QR Codes Are Here

By Charly SHELTON

Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to the Future!  The Crescenta Valley Weekly has added a feature to the newspaper to allow better connectivity to our website.

This is a QR code.  QR, Quick Response code, is, essentially, a barcode.  Many computers and Smartphones have the Barcode Scanner feature that allows them to read these codes and get a URL web address, a hidden message, or even a phone number for a tipline or more information, in a fraction of a second.  We will be incorporating these codes into our major and noteworthy stories, taking you to our website for extended edits of the article, more pictures or even video.  For those of you with a mobile device, check the app store for a barcode scanner, or even just a QR code reader.  This will allow you to take the story with you on the go, and any other extras we may have, including videos and special “web only” features.  For those on a computer, download a QR code reader app from anywhere online.  QReader is the one that was tested, and it works on Windows and Mac.

Just place the QR code in the viewfinder, and you have your result in less than a second.  Check out some stories that have these QR codes this week, as well as in weeks past, and keep an eye out for these and other new
techno-developments in the coming months of 2011.  And always remember…..  (scan code for the rest)