

Fujitsu Forges Li-Fi-like QR Code Replacement - nitin_flanker
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/wireless/fujitsu-forges-lifilike-qr-code

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adamtulinius
It sounds like the article claim LiFi is superior to QR codes in every
possible way.

QR Codes, as a replacement for old bar codes, is a pretty awesome thing, and
LiFi clearly wouldn't work for that.

LiFi sounds like a possible replacement for the (arguably) stupid usages of QR
Codes, like, "point your phone here, and see what happens", although LiFi
would be easier to embed in a hidden way.

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sly010
I believe in this context Li-Fi was either added by the journalist or
mentioned to the journalist to make him/her understand the idea better. But
this technology is literally just flashing LEDs and reading it with a camera,
which turns out to be annoyingly slow. Let's say they use IR (article talks
about projector and RGB) to hide the flickering, you still need to put a lamp
on every product where I already have a barcode, a price-tag, an information
card and whatnot. Then we will put up a massive arrow that says "point your
phone here!"

On a monthly basis I see people come up with "innovative" shopping
experiences. In fact I personally know 2-3 people who worked on projects like
this, but did anyone actually figure out what content to put on the screen?
Anyone here ever pointed a phone at a barcode/qr-code for any other reason but
syncing up google authenticator?

But let's say we really would like to walk through macy's by staring at our
phone instead of looking at the boots. Why not just use something standard and
readily available in every phone that matters, like NFC/BTLE?

I understand someone probably got the homework at Fujitsu Labs to innovate and
I must admin I have worked on similiar technologies before and it's a lot of
fun. But especially because I have seen this idea so many times, but never
seen it adapted by a single store, I am skeptical about the existence of the
problem.

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binarymax
[http://google.github.io/physical-web/](http://google.github.io/physical-web/)

URIBeacons are the future. You don't need to point a camera, it's invisible
and works great.

~~~
zyx321
URI beacons are pretty interesting. They can indeed replace QR in many
situations, but I'm still not 100% sold on it due to privacy and spam
concerns.

Those can probably be solved by using a 3rd party service to resolve the URL
redirection, but we'll see how it goes.

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zyx321
QR codes are:

    
    
      *Available right now
      *Widely adopted
      *Vendor-independent
      *Free to implement
      *Very robust
      *Visually distinct
    

A lot of "QR killers" considered that last point as a disadvantage, and tried
to "solve" it by sacrificing robustness. They failed, and most of those codes
are now invalid because they relied on a proprietary service.

I think it's actually a strength. You can probably train a monkey to scan a
QR. Just _point phone at funny square_ [1]. With this, most people won't even
know it's there, so you'll basically need to have your phone out (but you
can't even use your phone while scanning for codes, like you can with
bluetooth beacons).

This an impressive technology, but it's not going to "replace" QR, and the
potential usage scenarios in the article are a little far fetched.

[1][http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+read+funny+square](http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+read+funny+square)

~~~
huskyr
Even though i couldn't imagine any sane person scanning QR codes, in China
they are apparently very popular:

[http://dangrover.com/blog/2014/12/01/chinese-mobile-app-
ui-t...](http://dangrover.com/blog/2014/12/01/chinese-mobile-app-ui-
trends.html#a-nameinput-qraqr-codes-for-everything)

~~~
nothrabannosir
They are, and it's great. Why type in phone numbers or usernames for
prospective contacts, just scan the code and you're good.

Honestly, I don't understand why we won't use them back here. If only just for
scanning stock WiFi passwords off routers, surely that would be worth it?

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hw
QR codes seem ripe for disruption, but I am not sure Li-Fi would be the one to
do so. Given an object that is illuminated, how would one know if it's Li-Fi
enabled? If there needs to be a sign that says 'Li-fi here', might as well go
with a QR code, or maybe better would be a more advanced image recognition
technology.

I like the possibilities that come with Li-Fi, but it's a long ways from
maturity.

~~~
obilgic
Thats the cool part. you dont have to know that there is information hidden
there. but your devices can detect and make use of that information. such as
taking picture, google glass etc.

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eps
In theory, the same should be possible with IR light instead of the visible
one. Many (all?) digital cameras are infrared-sensitive, which is easy to test
by just pointing a TV remote at a camera and pressing a button. So one can
simply do a morse-ish code in IR and then have an app parse it out.

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isomorphic
10 bits per second?

That probably means you'll need to register your URL/vendor/etc. with Fujitsu,
since sending a normal-sized URL would be excruciating.

"Here, just aim your smartphone at this for 10-20 seconds."

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nitin_flanker
This is going to revolutionize the future of shopping. NO need to enter into a
shop. Just point your smartphone camera along the product and get the
descriptions. Fantastic..

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rtanaka
An experience like that is inevitable but it likely won't be through this
solution. As it stands, LiFi requires a light source to illuminate a product
which isn't exactly scalable. What you're describing feels far more likely to
happen through image recognition technology.

LiFi is still a neat idea though.

~~~
nitin_flanker
Thanks for clarifying ;)

