Axe Laser Photo Contest

Via Asia 2803

Une énieme operation virale mais cette fois-ci mettant en scene les keitai : Axe Laser est une compétition ou les participants doivent prendre une photo, voire une vidéo, illustrant l’Axe Effect! L’upload se fait via un QR code, le premier prix etant de 7000 EUR, dans deux catégories (”couple” et “freestyle”).

Translation: Another viral campaign this time putting the keitai (the mobile phone) on the central stage: Axe Laser is a competition were participants take a photo or video illustrating the Axe Effect! The upload is made through a QR Code (the QR Code points to the upload site). The first price is 100 Man Yen (=1'000'000 Yen = 6'305 Euro)

Well, it's old news for most of you, but I still think QR Codes could accelerate the diffusion of such emotionally powerful and therefore viral videos manifold.

This time I first used my old Nokia 6670 to get on the site and the video starting page is about 100KB to load. The streamed video didn't work on my 6670, so I guess it doesn't support the RTSP Protocol.

With the N95 it worked like a charm again - over Wifi naturally.

The Open Mobile Alliance: Delivering Service Enablers for Next-Generation Applications

The Open Mobile Alliance:

• Provides a comprehensive overview of the service enablers published by the OMA, tying together all the different piece parts developed by the individual working groups
• Offers a thorough introduction to the OMA Service Environments (OSE) and the specification process for enabling technologies.
• Discusses enablers for services such as gaming, IMS, Parlay, mobile broadcast and web services.
• Contains contributions from all stakeholders in the mobile application value chain.

See also:
OMA at Wikipedia

I just tried out YouTube's mobile video streaming on the N95 and it is really cool. Scan the above QR Code to view the japanese DoCoMo commercial for QR Codes.

Hugh Pickens (found via Slashdot) writes:

"CBC News has up an article by Peace Corps volunteer Heidi Vogt, a woman who served in the small village of Gono in Mali five years ago and remembers letters dictated and hand-carried by donkey cart or bicycle to the next town. Vogt recently returned to see the changes that cellphone communications have made in a village that still doesn't have electricity or decent drinking water. 'Gono's elders say the phones can keep them in touch with their village diaspora,' writes Vogt. 'Villagers depend on far-off relatives to send money in time of crisis — if someone is sick, if a house has caught fire, if there's been too little or too much rain and the harvest is poor. There's a new sense of connection to a larger world. In a village where most people can't read or write, they can now communicate directly with far-off relatives.'"

See also:
This week's economist about Technologies in emerging economies. In the intro The limits of leapfrogging the mobile phone turned out to be a wonderful example of a "leapfrog technology".

Mini Campaign with QR Codes. Campaign started February 5 and will last till May. The above ad will appear in german magazines like TV Spielfilm, Stern, Neon or Brand eins.

Get the MINI code

Leser, die jetzt in Magazinen eine MINI Anzeige mit dem Hatch, Clubman oder Cabrio sehen, sollten ihr Foto-Handy scharf machen: In der Anzeige zum MINI Diesel „Der trinkt nichts, der muss noch fahren“ ist ein sogenannter QR-Code integriert, hinter dem sich zusätzliche Informationen zum MINI verstecken.

MINI Anzeigen in TV-Zeitschriften, Nachrichten- oder Lifestyle-Magazinen haben es im Frühjahr in sich: In den Ecken sind schwarz-weiße Quadrate, die sogenannten „Quick Response-Codes“ oder QR-Codes, integriert. Sie schaffen eine Verbindung zwischen der Print- und Internetwelt.

Denn jeder Leser, der ein foto- und WAP-fähiges Handy besitzt, kann durch einfaches Abfotografieren des QR-Codes Informationen zu MINIMALISM, das MINI Techniklexikon und weitere Downloads wie Wallpaper, aktuelle TV-Spots sowie Handy-Klingeltöne abrufen. Dafür müssen MINI Fans nur die notwendige Lesesoftware für die Codes per SMS mit dem Kennwort MINI an die 84048 anfordern.

