Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Create a QR code for your blog

You may have heard that we were fortunate at Google to receive the Android phone (what T-Mobile calls the G1) as a holiday gift from the company. I was out the day they were distributed, so I didn't get a chance to play with the phone over the holidays, and instead picked mine up on Monday. I don't have a SIM card for the phone yet - still trying to decide whether I'll ditch the corporate Blackberry in favor of this device - but I've thoroughly enjoyed using it as a wifi device for the last couple days. (With wifi at work, on the shuttle home, and at home, the device does quite well as a browser/Twitter client/e-mail client.)

I'd seen a number of QR codes pop up on campus lately - at the entrance to meeting rooms, at the top of stair landings, etc. - and hadn't bothered to ask anyone what they were. Last night, while poking around on our intranet to see what internal apps I could install for my phone, I finally saw a reference to the QR codes: if you have the Barcode Reader app installed on your phone, the 3 megapixel camera built into the phone can scan and identify the QR code and do the right thing. In the case of the QR codes I'd been seeing around the office, they're URLs - which pull up a map of the building and show where I am.

So here's the cool part: the Google Chart API server can generate QR codes on the fly. Here's the QR code for my blog:
 
The URL is here: http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chs=250x250&cht=qr&chl=http://tins.rklau.com

Note that the last part of the URL is the address of my blog; swap out that URL for your own and you have your very own QR code! Documentation on the Chart API is here; have fun!

(BTW, these QR codes aren't limited to just the Google phone - there are QR code readers for the iPhone, Nokia phones and many others.)
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8 comments:

  1. Kris SmithJanuary 7, 2009 at 9:40 AM

    i like having the 'nerd' rick klau back. it's almost as good as having you back in naperville ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. MikeJanuary 7, 2009 at 10:18 AM

    I scanned this code using the iPhone app and it worked as advertised. Pretty slick. When you add this image to your sidebar, I'll add it to mine.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2009 at 6:51 PM

    Kaywa has QR code readers for a lot of phones. sI've got a Motorola RAZR V3xx which apparently is a little to different from the Motorola RAZR V3x to run their reader, but one of these days, I'll get a device that supports QE codes

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aldon HynesJanuary 7, 2009 at 6:53 PM

    (previous entry was from me, Aldon Hynes at Orient Lodge, but I forgot to hit the OpenID login)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Aldon HynesJanuary 9, 2009 at 1:33 PM

    And another followup. sAs you start writing about QR codes, Microsoft announces their verison, Microsoft Tag
    s
    http://www.microsoft.com/tag/
    s
    (I should note that I had the same problem with the MS TAG reader as I did with the Kaywa QR Code reader on my RAZR)

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2009 at 8:24 AM

    Cool! Just added to the sidebar, you're on. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jamey GrahamJanuary 11, 2009 at 12:27 PM

    Have you checked out iCandy:
    s
    http://icandy.ricohinnovations.com
    s
    "Print" your music and videos into a catalog or collection of cards where each contains a QR Code.s Scan the code to start playback.

    ReplyDelete
  8. OWW/ClaireMarch 3, 2009 at 5:54 PM

    I'M NOT QUITE SURE HOW TO DO ALL THIS...BUT I HAVEN'T GIVEN UP YET.s NOT EVEN SURE IF I'M LEAVING MY COMMENT CORRECT.s I WELCOME ALL TIPS AND SOOO APPRECIATE ANY HELP YOU WELL-SEASONED BLOGGERS MAY HAVE TIME TO OFFER.s IF YOU GET A CHANCE PLEASE STOP BY MY BLOG AND LET ME KNOW HOW I'M DOING...I HAVE TRIED TO BREAK IT DOWN SO IT'S EASY TO SEPARATE MY ART, POETRY, POLITICAL COMMENT, ETC.
    s
    AS TO THE PHONE...I'M STILL PUTTING THAT IN ORDER TOO.s THANKS RIC FOR YOUR GENEROUS TIME HERE...HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK...

    ReplyDelete

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