QR-CLIP

This is something that I wanted to do myself for some time now and today I found out that it already exists. The Japanese are way ahead of the rest of the world :-)....

The idea is to encode sound into a QR code(which is capable of handling a byte stream). Most of the phone's in Japan come with a in built QR code reader and this reader will then decode the printed QR and play the sound. Its as simple as that.. funny no one here in states is doing it.

Heres some stuff from the website.
"At this corporation with the audition sight which is offered, the QR cord/code is issued. As for the general viewer, if it photographs by the portable telephone to which bar-code reading function is attached, the same, audition becomes possible. In addition, being to issue the QR cord/code of 10 types classified by advertising media, at it is possible to investigate the announcement effect classified by medium " the management tool " top. For example, it becomes possible for the announcement effect and the like classified by store where the flier is distributed to investigate in detail." [Translated using google language tools]

"With this service, the private sight which can do the audition first by the portable telephone is offered. Because it is playback by the portable telephone, anytime, the actual CD and the demonstration tape, the audition the event and the live sound source et cetera it is possible and * anywhere to do. Unless it purchases the CD, or goes to the event * live meeting place and the like it becomes in advance the audition possible really not to be able to inquire about performance. At this corporation, expanding the chance of the promotion to the chestnut thornback tar * event plan person of especially インディーズ type, we think you can utilize widely, as the tool which it receives. Being free, to inquire about tune it can do the general viewer with making the transmission system, " audition ". Inquiring about music widely, it is possible to do the promotion which is different to the improvement of the frequency of mobilization of of sales promotion * live and the event of the CD until recently by receiving."[Translated using google language tools]

For the curious, here is a link to the original website :QR-CLIP . The page is in japanese but you should be able to read that ;-)

Novii.tv / NoviiRemote for Nokia 6600 & 6620

"NoviiRemote for Nokia 6600 & 6620 is a software program that provides a convenient means of controlling your home entertainment devices, such as TVs, VCRs, satellite and cable boxes, right from your Symbian OS smartphone."

This is something that a lazy ass like me can find excellent use for. Stuff I would like to control from my cell phone.
1)The television (changing channels , adjusting volume levels .. the works)
2) DVD player.
3) The temperature of the air conditioner.
4) A robot that fetches snacks from the fridge ...
All this while I relax on my lazy boy. :-).... this would be great.

Needless to say, I believe NoviiRemote is a good concept. The only reason I can think of that would make me think twice before running this app on my phone is the battery drain. They must be using IR port of the phone to send the signal ... and I dont think the IR beam produced by the devices is strong enough to hit the TV when I am lazying around on the couch. They would have to boost it and doing this needs power...lots of power...

Check out the product : NoviiRemote for Nokia 6600 & 6620

Velly Velly Intalesting

Found this article while surfing the web. Makes interesting reading :-)

BBC NEWS | Americas | Christians purge video game demons

Postcards from Chatteris

I came across this in a post on textually.org . The idea is really simple , it is a record of school kids from Fenland, Cambridgeshire, using mobile phone picture messages.

Info on their site
"Each person taking part had the camera phone for one week. They sent one picture message each day direct to this site, showing something from their day-to-day lives in Fenland, and it was completely up to them what they decided to photograph and send in. Nothing was more or less important than anything else. At the end of one week, they passed the phone on to the next person in the chain"

There is nothing new about photo blogs, the idea of photo blogging (well atleast photo sharing) was the the original concepts behind introducing a camera in the cell phone. I believe Phlog.net was one of the first sites that came up that were made specifically for camera phones. The creator had made this site for his mother to share pictures and it quickly evolved into a place where anyone and everyone could post and share pictrures.

Postcards from Chatteris does offer some amusing pictures... great to kill some time in the office.

You can access the site here Postcards from Chatteris

Mail from xiaoxiazhang09@yahoo.com.cn

I usually dont spend time on reading through spam but I was exceptionaly bored today. It does make interesting reading... The following email was sent to publicnetwork@gmail.com and it ended up in my inbox. Didn't know the publicnetwork email address existed.

From: 晓霞 张
To: publicnetwork@gmail.com
Date: May 10, 2005 12:28 PM
Subject: Thank you for your advices and recommendations in the YAHOO chat room...

Hi,
Thank you for having a cheerful chat with me the otherday in the YAHOO chat room.

Already forgot me? Hehe...I was that 20/femalecollege student in Shanghai. During our cheerfulchat, you kindly indicated that my English was justso-so and definitely could need some improvements.

So I took your advice and paid a visit tohttp://www.hellofrogs.com/, a web site that was highlyrecommended by you while we chatted. And guess what?You were absolutely right! The educational materialsin that web site are so hilarious!

As I've been learning American English fromhttp://www.hellofrogs.com/ on a regular basis, Ibelieve my English skills have drastically improved.Amazingly enough, I feel my confidence in English isgetting higher and higher every day. All thanks toyou and your recommendations last time when we chatted.

Look forward to seeing you in the chat room soon.

Xiaoxia Zhang
Shanghai Fudan University

KDDI devices Rock

Have been playing around a KDDI device ( W2SSA) for the last week or so and I am just wonder struck right now. The implementation of the BREW API speically the ICamera interface is just perferct. Havent seen a device yet that supported so many of the parameters that are mentioned in the BREW API. The specs too are very detailed, the only down side ... all the info available on the phone is in Japanese. Its been tough trying to translate the Japanese into English using the google language translator service.

Here are a few titbits... the default size to run the preview mode is 320 * 240 pixels ... snaps go upto 1280 *960 pixel resolution. The camera on the device has a autofocus that can be controlled through the code.

For a complete list of the device refer to http://www.au.kddi.com/english/product/index.html

Wonder what happened to this project

Motorola, Firms to Transform Bar Codes

Wonder what happened to this project ... must have been scrapped cause I dont see any motorola devices that scan barcodes and nor do I see the camera's of moto phones to be anywhere close to allow barcode decoding at the native level.