Techno-blog

CyberMedia's flagship publication on business computing, PCQuest, is driving the convergence of print media and mobile multimedia, with the introduction of QR codes for both editorial content and advertising.A QR (Quick Response) code is a barcode in two dimensions, with a black-and-white pattern of squares (standard barcodes are one-dimensional). Users scan them in a single click on their mobile camera, and the code points to a website or online multimedia content.

Coupled with a camera-equipped mobile-phone, the QR code brings rich multimedia to print.

It lets readers consume the base content in their comfort zone of print (for many) while smoothly moving back and forth to multimedia on their connected mobile, thus extending the print medium into a multimedia environment.

It lets advertisers enhance their print messaging with multimedia, such as with a short video feature or a TV commercial, offering a seamless experience across diverse media.

'We believe that timing the launch of QR codes with the 3G rollout will allow readers to move smoothly onto the next level of interactivity and convergence for print media,' said Mr. Pradeep Gupta, Chairman, CyberMedia, South Asia's largest specialty publishers.

'We expect this advertising and marketing innovation to lead to the rejuvenation of print--integrating print with rich multimedia on the mobile.

What does a reader need?

Any camera-equipped smartphone running a standard platform (Symbian S60, BlackBerry, Android, Java, etc). The phone needs to have a QR code reader app like Flick2Know (www.f2k.mobi) or i-Nigma installed; if not, the user can download and install one in a few minutes.

The user also needs a data connection, preferably 3G or Wi-Fi (2G will also work, but will be slow, and video will be slow). Without 3G or Wi-Fi, however, a user can still download videos to the mobile, to play later.

'QR codes need two things: an internet server somewhere; and a camera-equipped smartphone, preferably running 3G. With 3G just rolling out in India, this is a great time to bring interactivity to print, which was in danger of getting added.

How to Scan QR Codes?
1.Download Flick2Know Scanner App in your mobile if you don't have one.
2.Open the Scanner App and point your mobile camera towards the QR Code
3.Auto-focus feature having phone will automatically detect code.
4.For non-Auto-focus phones, press scan to capture QR Code and then it will show the result

Getting problems in scanning the code?
There can be following possible causes:

Code Centering
Please make sure that while scanning, you are capturing the complete code centering the mobile screen. Codes that are not fully captured(scanned) cannot be decoded.

Code Focusing
For proper and faster scanning of code, try to adjust the distance from the code so that the edges of the code visible in camera are least blurred. The sharper the captured code image will be, the more will be the success probability.

Improper Illumination
Make sure that you are scanning the code in adequate lightening. If a code is just visible to human eye doesn't mean that it will be detected by camera succesfully. A proper illumination is neccesary to scan the code smoothly.

For more information visit this site:
http://www.flick2know.com