How to Read a QR Code

I recently wrote a post about QR codes. They are in magazines, store flyers and in a lot of news articles lately. From what I read, they originated in Japan and are popular in Europe. They are now popping up all over North America and it was bothering me that I didn't know how to read them.

I found this information on Search Engine Land:

'QR is short for Quick Response (they can be read quickly by a cell phone). They are used to take a piece of information from a transitory media and put it in to your cell phone. You may soon see QR Codes in a magazine advert, on a billboard, a web page or even on someone’s t-shirt. Once it is in your cell phone, it may give you details about that business (allowing users to search for nearby locations), or details about the person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a coupon which you can use in a local outlet.'

So my big accomplishment this past weekend was to download my first app and read a QR code. They actually gave instructions on how to do this in our local paper:

1. From your smartphone browser application, visit any of the following websites
Bakodo -    http://bako.do
Scanlife -   http://www.scanlife.com
I-nigma -    http://www.i-nigma.com

2. When detecting your smartphone model, your mobile device will ask permission to download the reader application.  Press accept, download and install.

3. You are now ready to read QR codes from your mobile device.

The Scanlife reader worked fine for me on my Blackberry. It put the app in my download folder. So I just go there if I want to  access Scanlife to read a QR code.


Hope you'll find this information useful!