This is so fucking cool.
A wheelchair-mounted robotic arm controlled by thought alone has been created by scientists at the University of South Florida.
The device could give people with amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or full body paralysis the ability to perform simple day to day functions that would otherwise be impossible.
"We aren't reading people's thoughts," said Redwan Alqasemi, a scientist at the University of South Florida who, along with Rajiv Dubey and Emanuel Donchin of USF, helped develop the software and hardware. "This is the first time a person with severe disabilities like ALS can perform daily activities for themselves."
Over time, patients with ALS slowly lose control over their muscle movement, losing the ability to move their arms, legs and eventually all muscles except those around the eye. Patients with ALS have fully functional brains, but have no way to express their thoughts.
EEG scans offer one way for patients with ALS to communicate with the outside world. By fitting patients with a head cap equipped with electrodes and filled with an electrically conductive gel, scientists can monitor particular kinds of electrical impulses coursing through the brain.
In this case, the scientists monitor a particular brain wave called P300, so-called because it lasts about one-third of a second. Reading P300 waves is basically like reading a person's thoughts, but only in the most coarse kind of way.
For the wheelchair-mounted robotic arm, the person in the wheelchair looks at directional arrows flashing across a small screen. When the arrow points in the direction that they want to go, their brain lights up on the EEG, and the wheelchair or robotic arm moves accordingly.
This doesn't happen at the speed of thought, however. Turning the wheelchair or moving the robotic arm takes about seven seconds as the arrows cycle across the screen. The wheel chair or arm continues in that direction until it receives a new command.
The wheelchair or arm could move faster, but it might not move as accurately, said Alaqsemi. The next step for the USF scientists is to refine the model's hardware and software, to increase speed and reliability while cutting down on weight.
"Every pound you take off the robotic arm is another pound of payload that can be lifted," said Alqasemi.
Right now the robotic arm can lift about four pounds, about the weight of a gallon of milk. In the next version Alqasemi hopes to double the payload.
Lifting a door handle or moving a gallon of milk may seem like simple tasks, but according to Jonathan Wolpaw, who builds brain computer interfaces at the Wadsworth Center in New York, using thought-controlled devices is harder than simply just thinking.
"Our normal muscle movements require practiced skill and control," said Walpaw. "Controlling brain activity is also a skill that requires practice."
Reading P300 brain waves is a good system, argues Walpaw, because it doesn't take a lot of practice to train the brain. With only one WMRA built so far and no current plans to commercialize the design, not many people will get the chance for their brain to learn the new skill. But when commercial models appear in several years, even slow brain computer interfaces could make the impossible, possible.
"It would allow patients with severe disabilities the ability to control their own environment and have some form of independent mobility," said William Heetderks, Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. "It would be very valuable to these individuals."
- Source
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Robotic arms controlled by human brain.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Bioshock-esque case mod is huge! And awesome!
Apparently this thing is over 8 feet tall. That's a bit bigger than I'd want to ever have my computer case be, but if I was running a server rack I'd totally case it in this thing. It looks like something out of Bioshock with its abundant use of copper coils and old-timey gauges. And if all that by itself isn't cool enough, it has a bunch of green LEDs to glow in the dark!
Despite being a bit impractical due to its huge size, this case mod is still abso-freaking-lutely amazing.
Pics after the jump.
Great. So the terrorists have submarines now?
According to Jane's Defence, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had small submersibles. Looking at the picture, it is obviously home-made and low tech, but still.A construction facility containing four underwater vehicles has been discovered by the Sri Lanka Army following the capture of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE's) final urban stronghold of Mullaittivu on 28 January.
An armour-plated submersible, measuring about 35 ft (10.7 m) in length, and three smaller vessels were found at an LTTE base in Udayarkattukulam.
The smaller craft were "pedal-type suicide boats", according to the Sri Lanka Media Centre of National Security (MCNS). It is unclear whether the submersibles were used in operations. The Sri Lanka Navy lost two vessels to underwater explosions in 2008.
- Source
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Best security idea ever? I think so. And internet justice is sweet.
