30:18 Correction: He said Tokkyo (特許 patent), not Tokyo. The entire sentence is: We made the patent open to everyone, which made the QR code so popular.
It’s definitely really cool stuff, but it wasn’t invented by this guy who made the QR code. The error correcting codes themselves have been around since the 1960s, he just decided how to organize the information about which level of error correction is used.
Try an experiment, find yourself an (audio) CD, a corresponding player and a black marker, ideally one that can be washed off with iso, and then start painting sectoral covers, just paint 4 or more radial lines from the centre and start expanding them. You should be able to cover almost a quarter of the area before error correction gives up.
@@dougdouglass6126 But it was implemented in a simple functional system that is now universal. It is like you are bitching about Rembrandt because he didn't invent paint.
2 follows 1, 3 follows 2. It's pretty simple, just keep going. Once you have the basic code for higher dimensions, you just run it out to 15. Could be 100, just keep looping. It is simple. Let the computer do the work. They like "complex" things like that. lol
@@paddor And that's why you didn't make the video. This video isn't made for people who have intrinsic and intimate understandings of higher dimensions, or at least not specifically. It's a helpful visualisation of how they actually affect the topic at hand in a way that is easier to understand for the average layman.
Error correction is the purest form of magic that I've ever come across in mathematics. It's like that children's trick where you take someone's birthday, add, subtract, multiply and divide it with some numbers and then guessing the original number from the result. That, but taken several steps further. It's honestly magical to me every time I think about it. P.S. I was gearing up to write a 'long video but still no full form of QR' comment but you unexpectedly blindsided me with it at the end. Well played, good sir.
Nah, FFT/IFFT in ofdm modulation is a real magic from math... It gives the possibility to craft a high bit rate signal that is immune to ISI (interSymbol interference) caused by signal reflextion and other disturbs in a communication channel... Just by working out digitally the intermediate modulation signal instead of creating very complex hardware circuits... That is a real magic, in comparison ecc codes are boring
The part in 30:18 where the translation of what Mr. Hara said was "We decided to launch it in Tokyo..." is actually「特許オープンにした」which means "made it an open patent..." So he actually said "We realized that it was the right thing to do when we made it an open patent. And as a result, it spread widely and we think that it's really good." I learn so much from your videos Derek! Thank you so much!
He talked about creating a new version with some sort of cryptographic attestation. I wonder, now that the basic QR codes are so ubiquitous, if that company will try to commercially license the crypto version? They could probably piggyback the wild success of the insecure version, to get companies to fork out real money for the secure version.
Death was such a big motivator for change at the time. Another fairly well known example (atleast up here in Canada), is Joseph Bombardier, who invented the snowmobile. A snow storm rolled in and his kid was sick, Joseph couldn't go to the doctor or get any medicine. The child passed away, and Joseph dedicated his life to building the snowmobile and perfecting it.
Great fact. You could say the same thing for love, the love for his child was so big that when he lost him he didn't want anyone else to experience that loss in the same way, so he invented the snowmobile. Cheers
There is a similar story of a man named Dashrath Manjhi here in India. His wife got sick and he could not take her to the hospital because of the mountainous terrain that made commute difficult to the city. His wife passed away. However, he set on an expedition to cut the mountain all the way through and build a road so that no one in his village would die like this again.
*Are you kidding me....* I just spent _two weeks_ researching how QR codes are made and implementing my own generator... and then days later you drop _this_ , revealing all of my laboriously-gained arcane knowledge to the masses in half an hour.
The good news is: The masses will not gain the knowledge you have acquired through hard work. The other news is: how much good this knowledge will do you, depends on your next step.
I absolutely loved this! Now this is the kind of content we need! TH-cam had gotten so boring lately and now finally I am being suggested this type of content. Keep it up!
Sorry, but now I know and I have to say it. That isn't a snippet of the script, it's (almost) the content of Qr-code-ver-40.svg that's available on Wikimedia Commons.
@@rosskrt I was about to say "what do you mean "almost" its exactly the same?!" But, then I compared them with a difference filter in photoshop, and now I see the shape that is created by the pixels that were changed.... illuminati confirmed.
