StickyBits: Add a bar code based history to any physical object

http://www.stickybits.com/

by replicatorblog • 16 years ago

46 40 16 years ago

stickybits.com

chaosmachine• 16 years ago

That's some nice web design. Lots of attention to detail. Cool product idea, too. Reminds me of Barcode Battler:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode_Battler

replicatorblog• 16 years ago

yeah, gorgeous design, really awesome name, and the product seems cool, though not sure how useful at this point? The number of things you would want to put big vinyl stickers on seems kind of small, but if this is the first step it is very exciting. Being able to track the provenance of an object unobtrusively (via RFID?) would be really neat.

megamark16• 16 years ago

Well, from a business perspective, if you're a company with equipment (medical, electronics, tools, etc) you could have employee "check out" equipment with their phones. If you're a company that works with documents (engineering, legal, what have you) you could attach barcodes to physical copies (shoot, you could overlay them on the digital ones to so they print off with the doc itself) and use them to easily pull up a record of the document. These are just a few uses that come to mind, but basically anywhere that you need to identify something or someone, you could use this as a starting point and build out from there.

jrnkntl• 16 years ago

First 'web 2.0' website I am seeing that is so well designed AND uses extensively tables for HTML markup. The site is basically one large image without any real text, so far for SEO.

kordless• 16 years ago

Yeah, the first thing I did was 'view source'. Sheesh, what a mess.

Check out this: http://static.stickybits.com/web/images/fp_08.jpg. Zero SEO value by putting text in images.

For such a great design, it totally fails at implementation.

billychasen4• 16 years ago

To ensure the same type of experience across browsers, we decided to make much of the top images. Most people still use IE, and we didn't want gross rendered text.

Also, I like tables :) They just work.

cracki• 16 years ago

i think the concept is kinda weak. i'd use a QR code with a link to a wiki page, if that's what this is.

so they're proposing a wiki page for each unique bar code... that smells like wikipedia, but i don't see "business value" in it.

that site looks like they're trying to market something, which means that they're trying to make money with this. i can't imagine how that's supposed to work.

billychasen4• 16 years ago

QR codes are just an embedded block of text. They can also redirect you to a URL, so in that case, it's just a shortcut to typing.

Stickybits allows you to actually write to barcodes (effectively using the barcode as just a pointer to lots of media)

No easy way to do this with QR and be social. Unless you set up a website.

No marketing, just want to use codes and attach digital content to real world objects.

paul9290• 16 years ago

Very cool idea. Had similar idea recently; Product GPS. Find what store closest to you has X in stock, who has best price and where can I find it in this huge store (walmart, target, macy, etc).

Good luck

fragmede• 16 years ago

Unless I'm misunderstanding things, Stickbits is that website. You just chose to use your own barcodes instead of QR codes for some reason.

elpuri• 16 years ago

No easy way to host digital media without setting up a website? Are you serious?

whalesalad• 16 years ago

EDIT: Quite ironically... they use a QR code on the Android download page! http://www.stickybits.com/android/

QR codes for the win! Seems like the Android world has really latched onto this... with the iPhone kind of not so much. You can store a lot more data in a QR code.

There are some handy tools for a common Android workflow which is, I'm at home and I need to bail real fast to catch a bus or head out, but I want the site I am viewing on my computer on my phone. I generate a quick QR code of the page, snap a pic with my phone, and leave.

Here are some links: http://code.google.com/p/qrbookmarklet/ and http://servletsuite.blogspot.com/2008/11/qr-code-bookmarklet...

I built a simple tool here in Honolulu to enhance a service that does estimated arrival times. You can find it here - http://thebus.ws/about. One of the thing I want to do as a public service and because I am a bus nerd, is get some durable plastic tags printed out with a bazillion QR codes for every bus stop on the island, and mount them in a semi-secure fashion (punks are always gonna fuck with things.... but these will be cheap so who cares). That way when you're at a bus stop you can snap a pic of the QR code and load up the page with all the bus arrivals.

GPS is even easier (which is how I am doing it right now, finding stops near you) but this is just another way to make things quicker.

I wish we would adopt QR codes more here in the US of A... Japan uses them all over the place.

LiveTheDream5• 16 years ago

> I wish we would adopt QR codes more here in the US of A... Japan uses them all over the place.

Agreed.

LiveTheDream5• 16 years ago

The stickybits value-add is providing the infrastructure for a social version of what you described. You can set it up with absolutely zero technical knowledge (a key factor that people on HN can easily forget about -- don't forgot about the normals)

Of course anyone could whip up a free QR code that encodes a URL to your website/webapp/wiki/whatever and get the same thing more or less, but YOU must get the code and put the it on a sticker, YOU must build the wiki, YOU must integrate twitter/foursquare/facebook/geocoding, etc). That sounds like a fun project actually, but a normal company wanting that will have to put up big bucks to a developer to make the system. With stickybits, you buy some (overpriced) stickers, and all the features I described above are available to users with a complexity equivalent to texting. So, this concept is anything BUT weak. Simplifying a process is really, really important. When the iPod first came out, there were a lot of technically better options, but the iPod/iTunes combo was so easy to use that it crushed the competition. The cool factor was there too, and I don't know if barcodes will ever be considered cool, but that's another thread.

