I was playing around with QR codes a bit and managed to create this code with the word “cloud” embedded into it. Apparently these codes have strong enough error-correction to counteract minor image manipulation.

I had never even heard of these codes until a few months ago when I read an article about them in one of the local newspapers.  Apparently they are huge in Japan but really haven’t caught on in a big way in other parts of the world.  Personally I can’t even take advantage of this technology yet since my phone (Blackberry 8830) doesn’t sport a camera.

Here’s another QR code I created with a scuba diving flag in the middle. I’m tempted to make some stickers out of this and hand them out at the upcoming scuba show in the Twin Cities. Again note how the introduction of the logo does not impact the readability of the QR code due to the error correction algorithm.

I used software from QuickMark to validate these codes using the embedded video camera on my Dell laptop.