# What are these square "barcode" type things showing up everywhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990 "2009-08-10T22:48:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/21 "2009-08-11T18:52:59Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#): > > They’re pretty spiffy. I was giving someone a mutual friend’s contact info. Instead of me reading everything and him typing everything in, I just went to the contact in my G1, clicked “create barcode” and my friend scanned it with his G1. Phone numbers, email, addresses, all instantly read & added. > > Similarly, there’s a website taking advantage of these. If you find [a place you like on BeerMapping.com](http://beermapping.com/maps/reviews/reviews.php?locid=2239), you can scan the barcode with your phone, and presto, you have the [mobile URL for that place](http://bmap.us/m2239) on your phone. > > I use a G1 (Android), but there’s really no reason any cameraphone couldn’t use the technology. I have a G1 and don’t seem to have that “create barcode” ability. What app did you download to add that feature? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/22 "2009-08-11T18:54:20Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > I have a G1 and don’t seem to have that “create barcode” ability. What app did you download to add that feature? It’s called “Barcode Scanner”, search for it in the Marketplace. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/23 "2009-08-11T19:06:41Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > I can’t see why we all need 2D readers on our future cell phones! You aren’t thinking hard enough. Here’s a simple one. You see a pair of jeans you like at a store. You scan the code with your phone. The phone has an app that checks prices of the same jeans at other stores and tells you that you can get the exact same item for 30% less two miles down the road. That could be done for pretty much anything you buy, from jeans to computer to cars. You see an ad for a diner that looks interesting. You scan the code and your phone integrates to suggest it the next time you’re in the area. Or points out that the Department of Health just gave it a C. Or that your friend on Facebook mentioned it. Or there was a review in yesterday’s paper. You get the idea. It allows your computer to use data that’s out in the “real world” as inputs to all kinds of programs and systems. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/24 "2009-08-11T19:12:09Z")
> [@muttrox](#): > > It allows your computer to use data that’s out in the “real world” as inputs to all kinds of programs and systems. Or between two different types of computers, like my BeerMapping example above. Something like that’s been needed for a while, though I guess Bluetooth partially solves that problem. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/25 "2009-08-11T19:16:44Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > I can’t see why we all need 2D readers on our future cell phones! We don’t _need_ it. But it is useful at times, and the cost is trivial. (If a phone already has a camera - which many/most do - then all it takes is a bit of software. Probably free to the user, and a small one-time cost for the developer/manufacturer. No per-unit cost to anyone.) ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/26 "2009-08-11T23:13:08Z")
For the record, these aren’t particularly new - I was programming them on forms sent out by my company several years ago. I’m not sure how much information a normal barcode could hold, but these held quite a bit - internal person id numbers, SSNs (this was before personal data privacy was big), internal form id numbers, a count of how which form it was out of the entire print job, a count of what page it was for that particular person, the client id, and I think maybe the date and a few other client custom items. And that left plenty of space left over. We used these to automatically stuff the envelopes, if you’re wondering - instead of a person manually figuring out how many pages belonged to a specific person, what forms for that person could legally be combined into one envelope, what person-specific inserts were needed, and which client-specific envelopes to use. That’s a big and error-prone job when you were printing 20,000, 50,000, or 100,000 forms at a time. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/27 "2009-08-12T00:18:04Z")
The small square ones I see most often are typically [Data Matrix](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_matrix_(computer)) 2D bar codes. These are easily distinguished by the L-shaped line on the left and bottom edges and the checkerboard top and right edges. They can be made quite tiny. In my business (pharmaceutical research), they are used on [very tiny plastic tubes called “pico tubes”](http://www.automationpartnership.com/tap/consumables/sm/Picotube.htm) that each are about 3mm wide, holding only a few micro liters of liquid. The tubes have a very tiny 2D barcode on the bottom so that a whole rack containing ~400 of the tubes can be run over a scanner that immediately reads the sample identifiers off of each tube. These kinds of tubes are processed using [high-throughput screening](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-throughput_screening) robotic equipment. For an idea of how small these are, a 384-tube rack (16 columns x 24 rows) covers the same area as a dollar bill. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/28 "2009-08-12T17:32:24Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > It’s called “Barcode Scanner”, search for it in the Marketplace. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ian\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e68b1a/32.png) [@ian\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ian_foster)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/29 "2011-09-24T08:55:56Z")
Most square barcodes you see these days are QR codes. They can conain up to about 7k of data and support different formats. (url’s sms information, Vcards etc). The QR code was developed by Denso wave about 12 years ago to be used in their manufacturing process. The US and Europe are now starting to use these for marketing purposes. If you take a look at the trend you can see that the last three year s have been the most productive for qr codes :- [http://www.google.com/trends?q=qr+code](http://www.google.com/trends?q=qr+code) and Theres a page expalining how QR codes work at [http://www.qrme.co.uk/qr-code-resources/understanding-a-qr-code.html](http://www.qrme.co.uk/qr-code-resources/understanding-a-qr-code.html) ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/30 "2011-09-24T11:46:59Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > My wife’s MyTouch phone can read barcodes. Scanning them brings up the product’s entry in the Weight Watcher’s database on her phone so she immediately knows how many points something is worth per serving. Kind of cool. For real? I had no idea. Thanks for this tip! ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/31 "2011-09-24T11:55:50Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > My wife’s MyTouch phone can read barcodes. Scanning them brings up the product’s entry in the Weight Watcher’s database on her phone so she immediately knows how many points something is worth per serving. Kind of cool. Do you know the name of the app? The native WW app doesn’t seem to have this function (or if it does I am too groggy to find it). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/32 "2011-09-24T13:04:29Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > Do you know the name of the app? The native WW app doesn’t seem to have this function (or if it does I am too groggy to find it). You’ll need it to find out how many points are in a serving of braaaains. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/33 "2011-09-24T13:08:31Z")
[Anyway, this links to a couple apps for Android phones.](http://danicasdaily.com/weight-watchers-bar-code-scanning-app/) Search Google for ‘weightwatchers barcode scanner app’ without quotes to find more. The myTouch apparently runs Android, so it should work on one. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/34 "2011-09-24T14:33:52Z")
> [@ian\_foster](#): > > Most square barcodes you see these days are QR codes… Which were mentioned in the OP _two years ago_. They were asking about ones different from QR codes, which were nicely covered by the respondents. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/35 "2011-09-24T14:50:52Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > A news article claimed these 2D barcodes hold tons more info than the conventional bar codes. And, newer cell phones will have a 2D barcode reader. The only purpose the article could suggest was that these 2D codes can be added to gravestones to store pictures and all kinds of info on a person’s life…to be read by the cell phone reader. Other than that…and price checks…I can’t see why we all need 2D readers on our future cell phones! I’m dreading the day having such a feature on your phone becomes almost required. I can barely afford the bare-bones cellphone I have now! Ditto having to have to go on line with your phone. Yes, it’s handy stuff, but _it costs money_ which not all of us have right now. Technology is only wonderful when you have access to it AND you can afford it! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/37 "2013-04-28T04:11:01Z")
Reported spam. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990/38 "2013-04-28T04:11:49Z")
Reported. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-square-barcode-type-things-showing-up-everywhere/505990.md?page=1)