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Wireless Networking The Internet Hardware

Semacode - Hyperlinks For The Real World 185

Posted by timothy from the cuecat dept.
An anonymous reader submits "Semacode is a fascinating concept - it involves encoding a standard network/web URL in visual form (essentially a 2D bar code) that can be displayed in the real world for people to 'read' with semacode-enabled connected devices. The reference platform for now is the Symbian/Series 60 phone platform - specifically, the Nokia 3650 . Semacode also works with the Nokia 6600 and 7650 camera phones."
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Semacode - Hyperlinks For The Real World More

Semacode - Hyperlinks For The Real World

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  • CueCat (Score:5, Interesting)

    by wileycat ( 690131 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @02:48PM (#9095127)
    Hummmm, special 2d barcodes to relate product infomation to consumers? CueCat anyone?
    • CueCat anyone?

      No thanks... I've got a boxfull here already, and while at first they were really tasty, they're now bland and unappealing.

    • Re:CueCat (Score:3, Informative)

      by Cylix ( 55374 )
      Beat me to the punch!

      However, the only slight difference is cue cat referenced a central database against an ID number in bar code format.

      Though... yes.. CueCat...

      mmmm... hopefully... more free bar code readers...

    • Re:CueCat (Score:4, Funny)

      by dmarcov ( 461598 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @02:52PM (#9095156) Homepage
      Oh I don't know. This sounds way more expensive than a CueCat. That makes it cooler and better, right?

      I give them credit for the attempt to make a "2d barcode" sound like it is somehow more than -- you know -- the one on my box of Lucky Charms.

      • Re:CueCat (Score:2, Interesting)

        by justforaday ( 560408 )
        I give them credit for the attempt to make a "2d barcode" sound like it is somehow more than -- you know -- the one on my box of Lucky Charms.

        out of curiosity, is anyone working on a 3D barcode??? [yeah, i know i could look it up...but hoping that someone on /. will answer is far far easier].

      • Re:CueCat (Score:3, Informative)

        by lfourrier ( 209630 )
        I give them credit for the attempt to make a "2d barcode"

        Not me.

        google for 2d barcodes and you find many, even some without royalty. And my picturebook come a fex year ago with a camera and some game based on 2 d barcodes.

      • lucky charms? (Score:5, Informative)

        by WhiteDragon ( 4556 ) * on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:46PM (#9095475) Homepage Journal
        I give them credit for the attempt to make a "2d barcode" sound like it is somehow more than -- you know -- the one on my box of Lucky Charms.
        The difference is that a typical UPC (the barcode [wikipedia.org] on groceries and other products) is a linear (1-dmensional) barcode. It can only store a few digits worth of information. A Matrix Code [wikipedia.org] (aka 2D barcode) can store a lot more information. The article shows an example of a data matrix format code. The data matrix symbology is described at RVSI Acutity CiMatrix [rvsi.com]. It can store a large amount of data.

    • Re:CueCat (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Agent Green ( 231202 ) * on Saturday May 08, 2004 @02:52PM (#9095166)
      No...this actually has potential NOT to suck, especailly since it's a URL encoded in a 2D, non-proprietary format. It's also a plus that it's not locked up in some bullshit like the CueCat.

      I'm curious just how large of a URL it can encode though...but I think this is pretty cool, and could end up being one of the killer apps for camera phones. It's about time something put that technology to good use.

      That, and it's a bitch keying in a long-ass URL on a phone keypad. :)

      • Re:CueCat (Score:4, Informative)

        by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:04PM (#9095234)
        it's a URL encoded in a 2D, non-proprietary format. It's also a plus that it's not locked up in some bullshit like the CueCat.

        The "Cues" (DigitalConvergence's special barcodes) were just regular CODE128 barcodes with the sync bars removed, so only the CueCat could read them. Other than that, perfectly standard. What's more, the CueCat could read just about any 1D barcode out there, which made it very interesting for a free toy.

