DISQUS

TerenceEden · 1 year ago

It's a nice idea, and I've seen codes printed on T-Shirts before. The problem with this is that it uses ShotCode which is a closed standard. Only Shotcode can make these circular barcodes. Only they can write decoders for them. The information that is encoded in a ShotCode has to be registered with ShotCode first. In other words, you're completely dependent on one company for EVERYTHING.

If they go tits-up or start charging or refuse to make a decoder for your phone or generally go bad - you're out of luck.

Contrast this with QR Codes - they're an open standard. Anyone can write a coder or decoder. In fact, Google have an open source reader for Android.

They can contain any information - URL, VCARD, Phone numbers, plain text - and don't require a working Internet connection to get the information.

Furthermore, they're readable by just about any phone - not just Nokias.

Basically, this is a cool idea but make sure you use an open standard like QR Codes to ensure that the maximum number of people can access your information.