For those that are convinced that SOS is an acronym a quick Wikipedia search explains that, originally (in 1906), SOS was chosen because is easy to remember and to read. The idea that it is an acronym for "save our souls" or even "save our ship" emerged years later as a way to help in remembering it. Fun fact, this phenomenon in which a meaning is invented for a sequence of letter is called a backronym
It’s still a pity that ‘Big V’ asserts the ‘code’ was invented by Morse. It was not, he merely ‘popularised’ it 🤬 I guess I’m wasting my breath pointing out that it’s not a ‘code’, it’s a cypher. NaYa. 🤓👍
Masahiro seems so down to earth and inspiring with whatever he says about the future of QR codes will be etc. He's truly a great personality. Me being from India use QR code for payments everyday with UPI and we all can't thank him enough for making payments so easier and useful!
I was not able to understand the mathematical details but very grateful that we have OG youtubers like Veritasium who keep our YT feed sane. Thanks Veritasium!
Also go is most commonly played on 19x19 (19x19 intersections) board. The board he uses is 26x26 (intersections) that's too big to play on. So yes, it's annoying and looks weird to me but it's not even common go board so I don't care that much.
@@DorrySkog Right, but he's just representing zeros and ones using discrete units, so in the end the result is the same as if he shifted all of the stones to a vertex.
I learned about QR codes around the time when I was studying linear algebra, and thought they must be related to the QR algorithm and QR decomposition.
Honestly, if I could’ve had professors as skilled as you at teaching for my Comp Sci degree, I might have actually taken a genuine interest in stuff like this. Well done!!! ❤
30:18 miss translation bro （Japanese）「いわゆる特許をオープンにしたことで...」 （English）”We decided to launch it in Tokyo..." -> "Because we made the patent open for everyone to use...”
@@PuthySlayer69420 just because he speaks japanese doesn't make him a weeb. he could be but he could also have learned the language for fun or been born in japan.
Derek, you really use the internet to make the world a better place. You're awesome and I've been watching you well over a decade. Every video is so well done. Congratulations on being such a great guy, using your passion to bring knowledge to the world. Also: Amazing video! I've always wondered about QR codes. Now I know something about them and their history. The error correction part was also really interesting as I've always been amazed by the idea of correcting errors with only small amounts of additional data.
Well said! When YT first hit the scene it was like TikTok, but in one way worse: On a 20" monitor, it came up as a little box about 6X6 inches. Like TT it was loaded with fun silly stuff. NOW when I want to find out about any subject, I come here first! Science never was anywhere near as interesting in school as it is here. This Gentleman is a BRILLIANT individual!❤
Indonesians are also really into using QR codes. They’ve even standardized QR payments with something called QRIS (with IS standing for "Indonesia Standard"; also a pun of keris, a traditional Indonesian weapon). What’s craaaazzyy about QRIS is that it accepts payments virtually from any bank and any e-wallet. At first, each payment provider had its own QR code, but now it's just QRIS everywhere. From minimarkets to restaurants, and even street vendors/peddlers on the roadside! It’s wild!
What's really crazy is few of the south east asian countries actually made these QR payment cross border capable, As a Malaysian I can use my DuitNow QR capable banking app to pay for something in Indonesia by scanning the same QRIS QR Code
All of these third world country pigs promoting their country's liking of qr codes make me laugh. Nobody cares about how you think it's wild. Better countries do that for a long time alreay 😂
The Snake QR code guy is named MattKC and he has a has a TH-cam channel. I’m sad you didn’t shout him out he has a lot of really cool stuff on there. Edit: He added a shout out in an info card.
@@vaisakh_km and I remember getting the recomdation for it, youtube recomended it to me many times because it knows a lot about me. But I ignored the video becuase I thought he would simply point a link to the game, It was a tempting click and I gave a hard thought to think what the guy is tryna do and i just cannot comprehand how you play a game with a barcode. I will indeed check the video out now. TH-cam will be like bro I told you to check this out so many times! Now you realised. lol
i actually like the way they pop out on my marketing materials. remember that parental advisory on old cds? it kind of has that visual effect of making something look "official".
Clever adding a checksum at the end for the barcode! I've always wondered what would happen if any of the lines got misprinted/scratched but never got around to study about it
Error at 11:05 into the video. 8 bit ASCII are not assigned a value from 1 to 256. They are assigned a value from 0 to 255 giving them 256 possible combinations. Zero is 00000000. One is 00000001. 255 is 11111111.
@@rubendriezen7177 Well, if you consider the many character sets/encodings that include ASCII as a subset, there are plenty that use 8 bits. But, by definition, these aren't ASCII: ASCII is well defined, has a clear standard (ISO/IEC 646:1991), and uses only 7 bits to encode 128 code points.
