New Tag Goodness
Mar1
It is with joy that I announce that Microsoft have updated their tag reader application on the iPhone, doing something which nobody else has managed to do so far and feed the camera stream directly into the application so you don’t need to go through the annoying take-confirm-verify sequence that you have to put up with in the old version and every other 2D code reader I’ve seen on the platform.
Microsoft doing something right. In other news, temperatures in hell plummet with ice on the runway grounding several pigs.
Microsoft Tag
Jan0
Microsoft have done it again – taken an existing technology, tweaked it and decided that it’s new and shiny. Microsoft Tag is a 2D colour barcode which can be read using mobile phones and translated into something useful – currently text, a URL, a phone number or a business card.
Much as I hate Microsoft, I think they’re onto a winner here. The Tag is smaller than a QR or Datamatrix code and scans much better on devices with poor zoom or focus (like my iPhone). Microsoft have a substantial marketing budget and the sense to have a single, short URL for getting the reader (which is advertised on a lot of tags) meaning that it’s more likely to be adopted worldwide. They also have a solid set of applications already released for most phone platforms, so no more scrounging around for a half-baked reader for the iPhone. They also have some nice features the QR code doesn’t – all content is stored on a server and is only referenced by the tag, so it can be updated. You can set expiry dates for tags and temporarily suspend them, and get detailed reports on how successful a tag has been, where is has been snapped most and so on.
However, there are a few drawbacks. A Tag only stores a tag ID which the reader has to ‘phone home’ to interpret. Without internet access you can store tags for interpretation later, but can’t extract the information in them. The Tag website says it’s free during the beta, but gives a strong impression that Microsoft will be charging people to make codes (presumably justified by the fact they run servers). There’s also currently a lack of API, although the Tag people on Twitter say this’ll be there by the time it leaves beta. Surprisingly, the reliance on colour isn’t a reliance on colour at all and works fine in monochrome (although greyscale can cause unhappiness).
All that’s left is to leave you with a demo. Have fun. As soon as there’s an API out I’ll let you know and see if I can make it do something cool.
Touch Interfaces – Stop Getting So Excited
Oct0
The BBC are reporting that one day we will control computers by gesture (video). To which I say: “Get a grip”. No pun intended.
The fact of the matter is simple – if you believe that one day every computer will be controlled by touch screens or gestures then I invite you to spend your normal working day without ever resting your wrists on the keyboard or resting your hand on the mouse whilst you’re using the PC. You can’t even rest your fingertips on the keyboard.
Now, interfacing with some devices by touchscreens or gestures is absolutely fantastic – I love the flexibility of my iPhone. I absolutely adore well-designed touchscreen interfaces for things like building control. Even Microsoft Surface (shown in the video) and multitouch whiteboards I can see a good use for. However, these are things you use intermittently and aren’t required to work with daily.
If you need to interface directly with it for more than a few minutes at a time, it needs to have your arms in the most comfortable energy state possible. Simple.
Go Vista, Go!
Mar0
Apparently Windows Vista now has twice the number of properly supported and certified device drivers it did on release day. I’d like to welcome both of the new devices to the Vista ecosystem!
This is Getting Silly
Nov1
Who remembers the internet back when ‘Broadband’ was an amazing marketing opportunity at 512Kb/s? Now, who remembers 56Kb/s modems being all the rage?
Here at Brayford Quay, modern, plush student accommodation with en-suite sit-down showers, a desk and 6 complementary power sockets, over the wired network, I am pulling downloads at an amazing, awe inspiring, jaw dropping… 4KB/s (Or, for the technically minded people who spotted that one is bytes and one is bits, around 32Kb/s). That means (And I’ve checked this) it would be faster for me to write a letter back home (On real paper!) asking my parents to download the files I want, post it, wait for it to be delivered, wait for my parents to download the files, and wait for them to be mailed back to me on a DVD. That’s including the weekend.