{"id":1051,"date":"2010-07-02T07:13:50","date_gmt":"2010-07-02T14:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/?p=1051"},"modified":"2010-07-02T07:13:50","modified_gmt":"2010-07-02T14:13:50","slug":"qr-codes-a-new-way-to-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/qr-codes-a-new-way-to-shop\/","title":{"rendered":"QR Codes: A New Way to Shop!"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Lori Cunningham<\/span><\/p>\n

\"qrcode\"\u00a0<\/p>\n

They say a picture is worth a thousand of words.\u00a0 With this picture, they might just be right.\u00a0 Have you seen this type of graphic before?\u00a0 It’s becoming more prevalent in newspapers, magazines, the Internet, product labels, even on billboards\u00a0!\u00a0 What is it and what does it mean?\u00a0 This graphic is called a QR code.\u00a0 QR stands for Quick Response and it was developed by a Japanese company in 1994.\u00a0 The QR code has content hidden in its matrix code to be decoded at high speed.\u00a0\u00a0 So what kind of high tech scanner do you need to decode the message?<\/p>\n

Believe it or not, all you need is your cellphone and QR scanner software – which is available on the Internet for free.\u00a0 Once you have downloaded the QR software, like this one from KAYWA<\/a>, open the program.\u00a0 Your camera will turn on with a red box in your camera\u00a0viewfinder.\u00a0 Position the red box around the QR graphic and wallah!\u00a0 Your phone browser will open up and the URL webpage\u00a0decoded in the QR code will appear.\u00a0 Go ahead and try it with the graphic above – it’s an URL to an article I wrote on cool tech products to buy for Grads & Dads.<\/p>\n

So the beauty of the QR code is that it can contain website addresses, geo coordinates, and any kind of text.\u00a0 QR codes can provide much more information than the basic UPC code you see on today’s product labels.\u00a0 Companies are developing methods now to create color QR codes so that the colors generated will match their product labels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You might be wondering, “OK, this is kind of cool, but how is it a new way to shop?”\u00a0 Well, for starters, it will help you find information faster.\u00a0 You could be looking at a newspaper article on Canada and you might notice a QR code embedded as a part of the article.\u00a0 Rather than moving to your computer to look up their website, grab your phone with its\u00a0QR scanner and scan in the QR code.\u00a0 You’ll instantly be taken to their website to get more relevant information.\u00a0 No typing required.\u00a0 It also works for billboards.\u00a0 If you see a billboard along the freeway with a large QR code, you can scan it (not while driving of course!)\u00a0 Get information about the product being advertised instantly.<\/p>\n

QR codes are like buying a new car.\u00a0 You never noticed how many people have a car like yours until you buy one.\u00a0 Look around, you’ll start seeing QR codes everywhere now that you are aware what they are.<\/p>\n

I put together a little video showing you how I used the Tilt2 phone to read the QR code <\/a>in this article.\u00a0 Take a look, then download your own QR reader from KAYWA<\/a>, or any other QR reader, and try it for yourself!<\/p>\n

As many of you know, I have been using the HTC Tilt2 phone for the last three months and learning how to use it more effectively in different scenarios such as travel, connecting with friends, and shopping.\u00a0 AT&T has been sponsoring a contest for 10 bloggers to write about their experiences.\u00a0 Each month we get votes from our readers as to who writes the best articles.\u00a0 Please take a moment to visit the site at LosetheLaptop.com and vote for me, Lori Cunningham.\u00a0 If you vote and leave a comment about how you use your Tilt2 phone — or how you would use it if you had one, you too can win a $5,000 prize plus a HTC Titl2 phone this month.\u00a0 Your odds of winning are fairly good.\u00a0 Please visit LosetheLaptop today!<\/address>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am not compensated for writing reviews on the HTC Tilt2 phone, but I was given the Tilt2 phone to write my articles about.<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn how to use a QR reader and your cellphone to begin unlocking the mystery behind QR codes that appear on newspapers, magazines, websites, even billboards!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,19],"tags":[126,128,141,178,179,205,222,223,239,275],"class_list":["post-1051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-phones","category-software","tag-htc","tag-htc-tilt2-smartphone-qr-codes-kaywa-scanner","tag-kaywa","tag-mom-tech","tag-mom-technology","tag-phone","tag-qr-code","tag-qr-reader","tag-shopping","tag-tilt2","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}