Show HN: QR Codify, The Most Useful Snippet I've Ever Written

http://zacharyvoase.com/2013/03/06/qr-codify/

by zacharyvoase • 13 years ago

255 109 13 years ago

colmvp• 13 years ago

http://picturesofpeoplescanningqrcodes.tumblr.com/

QR codes on billboards and in marketing are kind of rubbish, but in terms of moving a URL or a phone number from your PC to your phone quickly, they're actually pretty useful.

franze3• 13 years ago

nope, i run http://miniqr.com for that exact reason, and lets just say, it never took off (and nobody uses is that way)

masklinn• 13 years ago

Unless you can share your clipboard between them, which works even better.

corresation• 13 years ago

QR codes on billboards and in marketing are kind of rubbish

On a big billboard beside the freeway, sure. In a home for sale sign, or in a bus shelter, or anywhere else where people are either a) very interested or b) captive, they are fantastic.

nwh• 13 years ago

I've found them horribly useful for passing authentication tokens from desktop to mobile devices. It means that you can move tokens without having to type enormous screens or go through a normal login form.

They're even pretty if you embed them with a bitmap using QArt — http://research.swtch.com/qart

netcraft2• 13 years ago

I find it useful, it just needs to be easier on phones to get to the qr code scanner. I use an iphone, and if it was as easy as just opening up the camera app, pointing at the code which it recognized and put a box around (similar to the focus box perhaps) that I could click on, it would go a long way to getting more people to use them.

nodata• 13 years ago

You can store WiFi access point credentials in a QR code: http://www.qrzilla.com (click WiFi)

angry-hacker• 13 years ago

This gets posted in every qr code topic. You can't deny QR Codes are popular in Japan and Korea...

mef• 13 years ago

Great hack. Another way to get text quickly to your phone, if you have an iPhone, is to send yourself a message on Messages.

d0vs• 13 years ago

And if you have a Mac.

mseebach• 13 years ago

I just email myself. That works on any combination of computer/phone OSs :)

IgorPartola• 13 years ago

Can't do that with a password or other sensitive info.

I have a web server that only responds to requests from my LAN. I put sensitive info into an HTML file there, then point my phone's browser to it to copy/paste it; then I delete the info from the file. This way the data never leaves my LAN, which I believe is reasonably well protected.

raverbashing• 13 years ago

Well, that's actually a pretty nice idea

Maybe you can sign up for an SMS broker and send SMSs if you don't have a Mac (it's less expensive than you think)

lepht4• 13 years ago

I've been using a Chrome extension I created for the same purpose. The nice part is that it does it without making an external web request, using javascript and canvas.

Also, iPhone users should check out the Scan app[1] for a QR code reader. It's by far the fastest starting, simplest QR scanner I've been able to find; Most of the other apps seem to be cramming in price-checking features and have butt-ugly icons.

[1] http://scan.me

fabriceleal• 13 years ago

I also created a chrome extension, without web requests :)

https://github.com/fabriceleal/chrome-extension-url-qr-encod...

conradev2• 13 years ago

If it's speed you're looking for, check this out:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5016497

marban2• 13 years ago

Just keep in mind that Google's QR Code (Infographic) API has been deprecated.

elijahmanor• 13 years ago

Yeah, I was about to add that too. Sad, but fun to play with until it is gone ;)

jackalope• 13 years ago

You can do it locally with qrencode[1], which is available via MacPorts and Homebrew. It would probably simplify the script, too (especially if converted to bash).

On an X11 environment, I can select some text and get the same results on the command line with something like:

    xsel | qrencode -o - | feh -FZ

None of these commands are standard on any distribution, but you can easily install them or use alternatives. You can also make this an alias, hotkey, etc.