As far as making money...of course they will try to make money. It's a company, not a non-profit. I presume the money is in the data, much like bit.ly. Stickybits will be able to see who is scanning what codes, and where that's all happening. That information is ultra-valuable to any company trying to sell or promote something. In fact, I would not be surprised one bit if the prices of those sticker packages approach zero, because the real value is in gathering data, not selling stickers, and free stickers will help the userbase grow faster so a competitor doesn't steal their lunch.

The biggest hurdle would be getting people to adopt the stickybits app, or more generally getting other apps to adopt the stickybits API. The advantage of QR codes is that the format is standardized and widely adopted (well, relatively speaking). The best use-case would be using a QR code when encodes your company's website or whatever (NOT a stickybit code), but then scan that code with stickybits to add the cool social features. Then you hit all audiences: stickybit app users get to see the social comments and check-ins, while the information degrades gracefully for standard QR readers still can understand the underlying URL.

(Billy, I think it would be great if the stickybits app was able to decode QR codes and show that data, instead of only showing comments and the title. I guess currently you'd make a QR code, scan it with stickbits and, from the app, set the title and first comment to the content encoded in the QR code.)

sunkencity• 16 years ago

What a greap app! Fantastic design of the homepage as well.

Interesting that they got that through the appstore. Didn't think they allowed barcode scanning apps, but maybe that was just amazon that didn't allow such apps. I think it's a good idea to build this app around fun, and then add the business aspects later.

I would not be surprised though if this app is pulled from the appstore because of some bogus claim and that apple launches a similar feature with a selected partner, but more shopping oriented.

caryme2• 16 years ago

There are plenty of barcode scanning apps, the best probably being RedLaser (http://redlaser.com/).

adamtmca2• 16 years ago

They use Redlaser's SDK.

wesley• 16 years ago

The examples are a bit laughable..

"Attach your resume to your business card" - You could just add a web link instead and everyone would understand instead of limiting yourself to a very specific subset of users that know what to do with the barcode. (Same with "attach photos of what you're selling to a flyer")

Plus, is there any type of control on these barcodes? Can I claim a barcode and not allow anyone to add anything else? That would be quite important if you're going to put it on a business card..

billychasen4• 16 years ago

Yes, you can create websites and link to them, but it's cumbersome.

With stickybits, you can just upload and you're done. And people see your resume immediately when scanned.

Also, the first person to scan a barcode is the "moderator" and can delete any content that gets posted.

mscantland• 16 years ago

The main use-case I see for this is physical objects which already have a barcode. If you were going to go to the trouble of barcoding something yourself (e.g., business card), you'd be better off using a URL, where you'd be able to control what gets associated with the barcode, to say nothing of avoiding the chicken-egg issues with something like this.

jordanmessina2• 16 years ago

This is actually the first major application that has aspects of it powered by SimpleGeo (as pointed out by Joe Stump here http://twitter.com/joestump/status/10224268993). I think it's as big of an accomplish for SimpleGeo as it is for StickyBits. Both companies are doing some amazing things...

caryme2• 16 years ago

This reminds me of the CueCat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat).

From what I recall, the CueCat was born of the same idea, but was quite before its time (for example, it connected via PS/2).

jordanmessina2• 16 years ago

Agreed, CueCat was well before its time. Dave Mathews (not the singer) was one of the creators of the CueCat and generally everything he does is well before its time.

tbgvi• 16 years ago

Seems interesting, it reminds me of delicious but for products. That to me is the best use case, like their example "Scan a cereal box barcode and attach your best treats recipe".

The other ones, like putting a barcode on a birthday card, I'm not so sure about.

forkqueue• 16 years ago

Shame the Android app is Android 2.0+ only, which means I'm unable to try it with my Hero, at least for the moment.

vyrotek• 16 years ago

Well that explains why I couldn't download it on my Hero either. Indeed, a shame.

aristus• 16 years ago

The CueCat rides again, except now with spam potential. o_O

norova2• 16 years ago

Just as a heads up, www.stickybits.com is blocked by default in the NETGEAR UTM25. It is classified as a "pornograph/sexually explicit" web site.

If any Stickybits people read this, you may want to bug them (Netgear) about clearing your name.

norova2• 16 years ago

An update to this. I was able to get Netgear to reclassify the site, it should be accessible through all Netgear filters now. :)

Mc_Big_G• 16 years ago

Patent pending

Seriously? A somewhat interesting use of bar codes, but not worthy of a patent.

StickyBits: Add a bar code based history to any physical object

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