        The "encryption" used by the CueCat to send codes to the computer's PS/2 port was just XOR and BASE64 encoding. Not much of an encryption really.

        The big difference with this is that the Cues were essentially links to entries in Digitalconvergence's database (which itself was just the UPC database + a bunch of special products from companies they partenered with, like RadioShack) so that they could sit between your scans and the information to collect marketting data. This on the other end seems to just be barcode-encoded URLs.

        More info on the CueCat here. [easyconnect.fr]
      • If it's like a typical Data Matrix 2D Barcode it can hold up to 500 characters.

      • Re:CueCat (Score:2, Interesting)

        by djwudi ( 554822 )

        From the FAQ on the site [semacode.org]:

        Pretty long. We have not yet established the absolute upper limit, but for practical purposes most URLs should be fine.

        Figure1.slashdot URL encoded in a datamatrix (semacode) code

        (there's a graphic here on their site)

        http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=70638 &cid=0&pid=0&startat=&threshold=4 &mode=thread&commentsort=0&op=Change

      • Re:CueCat (Score:4, Funny)

        by krymsin01 ( 700838 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @07:17PM (#9096728) Homepage Journal
        You think it's cool now, wait till you scan something and Goatse.cx pops up.

      • Re:CueCat (Score:2, Informative)

        by mlush ( 620447 )
        I'm curious just how large of a URL it can encode though...

        bit of a moot point with services like tinyurl [tinyurl.com]

      • Re:CueCat (Score:5, Insightful)

        by danila ( 69889 ) on Sunday May 09, 2004 @04:09AM (#9098896) Homepage
        Isn't it better to just use a computer-legible font for the URLs? If designed with both human and computer legibility in mind it can provide 100% accuracy when read by the phone and not require a lot of CPU power. The presence of the URL can be indicated either by the standard http:// prefix or by a special icon, by the address itself will be written in plain text. This is thousands of times more compatible and useful.
    • The concept sounded strangely familiar. Hopefully, this will be just as successful.
  • It was a device calle dthe CAT. You could get one free from radio shack. It would connect between your keyboard and computer. And you could scan Generic UPC barcodes to get to the corresponding site. I tried it and it usually worked. Unfortunatly I couldn't find a viable use for the device.

  • CueCat Anyone? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by major.morgan ( 696734 )
    RatioShack did this a few years back with the Cue codes on the pages of their catalog. As I remember a few magazines also printed Cue barcodes on ad pages - so you could just swipe the Cue and voila, be at their website.

    Are they going to give me a free Nokia to read the code, like RadioShack gave away the wand?

  • Old technology? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by guanxi ( 216397 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @02:50PM (#9095140)
    OK, I didn't RTFA, but wasn't this same concept widely used in Japan awhile ago (and maybe still is)?

    • Re:Old technology? (Score:3, Informative)

      by KanSer ( 558891 )
      Last summer I went to Tokyo Dome City right downtown tokyo and on their main roller coaster you could buy your place at the front of the line. For some (reasonable wankwank) 1000 yen or something you would get 4 little pictures sent to your cellphone (well, your girlfriend's) and you could reserve spots for the ferris wheel too.

      We cut out of the 3 hour line (The charge goes to your phone bill, handy!) and went to the front, put the picture on the screen of the phone and put it on a square reader. It beeped

  • Hmm : colon : have we:not seen:this before? (Score:5, Funny)

    by hanssprudel ( 323035 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @02:50PM (#9095143)

    I've got an idea, let's shape the readers like some weird half dead cat, and then give away a million readers and start suing people who actually use them!

  • Huh? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by chris_eineke ( 634570 )
    What's the problem with scribbling "www.sashdot.org" on a sheet of paper? This gets my vote for the 2004 Useless Technology Award.

