QR Code Madness

For the past few months I have been spotting these strange diagrams, like the one to the left, everywhere, especially in posters in New York's subway system. These little squares often come with brief instructions to scan them with your smart phone in order to get information. Stuck with a Motorola RAZR until a few weeks ago these little squares really meant nothing to me. And then, on the day it debuted, I got myself a new Verizon iPhone, and in the course of playing with it and doing some research I found out that these little squares are called QR Codes (short for Quick Response). They were invented in Japan, and they fall under the category of matrix barcodes readable by scanners and camera phones.

Already on the web there are a handful of sites that will transform your website into a QR Code. What you see here is the QR Code of my Wagner Operas website. If you have an iPhone download the free app called "QRreader" and once it has downloaded and installed itself take a picture of the square above. Your iPhone will immediately take you to my Wagner Operas website. Amazing!

Now, is it just me, but look carefully: I think that if you stare at the QR code of my site, and you squint your eyes a bit, you start to see Richard Wagner's profile in the center of the diagram? Wait, nevermind, it's just a QR code not a Rorschach test. Enjoy playing with your smart phone!