Monday, July 30, 2007

Reality TV Show Uses Scanbuy's 2D Codes


Physical World Connection (PWC) player Scanbuy has updated their website and announced a PWC application for a French reality TV show.


Scanbuy’s EZcode is being used on the popular French primetime TV show “Treasure Hunt” (modeled on the U.S. “Amazing Race".

The “Le Carte aux Tresors” application is a clever—but decidedly non-mainstream—application for 2D codes. The real benefit of this weekly television program is its consumer education value! For the entire season, French TV viewers (in any week, ~20% of the French population) are exposed to EZcode, how to scan using a cameraphone, information/content discovery, and the application’s ease-of-use



Link to video

Scanbuy is a leading global provider of mobile marketing solutions that use the camera phone as the link between the physical and digital worlds. Scanbuy’s 2D barcode capture technology is revolutionizing the way carriers, handset manufacturers and marketers around the world provide information and services to consumers on their mobile devices.

See how the mobile world is using Scanbuy today.

7 comments:

streetstylz said...

Scott,

What happened to Scanbuy's UPC/EAN decoding solution?

All they list are:

* eZcode (ETH Zurich's Visual Code)
* Quick Response
* Datamatrix

What happened the the UPC?

Regards

No Name said...

I don't know, email and ask them.

Because Scanbuy is working with the largest consumer packaging company in the world, DuPont, to create the 21st century barcode, and the 2d code holds more data, maybe they felt the market opportunity for 1d codes just isn't there.

One of the fastest areas of growth on the Net is creating content, uploading it to the Net and allowing others to access it.

I don't know how easy this is using 1d codes.

streetstylz said...

Thank you for the reply.

In my opinion, 1D UPC/EAN barcodes are the holy grail of mobile code reading technology.

Dupont is at the mercy of the major brands and their preferred choice for product print/packaging. Also keep in mind that Dupont is just one of many major product and packaging manufacturers.

If I am Pepsi and I do not want an extra 2D code printed on my can/bottle packaging, and I would prefer to activate the standard UPC barcode that has been synonymous of my product packaging for ages, how is Scanbuy going to accommodate me?

Now while it would not be very difficult to replace UPC/EAN codes with an equivalent 2D code on all packaging, the question is, will the commercial users (manufacturing, wholesale, and retail) change hardware to read them?

I am of the opinion, that UPC codes are going to remain the standard barcode for a very long time. The Uniform Code Council has mandated all retail systems be able to recognize both UPC and EAN. Additionally, the International Standards Organization has yet to render the UPC obsolete, and that its phase-out may not happen until 2020.

There are over 3 billion unique UPC barcodes and billions of individual items/brands representing trillions of physical world hyperlinks waiting to be connected to the Net.

Regards

No Name said...

If you feel so strong about your logic, perhaps you should start your own PWC company.

Think about this.."which came first, the TV show or the commercials on them?"

trippytom said...

Streetz,

Have you used any 1D/2D decoding applications? The real reason to go 2D is the absolutely incredible ease of running a 2D scan.

Now, you can scan a 1D barcode with software available today ... but it is generally a chore. ScanBuy's 2D recognition is insane; you point the camera in the vicinity of the 2D code, it is recognized by the software, and before you can blink you are redirected to a web page.

It works so well I had trouble giving demos, explaining something that works that fast is hard.

On the contrary, 1D codes are a pain. You need to be ligned up well, VERY steady with the camera, in very good light, and the "perfect" distance away. And, I've tried several decoders.

Yeah you can scan and it becomes easier with practice, but I have yet to see a 1D code scanning solution that works well enough for the average Joe to use.

The problem has to do with the aperture of the lenses in camera phones, they are just not designed to do the extreme close ups demanded from a 1D scan. This is a problem that decoding software is going to have a VERY hard time fixing.

Your 1D code assessment is correct if we talk about scanning current products, but when we start thinking about new ways of using scanning what advantage does a 1D code have?

The idea is not to re-engineer a process that works fairly well today, but to create a whole new way of interacting with things.

Anonymous said...

http://www.areacodeinc.com/work/conqwest/

No Name said...

ConQwest

designed for Qwest Wireless in 2003, was the first ever use of semacode, optic codes scanned by phonecams