--- F R E N D Z of martian --- I knew there was a good reason to start putting scanners into PDAs. This and scanning people's business cards that is... -- Martin Cosgrave Appdev Ltd - http://appdev.co.uk 0117 902 3143 ----- Original Message ----- From: Rohit Khare <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2000 5:51 AM Subject: GeeK: Bar-coding the Real World with URLs > May 4, 2000 > Scan the Headlines? No, Just the Bar Codes > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Encoding Technologies for Newspapers and Magazines Link Printed Page > to Web Page > > By LISA GUERNSEY > Readers of The Post and Courier, the daily newspaper in Charleston, > S.C., may have noticed something peculiar about their paper this > week. Tiny black marks, no wider or higher than a five-letter word in > a news column, have been appearing throughout the pages since Monday. > There is one under the weather map, another on the masthead, still > more at the top of the business and local sections. > > These little symbols, which at first glance appear to be nothing more > than smudges, provide a direct link between the newspaper and the > Internet. Each mark is a miniature Universal Product Code for a Web > address. When those U.P.C.'s, or bar codes, are read by a handheld > scanner connected to a computer, a Web page pops up on the screen. > The bar code under the weather map, for example, takes readers to the > weather page on the newspaper's Web site. > > Alan H. Seim, director of Internet operations at The Post and > Courier, considers the bar codes a much-needed solution to a problem > that newspapers and their readers have been facing since the dawn of > the Web: the awkwardness of printing and typing (let alone > remembering) a new Web address. > > "You just beep on this thing and you're there," Mr. Seim said. > > But the tiny bar codes are more than just a print-based replacement > for long Web addresses. They are one of several new technologies that > create hyperlinks for the physical world, establishing a direct > connection between static objects and the ever-changing Internet. > With these links, magazines, books, postcards, product packages -- > any imaginable artifacts with room for bar codes -- could become > on-ramps to Web pages that offer related reports, movies, sound clips > or online order forms. > > The Post and Courier is the first newspaper in the country to > experiment with the miniature-bar-code technology. This month, > Charleston residents who sign up as testers will receive free > handheld scanners so they can activate the bar codes and jump > straight to the corresponding Web sites. GoCode, the Charleston > company that developed the technology, will also put the codes in > several catalogs in the next few months, and more free handheld > scanners will be distributed. > > By summer, observant readers of Wired magazine and Popular Mechanics > may spot another version of these offline links. For them, the mark > will not be a smudgelike bar code but a small logo with an uppercase > "D" lurking on the lower outside corner of some pages. The D stands > for Digimarc, a company that has developed a way to embed nearly > imperceptible digital watermarks in printed text and photographs. > When held up to a Webcam perched on a monitor, the watermarks tell > the computer to display related Web pages. > > In June, Digimarc will offer free software that can be downloaded and > integrated with software for the Webcams. By summer's end, company > officials say, most Webcam manufacturers will have integrated the > Digimarc software into their products. The company, meanwhile, is > hoping to have signed contracts with more than 100 magazines that > will use the watermarks. > > Bar codes of other shapes and sizes may also dot the pages of print > publications soon. Belo, a media company in Dallas, announced that it > would incorporate bar codes into some of the pages of its newspapers, > which include The Dallas Morning News and The Providence Journal in > Rhode Island. A bar code reader developed by DigitalConvergence.:Com, > a hyperlink company, will be distributed to read those symbols and > translate them into Web pages that appear on the screen. > > Belo's 17 television stations are also considering a version of the > technology that uses sounds instead of symbols. To open a Web page, a > television program could emit an audible tone that would send a > signal to a computer that was connected to the television via audio > cables. > > Those who have experimented with off line links say that they have > potential to change the way people approach the Web. Until now, > people who see a printed Web address have had to jot it down, tear > out the corresponding page or try to remember the Web site's > top-level domain name so they can search the site later. And once > they remember to visit the sites, they often have to dig through > multiple Web pages to find what they want. According to Internet > analysts, most people give up after three or four clicks. > > But with digital watermarks or bar codes, a printed page will have > "embedded intelligence," said Guy Creese, a senior analyst at the > Aberdeen Group, a strategic consulting company. Mr. Creese saw