In a bit of a twisted tale from the Consumerist blog (which I have recently become enamored with (in case you can't tell from the other stories posted)), a man lost his iPhone. "So what?" you might say. Well, what happened afterwards is the most genius low-tech security method I've ever known. And a wonderful tale of internet justice and retribution.Do you know this guy? [ed. photos removed] He seems to be in the possession of the iPhone that Dino's dad lost. Before losing the phone, his dad set up a rule where any email sent from the phone blind-cc'ed his personal email address, which we think is a pretty brilliant low-tech security solution for tracking down a lost/stolen phone or laptop.
Was hoping you could give me some advice. My dad (64) lost his iphone today. He went to the At&T store and had the service stopped and got a SIM card to put into his old cell phone.
If he found the phone and didn't immediately bother looking through it for a way to contact the owner, we imagine he plans on keeping it. If it was stolen, we're pretty certain shame will not help. But who knows?
Well he checked his aol account tonight and saw pictures of some guy holding an iphone up and taking pics in the mirror. My dad had it set up that he was BCC on emails sent out on the iphone.
We emailed the the recipient of the emails to ask who was in these pictures and that we would like the phone back. He hasn't responded back yet.
What should we do? I think in the morning my dad will file a report with the police. I tried googling the email address ([redacted]@hotmail.com) and no luck with that. Do you have any other advice we should do to get back the phone?
I posted the pics on flickr. If this is seen widely on the Internet do you think it would shame the guy into give us back the phone?
- Dino A.
Paramus , NJ
One guy whose Sidekick got stolen was able to track down the culprits because they took pictures of themselves on it. He set up a site posting the pictures and an ad-hoc internet manhunt formed and eventually they caught the guy.
On the off chance this was all a good-natured mixup (or he bought it used and didn't know it was stolen/lost), we'll post your story.
You might want to email him again with a detailed description of what was on the phone, as well as any identifying marks and likely places where it was lost or stolen, so that he knows you're not a scammer yourself.
Oh, and before anyone does or says anything too douche-y about the guy in the photos, remember that we really don't know how he came about it.
- Source
Turns out the Consumerist fanbase was able to find the guy who stole the phone with a mere 55 minutes.Wow, that was impressive! In less than one hour after we posted about Dino's dad's lost iPhone, Consumerist readers were able to locate his Facebook and Hi5 accounts, track down his name and home address, and even get him to respond via email—something Dino and his dad weren't able to do yesterday. Dino just wrote us and said "Michael Smith/Emerson" contacted him and promised to return the phone tomorrow.
OMG you guys are the best. Guess what? The guy called and will give my dad his phone back tomorrow. He saw this blog and asked to take down the pictures. Thank you very much for your help. The power of the internet is amazing. I will take down his pics on Flickr. I am glad this guy is doing the right thing and returning lost property. Thank you very much Consumerist! You have made my dad's day.
Dino adds, "He said he found it in a parking lot, which is probably what happened... possibly fell off a belt holster my dad uses." But here's something that's more interesting, especially in light of the kid's "I was going to return it" defense:My dad also had a sticker on the back of the phone with his home phone number on it. But looks like the kid removed it before he took the self pics (something that someone who was going to return a phone from the get go wouldn't have done).
Anyway thanks again for your help, i was telling my dad he's famous now. But i'll let you know once my dad get the phone back tomorrow.
- Source
The iPhone was eventually returned and internet justice has done its work. Take that bad guys!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Robocop realer than you think.
Remember that scene in Robocop 2 where they showed the test footage of all the Robocop prototypes that didn't make it? Well, remember how they kept going crazy and attacking the scientists or killing themselves? Turns out similar incidents are no longer just a piece of fiction.
P.W. Singer, author of Wired For War, was on NPR's Fresh Air today, and he detailed just such an account. During one test, a machine equipped with an automatic machine gun turned on and, while being shown to the VIPs, automated and began aiming at the gun at the VIPs. Fortunately, it wasn't loaded. However, in South Africa, a similar such machine was being shown. These onlookers were not so lucky. The machine automated and began opening fire, killing nine people.
Other interesting tidbits Mr Singer brings up is a scientist who said that he doesn't see any legal or ethical problems with using machines in war, unless the machine repeatedly keeps killing the wrong people. In which case it is a recall issue, and still not a legal or ethical issue.
Overall, the whole piece was incredibly intriguing and should appeal to a wide range of interests. You can listen to the stream by going here and clicking the "Listen Now" link at the top left of the article. I believe the player requires Adobe Flash.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Slow news days...
