Last, the president signed into law a fast-tracked piece of legislation that both overturned existing state laws about labeling of food with genetically modified ingredients and established a vague timeline for eventually putting this information on barcodes that customers can scan with their phones. The question is: Will anyone actually do this? [More]
qr codes
Walmart Taking Its Proprietary Mobile Payment App Nationwide
By 7.6.16
Two months ago, Walmart took its mobile payment app, the logically named Walmart Pay, live in 590 stores in its home state of Arkansas and in the neighboring state of Texas. The test apparently went well: the retailer is bringing the app to customers in the rest of the country as of today. [More]
Michigan Bars Using Coasters With QR Codes To Help Drunk People FInd A Ride Home
By 3.15.12
There will be lots of green beer going down (and unfortunately coming back up) the throats of drinkers around the country this weekend. But a new initiative in Michigan is hoping to keep drunk bar-goers from getting behind the wheel by giving them a way to find the number for a nearby taxi service. [More]
Study: College Students Have No Idea What To Do With QR Codes
By 12.2.11
In spite of the fact that every bit of marketing targeted at teens and college students seems to come with some sort of QR code for this smartphone-happy demographic to scan, a new study says that most college students don’t know what to do with the codes and have no interest in ever scanning them. [More]
Toys R Us Mystery Deal Not So Mysterious, More Frustrating
By 7.22.11
Caty wasn’t trying to scam Toys ‘R’ Us out of fifty bucks. She saw an interesting promotion in the store’s newspaper circular that required scanning a QR code in the ad and seeing what the “mystery deal” might be. She scanned the code, saw that it gave her a sweet deal on a game bundle, and headed over to the store. There she found empty shelves and employees who claimed that the deal had been a “mistake” and Caty had failed to follow a rule that wasn’t on the newspaper circular. [More]
Buy Groceries From Giant QR Code Wall In Subway Station
By 7.7.11
As you wait for the subway to arrive, thoughts of errands drift through your head. Pick up medicine from the pharmacist, get package from the post office, and go get the groceries. In South Korea, Tesco has been experimenting with a system that lets you take care of that last one, right while you’re on the subway platform. It’s a wall-length billboard with photorealistic images of essential supermarket supplies. You take a picture of each item you want, grabbing its QR code, place your order, and Tesco will deliver it to your door. [More]