Derek went straight from the telegraph to bar codes while completely glossing over the facsimile machine (aka the fax machine), which could be thought of as a predecessor to the digital photography that lets you scan QR codes.
I love how you emerge from the exercise and having an interview with the inventor of QR code, you maintain that you hate QR code, while having gained insight. Might be just me, but I find it lovely to be able to appreciate the ingenuity of something without liking it 💖
I was with him when he added the A and B to the number string... then i might as well have been hit with a bat. ive never heard the word polynomial before
I was part of an imaging and print quality design group in a color printer and copier company. 20+ years ago we created color codes that could be printed on a page. These codes contained information about how we created the print or copy as well as other useful information about the state of the machine at the time the page was created. When scanning a print or copy to analyze image quality characteristics, the information color code was also scanned and decoded. While up to 16.7 million colors are typically available, the practical number that could be used for multicolor QR codes is much a smaller number. However, when compared to a binary, i.e. 2 color format, a multicolor format could provide much higher information density.
I got teary eyed hearing the painter's name. He lost the love of his life and dedicated his life to solve the problem that cause him heartburn. A grieving man knows no rest.
Yes, it is upsetting. Now this is why some things should be improved. That was his goal. He succeeded. So may he rest in peace content as he has achieved what people would use for centuries to come.
I mean... to solve A problem that caused him heartburn. THE problem was that he left his wife right before she gave birth which is always a medically scary situation.
it reminded me of a similar story about a guys wife dying because of slow delivery time, but instead of inventing morse code he dug a hole through a mountain
A quick note about barcodes from someone who used to work with them a lot in a software setting. The bar codes you're specifically talking about are UPC-A codes, which consist of 12 digits. There are several other barcode formats as well, extending into even alphanumeric barcodes (which began in 1981 thanks to the development of Code-128), which means there are essentially infinite bar codes. Another trick is that, for example, 00000001 is different from 0001 is different from 01. It's reading the numbers as a string rather than an integer, which allows for the other UPC variations such as UPC-E, or other shorter barcodes you might find on produce. You also got it slightly incorrect on how the scanner knows the beginning and end of the barcode. This is done by a Start symbol and a Stop symbol. The check symbol isn't the last symbol in the bar code. A lot of software can even be configured to have specific start/stop symbols. The main limitation of bar codes is their size and, as you mentioned, the destructibility. And while there's technically an infinite number of bar codes that could be made thanks to Code-128, there was a theoretical limit (and I think a couple hard coded limits) to the length of a bar code. It also required a special tool, or special software (while it's now ubiquitous for smart phones to scan QR codes, you would still need special software or even a special peripheral to properly scan a bar code). QR codes do not (well, they do, but it's ubiquitous to any smart phone now) 2D barcodes (QR codes and others) are also much better at encoding information.
I first noticed the qr codes when I was working in Japan and I thought these were strange looking code. But when I used my phone to scan it, it goes directly to a website which I found it fascinating! To whoever invented this... ingenious!
This is true, but most people have come to know "extended ASCII" as just plain ASCII in common parlance these days. And it's probably easier to explain a full byte/character anyway.
@@__nog642 I was responding to the OP, not your comment about UTF-8, which I do agree with. I was merely referring to what most people have come to know ASCII as -- which is the 256 chars, not 128. Even my high school teacher in the 90's used the 8-bit examples back then.
@@kdallas2007 They used the special characters above 127? ASCII can be 8 bits. It's just a mapping of 7 bit character codes to characters, but you can encode ASCII into 8 bit characters, which is the standard way to encode it. It's still ASCII, not extended ASCII / latin-1, as long as all the character codes are under 128.
1. At 28:44 - I just love (a) the bare feet and (b) the fact that the grid is lined up with the parquet floor. 2. At 8:41 - the cows were "culled" not "called" (as per captions)
One cool thing you can do with QR codes that intend to contain proprietary data, such as an inventory tracking app, is encode the data as a parameter to a URL. The app will know to expect that URL to say “these are the codes we are looking for” but also as a way for a generic code scanner to redirect any given code to an App Store to download the correct app. Of course this introduces some privacy concerns but something like a container ID may be harmless to send.
I absolutely adore everything you put out for us. It’s like watching a well-put-together, well-documented lecture at the most prestigious university-Veritasium University.
