RIM: Make Bar Codes useful!
- The Premise of this post is to say I like Bar Codes, but make them useful.
I was at a function sitting with various business users, most had blackberry’s most didn’t know much about them, I carry 2 so I was showing how I can transfer contacts from one to the next using BBM, then I showed the Barcode, and everyone thought wow I can transfer my information on the bar code that easy, I had to say no, you can’t the bar code is just your PIN number, with the PIN then you send a contact card that you make for yourself
This got me to thinking!
I want every single contact in my address book to have a Barcode, I want my contact info to be on a Barcode.
Picture this Scenario;
You're out golfing with a new member to your foursome, he is a contact you would like to have, but neither of you have business cards, you can bash out each others info into your BB’s but it would be much easier turn on your BB and select “My Info” then your screen is a barcode, your contact scans it, and then does the same for you to scan, in a matter of seconds you’ve both traded contact info, Without having to say anything out loud for someone to overhear.
Now as a Consumer;
You are in a loud club, you and a cutie are talking, both have BB’s you can flash her your BarCode, and she can do the same, you’ve exchanged particulars.
Having contacts as bar codes means I don’t require Data to swap contacts with someone, if I’m on a cruise or in a plane we can swap painlessly, I have myself in my address book 4 times, 1 Full into, 1 Business only, 1 personal only, and last one that is just my First Name, Pin, and Webemail address, for someone I don’t want to know where I live or work but wouldn’t mind seeing again.
I use BBM all the time to trade these, but it would be so much better with a Barcode scanner, I could have less business cards in my pocket, and have to take less business cards at functions or meetings, it would generate buzz about Blackberry’s and how easy it is to share information with each other, you have the business ad campaign I just mentioned above as well as the 18-25 demographic with the club scene.
Next you push the Berry Bar Code standard out for people to have a Blackberry Barcode on their business cards, kill the business card scanner that doesn’t really work so well anyway, I know I would gladly put the barcode on my business cards
Come on RIM, make the Barcode more useful!10-10-09 02:04 PMLike 0 - This would be a really good idea and I think your opening up the world's eyes just a little bit more. I hope the users that don't know much about there BB's are reading this. Many still don't know the fully capabilities of there BB.
Thanks for sharing!10-10-09 03:03 PMLike 0 - I think bar codes are rather limited. There is only a finite amount of space to put a bar code on, and the bar code is converted into a small message, like your pin code. I don't think you can format text into a bar code so that it would hold alot of info like your phone numbers, addresses, etc.
I suppose if they were to do this, they would have to store your contacts on their server. Each contact will have a bar code such as: <BB's pin number>-1, <PIN>-2, etc. That way, the bar code scanner knows which BB's contact is being looked up, and which contact it is on a list (e.g., 5th from the top).
Remember, bar codes are just a visual representation of a word/number...each bar, box, and space means something. If you were to put more info into the bar code, it would have to be made much bigger.
DubMeNow is probably the only feasible method for business card transfer. Instead of a bar code scanner which would tell the other person's BB to go online and download the information, DubMeNow will send the info directly from your BB to the other person's BB. Your data is protected since it's not kept on an online server.10-10-09 03:22 PMLike 0 -
DubMenow is a suppliment for those ideas,
as a BES user on one of my devices I would never be able to use DubMenow on that device as it is not a stock item
DubMeNow requires a data connection to work, it requires both users have the software installed, and it only allows you to share YOUR contact information and not contacts with in your address book, I could not trade contacts with in a company using DubmeNow, I couldn't give say my Boss the contact of the Manager I just met at a meeting.
I will address the limitations of Barcodes after my turkey dinner..
But please feelfree anyone to show HOW MUCH data can be stored on a barcode10-10-09 03:51 PMLike 0 - Just looking, I would suspect that BBM5 is using QR code. You will find both links below interesting:
QRCode (Quick Response) Know-how. Pittfalls, Community, Facts, How-tos
Mobile Tagging with QRCode, BeeTagg and Datamatrix10-10-09 04:12 PMLike 0 - Looks like QR indeed, as it can be read by BBM 5 ... the attached, not my pin, should take you right to my woodworking website.
After reading the previously posted website, you should now have a pretty good idea of what RIM is up against with respect to the amount of contact information that can be presented via barcode.
In addition if you follow the "contacts" generator link on the home page, you can create a fairly comprehensive contact barcode for download to your BB, however it is linked to a url which displays your contact information on the receivers bb browser.
BBM5 will, however, ask if you want to add the contact info displayed by the browser to your contact list. So, in a round about way, your wish can already be a reality!Last edited by karlac; 10-10-09 at 05:27 PM. Reason: Add more information
10-10-09 04:40 PMLike 0 -
- DubMenow is a suppliment for those ideas,
as a BES user on one of my devices I would never be able to use DubMenow on that device as it is not a stock item
DubMeNow requires a data connection to work, it requires both users have the software installed, and it only allows you to share YOUR contact information and not contacts with in your address book, I could not trade contacts with in a company using DubmeNow, I couldn't give say my Boss the contact of the Manager I just met at a meeting.
I will address the limitations of Barcodes after my turkey dinner..
But please feelfree anyone to show HOW MUCH data can be stored on a barcode10-10-09 09:09 PMLike 0 - In addition if you follow the "contacts" generator link on the home page, you can create a fairly comprehensive contact barcode for download to your BB, however it is linked to a url which displays your contact information on the receivers bb browser.
BBM5 will, however, ask if you want to add the contact info displayed by the browser to your contact list. So, in a round about way, your wish can already be a reality!
As noted in one of the links you provided, only around 60 to 80 characters can/should be encoded into a bar code. This means that if a bar code was used to encode contact information, it would be limited to one line, such as the phone number (or maybe a URL where he can download the contact info at a later time when wifi or data is available).
