Some time ago a friend told me about QR-Codes. Before that I had already seen some of them in instant messaging avatars, without knowing the meaning of those images. QR-Codes look like this:
This is a kind of barcode like the ones that you see in the super market, but that can store a lot more information. Take a look at the Wikipedia entry about QR-Code.
An interesting thing about this format, is that there is a lot of software available for mobile phones and even windows mobile, that allows you to read these barcodes using your mobile phone’s camera. It is a nice way of sharing contacts (phone number, e-mail, URL’s) or a simple message (how about wearing a t-shirts, allowing your geek friends to read the message? )
A nice software for Windows Mobile is i-nigma barcode reader. Just point your camera at a QR barcode, and read the message!
A nice usage of this technology is present in the Windows Mobile free software directory freewarepocketpc.net. You can browse for software in your computer, and when you want to install an application in your device, instead of connecting it to the computer to transfer the cab file, or copying the download link by hand, just point your camera at the QR-Code in the download page, and download the software using the link encoded in the barcode image, reading it with i-nigma, or other similar software.
Believe me, it works pretty well. I wasn’t convinced until I tried it by myself.
Thanks for the introdution to QR-Codes, Nelson and thanks for showing me i-nigma, André!
“There are three light bulbs in a room, and three light switches outside the room. You are outside, and want to match up which switch goes with which light bulb. You can only travel into the room once, and cannot come back in again. You can do anything you want upon entering the room. How can you set the situation so that you will know which switch goes with which light bulb?”
Posted on 12:36am 12/07/2007 by Bruno Silva in Curiosities
I was really amazed when I found this game. Sincerely I have never imagined that there was a board game intended to bring children attention to the programming world. Just forget about Monopoly! Being a geek is fun!
In this game rules there are references to If Else and Switch statements and event variables increment. The board is a big block diagram where you move and interpret each instruction in which you fall. Pretty geek, hum?
It is a nice suggestion now that we are so close to Christmas
Posted on 4:13pm 11/24/2007 by Bruno Silva in Curiosities, Web
Andei a pesquisar pelo meu nome no Live Search e no Google para ver se este novo domínio já aparecia num ranking decente.
Realmente já aparece na 1ª página do Google e do Live. No entanto queria chamar à atenção para outro “pormenor” com o qual me deparei. O meu blog do Blogger (AKA do Google) nem sequer aparece até á página 10 de resultados do Live Search. Artigos do meu blog que no google aparecem facilmente nos resultados de uma pesquisa mais genérica, no Live Search nem sequer aparecem.
Das duas uma, ou o google benificia imenso os conteúdos “da casa” ou o Live Search irradica os resultados referentes ao Blogger…