QR code madness

This is a short piece on QR codes,  if you do not know quite what they are then scroll down, then come back.

Amusingly I saw them on an insurance advert poster placed above the urinals in a service station’s toilets on the motorway.

Because it is acceptable to get your camera out and start taking pictures whilst standing at the toilet.

So what are QR codes,  well they are like the bar codes that are on most food labels, books and the like, except rather than being lines they are an arrangement of black and white areas in a square.

Here is an example

which has my contact details encoded within.

They carry information, and are mostly used to encode a URL or web address if you prefer.

The thinking is that, when using a mobile device, you do not want to have to type more than is necessary, and so rather than just give a web address and expect someone to key it in, you provide a QR code.

Then the user can use a code scanning app to read the QR code, and translate the information within to text, and when a link to make it a link that launches the browser.

So to use a QR code you end up having to take a photo of it.

So putting them in toilets, on moving lorries (trucks), high up on buildings etc is just plain mad.

There,  that’s better,  good to get this stuff off you chest.

So where is the strangest place you’ve seen a QR code ?