[1] http://fukuchi.org/works/qrencode/

Edit: No need for temporary file

marban2• 13 years ago

Been using http://code.google.com/p/pyqrnative/

TheBindingVoid• 13 years ago

For Android users there is the Chrome to Phone extension which uses Web Intents. No need to scan a QR code. You can directly send selected text, web links, phone numbers or map links to your phone. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-chrome-to-p...

franze3• 13 years ago

if you like URL "hacking" you can do something like this

  http://miniqr.com/http://www.example.com/ 
  http://miniqr.com/"hello world"

does mostly the same as mentioned above, does this for i think now 4 years (i coded this on a beach in mexico, lets say my memories are fuzzy)

after looking at the market fo QR codes now for 4 years, i don't think i will get rich with just that side project. QR codes just do not fulfill any use case for users (they fulfill a use case for content publishers and advertisers, but non for users)

p.s.: if you want to (really) see people scanning QR codes, there is a page for that, too http://replycam.com/browse.php

zacharyvoase3• 13 years ago

For me, it was more about sticking the whole process in an OS X Service available by right-click than actually generating a QR code. Of course you could also write one that sends a text message (via Twilio perhaps), or beams something over Bluetooth.

dmd• 13 years ago

Why is replycam all QR codes? What am I missing?

franze3• 13 years ago

http://miniqr.com/reader.php uses the replycam flash camera (i own both sites, so i don't care)

shawn-butler• 13 years ago

Cool, I like it and would use it daily. I sometimes use dropbox like a pastebin for same thing.

QR Code transfer is probably patent encumbered (like well almost everything).

Nokia has app to do this but in reverse. Look at photo gallery on phone in their app. When you find picture you want to see, open browser on desktop and see QR code. Point camera at screen and the QR code in browser is replaced by image from phone.

http://conversations.nokia.com/2012/11/30/photobeamer-the-ma...

netcraft2• 13 years ago

According to Wikipedia, QR code is free of any license.

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

wuest• 13 years ago

Indeed; in order for any standard like this (or UPC, EAN, etc) to gain widespread usage as opposed to very narrow, single-organization usage, it has to be EASY to adopt.

This means that while the standard's official documentation might require that it be purchased (this is the case with QR), or while software which interacts with it might not be free/gratis, it must not carry with it patent or licensing encumberances. While ISO allows "reasonable and non-discriminatory" patents/licenses to be enforced against technologies which are ISO standards, something like a barcode format is difficult to justify licensing restrictions in almost all cases.

fulafel2• 13 years ago

you can still patent applications of it.

carignanboy• 13 years ago

http://picturesofpeoplescanningqrcodes.tumblr.com/

harel2• 13 years ago

I use Chrome to Phone with my android phone. One click on a button sends the current url to my browser, or I can select any text, right click it and send it to my phone where it is then available on my clipboard to paste wherever. It also keeps a history of all this on my phone so I can recall what I sent last week. That feature alone is why I'll probably never own an iPhone.

Edit: Still a cool extension you've got there! Not taking anything away from it.

jdotjdot• 13 years ago

This is exactly the kind of thing that Apple will likely implement one day as seamless integration is their speciality.

kaolinite• 13 years ago

They haven't done anything with text yet but there's iCloud Tabs for URLs. Anything you have open in Safari is available on your iPhone/iPad too and anything on those devices is available by clicking the cloud icon in Safari.

the_mitsuhiko• 13 years ago

And just for the record: for firefox users there is fox to phone: http://www.foxtophone.com/

felixthehat• 13 years ago

You mean like pastefire, the browser plugin that sends text to your iPhone clipboard, that I've been using for years ;) http://pastefire.com/

pdeuchler2• 13 years ago

Chrome for iOS does this job beautifully :)

lepht4• 13 years ago

Indeed. If only it weren't stuck with a slow js interpreter.

ckarmann2• 13 years ago

Do you guy know something like a "Phone to Chrome"? I'm desperate to find a way to open simply with my desktop Chrome web pages that I stumble upon with my Android but which are impractical to read with it.

kalmar• 13 years ago

You can do this if you use Chrome on your phone, and are signed in with sync enabled. The tabs on your phone are accessible from the 'New Tab' page on you desktop and vice versa. On desktop Chrome, there's a little 'Other Devices' drop down at the bottom; on Chrome for Android, there's a button with a pair of arrows at the bottom right.

jmhobbs• 13 years ago

Also check out Push Pop - http://pushpop.herokuapp.com/

8ig8• 13 years ago

Here's what I did to solve this problem. It works on all platforms/all phones/all browsers.

I created a document using TitanPad (http://titanpad.com/) -- any paste bin service will do. I then bookmarked that document on all my computers and phones. I called the bookmark 'Text Sync'.