I've been delving into Neverwinter Nights 2's toolset recently and I'm very happy with the updates they've done to it. It's tremendously much more useful now, especially with the undo function. One-shot conversations don't need you to set condition and action scripts, but the lack of a script wizard means you have to write out simple scripts. Or you can use Lilac Soul's script generator. Area design takes a bit longer than with NWN1, but the trade off of having to bake the walkmesh and texture the levels for the amount of creative freedom is totally worth it.
The past few days seem to have been pretty slow for news. You can tell when...
"Overweight nude to set art world record" is a big news item. I have been hearing a lot of positive things about Boom Blox. The Penny Arcade boys seemed to be all about it. Clinton is reported to have won West Virginia, which shows that West Virginia is a bunch of idiots if they think Hillary will actually be able to do anything at all about oil prices. (Hint: it's the weak dollar, surging demand, weak supply, and our unwillingness to use our own oil) Al Sharpton's being investigated for tax fraud in the tune of millions. Oh, and Man U won the Barclay Premiership. Fuck you, Man U.
Other than that, it seems like the same old, same old.
The Army's living conditions are deplorable shitholes (that's why you don't private contract that shit, those troops deserve better), Palestine and Israel are still fighting, the Pope is still railing against sex and contraceptives, DMX is an asshole, O.J did it (he wrote a fucking book about it. we already know he did it), people can't stop talking about their fucking Blackberrys[1][2], and a mother in Kansas City was arrested for having her 12 year old daughter trained to be a dominatrix.
Yep. Just the same old, same old.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Electric shark repellent?
Sharks a re pretty damn cool animals, and not just because of their "killing machine" reputation. For a long time, much of how sharks lived and operated was unknown. Now we have figured out a potential method of how to repel them. Which is good. It's just strating to get warm enough for swimming and I've been waiting to go to beach in my hunks-of-raw-meat bathing suit.Sharks have an innate ability to detect electric fields, useful for sensing the bioelectric activity of their prey. Researchers discovered that strong electric fields could repel these predators, most likely by overwhelming their electricity sensors.
"It's a sense we don’t have," said Richard Brill, a biologist at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association's Northeast Fisheries Science Center and head of the Cooperative Marine Education and Research Program at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
A recent test showed that small disks of a rare metal alloy called palladium neodymium interact with the salt in seawater to produce electric fields strong enough to ward off sharks.
"We were just slack-jawed when we saw how well it worked," Brill told LiveScience. "I was stunned, I thought this was the stupidest idea I'd ever heard. I saw the evidence and thought, 'This can't be right.'"
To test the idea, the scientists placed the small metal disks in a tank with captive juvenile sandbar sharks. They were surprised to find that the metal had such a strong effect: The sharks generally wouldn't swim within 24 inches (61 centimeters) of the disks, or bite at bait hung within 12 inches of the disks.
Most fish cannot detect electric fields, so the metal disks could be perfect for deterring sharks without affecting the animals fishers hope to catch.
"That's the beauty of this method — it's sort of a secure communications channel," Brill said.
- Source
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Fun but not feasible.
Damn, reporters are dumb. Often times, they just don't really "get it" and spew out a bunch of boring idiotic talking points. There's no indepth analysis, no thought on the veracity of claims or any sort of journalistic "digging" that we tend to think of journalists doing. This, by far, does not mean all journalists, mind you, but it does describe quite a few of them.
What am I prattling on about? The notion that 3DV Systems’s ZCam will revoltionize gaming. It won't even make a dent in gaming, it's been done before, and it doesn't even really work very well.Soon you’ll be able to ditch your game pad and Wiimote. A new camera system for computers and consoles will track your movements in three dimensions — essentially turning your body into the game controller.
For example, play Rock Band by waving your hands at imaginary drums, or dodge punches in a fighting game.
Ummm. Yeah. No. The reason? The visual misques would be significant and would drastically affect gameplay. There's a reason why you hit buttons. They are accurate and they can't be misread. There are numerous games that have tried using cameras that have worked to varying degrees of success, but the idea is just not solid and most of the time there are numerous logistical problems with these games. One of the main issues that I forsee is the fact that having to wave your arms around and having to do noticeable movements (to be read by the camera) can be rather exhausting over extended periods of time. I don't know about other people, but I play video games to relax, not to break a sweat. If I want/need to exercise, I'll take a jog, ride a bike, or just plain work out.The ZCam could even work with current games, using software that lets it take over for mice, joysticks or other controllers.