a > demonstration of Digimarc's technology a month ago. > > "It strikes me as an intriguing way to handle the information > overload problem," Mr. Creese said. "It really brings impulse buying > and searching to a new level." > > Anything that increases the possibility of impulse buying is bound to > attract advertisers. Ford Motor Company, for example, is preparing to > include Digimarc's technology in full-page advertisements in both > Wired and Popular Mechanics. At least 10 other advertisers, including > Visa and Sony, are also planning to test the technology. > > But before offline linking enters the mainstream, it must clear a > hardware hurdle. Handheld scanners or Webcams will have to become as > ubiquitous as computers, analysts say. GoCode is trying to make that > happen by giving away scanners that are sponsored by advertisers and > that will come with buttons that take users to the sponsors' Web > sites. DigitalConvergence.:Com has a similar idea. And Digimarc is > hoping that the growing popularity of Webcams will give it an edge. > > But even if people have the right equipment, companies face another > problem: getting people to make the technology part of their routine. > > "The downside is that you have to teach someone to use it," said > David Cooperstein, a research director at Forrester Research, after > seeing a demonstration of GoCode's technology. People will have to be > shown that the bar code "is not just a smudge on the page," he said. > > Mr. Seim, of The Post and Courier, is aware of those issues. But his > newspaper is prepared to take on the challenge in exchange for the > chance to offer a cutting-edge service to its readers. A regional > paper with a daily circulation of 110,000, The Post and Courier has > been trying with mixed success to integrate the newspaper and its Web > site. > > Most of the stories on the site, Mr. Seim said, are "shovelware," > digital versions of exactly what appears in the paper. > > But with the advent of the bar codes, the newspaper has more > incentive to include updated news and weather reports on its Web > site. While printed Uniform Resource Locators, or U.R.L.'s, have > always given ambitious readers an invitation to the Web site, the bar > codes provide a much easier way to make the connection, Mr. Seim > said. With a scanner in hand, going to the Web becomes part of the > reading experience. > > "The goal is to keep the readers involved with you and your site," > Mr. Seim said. "People might like to find out, for example, what > happened with Eli�n Gonz�lez since the time the page was printed." > > Classified advertising is another area of the newspaper that will > take advantage of the technology. Mr. Seim hopes that the paper's > staff will soon start using software that will automatically convert > new U.R.L.'s to bar codes during the production process. (He now uses > static bar codes that are set for specific Web sites.) Once that > happens, the classified advertising section will be specked with the > bar codes. A two-line pitch about a used car could immediately link > to the seller's Web site, complete with photographs, references and > details about the car's maintenance record. > > Popular Mechanics is planning to add more timely content to its Web > site to take advantage of the digital watermarks that will first > appear in its August issue. Jay McGill, the magazine's publisher, > said he expected at least three or four feature articles, as well as > nearly a dozen advertisements, to have the watermarks embedded within > them. > > For example, the magazine has been running a monthly column about the > progress of a Nascar racing team. By the time the magazine is > published, the columns are out of date because magazine writers > usually work several weeks ahead of publication dates. But once the > column is embedded with an offline link, it can transport people > directly to the Web site of the magazine, which will start offering > weekly updates. > > "We think it will change the dynamic of how we edit the magazine and > relationships with our readers," Mr. McGill said. He added that when > he first saw the technology and observed how fast Web pages opened > after simply holding the magazine up to the Webcam, "I just went, > Wow, we have to have this." > > Mr. McGill added, however, that in addition to the requirement of > Webcams, offline links are burdened with another drawback: people > have to take the magazines to their computers to gain access to the > Web sites. > > Still, some analysts are optimistic that advances in wireless > technology in the next year will make the concept viable. If the bar > codes and watermarks could be scanned and stored by a wireless device > instead of by a scanner or Webcam tethered to the computer, they > would be more useful. > > Better yet, if the marks could be scanned by a device that talked to > a personal digital assistant with wireless Internet service, people > could gain access to the sites they were reading about while there > were on the subway -- or on the couch. > > "Getting this bolted into a P.D.A. makes a lot of sense," said Mr. > Creese, of the Aberdeen Group. > > Regardless of how the technology emerges, the founders of the > companies creating offline links are envisioning broader applications > for their products. Bruce Davis, chief executive and president of > Digimarc, said that he was working toward a day when digital > watermarks would be embedded in books, CD's, bank cards and direct > mail. > > T. B. Pickens, the founder of GoCode, has begun distributing business > cards that contain his bar code. By the end of the month, people who > receive his card and scan the code will be able to import his contact > information directly into Outlook, Microsoft's address book, with one > click. Even more personal data, like credit card numbers and a > shipping address, are also embedded in the bar code for Mr. Pickens's > use. He unlocks the sensitive data by scanning his business card and > then scanning a house key that features a sticker with a > corresponding bar code. When both are scanned together, Mr. Pickens > can fill in online order forms with a few clicks. > > I.B.M. and Palm Computing are also testing the prospects of offline > links. The companies are working with a Safeway grocery store in > England that has provided Palm P.D.A.'s equipped with built-in > scanners to more than 500 of its customers. When the customers scan > the bar codes on the packages of any products they are running out of > -- whether soup cans or cereal boxes -- the computer adds those > products to digital grocery lists. The system uses the Internet to > send each list to Safeway, where employees collect and package the > products so they can be picked up by the customer. > > For now, though, officials at The Post and Courier say they are > excited to be one of the first publications trying out the > technology, even if it means that their newspaper is specked with > tiny black rectangles. > > "We think it could be a breakthrough on how to connect the reader of > the printed word to the Internet," said Larry Tarleton, associate > publisher of The Post and Courier. "And a lot of people are trying to > figure that out." > > May 4, 2000 > Talking to Computers in a Language of Lines and Specks > By LISA GUERNSEY > > The companies that have created bar codes and digital watermarks to > link printed pages to sites on the Internet have their own secrets > about how they work. But much of it involves the idea that a printed > image can contain more than meets the eye. > > The bar codes developed by GoCode, for example, look like little > rectangles made up of white specks on black squares and a few black > lines. In fact, those rectangles are a specialized type of symbol > called a two-dimensional bar code. The little specks form patterns > that provide an extra dimension of information than is available in a > traditional bar code, which is made up of straight lines. A bar code > with two white specks in the corner, for example, will send a > different message than one with one speck. > > The messages contain more than a U.R.L., or Uniform Resource Locator, > that corresponds to a Web site. They include instructions that tell > the computer to open a Web browser and pull up that site. "It's not > just that it is raw information," said George Powell, president of > the GoCode Products Corporation. "We pack tags, or protocols, inside > the code." > > The straight lines on the left side of the code are simpler signals > designed to be picked up by the scanners first. "They are the piece > that says, 'Hey, I'm a GoCode and I'm over here,' " Mr. Powell said. > > GoCode has developed a handheld scanner that essentially takes a > picture of the bar code, deciphers what it says and sends that > information to the computer. GoCode, which is planning to distribute > the scanners free with the help of sponsorships, estimates that the > scanners will cost $100 or less in a retail store. > > Digimarc's technology also uses images to store information but takes > a different approach. Its digital watermarks are designed not to be > perceptible to the human eye. "It's like a dog whistle for the > Internet," said Bruce Davis, Digimarc's chief executive. > > Imagine, for example, a photograph on a magazine page. Before the > magazine is printed, the watermark is applied to an electronic > version of the photograph by using Digimarc's production software. > When printed, the photograph may look no different at first glance, > but in fact the pixels have been adjusted to contain tiny signals > that can be picked up by a digital camera that includes Digimarc > software. The technology adjusts the luminance of the pixels, which a > trained eye might pick up as a slight variation in an image's color > or shades of light and dark. > > Jay McGill, publisher of Popular Mechanics, described the difference > as a slight graininess. "But to the average consumer," he said, "it > will be difficult to detect." > > The camera, however, does detect the adjustments, and the software > decodes them into instructions for the computer, which immediately > pulls up a Web page specific to that watermark. The marks could be > applied to a whole page, to several images on a page or even to a > paragraph of text, Mr. Davis said. > -- Sent to you via the frendz list at marsbard.com The archive is at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
