Interesting introduction to the formatting of a QR code. What would be interesting to learn is how a particular letter is encoded into a two-dimensional array of pixels. Maybe that could be your next video!
@@chrisarmstrong8198 In the 'data' area, is the data simply in rows (or columns) of pixel bits? Can't imagine how data could be in both rows and columns 'simultaneously'. Unless every 2nd row and every 2nd column... ?
Good video. I was kind of hoping it would go a little further into what happens when you scan these with your phone but it does make sense for that to be a separate video. Specifically, I worry these are incredibly vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. I wonder if I could set my phone to use a super limited and secure DNS and antivirus on QR scan sites and maybe heuristics.
What happens? Depends on the app, right? You didn’t get the part where this is pure text, so it can be a WiFi name and password or a URL,etc. Yes, DNS and AV do help against malware, but they can always use the IP address instead of the FQDN, right?
@@pepeshopping I just think it would be a good video to go through the settings on phones to assure QRs don't install viruses. I avoid QRs because I don't trust them. What I want is for my phone to just show me the information and what the QR is asking to do along with anything known about the site, address, numbe...r or heuristics.
6:09 Slight correction: larger QR codes have _more_ alignment patterns, placed at regular intervals horizontally and vertically. Also, it's very interesting how even if there is damage to parts of the code you might think are critical, such as the timing pattern, it's _still_ readable with sufficient error correction, as your examples show. I'm not a big fan of putting logos and such in the middle, though; you're just throwing away some of that error correction and making scanning problems more likely. I would personally avoid it or at least try to keep it to a minimum.
Heck, I find his third example at the low level scans correctly... _sometimes._ And sometimes, it's a little or a lot garbled, though still recognizable as English text.
I did wonder how they worked having the logos in the middle. They are just gaming the error correction to make it readable. Though that then makes it less robust for handling 'real' errors.
I've generated a few directly from Google Chrome (go to the share menu) and wondered how it still managed to work with their dino logo in the middle. Now i know. Thanks Gary !
It's strange the "finder pattern" is as large as it is. It takes up about 20% of the area. A solid line along the top would accomplish the same thing. Assuming it's primary purpose is for orientation.
Awesome. Is there some mechanism to not have data on the middle (ie: blank), so that a logo on the middle isn't eliminating error correction altogether?
Very interesting and informative. For some things they are fantastic but others it is technology for the sake of technology. I prefer a menu. in a restaurant.
Restaurants prefer to not have to keep reprinting and laminating if menu items change. No more cleaning and having someone bring it to you, etc. And they prefer to know you have a smartphone so they can later get you to install an app and they can harvest your data.
@@zz3709 Printing out menus or paying an IT man to keep updating the web site. A menu to me is far better. As usually they are bigger than a small phone screen.
Well done Gary, I wrote UPC bar code software for a manufacture and learned that the white is the code and the black bars are the boundaries. I wonder if it's the same with QR codes?
We went to a restaurant where you were supposed to scan a QR code to see the menu. Nope, sorry, it is too hard to read the 6-8 page menu on a 2.5" by 2.5" screen. We asked to get a real menu. Which they had but were trying to get people to avoid. Seems they thought the customers were supposed to serve the restaurant instead of the restaurant serving the customers. For whatever reason, that restaurant has gone out of business.
If restaurant only had QR code instead of menu I would leave and go somewhere else. Why should I use my data and try to read a menu on phone. They are always difficult to read on a phone.
You can get malware or a virus by clicking on any malicious link regardless of the way you are offered the link: SMS, Email, WhatsApp, whatever. However the good news is that Google has a service built into Chrome which is able to recognize malicious links. It is called "Safe Browsing". It lets client applications check URLs against Google's constantly updated lists of unsafe web resources. Examples of unsafe web resources are social engineering sites (phishing and deceptive sites) and sites that host malware or unwanted software.
I adored the QR codes until they were misused to get into restaurants if not jabbed/tested. And those QR-codes were even heavy protected by digital signatures. Very good but very 1984.
If the proof needed to get in was a certificate or some other form of evidence the result would have been the same, don't blame QR codes for that, it is just a way to convey information.