@@typothetical here it is: Version 40 QR Code can contain up to 4296 chars. A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is designed to be read by smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, a URL, or other data. Created by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. The QR code was designed to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. The technology has seen frequent use in Japan and South Korea; the United Kingdom is the seventh-largest national consumer of QR codes. Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR codes now are used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (termed mobile tagging). QR codes may be used to display text to the user, to add a vCard contact to the user's device, to open a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or to compose an e-mail or text message. Users can generate and print their own QR codes for others to scan and use by visiting one of several paid and free QR code generating sites or apps.
Version 40 QR Code can contain up to 4296 chars. A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is designed to be read by smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, a URL, or other data. Created by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. The QR code was designed to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. The technology has seen frequent use in Japan and South Korea; the United Kingdom is the seventh-largest national consumer of QR codes. Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR codes now are used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (termed mobile tagging). QR codes may be used to display text to the user, to add a vCard contact to the user's device, to open a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or to compose an e-mail or text message. Users can generate and print their own QR codes for others to scan and use by visiting one of several paid and free QR code generating sites or apps.
I love when i watch something that feeds me knowledge constantly. This was an amazing explanation of how QR Codes work. Never thought these little codes can do so much. The engineering behind it is insane and i'm here asking myself (after seeing this video) "How does one come up with this stuff?". Unbelievable, really!!!
@@studiosilisium I did some digging and found out that their technology, the «piqlFilm», is a 35mm analog film (B&W) that apparently exploits light modulation and silver halide crystals to expose a «permanent» QR code to the film strip. Very innovative for a technology that is so old, and so kind to the environment! // Greta Thunberg would absolutely use this as her storage medium of choice.
@@squidwardfromua You'll get used to place it on the intersections very quickly. And then it feels odd to place stones inside the squares. When you start playing go and get familiar with a 19x19 board it will feel very different from a chess board. So you won't confuse it with the chess way to place stones.
While paying, I noticed that scanning QR codes at odd angles still worked, and I realized that vendor-specific details are stored in the lower right corner. Today, this video confirmed that my assumption was correct. Superb explanation as always, happy to learn about QR and its inventors.
adding color as the inventor mentioned will essentially render them 3-dimensional, where each color represents a level, or maybe a combination of levels if enough colors are used.
@@MarcoLandin Exactly, also, we normally use 3 channels, so that would mean 24-bits per pixel in a QR Code. Going from a single bit to a 24-bit is like making a building with 24 stores, so we can say it creates 24 levels. However, i think since most colors are too similar and that would be a problem for the reader to read, they would reduce the number of color bits. In fact, it was proposed a 4 color and an 8 color version, which seems good enough...
@@MarcoLandin then we can make it 4 dimensional with the third spatial dimension, or 5 dimensional with it being an animation, or even 7 dimensional if we use individual HSV values instead of colour
@@sophiacristina I don't think we'd use a full 24-bit depth as sun fading, odd lighting conditions, and other natural deterioration and obfuscation would be very problematic.
I get so angry when I hear ignorant Americans talking trash about the French. Had it not been for France, and Lafayette in particular, America would still be eating kidneys for breakfast.
My late mother was a radio operator in the Navy during WW2. I loved watching old war movies and whenever there was a segue scene that played morse code she would either translate it on the fly or curse the film for recording meaningless dots and dashes lol.
1, I have always loved QR codes. I even practiced how to read them. 2, One of my favorite games ever is an extremely underrated, philosophically-driven story, puzzle game called The Talos Principle. That game uses QR codes as messages on walls for AI to speak to each other. It's an amazing game. I highly recommend it for everyone who enjoys puzzle games. It is similar to Portal 2 and other great puzzle games.
