Microsoft Tag
Microsoft Tag. It’s a way for your phone to interact with a physical object, in this case printed material.
In a nutshell, you aim your Microsoft Tag iPhone app (bizarro world, here we are) at one of these “tags” and then it does. . . something. If it’s a website, then it browses there, if it’s a phone number, it dials out. If it’s a text message, then I guess it just displays the text message. There are apps for other phones as well, but the iPhone seems suited to this task.
Is this a big deal? I thought that was the whole point behind QR codes in Japan.
To the right is a QR code. You may have seen them before.
In 1994.
QR Code
While the idea is pretty interesting, I’m still trying to decide whether or not it’s useful. I guess with our phones finally catching up with the internet, they may have some use, eventually.
I did, however, create a “tag” with this website’s address embedded in it.
So I’ve got that covered, at least.
Update:Â More research and some thoughts. Continue reading