    • Re:Huh? (Score:3, Funny)

      by dkordik ( 760467 )
      No-IP.com would like to thank you for making some people go to "www.sashdot.org" just to see if it really existed (they own it). +1000 points

    • Re:Huh? (Score:3, Informative)

      by adam mcmaster ( 697132 )
      I'm guessing recognising a bunch of coloured blocks is easier than recognising handwriting.
      • And what about printing the URL in a standard simple font? Underline it to provide a reference frame for the reader, make all letters and numbers distinct, add redundancy to the characters to defeat noise and minor damage to the text, and you are fine. If you are really serious, add error-checking and error-correction in a form of a short additional code (5-10 characters). The phone should be able to recognize it just great. The additional benefit is that a human will do it easily too.

    • Re:Huh? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:00PM (#9095218)
      That's the french mirror.

      You can try the japanese mirror at "srashdot.org" or the MS-based clone at "crashdot.org"

    • Re:Huh? (Score:3, Funny)

      by Jeremi ( 14640 )
      What's the problem with scribbling "www.sashdot.org" on a sheet of paper?


      It appears you have answered your own question!

    • If this is deliberate irony, then it has truly been well executed.
    • i question if taking the photo, decoding and opening is faster than just writing in the text manually :) i can see this as a cool 'tinyurl.com' type system. take photo, decode, open browser url.

      i wonder how it handles mis-reading of the data (bad light, camera lenses). is there checksumming in place? also, how much can you store in that 2D bar code?

      • Re:Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Tony Hoyle ( 11698 ) <tmh@nodomain.org> on Saturday May 08, 2004 @04:32PM (#9095775) Homepage
        Not really, you have:

        1. (old system). Read text.
        2. (new system). Fish phone out of pocket. Switch it on (of not already on. Possibly pull battery out if crashed). Take photograph. Stand around scrolling through symbian menus until you find the 'decode photograph' app. Launch app. App doesn't recognise photograph. Shit. Take another photograph. Repeat.

        • Re:Huh? (Score:2)

          by laird ( 2705 )
          But if this gets widely adopted, it turns into:
          1. Aim cameraphone at barcode.
          2. Click 'go there' button
          3. Camera takes picture, find code, decodes, and launches web browser at URL.

          If this is implemented as an app for the Treo 600, it wins.
        • well - have you heard about custom software development? maybe create program that captures the picture and decodes it in the same application? when the info is available - THEN launch the web browser/content application?

          as the replier to your post mentions, something like this for the Treo 600 would be great. hotlink it to an application button, viola.. done! as a developer for palmos/pocketpc/symbian - its possible to do all these quite easily for either platforms (given the integration of the camera + g

  • Fascinating concept... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by efatapo ( 567889 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @02:51PM (#9095153)
    Yeah...scanning a bar code for a website is a great idea [digitalconvergence.com]. Wish I would have thought of that.

    1. Steal someone's unsuccessful idea
    2. ???
    3. Profit?

    Probably not...

  • Oh, great... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    this is just what I need, a new way for trolls to fool me into seeing the goatse man.

  • I don't get this... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by JohnsonWax ( 195390 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @02:55PM (#9095183)
    Why erect non-human readable signs where they get in the way? What are the benefits of me being able to see this large thing other than to know something is there?

    And I know I'll be shouted down for this, but isn't this a much better application for something like RFID? (technical issues, notwithstanding) What's wrong with having this information in the airwaves and some kind of small indicator that a signal is being transmitted?

    • Re:I don't get this... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Eponymous Cowboy ( 706996 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:16PM (#9095311)
      Why erect non-human readable signs where they get in the way? What are the benefits of me being able to see this large thing other than to know something is there?
      There are lots of reasons. For example, a bus stop might have a timetable with one of these symbols next to each entry. You'd just hold your phone up to the one you want to check, and it would connect to the proper web page and show you where that bus is on its route and how long until it reaches your location. Instantly. No special buttons to press or codes to enter, and with no expensive hardware needing to be installed at the bus stop.

      The idea is that you can use the static, printed data (the barcode) to retrieve dynamic data (the bus location and how long until its arrival)--not just to retrieve more static data. Static data would still be printed, human readable as always, on the sign in the first place.

