Alan, thanks for the Netherlands/Holland clarification.
However in non-critical situations I will stick with the more evocative Holland while steeling myself against disapproving glares from the geography hardliners.
The QR codes on Ford Focuses (Foci?) were for a game. Scan all five, collect a badge and be entered in some stuff, like two tickets to the Webby Awards and one free night at a hotel. Rather a poor prize, if you ask me.
I'm no counterfeit expert, but I suspect that QR codes themselves are so low-tech and easy to replicate that they wouldn't be an anti-counterfeit measure. Only if the QR code was specially designed with some high tech materials might it be useful.
But there are some many other techniques, that I don't know if QR codes would make a difference.
I sometimes feel silly scanning a QR code, too, but I rarely don't do it. Let the low I.Q. peons smirk.
Yes, as QR codes become more prevalent (assuming they do), it won't be considered strange to scan them with phones. (I, however, always will be considered strange.)
Before screwing around with QR codes, the U.S. first should print coins that actually show what they're worth! The U.S. is one of the few countries (I think) that doesn't print the denomination on its coins -- just to have fun with foreigners.
However, I do like the idea of QR codes on coins pointing to relevant information about the coins. It's another way to get more educated.
It is not wrong to say new technologies can take ten years or more to become mainstream. Indeed, some people think that's the rule, rather than the exception.
The Japanese have used QR codes for about 17 years, and it's just starting to generate some traction in the U.S.
If the only purpose of QR codes is to point to a deskop Web site, it's not a big deal, except that a snapping a photo of a long URL is faster.
The more interesting aspects of QR codes are for providing useful and/or entertaining information, such as easy integration of contact data, pointing to a Web page that's optimized for phones and for a specific purpose or opening a video.
And by taxpayer in this case, we are talking about the US public. Of course North Americans are not footing the bill for these specialized Dutch coins.
LED lightbulbs will be used not only for home and business lighting automation, but possibly also for locating shoppers inside stores and transmitting data at hundreds of megabits per second.
Businesses helped neighbors with Internet access and mobile device charge-ups during Sandra. Following that example, enterprises should consider preparing Internet disaster plans to help the public during disasters.
With the number of mobile broadband users more than doubling in 2009, and soon to exceed fixed broadband, the Internet saw a historic transition this year – and the long-term effects are incalculable.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
A survey by JD Powers found that customer interest in product features is lessening as phones evolve. Rather than features, price is driving purchases, and that change could have a dramatic impact on how IT departments secure these devices.
The iPad Mini is the latest iteration of the exploding tablet category. Because most tablets are WiFi-only, they create a new kind of mobile network. The problem is that we don't have issues like roaming and security defined for this new world.
Now apparently the mobile platform of choice, the Apple iPhone has benefited from its sound understanding of human factors and ergonomics – but is this reputation threatened by a looming avalanche of advertising?
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