They Remind Me of Space Invaders

You certainly have seen a QR code by now, even if you don't know them by the name QR code.

They're popping up in fashion magazines, in the front window of Macy's and at the counter of sandwich shops like Subway and Jimmy John's.

These codes are something I didn't understand for several months after I discovered them. But I now am finding myself using them for my job as a marketing manager. And, like many technological advances, I see how they could be handy in the future.

But, for the time being, they're confusing to the mass market. For those who don't know, QR codes are computer-generated images that allow you to get linked up to a certain URL or web location by you capturing a picture or scanning the code. On the surface, it's a little like a supermarket scanner capturing a product's price with the associated barcode.

Fashion magazines use them to link you to a certain featured product, so you can point your smart phone at the page and get linked directly to order the khaki's worn by the model. Restaurants use them to encourage someone to "like" their establishment on Facebook and there are many other developments in the works that link to sites with exclusive content and mobile downloads.

In many cases, the use of a QR code is almost a step back. You use a printed format to get directed to an online format ... without all that business of typing a full URL. QR codes, of course, are a handy way to capture information and refer to it later on your mobile device.

And they're also just fun to look at, like the 1980s Atari game Space Invaders. Just for fun, below is the QR code that will direct you to this blog. True, you're already here on the site, but maybe you want to test it out anyway.



All you have to do is get out your smart phone, find a scanner or QR code reader, capture the image and you can read this post (again) on your mobile device.