      And, remember, web pages can be interactive, too; you can send information back to the company or organization whose barcode you just scanned through forms on the web page. So you could quickly order a product or service directly to your location.

      ...isn't this a much better application for something like RFID?
      It really comes down to one word: Cost. Ink on paper is essentially free. If you're printing a sign anyway, there's no additional cost to include a barcode. Yes, RFID is cheap, but ink is cheaper.
      • > The idea is that you can use the static, printed data (the barcode) to retrieve
        > dynamic data (the bus location and how long until its arrival)--not just to
        > retrieve more static data. Static data would still be printed, human readable as
        > always, on the sign in the first place.

        That sounds interesting. However, I still don't get why the URL should not just
        be printed in human-readable form on the bus stop sign. Passengers could then
        enter it manually in their WEB enabled cellulars and have th
      • There are lots of reasons. For example, a bus stop might have a timetable with one of these symbols next to each entry. You'd just hold your phone up to the one you want to check, and it would connect to the proper web page and show you where that bus is on its route and how long until it reaches your location. Instantly.

        So why no print the URL in a human readable form, using a clean font that is a snap to OCR?

        For your cellphone the result is the same. You scan the code and are instantly connected to th

    • Imagine... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ParadoxicalPostulate ( 729766 ) <saapad@gma i l .com> on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:18PM (#9095331) Journal

      Well, the one thing that jumps out in my mind is this.

      Imagine you are in a large building on a college campus. You are walking down the hall, and pass by a classroom. The room number is marked in black letters on a plaque, 246. Under the room number is a semacode.

      You take out your cellphone, and take a snapshot (read: scan) the semacode. Your cellphone loads up the appropriate URL, giving you information about the room.

      Through the website, you find out what the room is used for, who the technicians / professors are using the room, what the class schedule for the room is, when the professor has open office hours, who is responsible for maintenance of the room, what the phone extension in the room is, etc. And you get a bunch of links to follow from there.

      All of that information available in an instant.

      Of course, there is the issue of the ubiquity of this type of technology, but if it does become very popular, this is a very real accomplishment.

      Employ the same type of situation in a museum display, perhaps or art or rocks.

      I think it has a pretty amazing potential, but only if it's adopted widescale. If not, then its just one of those cool things that you brag about to your friends, and after that nobody cares.

      • spammers (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Barbarian ( 9467 )
        Imagine the new 2-d barcode spam. Unscrupulous persons will sneak around and replace these barcodes with barcodes linking to pay-per-view porn sites and penis enlargement products.

      • Re:Imagine... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by BrotherPope ( 8102 )
        You take out your cellphone, and take a snapshot (read: scan) the semacode. Your cellphone loads up the appropriate URL, giving you information about the room.

        Through the website, you find out what the room is used for, who the technicians / professors are using the room, what the class schedule for the room is, when the professor has open office hours, who is responsible for maintenance of the room, what the phone extension in the room is, etc. And you get a bunch of links to follow from there.

        It'll

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:38PM (#9095418)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • exactly. the other people who repiled to this comment dont get it. they point out the usefulness of having a URL in meatspace, thats not your argument. a URL in meatspace is great, but there is no value to having a big blocky barcode be the mechanism for communicating to a machine. A semacode strikes me as a very low-density way to store information, using unnecessarily high contrast colors.

      I think an encoding mechanism could be made that is much more subtle. Possibly something that is not even visible t

    • Why erect non-human readable signs where they get in the way? What are the benefits of me being able to see this large thing other than to know something is there?
      You start with an inherently flawed question. You make a rather silly assumption that such barcodes would be used entirely divorced from traditional 2d media. It makes perfect sense to put a semacode block on a movie poster at the local mall, allowing the distributor to lure the potential audience to a targetted website, and perhaps convincing t

