Designer Ming Ling has created the most wonderful QR code constructed out of Tetris pieces. The full size version is a work of beauty. As I've explained before, this works because the QR scanner sees the image in black and white - so light colours disappear. Anything else is covered by the fairly generous error correction. I'm nowhere nearly as talented as the above artist, but she has…
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Here's the captured video from MobileMonday's Trends in mHealth panel. Presented in glorious HTML5 and hosted on Archive.org Part 1 (more…) …
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British Gas has announced its latest price rise to near universal dismay. So it seams a little odd that they're running a campaign based around how much you could save if you switch to them. Still, what concerns me in this Mobile Badvertising series is not the content, but the execution and usability. Let's see what happens when we click on it. Clicking the advert takes you to your phone's…
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So much has already been written about the N8's atrocious software. It's a popular (and fair) stick to beat Nokia and Symbian with. One thing that is always mentioned is how amazing the hardware is. I disagree. The hardware is as poor as the software. I think this picture symbolises that problem. N8 and HDMI lead The N8 has an HDMI port. A mini HDMI port. The image is of a full sized…
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There's a delightful video doing the rounds of an Augmented Reality game for the iPhone. What better use of technology than to simulate the destruction of TIE Fighters? While undoubtedly cool, what amuses me about this game is why it has taken the gaming world so long to catch up with Symbian! Way back in 2003, I got my hands on the Siemens SX1. It was the first non-Nokia handset to be…
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It's great seeing QR codes going mainstream. First ASDA, then ITV2, now Tesco are creating print adverts with QR codes. After years of me banging on about how they were poised to take on in the UK - it looks like they've made it. The advert is a pretty good start. I'm a bit confused about why it says "Use your iPhone or Blackberry to scan the barcode" when both Android and Nokia also have…
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...And ITV2 screw them up... I wasn't allowed to watch ITV as a kid. More out of a desire to keep me from pestering my parents for He-Man action figures than a commentary on their shows. But my old biases have stayed with me. I rarely venture on to ITV - except for nature documentaries. The Only Way Is Essex I've no idea what "The Only Way Is Essex" is. Frankly, I've no desire. It…
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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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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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(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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