The strange new world of QR codes

     I’ve seen it all now.

     Today, I held up my phone – my PHONE! – to the page of a magazine and listened while it made a snapping sound then immediately started playing a video of a cute guy standing outdoors and showing off the features of his new backpack. It even offered to let me share my new find with Facebook, Twitter or anyone I cared to email.

     Welcome to the world of QR codes.

      QR codes, or “quick response” codes, are those little one-inch-by-one-inch boxes with squiggle lines through them that you can find on some magazine pages, storefront posters or even on some restaurant menus.

     They allow you to use your mobile phone as a scanning device, working much as a bar code does when you check out at the grocery store, so you can be directed to… well, whatever online destination the originator of the QR code wants you to visit, most often a website.

     Obviously they’re a great marketing tool, and more and more companies are using them in their print promotions. But they can also be used to download an app, add someone’s contact information to an address book or even dial a phone number.

     Using one represented a “virgin” experience I was anxious to try.

     But first I needed an app to scan the codes. ITunes offers numerous free apps for that purpose and I actually ended up downloading two – I-nigma, which was fine for scanning basic QR codes, and Microsoft Tag, which also scans “tags” (kind of like QR codes but in color).

    Then I grabbed three magazines we had lying around the house, “Whole Living, “Self” and “Backpacker” (yes, we are a house of multi-interests) to check out the QR codes therein.

     The result? One visit to a basic La-Z-Boy website, a video on how to use a Neti Pot (way too much information), chances to register for both an island getaway sweepstakes and a Fort Lauderdale beach getaway contest, a solicitation for the “summit for someone” charity, an ad for a backpacker GPS app, a video of “exciting Norway,” a slide show about a new mascara with “sculpting fibers” and, of course, the video of the cute guy showing off his new Granite Gear backpack.

     Not an especially compelling lineup (the Granite Gear backpack guy notwithstanding) but think of the possibilities. What would you use a QR code for?

     I’m wondering if I could pass out business cards with QR codes directing the unsuspecting to this very blog.

     I just have to figure out how to make the right squiggly lines.

     But that’s a virgin experience for another day.