3DV will supply the technology to companies, which are expected to sell the cameras for about $100 around the end of the year.
- Source
And expect it to fail massively. During Johnny Lee's video where he showcased finger-tracking with the Wii-mote he made a very good observation. Sure, it looks really cool to do and it's fun for a little while, but it will wear out your arms for any sort of extended use. This device might sound neat, but it's not going to work well as it's going to make playing video games uncomfortable and exhausting. If you need a way to get the damn kids outside to play and get some exercise, just unplug the console.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Robotic animals? Truth is stranger than fiction.
The idea sounds reasonable, but the headline is just hilarious. Scientists are using robotic animal replicas in attempts to better understand and study animals. Using these robotic animals they can inflect actions and interactions to other animals in their natural environment and receive more natural responses. It's hard to understand how an animal naturally reacts when it's in a cage. One gray squirrel, its bushy tail twitching, barked a warning as another scrounged for food nearby.
It was an ordinary spring day at Hampshire College, except that the rodent issuing the warning was powered by amps, not acorns.
Sarah Partan, an assistant professor in animal behavior at Hampshire, hopes that by capturing a close-up view of squirrels in nature, Rocky will help her team decode squirrels' communication techniques, social cues and survival instincts.
- Source
Electric cars getting sporty.
Let's be honest, most electric cars look like shit. They look like some 4th grader drawing of "the future" and then a design team decided to implement it. They really do look extremely ugly. Maybe that problem will now be fixed with Tesla's Roadster. The car goes from 0 to 60 mph in just under four seconds and tops out at 125 mph. It goes 225 miles on one charge and can be fully recharged in 3½ hours, which Tesla officials say should allow most people to drive it to work and back and recharge it at night like a cell phone.
Driving from Los Angeles to San Francisco, however, would require stopping in, say, Fresno and plugging its adapter cord into a motel room wall socket.
- Source
That's not bad, but I still wouldn't buy one. For one, the cars cost about $125,000. Secondly, I'm not a fan of electric nor of hybrid cars. Why? Because they use up a lot of batteries. These batteries carry a lot of toxic chemicals. You hear a lot about lowering emissions if everyone drove hybrids, but no one ever seems to mention the vast amount of toxic waste that will be generated from disposing the batteries. In my opinion, the best route is by far to go with biodiesel.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Suborbital rubbernecking.
Remember when commercial space flight seemed like a joke? Well, it's close. Possibly closer than you might think. Like, 2010 kind of close. A California aerospace company plans to enter the space tourism industry with a two-seat rocket ship capable of suborbital flights to altitudes more than 37 miles above the Earth.
The Lynx, about the size of a small private plane, is expected to begin flying in 2010, according to developer Xcor Aerospace, which planned to release details of the design at a news conference Wednesday.
SpaceShipTwo is being developed on the success of SpaceShipOne, which in 2004 became the first privately funded, manned rocket to reach space, making three flights to altitudes between 62 miles and 69 miles and winning the $10 million Ansari X Prize.
Powered by a hybrid engine -- the gas nitrous oxide combined with rubber as a solid fuel -- SpaceShipTwo will be flown by two pilots and carry up to six passengers who will pay about $200,000 apiece for the ride.
Like its predecessor, SpaceShipTwo will be taken aloft by a carrier airplane and then released before firing its rocket engine. Virgin Galactic says passengers will experience about 4-1/2 minutes of weightlessness and will be able to unbuckle themselves to float in the cabin before returning to Earth as an unpowered glider.
Xcor's Lynx is also intended to return as a glider but with the capability of restarting its engine if needed.
- Source
Start saving your money.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Blu-ray combo TVs coming soon. All your fun belong to us.
Remember those TVs that had VCRs in them? Pretty nifty idea. Instead if having to deal with a separate box, plugging it in, and having wires frayed all over the place, it was conveniently put into the TV casing. That idea is now getting a next-gen (or is it finally just "now-gen"?) approach thanks to Sony.Speaking at a conference in Taipei, Sony’s president and chief operating officer Ryoji Chubachi said he wanted to more than double Blu-Ray’s market share, and the solution is to put the discs in more products.
“Integrating an HD LCD TV with BD recording functionality” is one way of boosting Blu-Ray’s presence in the living room, the Sony boss said, adding that more IT products would see Blu-Ray functionality soon.
