The state of 2D barcodes

So if some of you read my twitter feed @DeanCollins you'll know that last night i was at a pretty big 2D barcode event http://mobilemonday-ny-july-25-2011.eventbrite.com/ 

It was pretty well attended with about 150 of exactly the right people- agencies, customers, vendors, journalists, even a handset manufacturer.

Unfortunately it quickly resolved into a mess.....

...and i'm not sure if i helped or hindered the destruction by jumping up 10 minutes into the panel to throw out the first audience comment about how Dan Frommer - "Death-to-the-qr-code" - on the panel was full of shit for calling out QR codes being useless as it didn't work underground in subways and why wasn't he writing articles about the death of web sites because URL's dont work underground in subways. (you have to respect the guy turned up to be on the panel though....nice guy too, we chatted afterwards about his new venture SplatF).

What didn't work was the moderators insistence that they base the panel on her article about the 14 best QR practises to follow-  http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2066777/Top-14-Things-Marketers-Need-to-Know-About-QR-Codes - whilst Angie's article is great....it was way to basic a discussion to have with such an experienced audience....and with such high level panel members where we could have had much more advanced topics about why/were and how the industry needs to move forward.

i honestly dont know how to write this blog post; it could be summarised in a couple of different ways-

"the discussion was vigorous and varied because there is no right answer"

"the discussion was that different people had different points of view because of their real world experience working with end users and customers".

"the discussion was an example of why the end customer is confused ....because there are so many points of view".

I mean we had the brand manager from MsTag saying it was a good thing that there was only 1 tag reader available and that Ms managed end to end experiences. (he based his comment on having 200+ QR readers available in the iPhone app store was a bad thing)

btw personally I really think Microsoft missed a golden opportunity to become the "google analytics" of QR codes and could have captured a significant portion of the market if they allowed other readers to read their qr codes and other publishers to create their short urls. Microsofts MsTags analytics isnt bad but a closed system is doomed for failure.

We had Dan saying QR codes and MsTags were going to die and that NFC's were the way of the future (though Augme.com pointed out that there was no way Kellogg's could afford to attach NFC's to every cereal box for their recent QR campaign - http://www.thehotiron.com/index.php/site/comments/kelloggs_new_crunchy_nut_cereal_uses_qr_code_to_reinforce_marketing/ )

Of course there were a few "Image Recognition" is the future supporters in the crowd (you already know that image recognition sucks compared to door knobs) and once every image in the world is classified then i'll be a strong supporter...until then it is always going to be a fail.

It was dissapointing that the best use case examples of QR codes put forward by the panel were a little weak and not doing anything innovative (though I think innovation in QR codes is overrated and we should just be building more rather than needing to be different).


The discussion fell apart with people saying the reason 2d codes aren't taking off is there are too many choices, too little choices, too much control, too little control, we need a centralised ecosystem, that the current open system of QR codes is best...... i think you get the point.

What did i learn......  That Microsoft have plans to incorporate MsTags into other parts of the business, although the product manager wouldn't say (i think more because it hasn't been decided rather than he didnt want to tip off the competition) there were allusions to end users would be able to create codes across more Microsoft interfaces.....
- eg imagine writing a word doc and being able to save it on your cloud drive to pass on to other people as a MsTag (eg like passing on a tinyurl) which whilst i like the idea.... its dumb that they are doing this as a "sole provider" and there is nothing that they are offering here that couldn't have been done as a QR code vendor....the brand managers response to that was "that decision has been made and the boat sailed"....yeh maybe but a ticket on the Titanic still sucked.

I also learnt that nothing has really changed since i stopped actively working in the QR space 2 years ago.

At the end of the day my answer to everyone who asks me after reading www.Cognation.net/QR is the same, be aware of the issues of direct versus indirect codes, be aware of the differences between open QR codes and proprietary MsTags, be aware of the issues surrounding image recognition so when the CEO comes into your office next week after reading a Techcrunch article about how its the next big thing you can calmly respond, be aware of where NFC is going and when it's appropriate to use...... but at the end of the day just get out there and use QR codes for various projects and just build great campaigns that add value.


