If you walk over a cemetery, you can find tombstones that are equipped with a QR code. If you keep your smartphone on it, you get more information about the dead person. If you borrow an e-scooter, you can scan a scooter-mounted QR code and drive off. In China, the QR code has long since revolutionized payment, even replacing the classic business card with the exchange of QR codes via WeChat.
In short: The QR code has prevailed. QR stands for Quick Response, "fast response". The square matrix consists of many small black and white squares in which information is encoded. The success was anything but made up - on the contrary.
For a long time, this technology seemed to be a niche existence, too impractical for the mass market and with little consumer appeal. Twenty-five years ago, the QR code was originally developed for Toyota. He should help identify components in production. Today he arrived in width.
teutopress / imago images
Scan with a mobile phone and drive off: Via QR code, users can borrow electric scooters quickly and easily
The fact that QR codes are now widely used also has something to do with the fact that their use has become easier. It took a long time to develop your own apps to decrypt the codes. Now it is enough to keep the smartphone camera on the square. If, for example, an Internet link is deposited, it will be opened immediately. Creating a QR code is also easy - anyone can create their own pixel squares using countless services.
Track missing by pixel square
The number of smart squares applications is getting wider and more useful: side effects of drugs can be accessed through the code. Clothes are sewn into QR codes that allow interested parties to understand the supply chain. At Bonprix, which belongs to the Otto Group, customers can first check in at a store with an app, scan the QR code of the garment, select the right size and order it in the locker room.
The construction accessories manufacturer Würth operates a sales room in Vöhringen, to which customers can also gain access via QR code at night and pay for the goods by invoice. In medicine, QR codes are used for exercises, for example to obtain information on the condition of simulation patients during a disaster control exercise.
And some people even have QR codes attached to their bodies. In the Japanese city of Iruma, there is a project in which people suffering from dementia stick QR codes on their fingernails or fingernails. Behind the code is an identity number. If a human being gets lost, the codes can help determine who they are.
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Strange digital world: train attendants of the future
Recently in the ICE board restaurant between Hamburg and Berlin: A very caring on-board restaurateur makes no secret of the fact that he finds laptops on the restaurant table less well. Understandable, after all, such devices in a normal restaurant are not on the table. But rail customers love the rolling office and the Deutsche Bahn now officially allows computer use since this year.
Five people had placed a laptop on the dining car table in front of them that day - each of them heard a note from the rail employee: "I have to point out that we can handle drinks here and take no liability when there is liquid on their computer running." Two guests understood the hidden message: they closed their laptop.
App of the Week: "Wonder Boy - The Dragon's Trap"
tested by Tobias Kirchner
Rainbow train
Sometimes simple is just good - this is especially true for puzzle games. "Naboki" works without texts, tutorials and elaborate graphics. It's a good game anyway. Because at first glance simple displacement and level puzzles have it all. Not only the difficulty level gets crisp, but also the addictive potential. Because solving the riddles in "Naboki" is very satisfying and with the simple controls it just feels good to gradually create the tasks.
For $ 0.99 (Android) or 1.09 (iOS), by Rainbow Train .: iOS, Android
Foreign links: Three tips from other media
- "How useful is the smartwatch ECG?" (English, 15 minutes of reading): The Apple Watch may detect atrial fibrillation, a cardiac arrhythmia that is considered a risk factor for strokes. Gradually, the professional world also deals with the topic and further evaluates study data. In a study, this detection method was quite reliable.
- "Tag X - interactive radio play for Amazon Alexa and Google Home" (German, 20 minutes of play): The Bayerischer Rundfunk has made the radio play more digital. The result is a mixture of radio play and game. Users can listen to the interactive story on a Smartspeaker or retrieve it as a web version.
- "Ghost ships, crop circles, and soft gold: A GPS mystery in Shanghai" (English, eight minutes of reading): In the port of Shanghai, the position data of ships are repeatedly manipulated so that they disappear from the radar of the checkers. "Technology Review" explains how the deception maneuvers work - and who might be behind it.
I wish you a not too gray November week,
Yours, Martin U. Müller
rawpixel on Unsplash
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