- Source
Pretty damn cool, if you ask me. Personally, I think HD-DVD is the better format for video playback where data size is not as important as read speed, but whatever. I also don't like LCD, as dead pixels (burnt out LEDs) are nearly impossible to fix unless you are willing to spend a small fortune. The burn-in problems with plasma are a thing of the past the color is just as good if not better than most LCD TVs and plasmas last a much longer time, but whatever. Blu-ray won and it's time to start getting those video player/TV combos rolling on out.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Korean brainwashing goggles make happy fun time for everyone.
What are these things? No one is really sure. Egadget was just as intruiged as Gizmodo was. The actual article they linked to didn't provide much information either. Apparently is has different "modes" such as meditation, education, no smoking, etc. By "meditation" I suppose they mean the final minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. By "education," they mean re-education. And by "no smoking" they mean turn you into a covert CIA killing machine!As a brainwave management software utilizing special sound frequency, the Cyber MC supports a variety of modes including education, health, no smoking, meditation and more.
- SourceWe'll be honest -- there are quite a few things about the Cyber MC brainwave management solution that remain unclear to us, but it's probably for the best. Korean startup Orange Dreams has apparently concocted some sort of eyewear / software combo that can control your brainwaves and calm your nerves, convince you that you really aren't craving nicotine or make you believe that fruits and vegetables really are more delicious than a Cadbury Cream Egg.
- SourceIt's not really clear how the Orange Dream software helps you do things like lose weight, quit smoking or meditate, but the general assumption is that it flashes images in your face Clockwork-Orange style to reprogram your brain to associating delicious, flavorful cigarettes with something unappealing like third degree burns or mining accidents.
- Source
So, if you're unafraid of the possible horrors this device might unleash (and by "horrors" I mean turns you Korean), give it a whirl.
Johnny Lee and the amazing Wii!
I posted this before on MySpace, but I'm reposting it here. Why? Because Johnny Lee is awesome. How awesome? Really fucking awesome. So awesome that he created a Minority Report-style window rotation and movement program using the Wii-mote. So awesome that he used the Wii-mote to create a head-tracking program to simulate personal movement in a virtual 3D space. So freakin' awesome that he used the Wii-mote to create a virtual whiteboard. Yeah, Johnny Lee is that kind of awesome.
Vids after the jump.
Head tracking.
Minority Report finger tracking.
Virtual whiteboard.
Blu-ray on the go. HD-DVD seen crying in the corner.
I pity anyone that may have jumped the gun and gone with HD-DVD. Not so much the players, as they were relatively cheap, but the HD-DVD drives for computers. Those things were expensive, and now you have an expensive drive with no more media being made for it. How convenient.
Since Blu-ray has officially won the "next-gen" optical disc format war, it only makes since that you'd see Blu-ray drives coming to PCs. Especially since the Blu-ray discs are able to hold such large amounts of data. 50GB to be precise. That's the size of 10 dual layer DVDs! All on one disc! I could archive my entire hard drive, actually all 3 of them, on 5 discs! That's awesome for data hogs like me. And HP is bringing to a laptop near you. Well, near you if you live in Europe.The big news here is the addition of Blu-ray drives across the board, which obviously replaces the HD DVD option previously found on the models they're replacing. That desirable feature finds its way onto the new Pavilion dv2800, dv6800 and dv9800 series models, which boast 14.1, 15.4, and 17-inch displays, respectively, along with your choice of Core 2 Duo or Turion 64 X2 processors, integrated graphics or NVIDIA GeForce 8400M or 8600M (depending on the model) and even a Blu-ray burner on the 17-inch model.
- Source
Yum. Of course, the way data storage is going and the increasing size of media, 50GB will seem like nothing in a few years time. I still remember getting my hands on a 20GB hard drive and thinking, "it'll take years before I can fill this thing up." Yeah... not quite.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Military robots use Wii-mote.
Everyone loves the Wii. Even robotic engineers for the military.
I'm inbetween classes, so this is going to be short. Engineers at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Lab in Idaho Falls have been trying out using a Wii Remote to control their bomb disposal robots, reports New Scientist.
David Bruemmer and Douglas Few have modified the military Packbot robot so that it can be controlled using Nintendo's motion-sensitive Wii Remote.
