Trivia
HardWhat Is The Most Popular Successor To The Ubiquitous Bar Code?
Answer: QR Codes
Created back in the 1940s and put into widespread commercial use in the 1970s, the humble bar code revolutionized everything from shopping to inventory management. Ever since then industrious researchers have been refining and reinventing optical machine-readable tags.
Among all the various revisions and brand new tag methods, Quick Read (QR) codes have enjoyed the most widespread adoption. The format was invented by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994 to assist in tracking vehicles and materials in their production facilities and has since spread to everything from shipment labels to magazine ads.
Two primary factors contributed to the rise of the QR code. Unlike other bar code alternatives like the Aztrec Code or High Capacity Color Barcodes, the QR code format is essentially open–the specs are shared freely and patents on the format are purposely not enforced to encourage proliferation of the format. In addition, the radical increase in smartphone ownership over the last decade has effectively put a code scanner in everyone’s pocket–it’s extremely easy for consumers to whip out their phone, scan a QR code (be it on a magazine page or a billboard) and immediately access web sites, apps, and other material.
Trivia
HardVideo Gamers Contributed To Breakthrough Research For What Illness?
Trivia
HardWhich Of These National Historic Landmarks Is Dedicated To Thomas Jefferson?
Trivia
HardNow A Sci-Fi Staple, The Term “Earthling” Originally Referred To?
Trivia
HardThe Wallace and Grommet Short Film “A Grand Day Out” Inadvertently, With A Single Joke, Saved Which Of These British Things?
Trivia
EasyWhich Medical Procedure Can Change Your Blood Type?
Trivia
HardMarvel Successfully Argued In Court That The X-Men Were Mutants In Order To What?
Trivia
HardThe Only Highway In The U.S. That Prohibits Automotive Traffic Is Located In?
Trivia
EasyWho Was Yoda’s Face Modeled Off Of?
Trivia
EasyThe Majority Of History’s Massive Volcanic Eruptions Have Occurred Where?
Trivia
HardWhich Sci-Fi Author Has Had The Most Profitable Film Adaptations?