Augmented Reality

     One of the uses of QR-codes mentioned in a previous article was Augmented Reality (AR). Anybody who has played a video game or watched a movie has experienced Virtual Reality (VR), where we get to experience a world that does not exist in reality. AR is the next step by placing virtual objects within the real world.
     AR uses a video camera and display to overlay digital content like videos, 3-D models, images, and text over the real world. It is still under development, and multiple engineers and technology companies are focused on improving the technology; but that does not mean it is not being used today.
     One of the most popular and well-known uses of AR today is for interactive game play. The most popular of these games is “Pokémon Go,” developed and published by Niantic for iOS and Android devices. A close second is the IKEA app that lets you see IKEA furniture in your room.
     Leap, one of the top companies in AR, produced a video of a whale leaping out of the water in the center of a school gymnasium full of high school students. They were showing in the video what a user of their Magic Leap AR glasses would have seen, as the students reacted on cue without seeing a thing. You can see the video on YouTube. 
     The ultimate goal of AR is to allow us to interact in new ways with our world. It may seem that AR is just a toy, but it is being used today for advancing research in medicine, weather forecast, chemistry, biology, archeology, and many other fields. During Hurricane Harvey, the National Weather Service used augmented reality to show the impact of the pending tidal surge by superimposing the simulated water level behind a reporter on the city streets. Sometimes seeing what a seven-foot storm surge looks like in your neighborhood helps convince you to evacuate. 
     AR is heavily used in movie and video production today, but it is not as new as many seem to believe. The first AR device was created by Ivan Sutherland and Bob Sproull in 1968. It was a head-mounted display called “The Sword of Damocles” and displayed primitive computer graphics. It’s hard to believe that AR was invented before the first videogame, “Pong,” in 1969. 

You will need a QR-Code reader application installed on your device to enjoy the example above.  Simply scan the image with your QR-Code reader and allow the website application to access your camera. You will see a 3-D globe floating over the image.    Along with this article is a picture with a QR-code; it will allow you to experience AR. It takes you to a website that runs a local script to overlay a floating 3-D picture over the image. Hold your phone sideways while viewing the image. Although the website does ask for access to your camera, it is not sending any video to the site. It is just using the camera to show the real world behind the virtual object.

 
It will be a long time before AR is widely used in newsprint media, but you may see The Licking News try it from time to time.

What is that strange square?

QR-code link to www.thelickingnews.com

   You may have seen these on products in the store, posters advertising concerts and events, or in magazines and newspapers. They are called a Quick Response Code, or QR code, for short. It was designed in 1994 in Japan for use in the automotive industry. The QR code is an improvement upon the standard bar code, which is typically used for marking p

roducts with a unique identifier often used for pricing and inventory control. The standard bar code can store two sets of 6-digits and is limited to number based information. The QR code takes this a step further.

The internal structure of a version 7 QR code
showing the various functional elements.

     A QR code consists of black squares arranged in a square grid on a white background, which is readable by a camera, like the one in your cell phone, and processed using an error correcting computer algorithm to interpret the image. Data is stored both vertically and horizontally within the image and can be used to store any type of data, not just alphanumeric data like product names and expiration dates, but machine readable data like computer code, and in extreme cases entire documents.
     QR codes are beginning to become a standard in advertising because of the ease of sharing very large amounts of information in a very small space through the use of new smartphone technology. Typically, a smart phone is used as a QR code scanner with one of many QR code scanner applications to display the code and convert it to a human readable form, such as a website URL. The QR code makes it easier for print advertisers to connect with their customers because of the ease of use connecting print media to internet content. You will begin to see QR codes in The Licking News from time to time.
     A QR code can store up to 7,089 characters, which is larger than this article. Anyone can generate their own QR codes with free software available online as well as utilizing website-based QR-code generators. One of my favorites is https://www.qrcode-monkey.com which was used to generator the QR code that links to our website. You can overlay logos, adjust colors and customize the shape of the code as long as you keep the four corner blocks that store the information on how to decode the image, and the logo does not cover more than one fourth of the image.
    QR codes can be designed to send you to un-safe websites and install software on your device. You should never scan a QR code from an unknown source, just like you should never follow a link in an e-mail from a stranger. Risks include linking to dangerous web sites with browser exploits, enabling the microphone, camera, GPS, and then streaming those feeds to a remote server; analysis of sensitive data (passwords, files, contacts, transactions); and sending email/SMS/IM messages or DDOS packets as part of a botnet, corrupting privacy settings, stealing identity, and even containing malicious logic themselves such as JavaScript or a virus. These actions could occur in the background while the user is only seeing the reader open a seemingly harmless web page.
     You should also always use trusted QR code scanner software on your phone or tablet. A couple of options are the “QR Code Reader” by TWMobile for Android and “QR Code Reader and Scanner” by ShopSavy, Inc. for the iPhone. There are several out there to choose from, but be sure to read the reviews before installing one.

A New Thing

This week I started something new.  It took a little bit to get the first few posts up on the site, but I have started writing a local newspaper column called TechTalk.  Tech Talk is currently published in The Licking News, a local newspaper in the city of Licking, MO.  The tech articles from this publication will be published here on a regular basis, at least a week behind the print edition of the paper.  I would really like to encourage you to subscribe and help keep the home town paper locally owned and operated.  Your subscription helps more than you realize in keeping your hometown paper alive and well.