    • Re:I don't get this... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Z-MaxX ( 712880 )
      I think far more interesting than encoding URLs is the ability to store arbitrary digital information on any printed medium. For instance:
      • Magazine ad containing a song
      • Movie poster containing a multimedia presentation (maybe a cool Flash movie or something)
      • I can now print Strongbad emails [homestarrunner.com] on a T-shirt!!!
      • In the manner of the dvdcss code T-shirts, we can have T-shirts containing moderately large programs, such that anyone can obtain the exact code with a simply photograph (otherwise, you'd have to manually
      • Good points. To pick a minor nit, I think you meant "machine-readable digital information", or words to that effect. Surely printed text, made up from a finite set of symbols, must be classified as being digital? Oh well. I'm just nerding out, I guess. :)
  • As many people have pointed out, this is basically a new version of the :CueCat. Only difference I see instead of 'standard' barcodes (Code 39/EAN/UPC) it uses a Data Matrix style. Maybe bundling it with a cell phone might mean it could actually take off this time.
  • why can't the software be smart enough to read the printerd characters of a url directly? duh
  • Am I missing something here? Aren't regular barcodes also 2D?

  • I'll use it... (Score:3, Funny)

    by dnight ( 153296 ) <dnight@@@lakkadoo...com> on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:06PM (#9095246)

    If I can go into my local Radio Shack and get the readers for free. What an innovative idea!


    Someday an ad exec is going to realize people don't want to see thier damned ads. Of course he'd be instantly torn apart by the pack for showing a clue...

  • Games encoded into advertisements/signs? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Qinopio ( 602437 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:07PM (#9095252) Homepage
    Could this be used (much like the Nintendo e-reader) to encode minigames onto ads or signs? That could be fun.

  • Augmented Reality (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ClockworkPlanet ( 244761 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:10PM (#9095277)
    In 1999 I got a Sony Vaio Picturebook [internettrash.com] - a paperback book sized sub-notebook that has a VGA camera in the top edge of the screen/lid.

    One of the features of the Picturebooks was an app called Cybercode [acm.org]. Cybercode is a barcode generator (not a "2D barcode" - all barcodes are 2D, they have height and width) that generates a code that the PC can see with the Motion Eye camera. The codes have applications, animations or other programs associated with them, and I could run different playlists, for example, just by showing a card to the PC.

    The guys at Sony Computer Science Labs built a superb demo of this technology here [sony.co.jp]. I recommend the video at the bottom of the page -- a superb demo of what is possible.

    I now have two Picturebooks and still use the newest one regularly. I tried different methods of using Cybercodes, and was able to give presentations at college where I ran the VAIO though a laptop and had Cybercode finder running. As I talked about different topics in the lecture, I showed the back of my note cards to the Motion Eye, and the VAIO ran video clips on command.
    • Not to nit pick, but while all barcodes are represented in two dimensions, probably because that's the easiest thing to do on a flat 2-D surface, not all barcodes encode information in 2 dimensions. Now, naturally I didn't RTFA, but the barcode on a box of cereal encodes information in one dimension. Take the thinnest line and call it a 1, a line of double that thickness is 11 and the spaces are 0, a double wide space is 00. The height dimension is just a matter of convenience so you do not have to be preci

    • 2D Barcodes in Comparison to Traditional Ones (Score:4, Informative)

      by pneuma_66 ( 1830 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @04:28PM (#9095746)
      Yes, all barcodes are printed in 2D space, but the 2D moniker does not mean how it is printed.

      Traditional barcodes have information encoded only in one dimension. Technically you could print a barcode in 'one dimension', however, it would be very difficult to scan. The height is only there to facilitate scanning. That is why they can be called 1D barcodes.

      2D barcodes, on the other hand, have information encoded in 2 directions. That is why instead of lines they use squares.

    • Re:Augmented Reality (Score:2, Informative)

      by mnewton32 ( 613590 )
      all barcodes are 2D, they have height and width

      Not sure if you were just being facetious, but a standard barcode is considered one dimensional because the data is only encoded in one direction. Height is irrelevant. But in a 2 dimensional code, data is encoded in both dimensions.

