QR codes generally want a marker on all four corners, so streaming one infinitely would mean that some of them would never be printed. You also need a certain amount of whitespace around a QR code so you can't just smush them together to make it looks like one infinite code. You might be able to make an infinite barcode though
I saw similar engraved and then inked onto wooden boards at a restaurant, sadly, despite the error handling, 3 out of 4 I tried were not scannable, the 1 I did manage to scan to me to a reviews site for the restaurant (where a lot of reviews said they struggled to make the QR work - likely not the feedback the restaurant wanted)! I guess it kept me entertained whilst waiting for the bill.
There was a tweet a while back where I guy was riding a train in China and took a photo of the QR code for his seat. He mentioned that you can use the QR code to order food and drinks delivered directly to you.
About 5 minutes later there was another tweet from him where:
- someone saw the original tweet (Guy 2)
- scanned the QR code
- ordered the OP a drink
- added a note to the order saying it was from Guy 2
I used something like this on a large sheet and cut it into pieces for a puzzle gift to a website where people left comments. Nowadays even easier to generate nice temporary websites for such things.
I’m picturing an acrylic version of it, or even some other fancier material.
The starter kit: a 21×21 board, with three 8×8 finder patterns, two 1×5 timing patterns, and 120 white and 119 black modules.
The Version 2 expansion pack includes a 25×25 board, two 1×4 timing patterns, one 5×5 alignment pattern, 76 white modules and 75 black modules.
And so on.
(I dunno about the desired ratio of individual black and white modules. I gather the general idea is to balance black and white, but does that include or exclude the fixed parts, where black is somewhat more common? Finder pattern is 33∶31 black∶white, alignment pattern is 17∶8, 1×5 timing pattern is 3∶2, 1×4 timing pattern is 2∶2.)
> Note that a lovely reader informed me shortly after publication that indeed I can include my full domain name in a version 1 QR code by using all capital letters instead of lowercase. TIL that the "alphanumeric" character set for QR codes actually contains symbols for URLs like : and /.
This is a nice trick worth remembering. I have used it myself in the past. Handy not just for creating ultra small QR codes, but also for getting as much data as possible into the limits of the largest QR codes.
Anyone else scan their random junk that has QR codes to see where it goes? I've found a fair number of stuff has codes that do nothing. Bought an extra garage door opener remote, qr code on it does nothing. Got some SwitchBot gear, qr codes do absolutely nothing.
Then again, writing the url by hand and using OCR built into the camera app would probably be more practical and user friendly for everyone involved. Although for sure not as fun.
I found this page very helpful in understanding each step of the QR code creation process. I can't say I recall it all but it would be possible to turn this into a small booklet, I guess.
In case anyone else is interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectangular_Micro_QR_Code
I think it's this: https://www.qrcode.com/en/codes/microqr.html
About 5 minutes later there was another tweet from him where:
- someone saw the original tweet (Guy 2)
- scanned the QR code
- ordered the OP a drink
- added a note to the order saying it was from Guy 2
Always loved this story.
QR Code® is [sic] registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.
|| cries into genericized Kleenex™ ||
I used something like this on a large sheet and cut it into pieces for a puzzle gift to a website where people left comments. Nowadays even easier to generate nice temporary websites for such things.
The starter kit: a 21×21 board, with three 8×8 finder patterns, two 1×5 timing patterns, and 120 white and 119 black modules.
The Version 2 expansion pack includes a 25×25 board, two 1×4 timing patterns, one 5×5 alignment pattern, 76 white modules and 75 black modules.
And so on.
(I dunno about the desired ratio of individual black and white modules. I gather the general idea is to balance black and white, but does that include or exclude the fixed parts, where black is somewhat more common? Finder pattern is 33∶31 black∶white, alignment pattern is 17∶8, 1×5 timing pattern is 3∶2, 1×4 timing pattern is 2∶2.)
This is a nice trick worth remembering. I have used it myself in the past. Handy not just for creating ultra small QR codes, but also for getting as much data as possible into the limits of the largest QR codes.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5ebcowAJD8
http://lars.nocrew.org/tmp/qr.png
https://github.com/PDP-10/its/blob/master/src/lars/qrcode.8
Or are you saying the ones you found failed to checksum?
It's cool for the receiver, but tedious for the sender (but it's a good way to help with difficult to read cursive).
Well... it wasn't QR-code but rather artoolkit markers. Let's just say I'll keep on printing them for a bit.
Maybe I can try again with the help of LLMs. Hmm not a bad idea
https://typefully.com/DanHollick/qr-codes-T7tLlNi
Here's a HN discussion from 2022 about it.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32837565
https://www.nayuki.io/page/creating-a-qr-code-step-by-step
This is an interactive guide that will break down the process for your specific QR-code.