Commando Nerd Patches for iPhone scanning

John Young has written some cool projects for Make, such as this helmet-mounted water gun. He just alerted me to another nifty thing he made: Commando Nerd patches, which can be scanned with an iPhone.

Here's how he describes them:

You have an iPhone. And that means you're just HOURS away from being able to put a QRcode reader on it (there's one currently under review at Apple.)
Once you have a QRcode reader, what will you do then? Why, you'll wear a stylish Commando Nerd patch all around town, naturally! You can configure the patch to link to anything you want. People can scan your code to see your blog... or buy your art... or watch a YouTube video of you giving them the finger. Here's my blog post taking it out from under wraps.

I have about five or six velcro-backed patches left in the prototype set before I start making and selling them For Real.

This'll be fun; the iPhone provides a lot more, and a lot more interesting, opportunities for offline to online integration than just "here's a link to my facebook page." One thing I want to do is link the patch to a paypal "subscribe to me" link. You know, you could offer help-desk services right there in person:

THEM: "Excuse me, could you install a virus checker on my computer?"
YOU: "Certainly! Just take your mobile phone and scan my patch right here..."
THEM: "What's that?"
YOU: "That will subscribe you to my IT services. Only ten dollars a month for up to three incidents!"
THEM: "Uh... how about I just take my laptop to the Geek Squad?"
YOU: "Oh, gosh, okay."

Or maybe:

THEM: "Hey, man, what happened to your leg?"
YOU: "I broke it in five places. Scan the patch on my cast with your iPhone and watch a YouTube video of me ALMOST making the jump!"

Commando Nerd patch

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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ulor

This makes me wonder if something like this code be done with PaperBack :

http://www.ollydbg.de/Paperbak/index.html

to store much more data since it uses better compression.
tikaro

QRCodes can hold just as much data as you want them to, they just grow to fit the data.

In this case, the patch is like a tinyURL that you can wear, so there’s not much to hold besides a URL that’s as short as possible (so that the code can be as small as possible, and easier for a cameraphone to read.) I registered the Swiss domain p8t.ch to keep the URLs small.

While I’m here, lemme take a moment to plug the folks at semapedia.org. My patches are a fun toy and a nerd fashion accessory, but they’re actually trying to do something worthwhile and open (in the face of all the industry players that are trying to build proprietary “walled gardens” in the 2D barcode space.) I’m not affiliated with them, but am a big fan of their work.
jbgreer

I’ve been wearing a QR code tee shirt for a year now; the portability of a patch is a nice variation. QR codes can encode any kind of data, so don’t think about just URLs. If you encode your phone number, for instance, any halfway decent reader (.e.g. beetagg‘s) will decode the content and offer it up to your phone dialer on your smartphone.

Of course, you could store a picture of your QR code on your smartphone and just carry that.

I’ll second the comment regarding data density. There is a practical limit on how much information you actually want to store in a QR code – aim for 60 chars or less. Many cameras on US phones lack macro capability.

There are plenty of other tag formats if you’re interesting in other applications. Some are restricted to URLs. Some always point back to a particular server that in turn forwards your request.

I’m amazed that no one has mentioned the recent news regarding the Neomedia patent, which was recently successfully challenged.
Takuan

how’s the scan resolution on these? I mean how big can the dark/light areas be and still be readable?
Mousewrites

<3 you forever for this. I want one. I wonder who will be the first one to get a QRCode tattoo?
tikaro

Takuan, every cameraphone has a “sweet spot” for how big it likes a QRcode. I’ve tested on a friend’s Nokia n95, and that seems to be able to zoom in closer than an iPhone, which seems relatively, er… “farsighted.”

One of the most important things is the “quiet zone” around the code. As long as there’s sufficient white around the code, these codes are pretty resilient. Different levels of error-checking are built into QRcode; I use the highest level I can and still have a small code.
ulor

@Tikaro,
Thats kewl I was just thinking of a synthesis between these two ideas. Both seem to be visual representation of Data which I think is awesome concept. It would be neat to see them integrated together if possible. Paperback according to the author can compress 3 megs of text on to a single sheet of paper which seems much higher than QRCodes, and Paperback doesnt have any licensing issues that QRCodes might run into, from what I read it belongs to a Japanese company. Paperback is totally open source so I gotta give it a shoutout based on that alone. Both are amazing projects and I think the patch idea is way kewl as well. Good Job.
Takuan

could you read QR code rice paddy art?
Takuan

or window blonds up/down on the side of a high rise?

or black and white hands knit like so (teams of four maybe?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKqNZ9o_Pj0
halkun