The Packbot, which is made by iRobot, hunts down explosives, disposes of bombs, and checks for land mines to make areas clear for US soldiers.
Packbot can do some tasks autonomously but is generally controlled by a soldier using a joypad, similar to a standard console controller. However, doing things this way requires a lot of concentration, believe the two engineers, and a Wii Remote is much better suited to the task.
Bruemmer said, "Our tests show 90 percent of the operator's workload goes into driving the robot rather than keeping an eye on the sensor data. The Wii Remote is far more intuitive because movements of the hand directly translate into movements of the robot." This would therefore allow the soldiers to be able to pay closer attention to what they're seeing.
iRobot CEO Colin Angle agrees, and said, "Using the Wii Remote to control various aspects of the robot makes a lot of sense."
New Scientist also mentions that the Wii Remote has been used in a variety of other unconventional ways, including manipulating ultrasound images and monitoring movement deficiencies in people suffering from Parkinson's disease.
- Source
Hmm. Who would've thunk.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Back in my day we had to CRANK our MP3 players. And go to school uphill, both ways, in the snow. Without a Segway...
Where to look for the greatest tech toys the world has to offer? Why those lovable geeks at Engadget, of course. One of their features is something that really is kind of silly. Or perhaps cool. I'll let you be the judge.
Seems that a company named Thanko (yes, Thanko... 0.o) has released an MP3 player that, get this, uses a crank to charge the internal battery. Making it so that you can recharge the MP3 player, literally, anywhere!You know what kids in developing nations need besides water, vaccines, and schools? MP3 players... and laptops, lots of laptops. Meet the Cranko, at least that's what we're calling it since Thanko's "Cranking MP3 Player" bores us to the point of Wal-marting razor blades. The 1GB capacity player from Thanko features a flashlight and 10 minute charge per minute of cranking. You know, just in case your spelunking adventures take you too far away from a USB port. Yours now for ¥6,000 or about $60.
- Source
Well, that is kind of cool if you're backpacking or trekking out across the wilderness for a long stretch of time. Goofy as the idea may seem to those in modernized civilization, this actually is a fairly neat idea. Since I'm so close to the Appalachian trail, I see numerous backpackers all the time. You know, what with so many people hiking the entire stretch of the Appalachian (it's actually a very popular thing to do in the backpacking community), I could see a few of them definitely being interested in something like this.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Italian George Clooney explains QR Codes.
QR Codes are pretty damn cool. What are QR Codes? Well, they're kind of like barcodes, but better. They can store a lot more data than barcodes and create a very effortless and easy way to transmit small amounts of data. QR Codes are able to be read by simply taking a picture with your mobile phone, assuming your phone has a barcode reader. Many of the phones in Japan and Europe do and this technology is soon coming to the US. Another great benefit of QR Codes is that even when damaged they can still be read through error correction procedures
The application for these codes is immense. You are walking down the street and see a bus sign. You wonder what bus line that particular stop is for. Snap a pic and you'll know. You see a flyer for a band. You stop and snap a pic of the band's QR Code. You now have their webpage, a blurb about them, the title of their latest album and maybe even info on another show that they'll be playing soon. Go into a bar and you wonder what's on draft. Snap the QR Code and you'll know. The great thing is that these simple codes can provide small amounts of pertinent information in an incredibly efficient manner.
Over at CenterNetworks Allen Stern writes,I could also see QR codes as a potential business card replacement. You are at a business meeting, you whip out your mobile and the other party does as well. You "scan" her barcode displayed on the mobile and now you have all of her contact information and not only is it stored in your mobile, but it's now on your desktop in your contact manager.
[...]
I am very much looking forward to seeing the codes invade the U.S. as they are overseas. As a marketer, I see endless possibilities for connecting brands with consumers. On the business side, there are clear ways that the codes could become time savers. Mobile technology is changing the way we interact, QR codes will take interactions to another level.
- Source
And over at David Harper's Blog he jots down a few quick things that QR Codes can and are used for.
- Source
Italian George Clooney on QR Codes.
Another example of how QR Codes work.
So, if you're turned onto the idea of QR Codes, you yourself can go ahead and get started. Since most mobiles in the US don't have QR Code readers installed on them, you will most likely have to install it yourself. Robert Peloschek has a great blog entry all bout installing QR Code readers onto your mobile. He also provides links where you can generate your own QR Code.