  • Useless Marketing (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Fiz Ocelot ( 642698 ) <baelzharon&gmail,com> on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:13PM (#9095295)
    Ok so if I understand the concept correctly: If I have a phone with this ability, it can bring up a web page via wireless connection. Maybe some info about the item, or an advertisement.Great...

    What's wrong with just posting information on packages, as it is now? And why should I waste my money, to use my phone to view an extra useless ad?

    And unless this all works together "very" quickly (not more than 10 seconds), nobody will even bother. I know I certainly won't.

    Can anyone think of anything this can be used for, which can not be accomplished by simply posting the information on a sign, packaging, or normal paper ad? (which are free to use, unlike the phone)

    • What's wrong with just posting information on packages, as it is now?


      Physical objects of common sizes can't hold that much text. I know it would be nice if, instead of having to hunt through my closet for the manual for device X, I could just point my phone at the device and have the phone show me the man page.


      You're right that the response would need to be very quick for people to want to use it, though.

  • I saw a news program a few weeks ago on a similar technolgy. However instead of bothering with some new king of pictogram it just read normal barcodes.

    The basic system which they showed in use allowed you to take a picture of a barcode in a store with your cell phone, and it would bring up a picture and description of the product with some usefull info attached (nutritional info for food items for example.)

    This was just a beta type product, and they were planing on expanding it's capabilities. I think o

  • for instance, to have barcodes on the packaging of stuff. For example, this code on the outside of prescription medication could link to the producer's web site, or to medical databases so patients and physicians could easily access important information. It would save hugely on paper. I myself would like to have this on my lab equipment so I could have access to user manuals, technical information, experimental protocols and so on. Let's have it!
    • If this is what you want it would be better to have software on cameraphones that recognizes already existing UPC barcodes. There are billions of products with UPCs, why not make use of this ubiqitous system instead of introducing a new one?

      I do see the utility in semacodes but I think the UPC idea pales in comparison. Imagine walking into a bookstore seeing an interesting book, hmm let's check it on Amazon, oh they have a used copy at 1/3 the price, let's order that. All from your phone in a few second

  • Real world uses (Score:5, Informative)

    by danharan ( 714822 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:16PM (#9095324) Journal
    Everyone is comparing this to CueCat without saying why this won't work.

    The semacode website actually provides some intriguing uses [semacode.org] for this technology. Since it is an open standard, we could think up other uses, but there are three that they mention that make sense to me:
    • transit info - nextBus
    • A web service to call a taxicab to your present location
    • ticket sales from posters (e.g. concerts)
    Cellphone prices are falling, and many people no longer even have a landline, so there could be a large market for this.

    Also, these uses don't cost much if anything. It probably will have a few niches. Can anyone else think of good applications?
    • "A web service to call a taxicab to your present location"

      Why? I can already call a the nearest taxi cab on my cell phone. That is based on my location.

      • Re:Real world uses (Score:2, Insightful)

        by danharan ( 714822 )
        True, that is trivial. However this might be much faster than calling a human, and would allow taxi companies to save a fair bit of money. This is also convenient if you are not fluent, or not sure exactly where you are, or how to describe it.

        A properly configured system could also return a page telling you how long a taxi is expected to take to get there.

        • Re:Real world uses (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Tony Hoyle ( 11698 ) <tmh@nodomain.org> on Saturday May 08, 2004 @04:43PM (#9095847) Homepage
          Don't see how it can be faster.

          Currently I fire up the phone, select 'taxi', it gives me the number of the nearest one and optionally dials it (it knows where I am, which is how it knows where the nearest taxi/bank/pub/etc. is... heck, you can buy services that track people down via mobile phone now - parents buy it to keep track of their children).

          However every taxi I've ever called wants to know my *destination* not just my current location (this is for tracking, and I believe it may also be a legal requirement). There is no way this system can handle that (unless you're proposing having a barcode for every destination in a city).
  • Obfuscating the URL in an image just hides the information for everyone who doesn't have a fancy phone or just doesn't know how to use it. Use plain URLs on products, then use the phone to photography them and then surf to the web.