Bonus if your favorite paste bin supports versioning. You can use secure Gists if you've got some private text to pass around.

keyboardP3• 13 years ago

I created a bookmarklet that does the same thing for any website you're browsing. Makes it easy to transfer from PC to phone, assuming the phone can read QR codes.

http://keyboardp.tumblr.com/post/38976790879/send-webpage-fr...

dphnx• 13 years ago

This is excellent – I find this more useful than the parent article.

keyboardP3• 13 years ago

Thanks, glad you like it. I wanted an easy way to transfer the URL without installing plugins or having to be signed into specific accounts.

wubbfindel3• 13 years ago

Would be even more useful if it could QR-ify any currently select text. I was just thinking of doing that myself.

wubbfindel3• 13 years ago

Ok, done it. Try this:

https://gist.github.com/findel/5099737

Credit for the selection code: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4652734/return-html-from-...

[Edit: created gist]

duck• 13 years ago

I can't recommend http://pushbullet.com enough... it allows you to send anything to your phone and works very well.

Guillaume86• 13 years ago

Thx, bonus points for the API

batemanesque• 13 years ago

here's something intended to serve roughly the same purpose for iOS/Mac: http://www.getbeamapp.com/

busted• 13 years ago

this looks great but both apps are free. once we have the apps how do they make money?

dreen• 13 years ago

QR sounds useful for some minor applications, but for anything serious placed in a public place on a physical medium (like a billboard) its a phishers dream: just put a sticker with your phishing url over the original one and noone will ever realise.

Kudos• 13 years ago

I remember temporarily sticking an A4-sized QR code linking to a mild shock image on my desk at my old job and tweeting a photo of said desk to see who I'd get a reaction from.

claudius3• 13 years ago

Look, this even works when you’re offline :)

   qrencode -o - -l L -s 10 -- "$(xsel)" | display

fulafel2• 13 years ago

and doesn't tell Google.

claudius3• 13 years ago

I guess you could buffer the selections in a temporary file and upload it to Google with a cronjob or something…

lorenzfx2• 13 years ago

I'm using a zsh function with similar functionality for exactly the same purpose:

    qrdisplay () {
	qrencode -o - "$1" | display
    }

claudius3• 13 years ago

"$*" is probably more likely what you want, and throwing in an extra "--" prevents it from choking on arguments that start with a dash.

lorenzfx2• 13 years ago

you're right, but since I only ever used it for urls I never had noticed these problems

martinaglv• 13 years ago

I read through the comments, expecting to see a JS version of this, but I didn't find one so I made it:

  javascript:(function(){ var i = new Image();i.src = 'http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=300x300&chl='+ encodeURIComponent(getSelection());i.onclick=function(){i.parentNode.removeChild(i)};i.setAttribute('style', 'position:fixed;top:50%;left:50%;margin:-150px 0 0 -150px;box-shadow:0 0 20px rgba(0,0,0,0.2)');document.body.appendChild(i)})();

Create a new bookmark, name it "QR Selection" and add the above code as the URL. Only tested in Chrome.

Edit: Added missing apostrophe.

Hello71• 13 years ago

Missing a closing apostrophe.

    javascript:(function(){var a=new Image;a.src="http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=300x300&chl="+encodeURIComponent(getSelection());a.onclick=function(){a.parentNode.removeChild(a)};a.setAttribute("style","position:fixed;top:50%;left:50%;margin:-150px 0 0 -150px;box-shadow:0 0 20px rgba(0,0,0,0.2)");document.body.appendChild(a)}());

wubbfindel3• 13 years ago

That's pretty awsome, Better than mine: https://gist.github.com/findel/5099737

Groxx• 13 years ago

I've been using something roughly the same as this for a few months. Surprisingly handy, especially since you can use it to send URLs to just about any device.

chaosphere2112• 13 years ago

    Fortunately, OS X now has Services

This feature originates in NeXTSTEP, and I'm fairly certain it has been in OS X since the beginning.

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

pablasso• 13 years ago

Yeah, that sentence should have been "Fortunately, I just discovered services on OS X".

