arm of Walmart - and Martina Cole - one of the UK's best selling authors. Here's the poster in situ Here's a close up of the code It's a reasonable physical size and the information density isn't particularly high - so well done on that front. I'd place a bit more whitespace around the code - but…
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Sometimes a mobile advert is just so bad that you wonder what drugs the people who commissioned were on. Easy A is new film aimed squarely a the youth market. Perfect fodder for mobile advertising. Cute little advert, doesn't say what it will link to, but other than that, not bad. So let's click through and see what happens. Sweet! YouTube has an excellent mobile optimised site. The ab…
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Way back in 2010, I was sent a Nokia N8 to review. It was dreadful. Simply one of the worst devices I've ever used. My original ranty blog posts have been lost from tumblr, so I've reposted it here as a single post. It is pretty slapdash. I've added some commentary. Warning! There be swearing ahead! On signing in to the N8, I was prompted to log in with my Ovi account. I have an account, but I …
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I gave a quick talk at BarCamp Brigton about how to hack the Amazon Kindle 3G. These hacks come in two flavours - easy and very easy. Very Easy - Pictures Wouldn't it be great to view pictures on your Kindle? Well? OK - pictures, perhaps not so much - but comics? Yes please! For best results, image files should be the same resolution as the Kindle. 600px * 800px - and grey-scale. Let's use…
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Back in 2010 I tried to launch a Location Based Services app. It didn't quite work - mostly because I didn't have the business acumen to sell it onwards. Still, here are the slides, audio, and some photos of the presentation I did at BarCampBrighton 5. Terence, 2016. Location Based QR Codes - Introducing //xmts.mobi/ from Terence Eden 🔊 💾 Download this audio file. …
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There are lots of tutorials for how to create a Kindle case from a hollowed out book. This is the first time I've seen one in the wild. Created by my colleague Elliot Moore. …
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When the Web was young, and I was even younger, there existed a number of schemes which offered to pay you to surf. Usually this involved installing a permanent advert bar on your PC which tracked your usage and displayed adverts to you. I knew a few people who got cheques from these services - most prominently, AllAdvantage. The schemes always had the faint whiff of a scam. The unrealistic…
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(This post appears on ReputationOnline) Vodafone has suffered a massive blow to their corporate reputation in recent days. A security error on their site allowed anyone to find customers' email addresses and phone numbers. It's still unknown if any accounts were compromised due to the flaw - nor is it known if there was any wholesale plundering of the sensitive personal data. Mistakes happen - …
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(Disclaimer - I used to work for Vodafone. I don't any more.) A rather nasty flaw with Vodafone's "My Account" service was recently pointed out by Denny de la Haye. Vodafone will quite happily tell you the email address of any customer who has set up the "My Account" facility. Denny@dennyUgh. @VodafoneUK's website exposes my email address to anyone who knows (or randomly enters) my phone…
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This is the presentation I gave for Charity Hack 2010. Charity hack qr codes from Terence Eden If you're on mobile, you can view the mobile friendly version of the slides. Audio and video coming later. The gist of the talk is - use QR codes to drive mobile donations. Use return SMS to encourage people to share with their friends. …
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Three failures and one giant lost opportunity Failure 1 - Targeting This version of the Tesco shopping app is only available on Nokia phones. Nothing wrong with that - Nokia are still the biggest phone seller on the planet. So why allow the advert to be shown to Android users? It will annoy users, reduce your CPM, and make users less likely to click on adverts in future. Failure 2 - Sizing …
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