The Talos Principle is one of the best games ever. Playing through the 2nd one now. If you liked TTP, I can't recommend Outer Wilds enough. Don't google it, every little bit of information is a major spoiler. You'll have to trust a random stranger on this one
@@TomisaMaker The Talos Principle is a first-person puzzle game developed by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital, released in December 2014. The game masterfully combines intricate puzzle mechanics with a deep, philosophical narrative that delves into themes of consciousness, existence, and what it means to be human. In the game, you awaken as a sentient android in a mysterious world filled with ancient ruins and advanced technology. Guided by a voice known as Elohim, you're tasked with solving a series of increasingly complex puzzles to prove your worth. As you explore, you'll encounter terminals that reveal fragments of the world's backstory, prompting you to question the reality of your existence and the nature of free will. What's great about The Talos Principle is its seamless blend of challenging gameplay and thought-provoking storytelling. The puzzles are engaging and well-designed, offering a satisfying sense of accomplishment without feeling repetitive. The game encourages players to reflect on profound philosophical questions, making it an underrated gem that leaves a lasting impression long after completion. This game very deeply touched my psyche in a way that few or no other games have. It very strongly resonated with my worldview: there's no obvious god around us, but we're able to explore the universe, create meaning from an absurd universe, and create solutions to problems from life. Perhaps there's a way to transcend it everything: to become greater than a god we can imagine. Even without free will: we and the whole univerae can change for the better. Plus, now there's a second Talos Principle and more DLC and story for the game's universe. There will likely be a third Talos Principle: the writers are already writing the third game. Tldr: The Talos Principle 1 is a philosophical puzzle game about what it means to be a person and if people have free will. It's an amazing and underrated game.
Didn't think of TTP while watching the video, but you're right! What I love most about the implementation of QR codes in TTP1 is the ability to leave pre-composed QR code messages (possibly containing puzzle hints) for your Steam friends, or even your future self once you start a new game. Also, fun fact: if you switch the game to a different language, the QR codes also switch to that language. Meaning, if you try languages that contain lots of non-ASCII letters, such as CJK languages, the QR codes suddenly become a lot denser.
That man created a very useful technique and it has been used in lots of applications. Very smart man and great interview with him. And you did a great job explaining how they work. Thanks.
This is such an amazing video. For those interested in more about error correction codes and how they work, 3b1b has a couple of great videos on Hamming codes (which are kind of outdated but you'd be able to relate to what you saw in this video) he also made a video on an almost impossible chessboard puzzle which also related to error correction codes and how the puzzle connects to counting the vertices of higher dimensional cubes.
@@vamer423 OK, I meant abbreviate. But in the context this video about encoding I thought it was appropriate to use the term encode. Because if TH-cam hadn’t helped me decode it, I probably would never have guessed that 3b1b was an abbreviation for 3Blue1Brown. I don’t know the Channel’s backstory however.
@@fltof2 oh sorry I didn't get the whole encoding thing, and yea 3blue1brown is commonly "encoded" as 3b1b and the channel has some of the best content on this platform. Grant also has an excellent series of multivariable calculus that he made for Khan Academy. If that sounds like something that interests you I highly recommend you check it out.
Derek, a an active engineer and pilot I now have a better understanding and can enormous future opportunity -- just one point as a commercial pilot we MUST undergoe a radio operator licence every 2 years - ground stations use Morse code as identifiers that we dial up is VHF on approach to landing to ensure the stations ( runway is active in poor \slightly marginal weather. If the ILS OR Beacons we use to triangulate whilst flying drop out this might mean having to go to an alternate aero drome…. BUT S.O.S. = Save Our Souls; I noticed you said it didn’t have meaning but it’s why it’s the international distress code. Used by hikers (smart ones who are prepped to transport and policing and emergency. Also military. Easy to remember… Steve
28:51 Oh feel this. I once spent over an hour writing a QR code on a postcard by hand in pen as part of a practical joke. You can imagine my elation when it successfully scanned. They are not meant for humans.
I'm programming a QR code generator and man, he's right in every aspect, BCH and Reed Solomon's calculations are insanely difficult, specially BCH since he never even mentioned it directly in video. BCH is the error correction code for the format strip and it gets the 5 binary string that is composed of the mask and level of error correction and turns them into a polinomial, then proceeds to shift each one by x^10. The next step is to divide it by the generator polinomial, the "correct" code is the degree 10 polinomial that's left of this mess, and then you also apply a XOR gate on it with a very specific string of 10 bits to generate the actual correct code, which is laid down as first vertically in the upper left corner of the qr code to ↓ direction, after that you get the horizontal which goes this way →, then for the other 2 pieces you need to go the opposite of the first one but in the same order. Like derek said, not human like.
Barcodes wont run out. I'm a grocery store manager. I dont want to type in a search for cookies made in house. We just make up our own code and print our own labels. It's not like we're paying to register that and its easy to see if some number is already in our inventory. Besides, modern cash registers understand many UPC standards so I just make a barcode that uses letters.
