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Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?
- habudibab 15y agoWould be great for viral marketing. As far as I know it is possible to forge codes that are valid but have an image embedded. A stickfigure giving another one oral pleasures for example. Place it in the streets and people who think of QR codes as random jumble will see it as a funny coincidence, take a picture for the funny pages and maybe decypher it and visit your erotic gadgets shop.
- mnutt 15y agoInteresting story, though I don't understand what he says at the end about not being able to redirect the QR Code to another link because the QR Code is the link. Why not just send a 302 redirect? He sounds like he wouldn't do it on principle, but I don't understand the technical reason why he couldn't.
- pilif 15y agoBecause then his blog would be unavailable? The code points to the root of his domain. And even if he was willing to have his blog redirect to that other site, there's still the issue about all these other misprinted codes. If they point to $randomblog it's mostly funny. If they point (via the redirect) to $possible_competitor, it's much worse
- rpledge 15y agoIt points to his top level. He'd be sending traffic away from his site unless he managed to filter it somehow.
- drostie 15y agoHe already indicates in the paragraph just before that he technically could redirect the traffic -- that he offered to send all IPs from Belgium to some Belgian company which had accidentally used his QR code in actual advertisements. (And that they declined because he asked too much money.) There is no technical barrier to redirection. What he actually says is "What does that mean? I’m guessing they think I can somehow magically cause that QR Code (which they accidentally used in something printed?) to redirect to another URL. I don’t think they understand that the QR Code IS the URL." Notice the word order. He's "guessing what they think", and his guess is that they think he can "magically cause the QR code to redirect to another URL" -- the object of the sentence is not his domain, and not his URL, but the QR code. (He's saying that they've phrased it as if there is a QR code database where the code must be looked up.)
- eliaskg 15y agoI made the experience that it's never a good idea to point a QR code to a fixed domain. Always create a little redirect app where you can define later on what target the link should point on. So for example point the link to http://mysite.com/qr http://mysite.com/qr where you have a little redirection-php file that you can edit at all time.
- sp332 15y agoAs a user, that would really annoy me. I like to know where I'm going before I put a URL in my browser.
- lysol 15y agoAnd if you care that much about the URL you should be able to infer from website.tld/qr that it's a QR code specific URL to track hits.
- sp332 15y agoBut if it's a redirect, it could send me anywhere. That's what I don't like about it.
- sirclueless 15y agoYou just scanned an unreadable symbol. It could already send you anywhere. Vetting URLs by whether they look like they point at a redirect script seems like overkill.
- sp332 15y agoOh, actually I've never used a QR code reader that didn't show me the URL before letting me decide whether to go there.
- drostie 15y agoEven that's not an absolute assurance, as millions of people who have failed to renew expired domains can attest. And the HTTP status codes have a whole block of redirect codes while just about every web server permits backend proxies. When you visit http://viral.example/ http://viral.example/ it can already send you anywhere; seeing the URL http://viral.example/qr http://viral.example/qr only tells you that you're getting QR-specific content, and still does not tell you what that content is.
- sp332 15y agoDoes anyone know of a FF plugin that will decode QR codes in images on a page, and maybe even turn them into live links? Here's one for Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bfdjglobiolninfgldchakgfldifphic https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bfdjglobiolninfgld...
- dochex 15y agoHere's our Mac OS X program that reads QR codes anywhere on your screen -- any program (browser, editor) -- and makes them live links. http://www.ripeapps.com/#qrreader http://www.ripeapps.com/#qrreader
- nvk 15y agoCheck out the discussion here http://hackerne.ws/item?id=3532925 http://hackerne.ws/item?id=3532925
- dholowiski 15y agoWe use QR codes extensively where I work. We use them in print ads and on TV commercials and I have a re-occurring nightmare that we'll use the 'wrong' QR code somewhere disastrous... like printing a link to our competitors on 10,000 brochures or something like that. I insist that I check all QR codes before they're sent out, and I scan them with 2-3 different QR scanning apps. As another commentor mentioned, I often send our QR codes to a redirector URL - either a branded redirector service I built, or to a WordPress site with the redirection plugin, or even to it's very own domain name which is configured for forwarding.
- karterk 15y agoVery curious - are they actually effective? Do people use them? What's the "click-through" rate like?
- dholowiski 15y agoThey are not very effective... yet. At this point the 'click through' rate is a fraction of a percent. The reason we're doing it is so that we will be prepared - the day that Android or IOS includes a QR code reader built into the OS (it will happen) usage will go through the roof.
- magic_haze 15y agoWP7 has them built in, and I agree, it _is_ rather convenient. But as other commentators mentioned, it is a phishing disaster waiting to happen because the UI doesn't display the full URL if it gets too long.