Cheers,
Dean

More facts about NY state sales tax

Btw just read article clearing up some facts about the NY state sales tax post a few months back


http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/2925-California-Joins-the-Internet-Sales-Tax-Fray-Federal-Legislation-Coming
“Amazon decided to comply, kept its New York affiliates, and collects sales tax in New York, depositing the money in an escrow account, but the issue is still in the court system.”

So basically they are closing down any state except NY where this has been implemented and are waiting for the NY case to resolve itself before handing over the fees collected.

Lol I hope they win….i’ll be getting a minor windfall back considering the amount of stuff I buy from Amazon over the last few years.

BTW interesting Amazon only had 25,000 affiliates in California, I would have thought the number was higher, easy decision to kill off affiliates with the size of the CA market.

 
Cheers,
Dean

the state of USA patents

basically the situation is fucked.....anyone got any thoughts?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/22/138576167/when-patents-attack
- http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/441.mp3

Brooklyn Heights Fashion shoots

lol sucks to be trying to do "fall" fashion shoots in summer. snapped two different fashion shoots in brooklyn heights walking Lou Lou this morning (might have even been same vendor etc but was two seperate operations)

felt sorry for them shooting in this weather wearing those clothes.

Copyright for robots.....

Hmmm I had no idea……

"In order to be entitled to copyright registration, a work must be the product of human authorship," says a quote by the U.S. Copyright Office. "Works produced by mechanical processes or random selection without any contribution by a human author are not registrable."
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/artinfo/could-the-cindy-sherman-o_b_899866.html

So basically any photo taken automatically cannot be registered unless a human fires the shutter. But what this also means (I’m assuming) is any computer generated content cannot be copyrighted eg auto generated Shakespeare.

Interesting point to know.
 
 
Cheers,
Dean

Followup posts, including UK law (photographer) and Indonesian law (the country of the monkey....   :)

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110712/01182015052/monkeys-dont-do-fair-use-news-agency-tells-techdirt-to-remove-photos.shtml

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/11244515079/can-we-subpoena-monkey-why-monkey-self-portraits-are-likely-public-domain.shtml

Apple wins patent over HTC

FFS this is ridiculous  you might be reading lots of articles about how Apple won an ITC patent case against HTC for their Android handsets today (btw its preliminary not final eg HTC will appeal).

Whether is stands up under appeal we'll see (btw Apple filed for 10 breaches but only these 2 were approved)

but what burns me is what the patent actually covers.

"system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data", US patent No. 5,946,647, filed in 1996 and awarded in 1999.


Essentially, it allows elements such as email addresses or phone numbers to be recognised so that when they are activated via a mouse or, on a smartphone, by a finger, they activate the relevant program.

Apple implemented this idea as "Data Detectors", implemented by Apple's Advanced Technology Group.


So basically they got a patent for something that looks like a phone number...to bring up the dialler, for something that looks like an email...to bring up the email app.

How is this even a patent??

Cheers,
Dean
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/18/apple-htc-android-patent-infringement
http://www.xydo.com/toolbar/24380493-patents_in_apple-htc_case_filed_in_1994_and_1996_long_before_smartphones_existed
http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/2080236/apple_wins_early_preliminary_patent_victory_over_htc/index.html?source=r_technology
http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/htc-loses-itc-patent-ruling-in-apple-tussle-227


I wonder if this is going to happen more often? when will the issues with the USPTO be seen as a negative for doing business in the USA?
App developers are withdrawing their products for sale from the US versions of Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market for fear of being sued by companies which own software patents - just as a Mumbai-based company has made a wide-ranging claim against Microsoft http://moconews.net/article/419-app-developers-withdraw-from-us-as-patent-fears-reach-tipping-point/

Droid3

Loving my new Droid3, just upgraded from a Droid1 last week.


Couple of initial thoughts.....


Disappointing that when i sign into google it doesn't copy across all the apps previously installed on my Droid1.


Basically it auto downloads the "paid" apps but all the others....you have to re-download. Even to the point that the Touchdown exchange "pro license" downloads...but the actual app itself you have to download.


Touchdown rocks though….if you use exchange and have a android handset don’t even consider not using this app.
Not a big deal but seems like something that could have been easy for them to implement, this also means you have to "reconfigure" all of your apps again from scratch (most are easy but some like touchdown exchange, 1-VPN, Sipdroid etc take a bit of configuration, also favorites etc don't copy over either...whats with that?).