By the way, I have played with the bar codes in the past...it's an interesting concept to play with. I just don't see them as being able to contain all of the data that the OP would like to see (so that he can avoid using data).10-11-09 12:34 AMLike 0 - You're totally off from the OP's request. He wants the contact info encoded into a bar code, not a bar code that sends him somewhere where he can download the data. I doubt he can do your method while in an airplane (with no access to a data network).
As noted in one of the links you provided, only around 60 to 80 characters can/should be encoded into a bar code. This means that if a bar code was used to encode contact information, it would be limited to one line, such as the phone number (or maybe a URL where he can download the contact info at a later time when wifi or data is available).
By the way, I have played with the bar codes in the past...it's an interesting concept to play with. I just don't see them as being able to contain all of the data that the OP would like to see (so that he can avoid using data).
Cant put a link yet, but you can take alook for yourself.Last edited by bcmrad; 10-11-09 at 01:48 AM.
10-11-09 01:44 AMLike 0 - DenverRalphyRetired Network ModEven if barcodes could only hold 60 - 80 characters, there are plenty of methods in which you could crunch a lot of text data into 60 chars.
You can pack a lot of info into it, then let a simple algorithm unpack it.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com10-11-09 02:10 AMLike 0 - Even if barcodes could only hold 60 - 80 characters, there are plenty of methods in which you could crunch a lot of text data into 60 chars.
You can pack a lot of info into it, then let a simple algorithm unpack it.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
Mr Pogle10-11-09 02:56 AMLike 0 - You're totally off from the OP's request. He wants the contact info encoded into a bar code, not a bar code that sends him somewhere where he can download the data. I doubt he can do your method while in an airplane (with no access to a data network).
As noted in one of the links you provided, only around 60 to 80 characters can/should be encoded into a bar code. This means that if a bar code was used to encode contact information, it would be limited to one line, such as the phone number (or maybe a URL where he can download the contact info at a later time when wifi or data is available).
By the way, I have played with the bar codes in the past...it's an interesting concept to play with. I just don't see them as being able to contain all of the data that the OP would like to see (so that he can avoid using data).
Did you follow the link? you can have more then 4300 Alpha Numeric char in a Barcode.
EVE
N if RIM generated each contact as an HTML page you could a contact in a barcode and HHTML is very in efficen for dattapacaging.
It is
s very feesabls Hospitpitals have been using Barcodeor medicdication for years and they require the barcodeontain ln lots of information.
That is the purpose of my request, to have the software built into Blackberry to make barcode exchg "bett"better" build the platform to utalize the ar code code, but ideally it would stick to a standard so that the barcode can ed else elsewhere beyond just Blackberry, and not some crazy algorithum10-11-09 06:35 AMLike 0 -
Jeeezzzus ...Last edited by karlac; 10-11-09 at 09:49 AM.
10-11-09 09:44 AMLike 0 - Even if barcodes could only hold 60 - 80 characters, there are plenty of methods in which you could crunch a lot of text data into 60 chars.
You can pack a lot of info into it, then let a simple algorithm unpack it.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com10-11-09 09:58 AMLike 0 - That is the purpose of my request, to have the software built into Blackberry to make barcode exchg "bett"better" build the platform to utalize the ar code code, but ideally it would stick to a standard so that the barcode can ed else elsewhere beyond just Blackberry, and not some crazy algorithum
The problem at present is the inability of most phone based cameras to correctly read a densely packed QR barcode.
There are a number of sites that will generate QR barcode with full personal/business contact information contained therein ... ****, you can even have them printed on tshirts ... but most of today's camera phones will not read them due to the ratio of white to black space when densely packed with that much information.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 characters in QR appears to be optimum for current camera phone technology ... thus the obvious workaround/kludge with redirection to a QR coded url that contains the bulk of the information.
My bet, particularly with the Japanese being so infatuated with the methodology, that it won't be long before your "request" is granted.10-11-09 10:10 AMLike 0 - There is already a standard out there pushed by Nokia to use QR Code to echange vCards.
For example, a vCard containing the following info:
Code:BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Gump;Forrest FN:Forrest Gump ORG:Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. TITLE:Shrimp Man TEL;TYPE=WORK,VOICE:(111) 555-1212 TEL;TYPE=HOME,VOICE:(404) 555-1212 ADR;TYPE=WORK:;;100 Waters Edge;Baytown;LA;30314;United States of America LABEL;TYPE=WORK:100 Waters Edge\nBaytown, LA 30314\nUnited States of America ADR;TYPE=HOME:;;42 Plantation St.;Baytown;LA;30314;United States of America LABEL;TYPE=HOME:42 Plantation St.\nBaytown, LA 30314\nUnited States of America EMAIL;TYPE=PREF,INTERNET:[email protected] REV:20080424T195243Z END:VCARD
Last edited by FineWolf; 10-11-09 at 11:41 AM.
10-11-09 10:18 AMLike 0 - I made a similar thread about this awhile back. Not using barcodes (which is a fantastic idea btw) but simply wondering why the exchange of your contact info is so damn clumsy with the BB.
Palm devices used to (maybe still do) have a "send business card" function where you would simply press and hold down your contacts button to send your contact info directly to another palm device. It worked through the infrared led/sensor which I know BB doesn't have.
I don't see why something like this would be so difficult to implement. It would be very handy for anyone whi wanted to exchange contacth info quickly.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com10-11-09 10:59 AMLike 0 -
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- Hey OP i think your on the right track. lets just hope these things are in the near future as I think they are.
Me? Sht i want to be able to scan barcodes in stores too. LOL10-11-09 11:23 AMLike 0
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RIM: Make Bar Codes useful!
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