QR code software
Here is a by-no-means comprehensive list of some software that you can use to view and generate QR codes:
Reading
Mobile phones
In approximate order of goodness...
- Quickmark
- Limited selection of phones, but native app runs well. Requires (free) registration.
- Kawa reader
- Standalone and Java versions for a very wide range of phones. Direct download to your mobile if you visit the link above from your phone. Unfortunately, it is rendered virtually useless for visiting lots of webpages by scanning (as is required by Hunt the Wumpus), due to the fact that it takes you to an intermediate redirect page on the kaywa site every time. The Java version is even worse, presumably because of limitations of being able to use the camera from within a MIDLet.
- I-nigma reader
- I haven't tried this one yet, but it seems to be available for a large variety of handsets, and is the one recommended by the Sun newspaper. Go to www.i-nigma.mobi from your mobile to get it.
- J2MEQRCode
- A MIDlet based on the open source Java code mentioned below. I couldn't get this to work on my Nokia N70 but YMMV. If you're looking at this page from your phone, you can get it by going to wap.GetJar.com and going Quick Download -> enter Quick Download Code 6622
- Glass
- Glass is a reader for a limited number of Series 60 phones, and is part of the Active Print project. This project seems to be by turns interesting and annoying: Interesting, because it has a nice 'scrolling text' display interface, and allows you to embed both text and action into a QR or Datamatrix code (e.g. have the scrolling text 'phone me' appear, linked to an action which dialled your number). Annoying, because it seems to be yet another 'standard' for embedding things in QR codes, and so is largely incompatible with other QR code readers and generators (if you attempt to use Glass on a normal QR code, it will fail to read the text it contains, and other readers will just display both the text and action together if you use them to read an 'active print' QR code)
Computers
- QR Code
- Open source Java librararies for both reading and writing, still under development.
- Quickmark WebCam
- PC only. Requires (free) registration.
Generating
Web sites
- Kaywa generator
- Simple web-based generator
- Quickmark DIY
- Lots of options. A lot of which only seem to work with the Quickmark reader! (n.b. be sure to select 'QRCode DIY' in the left hand bar to get QR code format))
- Codeatron
- More options for output and phone compatibility. Mainly Japanese formats.
Programs
- libqrencode
- C library to generate QR codes. Also includes a standalone binary which will run from your (Unix-a-like) command line
- QR Code
- Open source Java libraries for both reading and writing, still under development.
- Perl and PHP
- Untested by me, but reported to work well.
- Processing library
- Integrate QR codes with the open-source Processing framework
Misc.
- Firefox plugin
- Pops up a QR code of the address of the page you are browsing, so you can easily tranfer it to your phone.
- Facebook app
- Display messages in QR code format on your profile.
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