Absolutely loving the new screen, although the handset is only about 1/2" longer and 1/4" wider because of the size of the display the handset actually feels thinner, more tablet like.


Would i prefer a 5" display instead of a 4" display… for sure absolutely, but that's just me.

Keyboard.....ahhh physical keyboard what can i say, you are either going to get why a real keyboard makes sense or you aren't, enough said, if you are sitting here thinking i like my iphones virtual keyboard...its the best... well good luck to you, skip the next paragraph.


Loving the extra row of number keys, though i kind of miss the Dpad I’m not finding the 4 arrow keys working out with the same ease. I do feel that the Droid3 keys have more travel and are easier to press than the Droid1 keys which i like though i didnt mind the Droid1 at all apart from wanting bigger keys (i hated the Droid2 keyboard when i tested in the store).


Dual CPU...... not noticing heat issues (yet) so so far loving it. Some people online are complaining about battery life but i think this is probably because they left their CDMA + GSM radios on (i'm clueless as to why they didnt switch off the GSM radio by default...lets face it how many Americans are going to use the "world" part of this world phone.....? BTW I'm heading home to Australia in December for a month so will post back how easy i find swapping out to a local sim when i get there.


What i have noticed however is how much faster pages resolve, so whereas i thought it may have been the network speed slowing things down.....its actually cpu speed related as such the Droid3 is way better experience.


As for Motoblur.....haven't noticed too many issues yet (though i'll be hacking it to cyanogenmod as soon as they have a rom available for it). I don't like the new carousel view for favorites. I also don't like the home page layout manager, it's wonky and sometimes causes objects to be misplaced in the wrong space.

The Motoblur picture gallery is crap (could be i'm just not used to it...will reserve judgement), also sharing photos to facebook etc sees more complicated that it needs to be now.


I did however notice no pre-installed QR reader which was a surprise (though Barcode Scanner 3.6 is now sitting on the home window).


Well thats about it for now. Check back again soon and i'll update as i get more of a feel for it. For $200 its an absolute steal.


-Update 1 week later-
So after a week of using this phone i wanted to say i'm loving it, apart from a 5" display and bringing back the Dpad there isn't a thing i'd change in teh Droid4 next year.

Feels as solid as a rock and the kayboard is even better than ny Droid1 

There is an engadget review up now as well - http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/21/motorola-droid-3-review/

Cheers,
Dean

BTW things you should know...

Wallpaper is 1080x960

ifixit tear down located here - http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Motorola-Droid-3-Teardown/6108/1l

Death of QR codes

Dan Frommer seems to write about QR codes a lot considering....they are dying.
http://www.businessinsider.com/death-to-the-qr-code-2011-7

lol and another Death to QR article in March 2011 just 3 months ago.....
http://www.businessinsider.com/zoove-starstar-2011-3


I guess he likes the SEO benefit.

Cheers,
Dean
www.Cognation.net/QR

Echosign

Interesting tidbit posted in Dan Primacs mailinglist this morning.


Adobe Systems has acquired EchoSign, a provider of web-based electronic signature and signature automation solutions. No financial terms were disclosed. Palo Alto, Calif.-based EchoSign had raised around $8.5 million in VC funding from Emergence Capital and Storm Ventures. http://www.echosign.com/



btw....i have a theory about how Echosign are doing it wrong :) solving this issue has been in my to do list for a while, just waiting for the time an opportunity to reveal why i think there is a better way.

Cheers,
Dean

U.S. Recognizes Rebels in Libya

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/16/world/africa/16libya.html?hp
The United States formally recognized the rebel leadership in Libya as the country’s legitimate government on Friday.

This is freaking nuts??

I dont understand why more Americans arent complaining about this.

Can you imagine what would happen if Libya decided to recognize the KKK as the true successionary government to the USA and decided to support them with arms drops and shipping ammunitions??

Or if Qaddafi decided to personally visit Waco Texas to show his support for the Branch Davidians and McVeigh (like Robert Ford did with Syria last week).

What is wrong with people?? Help me understand why this isnt a bigger issue.


Cheers,
Dean