Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I've been gone on a trip in Japan.

Anyway, thought this was really interesting: In Japan, as you probably already know, we already use bar codes that are a lot different from the ones in the US that stores put on their products to record SKU numbers and punkers tattoo on the backs of their necks to decry corporate oppression or some such thinking.

Anyway, ours are smaller, square, and contain lots more data. (You can read about the ones we already use here: http://www.denso-wave.com/qrcode/qrfeature-e.html).

Well now a Japanese company has developed 3-dimensional color bar codes that can contain so much data, they can even hold video clips!

So here's the use: You print the bar code on any magazine advertisement or on any product. Someone with a standard cell phone scans the barcode using their camera. And voila! A video commercial instantly appears on your cell phone screen. No waiting. No download time. No fuss.

When you think about it, it kind of redefines what "data" really is, how it's stored, and how it can be transmitted. Here's the company that makes the new kind: http://www.ci-a.com/cl/var.html