Aaaah, tinfoil hats are here in the comment section as well 😂😂😂 Pssssst, be careful, the elites will transfer secret intel codes into your brains by just looking at the codes 😂😂😂
However, their latest use by Royal Mail to incriminate the innocent has done harm. The Post Office introduced them on postage stamps to detect fraud, now blamed on China, but the Royal Mail started fining the recipients instead, who cannot be guilty.
@@GaryExplains Yes it is, because we fell for the security theatre justifying the con. The senders of the mail are claiming they bought the stamps through legal channels, too, so something funny's going on: at the same time it's another reason to avoid the Post Office like the plague.
I still don't understand. If the system used a barcode and not a QR code then the results would be exactly the same. I don't understand how this is a problem with QR codes.
Another great, informative video. Thank you very much Gary!
Glad you enjoyed it
Can someone assist me now
Interesting introduction to the formatting of a QR code. What would be interesting to learn is how a particular letter is encoded into a two-dimensional array of pixels. Maybe that could be your next video!
Good suggestion !
@@chrisarmstrong8198 In the 'data' area,
is the data simply in rows (or columns) of pixel bits?
Can't imagine how data could be in both rows and columns 'simultaneously'.
Unless every 2nd row and every 2nd column... ?
Great vid! Thank you! I've been curious about QR codes, just not enough to actually look into them!
Good video. I was kind of hoping it would go a little further into what happens when you scan these with your phone but it does make sense for that to be a separate video. Specifically, I worry these are incredibly vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. I wonder if I could set my phone to use a super limited and secure DNS and antivirus on QR scan sites and maybe heuristics.
What happens?
Depends on the app, right?
You didn’t get the part where this is pure text, so it can be a WiFi name and password or a URL,etc.
Yes, DNS and AV do help against malware, but they can always use the IP address instead of the FQDN, right?
@@pepeshopping I just think it would be a good video to go through the settings on phones to assure QRs don't install viruses.
I avoid QRs because I don't trust them. What I want is for my phone to just show me the information and what the QR is asking to do along with anything known about the site, address, numbe...r or heuristics.
6:09 Slight correction: larger QR codes have _more_ alignment patterns, placed at regular intervals horizontally and vertically.
Also, it's very interesting how even if there is damage to parts of the code you might think are critical, such as the timing pattern, it's _still_ readable with sufficient error correction, as your examples show. I'm not a big fan of putting logos and such in the middle, though; you're just throwing away some of that error correction and making scanning problems more likely. I would personally avoid it or at least try to keep it to a minimum.
My phone reads your high quality error correction test with three red marks... "A QR code is a two-dimensional matrix barcode."
Heck, I find his third example at the low level scans correctly... _sometimes._ And sometimes, it's a little or a lot garbled, though still recognizable as English text.
Great video, Gary. I've often wondered how these things worked. That information was most interesting, as I often find of your videos.
Glad you enjoyed it
Really helpful, Gary! I was just thinking about creating my own the other day as it happens. Cheers
Very informative. Thank you.
I did wonder how they worked having the logos in the middle. They are just gaming the error correction to make it readable. Though that then makes it less robust for handling 'real' errors.
I've generated a few directly from Google Chrome (go to the share menu) and wondered how it still managed to work with their dino logo in the middle. Now i know. Thanks Gary !
It's strange the "finder pattern" is as large as it is. It takes up about 20% of the area. A solid line along the top would accomplish the same thing. Assuming it's primary purpose is for orientation.
True, other two dimensional formats support your suggestion. Data Matrix would be an example.
Thank you Gary
Thank you for the info
Most restaurants in my area still use paper menus.
This was amazing!! Many many thanks!!!
good one thanks for explanation!
Could you please put the links to the QR code applications you mentioned in the description? Thanks.
Very useful, thank you
Very interesting - thank you for researching it
Awesome. Is there some mechanism to not have data on the middle (ie: blank), so that a logo on the middle isn't eliminating error correction altogether?
Not really. If you actually need the error correction, it's best to not use a logo.
Very interesting and informative. For some things they are fantastic but others it is technology for the sake of technology. I prefer a menu. in a restaurant.
Restaurants prefer to not have to keep reprinting and laminating if menu items change. No more cleaning and having someone bring it to you, etc. And they prefer to know you have a smartphone so they can later get you to install an app and they can harvest your data.
I must say that I have never been offered a restaurant app to install.
@@GaryExplains Restaurants are places to enjoy good company and fine dining, Phones should be banned not encouraged in such places.
