Mobile phone barcode
Fujitsu have announced a completely new barcode that’s invisible to the naked eye, but which can be read by mobile phones. The new barcode can encode info such as a URL, which can be decoded by the mobile phone, enabling web-based content to be downloaded onto the phone. As the picture shows, the idea is to get more information about a product simply by waving a mobile phone over it, or over related publicity material.


This is a great idea, and with similar technologies in the works, one that’s bound to become widely adopted in the coming years. Waving your mobile over a poster to get more details of whatever’s being advertised will become as normal as talking to yourself with the aid of a Bluetooth earpiece (that is normal, isn’t it?!)

One of the advantages of Fujitsu’s new barcode over the competing technologies is that it’s completely invisible to humans. You can therefore get more info from a brochure by waving your mobile phone over it without an unsightly barcode getting in the way of the presentation.

That said, there is one problem with this new technology: how do you know you can wave your phone over if you can’t see the new barcode? You see a brochure, you want more info, so you wave your phone over it and nothing happens. Problem with the phone, or simply no barcode on the brochure? You’ll never know. Genius!

[Source: Akihabara News]