Anschließend erhält man einen Download-Link aufs Handy, der zur Software, dem Code-Reader, führt. Ist dieser erst installiert, heißt es nur noch: Code in der Anzeige scannen, auf den entschlüsselten Code warten und der angezeigten URL ins Internet folgen.

Also Augen auf! Die Anzeigen sind bis Mai in ausgewählten Zeitschriften wie TV Spielfilm, Stern, Neon oder Brand eins zu sehen.

Minimalism QR Code

Wonderful! Sam, I congratulate you for this brilliant idea. One more proof how QR Codes can solve a problem.


Image: Sam

But read about Sam's idea for yourself:

I figured that it would be a nice occasion for me to see if I could find a way to get companies to get in touch and discuss about possible graduation research. After all, I’ve been more and more focused on all the things going on in the mobile industry. All the people I would possibly like to write a letter to would be at this event (out of the over 200 attendees I was one of the very few students). I would never be able to talk to them all so thought of a way how to make them get in touch with me. I didn’t know if it would be appropriate, but decided to give it a try.

I made these posters and put two up in the toilet. It displays a big QR code which could be read with a mobile phone and next to it a short introduction with a call to action (snap the code), a short instruction on how to snap the code and links to places where those without a reader could get one. Once the QR code would be snapped, the phone would ask permission to open the SMS application on the phone and the person could send an SMS to my pre-programmed number.

Update:
According to Fussballblog, we already have the answer:



***

As the Swiss know already about QR Codes, I hope they will be pleased to get these new England shirts after the game (or is there no more shirt exchange?). I hope we will see one of these new shirts or rather the secret QR Codes over at the Fussballblog.

Keep your shirt on

The new 2008 England Away Kit was official launched this afternoon and will make its debut at Wembley on Wednesday for Fabio Capello's first game in charge.

The new shirt, which sees the Three Lions crest in the centre of the chest, will be worn during the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign and will mark the beginning of a new era for the team.

England’s rich heritage is married with revolutionary technology by incorporating a QR (Quick Read) code into the shirt’s label. This effectively serves to bring the shirt to life, enabling fans to access a unique QR website.

Upon photographing the code with their mobile phones, fans will be taken to the website where they can obtain exclusive content about UMBRO and England.

This is the first time that QR code has ever been incorporated into a football shirt.

See also:
Kaywa Reader on Umbro Site

As we only put up tested phones on the Kaywa Reader site, even if there are many more phones that will work (many people have told us so), I wanted to ask if somebody on the web - mobile or "old school" - has tested the Kaywa Reader with the N82? We expect that it should work too, but we do not have proof.

Please leave a comment to tell us if the Kaywa Reader worked on the N82.

In response we will continue this post with an idea which would make daily life easier for an non neglectable percentage of any country's population. If you think you have an idea where we are heading at, we also welcome your suggestions. We can only benefit from the creativity that's out there.

[...] to be continued

The Maze is used by many ad agencies as we can see here: http://www.coloribus.com/admirror/maze/

Why not improve on that and take a QR Code and explain inside the QR Code

• either what the QR Code is all about and how to download the QR Reader
• or what the company will offer through the QR Code. An example could be that the QR Code typograpical elements explain the rules of the game being played by the QR Code.
• Last but not least, think hard about the similarities between Mazes and QR Codes. Not only the obvious visual ones.
  Quotes:
  

  Myth says that the labyrinth was solved with a clewe of twine - Old English for "ball of string". So a maze is the solution to a pattern-making puzzle which was solved by geometry - which means ground-measurement. This is the origin of our word clue.
  
  [...] The idea that there was always a way to find a path seems to have developed from the symbolism of the labyrinth. Mathematicians call finding the best path in a maze critical-path analysis. CPA can find the cheapest route for telephone-calls, design the electrical paths of circuit-boards, or reduce the cost of road-trips. Computer-programs which do critical-path analysis are called autorouters. Autorouters help miniaturise and cut the cost of electronics, and have been a major factor in the development of Information Technology. The first autorouter was tested on a map of the maze at Hampton Court Palace about 35 years ago.

In this last regard, the QR Code on the LOST ad makes perfect sense.

See also:
Olga Kisseleva's Maze/QR project