QR codes – Making Print Interactive

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Have you seen them? They are popping up all over. Strange little boxes that look like a cross between a bar code and a child’s puzzle. They are called QR codes.

QR, or Quick Response, codes have been around since 1994 when they were founded in Japan. In the last couple years, however, they have started to find their way into our world. Fuelled by the proliferation of smart phones, these little codes are adding interactivity to otherwise static displays.

A QR code can be assigned to connect your smart phone or iPad to a website, email, video, vcard, or text message. They are being used in marketing, entertainment, training, community notices, or almost anywhere additional information will be a value. You should start seeing these codes showing up in your favorite magazines, museums, billboards, or anywhere someone wants to connect with you.

To join in the fun, download a QR code reader application for your device; aim the camera at the QR code and you’ll be connected to the remote location. You may win a coupon, be given more information on a subject, or offered the opportunity to opt into a text message campaign.

Nick Carter – Unfunded

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Nick Carter from Address Two stops by to talk about his new book Unfunded. Nick talks about how to grow your business without using venture capital. It has some terrific information for the small business entrepreneur.

Win a Copy of Unfunded

Listen to the interview and if you can find the spot in the video where Nick burbs, respond with a comment that includes the exact time and you’ll be entered to win a copy of Unfunded.

Teleseminar Slides

Click to get our PowerPoint Growing Your Business with Video

Click to get a pdf version Growing Your Business with Video

The Battle of BIG Internet

Full disclosure I am not a populist by nature. I tend to not buy into the ‘big business is evil’ diatribes we hear so often in the media. However, there are times when the undercurrents of those who run things really start to annoy me. One such issue is the way that competing Internet giants continue to fight over video standards. The result of the battles between giants such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc is that ‘We the People’ have to tolerate inconsistent services, unending updates, and continuous hassles as we try to just watch a video.

As a provider of professional video services, we are faced with constantly having to sort out what is the best way to distribute a video file for a customer. Adobe Flash? Windows media? Quick time? h.264?   Most end users don’t give a flip about any of this, they just want to see the video.  The result is that services like YouTube flourish because they take any standard and convert it to the standard du jour. That is fine unless you wish to provide a bit more polish than YouTube offers. However when you add a custom player to your site you risk the chance that significant parts of your audience won’t be able to view it.

Microsoft recently responded to a push from Google to create an upgrade so that Windows Media files can be played in the Chrome browser. (click here for the press release).  As this is released, it is still not possible to view a flash video on an iphone or ipad making huge amounts of content unavailable to these users.  As a ‘little guy’ in the equation, this sure looks like the ‘Big Boys’ have lost sight of what is important.

The great irony of the whole situation is that html5 was supposed to bring all these different options together into a single standard.  And yet as video continues to explode in popularity, the powers that be continue their tit-for-tat while the rest of us sigh and tolerate another update, plug-in, error message, instead of the video we want to watch.