    If the technology works, it could be really useful to add information to your surroundings. Browsing CDs at the store ? Photography one, get reviews from amazon. Looking at a concert flyer ? Photography it, get a map to the place and order tickets. Reading a magazine article abou

  • The Camera Steals My Soul (Score:3, Funny)

    by miyako ( 632510 ) <miyako AT gmail DOT com> on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:18PM (#9095330) Homepage Journal
    ...how to I write "www.goat.cx" or "www.tubgirl.com" in this new format, and will it work printed on a tshirt? That'll keep people from collecting any proper evidence against me with those pesky camera phones.

  • woot (Score:2, Funny)

    by VAXGeek ( 3443 )
    that will be awesome until they start spoofing urls. you'll be price checking in aisle 2, click on a link, and then be at goatse.cx...

  • Why is this a big deal? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CatGrep ( 707480 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:24PM (#9095355)
    I really can't see how this is revolutionary.
    As has been mentioned this bears some resemblance to the failed CueCat thingy. Also, why would I want to post these 2D barcodes all over the place?

    Why not use BlueTooth for this? You get close to a 'beackon' and a little icon appears on your phone, if you choose to click the icon it takes you to the desired URL.

    • Simplicity (Score:2, Insightful)

      by ddewey ( 774337 )
      Why not use BlueTooth for this? You get close to a 'beackon' and a little icon appears on your phone, if you choose to click the icon it takes you to the desired URL.

      The advantage of this is that it's simple and cheap. Anyone can print out a code and stick it anywhere they want. Of course that will lead to problems too; you can bet scummy advertisers will be making stickers out of these this and plastering them on everything.

    • Why not use BlueTooth for this?

      Because Bluetooth is a lot more expensive than printing a friggin barcode? Why use a dynamic, electronic, and (relatively) complicated wireless system for what is, by and large, going to be static data? This is like saying I should include a little Bluetooth "beacon" on every one of my hundreds of business cards, rather than just printing my damn URL and e-mail address on the cards.

      • Because Bluetooth is a lot more expensive than printing a friggin barcode? Why use a dynamic, electronic, and (relatively) complicated wireless system for what is, by and large, going to be static data? This is like saying I should include a little Bluetooth "beacon" on every one of my hundreds of business cards, rather than just printing my damn URL and e-mail address on the cards.

        RFID?
    • because a bluetooth beacon requires battery power, while a sticker with a smart-barcode on it would not.

  • Copy protection (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Animats ( 122034 )
    Soon, the MPAA will put ones in movies that cause phones to report in to the MPAA.

  • Hurray! Non human readable URLs! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Jeremi ( 14640 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @03:30PM (#9095384) Homepage
    Now I can post goatse links on every building in town! No phone user will be safe!
  • They have these in on your driver's license, in certain states. Check yours to see if you have one. I know mine, Texas, does not :( There's a site somewhere that will tell you what your 2d barcode says if you send them a pic of it, can't remember the URL...

  • Like HP CoolTown, right? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Trevor ( 3833 ) *
    I know that HP's CoolTown is mainly marketing chum, but at the core was actual research into linking the web to physical items. When you're considering what to do with semacode, you should check out some of the CoolTown IEEE submitted research papers. Oh, and here's a fluffy article [hp.com] on bridging URLs to meatspace.

  • Seems pretty stupid to me (Score:3, Insightful)

    by beavis88 ( 25983 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @04:23PM (#9095717)
    http://www.tinyurl.com/foobar/ -- does a barcode *really* make this easier?

    • Re:Seems pretty stupid to me (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yes, considering that on some phones you have to press a key MULTIPLE TIMES to cycle thru letters, numbers and/or symbol characters to key in your data (a url or anything else).