- corin_ 15y agoAn interesting data point - Storm On Demand (http://www.stormondemand.com/ http://www.stormondemand.com/) use AdWords a lot, and I'm always seeing their ads (clearly Google has designated me their target market - correctly). Some of their MPU adverts had QR codes in them, and I called this out on Twitter telling them it was moronic to think that anyone would want to scan the QR code off an advert rather than just click it. Their response was that in their testing of many different adverts, the ones with QR codes were getting the best CTRs. They didn't know the reason for this, and neither do I - but it's interesting none-the-less.
- gerggerg 15y agoQR codes are a massive phishing scam waiting to happen. I'll just go cover up the one at my bank with a sticker of the same exact size that links to my own site that looks exactly like the bank's site. Or maybe I'll put one on the ATM and see how long I get traffic before someone takes it down.
- rglover 15y agoWow, never considered this but you're right. Scary. I'm glad I don't scan QR codes.
- dchest 15y agoYes, but you can also put a sticker that says "Go to www.bankofamerica-manage-account.com". Although, it's easier to notice, of course.
- burgerbrain 15y agoQR codes present a much lower barrier to entry though. That means they can be acted on before it occurs to the target that they should think about what they're doing.
- ori_b 15y agoThey're also not human readable. I can imagine scanning a QR code and not noticing that the URL is somewhat off. If I was forced to type the URL, I would probably realize that it wasn't entirely legitimate.
- gerggerg 15y agoThough they do pose an interesting avenue for protest/civil disobedience. I could easily post QR codes on fast food restaurants that go to PETA or on the back of bus seats that link to pages about transportation system corruption. Or perhaps what would be even more fun, is I could put download links for movies on their own posters.
- 15y ago
- mortenjorck 15y agoWhen I worked in marketing communications, we had a policy that anything that could be mistaken as final, approved assets in a printed piece had to be covered with a big, diagonal, magenta "FPO" label (for position only). Whether it was an inaccurate placeholder image, or a justinsomnia QR code, it had to be obvious it was not the final art.
- pak 15y agoThis only supports my long running contention that normal people (outside of Japan) do not understand QR codes, and wherever they are printed, you would be better off writing a short URL. They are 1) opaque, 2) ugly, 3) impossible to memorize, 4) confusing to non techies and 5) no faster than typing the URL for the majority of viewers.
- cdeonier 15y agoI agree with your first four points, but how did you arrive at your fifth point? QR Code applications I've used scan in about 1-2 seconds (the time it takes to auto-focus), which I think is probably faster than typing a URL.
- ewoodrich 15y agoIf you include the time it takes the download (or find) a QR Code app, it makes sense. Considering that neither iOS nor Android come stock with a reader.
- cdeonier 15y agoAgreed, no doubt it takes time to set up a phone to read QR codes. I was more interested to see whether there was some link/study which compared the actually processes of typing vs. scanning, which I thought was the intent of his fifth point.
- MrNibbles 15y agohttp://www.shouldiuseaqrcode.com/ http://www.shouldiuseaqrcode.com/
- rmassie 15y agoIt says no.
- mkramlich 15y agoQR codes are the new XML. great technology that's perfect for a certain role but being used in far too many other roles whether it's a horrible fit. But it's another buzzword for a resume!
- simcop2387 15y agoNot just another buzzword for a resume, I put one on my resume. I got more responses but no more offers doing that. It seemed to grab attention and then distract people.
- franze 15y agoohkhey, that explains, why http://miniqr.com/justinsomnia http://miniqr.com/justinsomnia is one of the most visited pages on miniqr, the QR code was scanned via http://miniqr.com/reader.php http://miniqr.com/reader.php more than a 100 times. (a nice gallery of people scanning the QR code visible if you visit the first URL)
- nowarninglabel 15y agoSide note, Justin's an awesome guy, he just did a short stint as a co-worker at Kiva for the last 4-5 months, but is now working on a startup. We had a great laugh around the office last month when he was still here.
- kenrik 15y agoFunny. I used his QR code to test my barcode scanner when I first got it working in my iPhone App. +1 pageview.
- GigabyteCoin 15y agoOdd, I thought it would have created a larger ripple after reading. See here: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/http://justinsomnia.org http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/http://justinsomnia.org
- muyuu 15y agoThere is a Vietnamese restaurant here in London where waiters have QR-codes in the back of their tees. Just last week I was there and some older guy was following a cute tall and slim waitress around with his iphone, trying to scan it. Creepy as fuck, but I guess it was justified by the QR code placement.
- hamiltonchan 15y agoOne way to combat the issue is to create a "designer code", which is an intricately designed QR code. You can check out examples at http://www.paperlinks.com/designercodes.php http://www.paperlinks.com/designercodes.php. It is much harder for wrongdoers to mimic one of these.