Filed under: Utilities, Windows Mobile, Microsoft, Beta, Mobile
Microsoft realeases mobile "Tagging" barcode app
The Silverlight demo and images illustrate possible applications, from watching a movie trailer after snapping the code from a poster to browsing for a band's CD releases by clicking a concert flyer. Long Zheng has posted video of Tag in action on his blog, istartedsomething.
If you'd like to give Tag a try on your handset, visit this page to download it. Content providers (and individuals) that would like to create tags can sign up here to get started.
Imagine the possibilities! Instead of Ikea including half-assed instructions for assembling one of their flat-packed items, maybe you'll soon be able to snap a tag and instantly watch a video of someone else struggling to piece it together.
I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.
Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
R said 2:53PM on 1-08-2009
Looks like MS is re-inventing the wheel here, considering QR codes do the same thing.
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Ktoo said 9:24PM on 1-08-2009
Isn;t that what Microsoft does best?
They let others innovate.
Quikboy said 2:15AM on 1-09-2009
@R & Ktoo: Do some research. Microsoft has worked with QR codes before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Live_Barcode
Quikboy said 2:24AM on 1-09-2009
Also, you might want to take note, and look at the actual website. They explain how their HCCB is much better than the QR codes. HCCB, MS claims, is smaller, offers more data, and was made for even cruddy phone cameras.
http://www.microsoft.com/tag/content/overview/
FloridaGuy said 5:30PM on 1-08-2009
Sad to see the world falling off the deep end ever so fast bringing us closer to the end. But with joy, we continue to look for that blessed Hope which we have been promised!
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Peter said 6:01PM on 1-08-2009
There was an article in a recent issue of Microsoft's TechNet magazine about how the bar code was created.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.10.fieldnotes.aspx
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ryaninc said 7:26PM on 1-08-2009
Wow, I tried this from my G1 and it says, "Android version coming soon."
It's good to see MS developing software for devices other than Windows Mobile. :-)
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El Taco said 11:21PM on 1-08-2009
They have to if they want any chance of it becoming a standard
Kyoko said 7:44PM on 1-08-2009
This application does not allow me to capture any picture with my HTC Fuze. Incompatibility? or I haven't googled enough to know that I did something wrong?
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Eddie said 10:06AM on 1-19-2009
Works with my Sprint Touch Diamond. The phones are pretty much the same, so I find it hard to believe it won't work with yours.
Conda said 4:30AM on 1-09-2009
ooh nice they had a Java version for my K850i. i first heard about them developing this a year or two ago, I wonder if it has as many data options as QR Code does
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Madison said 9:50AM on 1-09-2009
They say theses codes are easier to read, but ScanLife has already been out there for over a year. I saw they just released a version for Android.
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sitruc said 11:01PM on 1-11-2009
Some of your articles show a slight bias, but you do a relatively good job, Mr. Matthews.
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barcodeguy said 3:41PM on 1-14-2009
This is neat, but it has "too many moving parts". At this point, I really don't know that we need another type of barcode. How about refining the technology so you can read the UPC, EAN and other codes that are already on products, inventory and documents? And have the program decode the characters and send them to the application you want - like your contact manager or notes application. Then, we wouldn't be captive, and could even print our own barcodes, like using a code 39 font and scanning them into the application of our choice.
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Jane McPherson said 6:03PM on 3-25-2009
Well, SpyderLynk has a solution with "fewer moving parts" - we add coding around a brand logo so rather a graphic of a bar code, a brand can use their own logo as their mobile interface. And, rather than requiring a consumer to download an application, a consumer snaps and sends the mobile bar code logo to activate an interaction.
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