Google Print Ads Using 2D Bar Codes

Google’s print advertising program, which places ads from AdWords advertisers in magazines and newspapers, has started using two-dimensional bar codes in their ads. The bar code images, called QR Codes, are common in Japan and use a pattern of black and white squares. Properly equipped mobile devices with phone cameras can read the code, which can contain all sorts of information, including the name of the business, contact info, a URL, anything the advertiser wants to put in there.
May companies are trying to bring 2D bar codes to the U.S., mostly unsuccessfully. The software ships with many phones and is available to be installed on almost all others, but it has yet to catch on. There are many competing formats, and several of my family friends are investors in a competing format. While Google’s support behind QR Code could, in theory, bolster the format, consumers […]

See original post by Nathan Weinberg