YPetrov• 13 years ago

Great idea! Never knew about the Automator. That got me inspired to create a HN Search service for myself: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5331370

yahelc• 13 years ago

My solution here is usually to just send myself a text message from Google Voice. For me, it's faster to open a new tab and paste my text than to find my QR reader and scan.

pi18n• 13 years ago

There's also a few apps that can copy and paste between devices. I use Any Send to pass links and PDF's around.

seivan• 13 years ago

I love the hacker in you. :)

conradev2• 13 years ago

If you want to read the QR codes just as quickly on your iOS device, check this out:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5016497 http://youtu.be/HQNB9XZdPCk

gaving• 13 years ago

Use pastebot from tapbots (authors of tweetbot) for this sort of thing personally. http://tapbots.com/software/pastebot/

ya• 13 years ago

brew install qrencode

http://fukuchi.org/works/qrencode/index.html.en

klinquist2• 13 years ago

Nice. I've built a web app that pushes a mobile provisioning profile to iOS devices with your wifi ssid & password - lets people easily jump on your wifi

Works with Redlaser only as most QR code readers open web links in a viewport instead of pushing out to safari.

http://www.getonmywifi.com

BHSPitMonkey• 13 years ago

Interesting. I wonder if there's a way for you get around having to actually host the profile, perhaps via some unconscionably long "javascript:" URL that creates the mobileconfig document and "downloads" it. Red Laser doesn't seem to recognize "javascript:..." as an openable URL, but maybe there's a way around that.

klinquist2• 13 years ago

Interesting thought. I'll have to investigate, thanks.

xlevus2• 13 years ago

What would make this perfect, is a "QR Keyboard" that reads from the QR code and dumps it into any other input field.

peterhajas• 13 years ago

> Fortunately, OS X now has Services

This has been a feature for OS X for a long, long time.

ekarulf• 13 years ago

Google's chart API also supports ssl: https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=300x300...

ssdsa• 13 years ago

Since the selected text is sent to Google in plain text via a regular HTTP connection, you shouldn't use it on confidential data.

ctdonath• 13 years ago

I saw this, thought "yeah right, gonna be more of a pain than depicted, why bother", downloaded & installed it anyway because I've got a stupid fondness for the idea (if not the awkward reality) of QR codes ... and not 2 hours later was using it for real. Dang handy, nicely implemented.

Thanks!

Only quibble is: how big a code can this viably render? tried something not particularly large for fun and just got a big "PNG" icon instead.

zacharyvoase3• 13 years ago

Thanks a lot! It's feedback like this that keeps me releasing this stuff for free :P

In terms of size: I think QR codes go up to 1024 bytes; anything larger and perhaps the Google Chart Image API would return an error, so you'd be quicklooking an empty file with a '.png' suffix, hence the generic PNG icon.

The next evolution of this script is to store larger text strings in a pastebin and then just display a QR code for the URL to that.

eliasmacpherson2• 13 years ago

can i get that in ascii please?

eliasmacpherson2• 13 years ago

used qrencode and img2txt to get ascii.

no_news_is• 13 years ago

I followed your lead, but I didn't like the way the img2txt looked. I just wanted black and white.

Then I saw it was unnecessary, qrencode provides ANSI support.

  echo foobar |qrencode -tANSI -o-     #grey, blech

So I threw some sed at it:

  echo foobar |qrencode -tANSI -o- | sed -e "s/\[47m/\[0\;5\;37\;47m/g" -e "s/\[40m/\[0\;34\;40m/g"

But then I looked again, and qrencode provides this to you too:

  echo foobar |qrencode -tANSI256 -o-  # pretty, yay

You can double the output size with:

  echo foobar |qrencode -tANSI256 -o-|sed -e "s/ /  /g;p"

Very pleasing! Might actually use qr codes now.

shill• 13 years ago

Nice work! This inspired me to create an Automator service for pretty printing JSON.

http://random-seeds.tumblr.com/post/44730735573/a-useful-os-...

neilparikh• 13 years ago

Can services be used on Firefox for Mac? It doesn't show up on my right click context menu.

sandesh247• 13 years ago

How do I make the "Services" submenu show up in the right click menu?

ispekhov• 13 years ago

Now go generate tons of QR codes and scan them all with Qriket to earn money.

Herald_MJ• 13 years ago

If you have an iPhone and Mountain Lion, you can just pass messages between devices via the Notes apps and iCloud.

WickyNilliams• 13 years ago

Been meaning to look into Automator ever since I got my mac. Does anyone have a good guide on all the features available?

vladocar• 13 years ago

Here is also URL to QR Bookmarklet: http://www.vcarrer.com/2012/06/url-to-qr-bookmarklet.html

Show HN: QR Codify, The Most Useful Snippet I've Ever Written

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