You can also get a QR-Code reader for many mobile phones here (You have to make an account. It’s not just the iPhone.
bugmaker

Yikes!
Takuan

or integrated circuit paths?
Takuan

a sand mandala?
Takuan

GMO maize?
http://www.imagesofanthropology.com/images/Diversity_of_maize_Andean_market_at_Pisac_Peru_copy.jpg
LightningCrash

it would be cooler if it were a steampunk badge to scan with a steampunk iphone
tikaro

Takuan, I really really like where you’re going with this. Do you think we could genetically engineer a breed of corn with a mix of black and white kernels that forms a QR Code LINKING TO ITS OWN GMO CEASE-AND-DESIST ORDER?

Your ideas intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Please display your p8tch linking to your RSS feed, so that I may scan it.
Takuan

actually,if you print all my posts on a single page,it forms a sekrit message
Takuan

ya know this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0_epAGSxww

next year, I’ve rigged the cards so they’ll form a QRcode that scans out on your TV at home as “Lil Kimmie is a Pompadoured Pustule” Watch for it.
jbang

rob, denmark: There’s a massive nerdgasm in this story that you must not be getting.

Personally, i’m mopping up my keyboard after reading this post. But I have custom t-shirts with QR codes and a fetish for barcodes.

And yes: sure, the iPhone w/app will make it all plum-easy, but as pointed out by QR codes don’t need a powerful device to decode them. Your notsosmart Java phone should handle them fine.
Agent 86

I picture a world where cardboard graffiti has hidden messages.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g106/REcho/QRCode.png
ZSX

QR code reading is not unique to the iPhone in this regard. The Kaywa reader has been out for ages and is a java based QR code reader which works well even on non-smartphones.

http://reader.kaywa.com/
Slartybardfast

THEM: “Excuse me, could you install a virus checker on my computer?”
YOU: “Certainly! Just take your mobile phone and scan my patch right here…”
THEM: “What’s that?”
YOU: “That will subscribe you to my trojan download and phishing service”
tikaro

Takuan, I dare you to do this using nothing but black and white pigeons, each conditioned to want a particular combination of black and white pigeons as its neighbor. Then you release the pigeons, and the resulting midair QRcode scans to a video of Dean Martin singing “Volare.”

Wait, wait, or we do this by selling homeowners in a giant development shingles in various grades of UV-proofness. Over the course of twenty years, some of the house roofs fade to white, revealing a QRCode that links to an MP3 of Malvina Reynolds singing “Little Boxes.”

You, sir or madam, are a GENIUS.
Rob, Denmark

So, I can either:

1) Upload the information (video or whatever) to my website
2) Make a ‘Commando Nerd patch’, pointing to that URL
3) Hope a person that is interested has a QRcode reader installed on his/her phone
4) And that I remembered to wear the jacket with the Commando Nerd patch.
5) Let him/her scan the patch
6) and wait for the information to download

or

1) Keep the information on my own damn phone (it could be an URL or it could be a video or whatever)
2) Send it to anyone interested, by bluetooth (or IR)

All I’m missing is a patch screaming: “I HAVE SOMETHING I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU”
uncompressed

QR codes are Qr codes – I’m not saying they’re good, bad, cool or otherwise. But, damn!

North Americans and mobile devices. You still don’t get it.

Here’s a story from 2004 about magazine advert tie-ins with QR codes: http://www.hypulp.com/entries/more_qr_codes.php
tikaro

Agent 86, here’s what I did:

* Clicked on your QRCode link
* Opened up the 2D Sense iPhone application
* Scanned your QRcode
* Watched a spinny as 2DSense took the photo
* Watched a spinny as 2DSense processed the photo
* Was told by 2DSense that it couldn’t decode the code.
* Scanned the code again, making sure to align the QRCod in the top-left corner of the screen.
* Watched a spinny as 2DSense took the photo
* Watched a spinny as 2DSense processed the photo
* Saw the link encoded in the code
* Waited as Mobile Safari opened the link
* Waited as Mobile Safari passed the link to YouTube
* Waited for YouTube to buffer the movie, and…
PAYOFF.

Was it worth it? YES. IT WAS WORTH IT.
arkizzle

Tikaro, Agent..

This opens up unthought of possibilities for IRL drive-by rolls.

Genius!
Takuan

“thing” is correct
Takuan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics)
eustace

The rickroll possibilities… my god…
sazzamook

Mmmmmmmmmmm, I’m from the UK, I don’t get it either…
tikaro

“North Americans and mobile devices. You still don’t get it.”

