coding

Modern art is often designed to challenge our sensibilities and push the envelope on the definition of art. Some people may look at a QR code--a boxy type of bar code that often leads back to a URL or message when scanned--and see a jumble of squares. Barcode Gallery looks at a QR code and sees art in action.

Barcode Gallery's custom pieces link to up to 300 characters of text when scanned. That's like having two tweets together. Write your own custom message or choose from ready-to-go college-themed works done in school colors.

I looked up my alma mater, University of Arkansas (Woo Pig Sooie!), and found a bar code that pulls up the words to the school's anthem, a slightly hokey number that mentions the mountains of God and a beacon of hope. No worries, the message can be customized if you wish to make some edits.… Read more

It's no secret that companies of all kinds use third-party software in their own products. Mobile OEMs are a great example--new phones often contain code from of hundreds of code suppliers--both open source and proprietary.

A new "Software Integrity Risk Report" commissioned by software analyst Coverity and conducted by Forrester Research points to a growing discrepancy in the quality and security standards businesses are applying to their internally developed code versus code supplied by third-parties.

This can lead to an increased risk of software defects, translating to an increased risk of software failure and impact to brand … Read more

A new Apple policy change aims to keep users who have not purchased an application from rating or reviewing it on the App Store. Now when users who have installed an app from a promo code try to review it, they'll get a pop-up message that says "you must own this item to write a customer review," as if they had never downloaded it.

An official response from iTunes support, received by a forum-goer over at iOS games site TouchArcade, notes the change, saying that the company now requires ratings and reviews of applications to be done by paid users, keeping those who may have installed the application from a developer's promo code from contributing to its aggregate rating or written review log.

Apple offers iOS developers a limited number of these promo codes as a means to provide free versions of paid applications to users. Users enter these codes into the redeem section of the App Store, just like they would a song code in iTunes, and the application begins downloading. Apple allows developers to request and dole out 50 copies of the application per update, giving those who update frequently a chance at expanding how many codes can be had.

Along with this method, Apple also offers a way for developers to configure up to 100 iOS devices to run that specific build of an application by building copies that match up with each user's device UDID (unique identifier). The two downsides to this method are that the provisioning profile that accompanies these builds can expire, and the application is not eligible for updates. Nonetheless,… Read more

The thought of an animal bar code scanner generates some primal worries.

Do lions, tigers, and bears need bar code scanners? What would they be trying to price--antelope shanks? Are pet shop clerks skimming hamsters across laser scanners like so many cans of discount tuna?

Relax. No one is scribbling black lines onto goldfish with Sharpies. The bar code scanner in question is StripeSpotter--a serious tool in the tracking and cataloging of animals in the wild.

Just as no two human fingerprints are alike, the markings on zebra, giraffes, tigers, and other be-striped creatures are unique. StripeSpotter can identify such animals by scanning their markings off photographs. Once an animal is captured in an image, the software can identify the animal from any photograph by reading its markings. The system can even pick individual beasts out of a crowd. … Read more

Cybercriminals are increasingly moving from stealing just personal data to capturing trade secrets and other corporate intellectual capital that they can easily sell through the underground market, according to a new report from McAfee and the SAIC.

In today's release of a new study, "Underground Economies: Intellectual Capital and Sensitive Corporate Data Now the Latest Cybercrime Currency" (PDF), McAfee and the Science Applications International Corporate find that the theft of trade secrets, marketing plans, R&D data, and even source code is on the rise, especially as such information is often unprotected.

Based on a global … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--Duncan Jones has only made two films, but he's already developing a reputation as quite the science fiction auteur.

With 2009's "Moon," starring Sam Rockwell, and now "Source Code," starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jones is becoming the kind of director that actors say they seek out because they want to share in his vision.

In "Source Code," which seems to be one part "Groundhog Day" and one part "Speed" with a heavy degree of sci-fi and technology thrown in, Jones created a world in which Gyllenhaal "wakes … Read more

Normally I don't cover companies run by friends or colleagues. How can you trust me to review a product when I have an emotional interest in its success?

