[2D Barcodes] Global standard approval for mobile airline check-ins

Another good sign that 2D tagging is here to stay and there is some (long overdue) standardisation on the way.

Original Article – Herald Tribune

Co-working in Australia

After reading an excellent article by Brad Reed on Network World (this seems to be the online version: Co-working: the ultimate in teleworking flexibility), I finally got motivated enough to do some more research about this phenomenum in the two places of interest to me (Austria and Australia) as well as write a quick entry about this.

The whole co-working concept has been interesting me ever since it started, but the organisational issues associated with starting such a venture (and as with everything else – a lack of time) have always prevented any serious attempt to actually move in this direction. But after reading some of the examples in the above mentioned article and doing some further research I am starting to warm to the idea again.

Some interesting case studies

• Worldwide listing of Co-working Sites
• Google Map of US Co-working sites
• Irish Coworking Site
• Co-working Google Group

Activity in Australia

After some quick online research there appears to be some activity also in Australia although things seem to be still very much in their infancy. Most of the activity seems to be happening in Canberra, Perth, Syndey and Melbourne (in order of ‘online’ activity).  Andy Howard in Sydney has an interesting post on his site and  fellow software developers describes the situation in Perth and Canberra. It seems (not surprisingly) that most people interested in co-working are in ICT related industries.

Unfortunately so far I have not seen any activity in South Australia. I would have a few locations in mind in the Adelaide CBD (as I have rented there before in a previous life), however I don’t have the capacity to take on the administrative effort at this stage. If anybody in the vicinity of Adelaide (South Australia) is interested in pooling
some resources to get a similar project off the ground please just us the contact section of this site or leave a comment.

The rather unfortunate thing (compared to Europe) is that co-working does not even seem to be on the radar for any Government (or semi-Goverment) Agency involved in the provision of support to emerging businesses. I have recently visited a coworking space in Austria sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce (Wirtschaftskammer) and I found it a rather good investment of funds seeing the activit and buzz around the place.

Mobile 2D codes gathering pace (outside of Asia)

FINALLY !!! As somebody that has been experimenting with this technology for over 2 years now I am quite exited to see that the adoption of this technology is gathering some steem. While it has bee widely adopted in Asia for some years now, it has taken some time to get a foothold in the rest of the world this seems to be changing now. At least in Europe as I can see for myself at the moment. In my opinion with Nokia finally getting serious and throwing its (considerable) weight behind this technology (http://mobilecodes.nokia.com/) and some other industry heavyweights joining forces in the Mobile Codes Consortium.  This will hopefully produce one key outcome, the stadardisation of the label technology, which up to now has been one of the stumbling blocks that has kept people such as myself from adopting these codes in real-world projects. Along with the adoption by some major companies in their advertising this should produce the momentum that was needed to push mobile 2D codes into some broad adoption.

Of course there is similar technology available for the applications that require this link between the physical world (presence) and the mobile internet. One example is RFID together with Near Field Communications (NFC). However apart from the additional expense for RFID labels, no other technology has anywhere close the number of handsets that are capable of using this technology without some add-on to the mobile phone. Currently there are only very few handsets that will support this technology. Possible use in m-Payment projects might speed up the process of handset manufacturers including this in their handsets, but that will be some way off. 2D codes are here and now.

Looks like I will dig out some of the pilot projects out of my (virtual) drawers and see if we can get some interest in them. The project that will most likely be the first is a m-Learning implementation using 2D codes together with the Moodle Learning Managment System which is our preferred LMS.

Let’s see if Australia is also ready to move on this technology ….