@@zz3709 Printing out menus or paying an IT man to keep updating the web site. A menu to me is far better. As usually they are bigger than a small phone screen.
I see. So you think you have the right to impose your ideals on other people. Interesting. 😜
Well done Gary, I wrote UPC bar code software for a manufacture and learned that the white is the code and the black bars are the boundaries. I wonder if it's the same with QR codes?
Very interesting!!!
Excellent video!
Glad you liked it!
We went to a restaurant where you were supposed to scan a QR code to see the menu. Nope, sorry, it is too hard to read the 6-8 page menu on a 2.5" by 2.5" screen. We asked to get a real menu. Which they had but were trying to get people to avoid. Seems they thought the customers were supposed to serve the restaurant instead of the restaurant serving the customers.
For whatever reason, that restaurant has gone out of business.
was literally just thinking how these worked yesterday... strange
There are some interesting AI images which are readable as QR codes but aside from the three orientation elements look wildly different...
Very interesting.
Thank you. :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
That big Qr code said Gary explains
You could explain what QR stands for.
Quick Response as I show in the video at 1:22 and as it is written in the description of the video.
If restaurant only had QR code instead of menu I would leave and go somewhere else. Why should I use my data and try to read a menu on phone. They are always difficult to read on a phone.
A QR code generator is included in Adobe InDesign.
I've heard that you can get malware or virus's by reading QR codes. Is that true? Thanks
You can get malware or a virus by clicking on any malicious link regardless of the way you are offered the link: SMS, Email, WhatsApp, whatever. However the good news is that Google has a service built into Chrome which is able to recognize malicious links. It is called "Safe Browsing". It lets client applications check URLs against Google's constantly updated lists of unsafe web resources. Examples of unsafe web resources are social engineering sites (phishing and deceptive sites) and sites that host malware or unwanted software.
No secret messages!
No paper menu? I leave. The idea of scrolling back and forth on a multipage menu on a tiny screen is beyond absurd.
Beyond absurd!
"Gary Explains" 😁
Gee, I don't bring "smartphones" to restaurants. Will they supply me with one so that I can read their bloody menu?
Yes I know someone who doesnt own one (out of bloody mindedness really). So it will piss him off greatly at somewhere like Nandos.
So I suppose if the internet goes down you can’t eat.
Lol, version 40 can’t survive TH-cam compression.😂
I adored the QR codes until they were misused to get into restaurants if not jabbed/tested. And those QR-codes were even heavy protected by digital signatures. Very good but very 1984.
If the proof needed to get in was a certificate or some other form of evidence the result would have been the same, don't blame QR codes for that, it is just a way to convey information.
Where do you live?
Blue decaying state?
We NEVER accepted THAT around here!
@@pepeshopping The Netherlands, Europe.
Aaaah, tinfoil hats are here in the comment section as well 😂😂😂
Pssssst, be careful, the elites will transfer secret intel codes into your brains by just looking at the codes 😂😂😂
👏👍👍
Androids watch TV static
So I now to have a phone, etc., in order to scan a code, in order to get a menu, in order to order a cup of coffee?!? Check, please.
However, their latest use by Royal Mail to incriminate the innocent has done harm. The Post Office introduced them on postage stamps to detect fraud, now blamed on China, but the Royal Mail started fining the recipients instead, who cannot be guilty.
Is that the fault of the QR code? If it was a bar code or some other kind of code would the results be any different?
@@GaryExplains Yes it is, because we fell for the security theatre justifying the con. The senders of the mail are claiming they bought the stamps through legal channels, too, so something funny's going on: at the same time it's another reason to avoid the Post Office like the plague.
How is that related to QR codes? i.e. to the medium used to convey that information.
@@GaryExplains Because it's entrapment, which in law's a crime. Whoever created this system's partly responsible.
I still don't understand. If the system used a barcode and not a QR code then the results would be exactly the same. I don't understand how this is a problem with QR codes.
Hate QR codes. Will NOT use them.
Fair enough. Can I ask why?
@@GaryExplains Fail too often.
Interesting. The only time I had a QR code fail to read was one that was carved into wood, not printed. Besides that I have never had a failure. 🤷♂️
@GaryExplains I've never had one fail. More likely, you have a dodgy scanner.
@@toby9999 Every phone I've ever owned....no.