So meeting with Joe Gillespie, CEO of Zoove and former executive vice president (my boss' boss) at my division here at CBS Interactive, put me in a bind. He's sitting on what looks like a very smart business that I believe is already well past the tipping point of success. I cannot not cover it, and I'll be damned if I'll give it to someone else. But if Zoove fails, I will have to re-evaluate any respect I ever had for Joe.

Zoove is a registry of mnemonic and short dialing codes for U.S. cellphones. All codes are preceded with ** ("star star") and they can be any length. Here's a demo: Call **SUZUKI from your mobile. You should get a recorded message from the phone call, as well as an immediate SMS with a hyperlink to a marketing video.

The marketer, in this case Suzuki Motorocycles, gets your phone number, phone type, and rough location, not to mention the opportunity to send you whatever data they want on your mobile--a text, a link to a coupon, or an actual voice call connection (as the StarLaw Network will be doing with **LAW).

The big news today is that Zoove has signed up all four of the major U.S. carriers: All the phones on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon work with Zoove's single directory of star codes.

Nobody is likely to step on Zoove's action here. Getting baked into the mobile carrier infrastructures took years. Having them all route ** calls through Zoove is a major coup. Theoretically, another company could come along and offer up a competing short code system, like ##, except, sorry, Zoove owns the routes to those numbers, too.

The fact that the company now has these networks locked up--with no competitors aside from archaic and overloaded toll-free number directory and the clunky five-digit SMS shortcodes run by CSCA--means that advertisers can start blasting these codes out with abandon.

And they should. Star codes are easier to use than other types of real-world links. With QR codes, for example, you need an app and you need to point your phone at something--tough when you're driving past a billboard (QR codes have other advantages, though). Using an SMS shortcode is twice as complex as a star code; you have to send a code to a code. Zoove codes can also be any length.

Want one for your business? Pay Joe--a lot. Short and generic codes cost the most. Two-letter codes are $75,000 a year; three-letter codes $50,000, four-letter codes are $25,000. I wanted to get **RAFE but Joe did not offer to make a deal. Shorter codes can be less, down to $7,500 a year, but generic codes are expensive. (**FLOWERS cost 1800Flowers.com a substantial sum.)

… Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--Jake Gyllenhaal is clearly a gadget junkie. A confessed Mac fan who has an iPad but regretfully doesn't yet have his hands on the iPad 2, the movie star is here in the Texas capital this week to promote his new film, "Source Code."

In the film, Gyllenhaal plays decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens, who "wakes up in the body of an unknown man [and] discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train," according to promotional materials for the film. "In an assignment unlike any … Read more

The departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services yesterday announced new dietary guidelines for Americans that include eating less sugar, fat, and salt--no surprises there. But following such recommendations can be hard; many products labeled low in fat or high in fiber may also be brimming with sodium or additives. Nutritional labels don't always tell people what they need to know.

That's where Fooducate, a new iPhone app (Android version is "in the oven," the makers say) comes in. It uses the iPhone's camera to scan the bar codes on 200,000 food products in supermarkets and convenience stores.

It then brings up nutritional info--and not just the stuff required on the label. It also displays information about high-fructose corn syrup, food coloring, controversial additives like butylated hydroxytoluene, and healthier alternatives (instead of Super Sugar Choco Nugs, perhaps Grape Nuts?). The app's Web site uses as an example Apple Jacks cereal. It gets a D+ rating, which surprised me (something with fruit in the title must be good for you, right?!).

I wanted to try the app out, so I went to the kitchen of The Unicorn, a restaurant and bar in Seattle that yesterday served as my office. The first thing I spotted was a box of Twinkies, a favorite food from childhood that I sadly haven't had in years. I try to stay away from junk food and Twinkies are junk food, right? … Read more