Well, actually, we’re ABOUT to get it, and about damn time, too. I’m tired of having to start any explanation about QR codes with the phrase “Now, you know, in JAPAN…”

I agree we’re late to the party, but by golly we’re gonna have FUN at this party now that we’re here. I’m having a great time thinking of UTTERLY PRACTICAL use cases. Like this one:

YOU: “Here, pick a card, any card”
THEM: [Picks a card]
YOU: “Okay, now scan the patch on my shoulder right here…”
THEM: “Uh, okay…” [scans patch with iPhone]
iPHONE: [Displays a youtube video]
THEIR MOM (In YouTube video): “Hi sweetie! Say… is… THIS your card? [HOLDS UP THEIR CARD]”
THEM: Brain explodes

Now, this use case is totally do-able as long as you have access to their mom, and can learn the hindu shuffle. And you can get them to install a QRCode reader in the App Store. Details, details, man. Hey, it’s not called a commando PRACTICALITY patch.
Takuan

recording games of Go
Cruxx

I liked it until I saw they sell for 20$
Takuan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O2QFkIsi2M&feature=related
Kenn Munk

There’s not really much to get, is there?
They’re codes that, when scanned direct you to a website (in this case). it’s a fun way of sharing information. In my opinion, you don’t even need the step of talking to someone – over time, if you see someone rocking a coded patch and you find them interesing, or want the prize their logo tee promises, you go scan them and walk away.
bardfinn

Ulor: The issue with PaperBack and a mobile phone’s camera is that most mobile phone cameras do not have sufficient resolution to be able to distinguish pixels that small.

Otherwise – I paused in the middle of a beading project to make a semacode patch out of Toho beads. *shakes hands in air* Beaten to teh geek punch!
OM

“THEM: “Hey, man, what happened to your leg?”
YOU: “I broke it in five places. Scan the patch on my cast with your iPhone and watch a YouTube video of me ALMOST making the jump!”

…You know, I should have had a clip of my giving birth to “Stumpy” made and put on YouTube.
tikaro

@cruxx:

Can I interest you in my “buy one for the price of two, get one free” sale?

Here’s what goes into the twenty-buck price:
* Uniqueness. I could bang out a hundred patches all the same and sell them for five bucks each, but each patch has a different QRCode. I’ve been laughed out of several manufacturers’ offices :)
* Digital-ity. Each p8tch is an entity in a back-end system that’s been configured to control it (I know, cry me a river, slaving over those hot pixels all day.)
* Velcro backing. The stitching happens after the patch gets made.

Frankly, I think “Velcro Backing” should become Kevin Kelly’s ninth Generative Value.

Anyhow, if twenty bucks for a unique velcro-backed p8tch that you control is too steep, check out the excellent Flickr group QR Codes in the Wild for some ideas on stuff you can do yourself. Keep QR codes open!
eustace

I forsee – window blinds that divide vertically and horizontally, and can be set to QRCode values by the house enviromental control computer, perhaps to signal error conditions!
OK, I’ll have a practical idea in a minute…
freeyourcrt

NEATO! This almost as cool as barcode tatoos!
Drew from Zhrodague

I experimented with Semacode ( http://www.semacode.org ) stuff way back when I put wifimaps.com together ( http://www.wifimaps.com ). The idea was to render the codes on printed maps (of wifi) for grabbing updates of the location. The barcode was a URL for that printed map for our web application (before there was Google Maps).

Very nice that these are evolving and still of use!

Tikaro is right, printing unique barcodes can be prohibitively expensive. I wasn’t able to find a shop that would print unique vinyl bumper-stickers!
Takuan

why can’t you hand draw them? All you need is a pen and a ruler
tikaro

@Takuan: The precursor to my p8tch gig was the “nerdlepoint” project, where I was hand-needlepointing QRCodes (I made the one that Semapedia links to “pillow.”)

Check out the closeups of the Sharpie-on-canvas at the Etsy store. Funny, after doing it for a few hours, I started seeing the matrix in those thread intersections.
Takuan

stencil graffiti?
arkizzle

Tak, I was thinking the exact thing today.. definitely a new wave of QREncoded street art to come!
Takuan

only those who freehand will be respected
bugmaker

freeyourcrt- Yeah, just as cool! Ahhhh!
arkizzle

As always. The stencil posse never really got love from the freehanders.

I can imagine some interesting variations on Invader’s tile-style..

..also, I tried to QR-deCode the end-board of the Go game you posted @41 to see what the message would be: It said “you have too much free-time on your hands”..

.. friggin’ Chinese wisdom.