      This might not be the Next Big Thing(tm), but I can see where it might have uses:

      outside of a theater to instantly buy tickets ONLINE instead of standing IN LINE,

      outside of a restaraunt with a long line, so you can preorder so that when you get seated, you're food's nearly ready as opposed to waiting for 30 minutes,

      outside of a b
      • While I certainly agree with the spirit of your post, it seems the main beef is with the cellphone input system -- wouldn't it make more sense to attack the problem from that angle, since it would also help the "phone experience" in other ways?

        Maybe (probably) I'm just being difficult here, but I see something like this as a cop-out in all honesty. If I'm outside Chez Foobar and want to order dinner, surely there is a better way for me to connect with them than making them post a barcode?
  • If this is considered "fascinating" or "new", then this just tells us that the Slashdot editors / submitters are easily amused, and/or have really short memories.

    This was a crappy idea 5 years ago, when I first heard about it. I don't see how it could have improved since then.

  • Solution Looking For A Problem... Again (Score:4, Insightful)

    by nfotxn ( 519715 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @04:44PM (#9095856) Journal
    See we can encode urls and network addresses in something we call "text". Text can be written and deciphered by the naked human eye. The majority of human beings are capable of literacy with the correct training. Although some require peripheral devices such as corrective lenses or permanent solutions such as laser surgery.

    If you're to take a technologically oriented solution to having to type a url why not just make signage use bluetooth or some such wireless technology to pass the url to these devices?This is just silly Wired magazine style gadgetiering technofetishism to my eyes. Bo-ring!

  • You could do that, or you could just use plaintext URLs and equip your cameraphone with OCR capability.

  • developed on linux (Score:3, Informative)

    by sbwoodside ( 134679 ) <sbwoodside@yahoo.com> on Saturday May 08, 2004 @07:27PM (#9096770) Homepage
    /.ers might be interested to know that I did all the building and compiling on Linux. Normally, you can't do that, but there's a free tool by Rudolf Koenig called sdk2unix that converts the windows sdk to a really cool makefile based system on linux.

    I wrote up my experiences here in this HOWTO,
    HOWTO develop Symbian apps using Linux and OS X [simonwoodside.com] .

    Simon Woodside (semacode developer)

  • Training AI (Score:4, Interesting)

    by _ph1ux_ ( 216706 ) on Saturday May 08, 2004 @09:40PM (#9097439)
    Lets imagine that we have built an AI that is able to autonomously move about in a given area, our lab.

    We wantto train the AI how to identify objects, people and items that it "sees" with its digital camera. One way to do this is build a really extensive algorythym which will analyze the visual data, and "think" associations and discern information about the seen object.

    Aditionally, we can use cues to provide contextual information about objects thatthe AI will see from a backend source which does notrequire processing locally on the AIs part to identify.

    If our lab environment had objects which had 2d barcodes on them - the AI could see an object, see its 2d barcod tag and instantly retrieve info about the visualized subject.

    We could still employ the AI code for calculating #D space as it moves about - but it can then be provided with contextual information about the objects it sees. as it learns, it can learn to associate 2d barcodes with object shapes, so that in the future when it encounters them - it only really need to recall the semacpde 2d barcode on the object to pull contextual information again on that same - or similar object. Ideally - it should also be able to write information to the backend DB to update semacodes and relate them... memories if you will.
  • I mean, most phones with cameras have the capability built-in to send pictures to email addresses - Why not put the decode engine on a mail address, then print the address under the matrix code. (Yes, you have to type the address in, but only once. And isen't [decode@sematext.org] easier to type than [Http://www.geocities/SiliconValley/2146/Home.htm] or [http://www.sbtranspo.com/route_map_13.php]?)

  • There is already a standard form.

    It's called the alphapet.

    Seriously, what's wrong with simply printing the adress ? Works fine and can be read by anyone not blind - and blind can't read bar codes either, because they don't know where to aim.

  • 2d bar codes (QR Codes) [denso-wave.com]

    I tried it in Japan this week. Take a photo with your camera phone and it decodes the message. Superimposed cropmark-like crosshairs ensure the entire encoded field is captured.

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