I know i thought after a long time I get to see a veritasium video that I can fully understand But yeah he goes into maths like it's casual but it's for him not for everyone We also want to learn but the informational gap between us is too wide sometimes I know it's not his fault but yeah it sometimes sucks 😢
a few months ago, i was wondering how qr codes worked and looked for videos on it but couldn’t find a thing and i knew they were complex but i wasn’t interested enough to go research it myself so i’m eternally grateful for this video!!!
I hate them when they’re displayed on the PS5 during a system update so you have to scan them with your phone to learn what the update is doing…instead of JUST TELLING ME WHAT THE UPDATE DOES
@@aditya.khapre to be fair, how they are used and applied accounts for most of the representation/reputation and that's fair by association. It is used more poorly than good.
@@runswithraptors Eh, that I can somewhat understand, online menus can be kinda preferrable to physical ones given they are easier to update with, for example, a dish of the day or something.
This was such an awesome video! Thanks making the effort to interview Mashiro Hara. Capturing a moment in history for something that has become ubiquitous within a generation. Oh and all the encoding and error-correction was fascinating as always. :)
Edit: (kinda already a thing) At the end he mentions that he's trying to incorporate color into qr-codes. There are probably a few differnet levels to it but if they can somhow get around color calebration isuues then then we would REALLY never run out. I think the easiest way to start with this would be to use simple RGB where 0 is a 0 and 255 is a one. That way each pixel store hold 3 bits
@@marcellkovacs5452 oh wow, seems like it's been around for a while too. I'm surprised he didn't mention it. I guess it's not as widespread b/c it's easier to print black and white...
couldn't resist it so I scanned the examples at 12:05 ...result? Version 1 "I'm the OG" and version 2 "I'm a bog standard QR code" ... funny. 3:40 when I was a kid over 60 years ago we were told that SOS stood for Save Our Souls. Has this been bogus inf. all that time?
More than that really! The guy who came up with the blue LED; for his encore, he also did blue laser diodes, as used in Blueray, high speed fibre comms, the lot. He announced this second invention at a conference on the topic of "why is a blue laser diode too hard to build?" by using a blue laser pointer in his presentation, not a red one. It took the audience a short while to notice, and then I imagine the conference got pretty interesting!
@@abarratt8869 That's some actual chad energy. Wish there was a video of that moment. Would love to see the crowd suddenly go whaaaat as they realize he's using a blue laser pointer.
Those are wonderful accomplishments for sure, and I admire the Japanese people for not sliding into self destructive degeneracy like we have. But the "greatest?" I'd argue that the internet is the greatest invention of the past century. Regardless of how people misuse it, it has given every human on earth instant access to the whole of recorded human knowledge. That's insane...
Veritasium consistently delivers such thought-provoking content! The way you break down complex scientific concepts and present them in an engaging, clear, and entertaining manner is truly incredible. Every video leaves me more curious and excited about the world around us. Thank you for making science so accessible and inspiring!
When they started talking about the 177 QR code I had a feeling he was going to be mentioned. Watched the video when it came out, this is a crazy cannon.
Trivia nitpick: The distress code is not SOS. SOS would be ".../_ _ _/..." However, the distress code is "... _ _ _ ..." -- that is, there are no pauses between sections! This is usually represented by placing an overbar above the letters, to indicate that the operator should not insert pauses.
@@thesinghzingkid SOS is treated as a SINGLE LETTER, not a word. I used slashes here because multiple spaces in a row don't work reliably in TH-cam comments -- I know that's not the traditional way of writing it, but I assumed people could get the point in context of everything else I wrote.
I just had an epiphany @14:25 ‼ - it's like a file format! The QR code is a physical file format! A wrapper for different information forms/types which can be passed, neatly, through the real world when encoded.
Reminds me of the book Shades of Gray by Jasper Fforde, in which animals are all born with barcodes indicating their classification and people would do the bird watching equivalent of writing down the barcode of an animal they saw in the wild in their notebook and showing it to their friends
Indian here. We use QR code based UPI apps to carry out our transactions about 100% of the times. I genuinely cannot remember the last time i actually carried cash (and this is not an exaggeration). Everyone uses these QR codes to pay, and you will find them everywhere, the smallest street food vendor to the biggest luxury stores. I am used to scanning the QR with my phone within a second. Doesnt matter the angle, the blur, it instantly scans and pays, and i cannot imagine being in a country where this is not as mainstream as here
Yes, why this is different from NFC or cards, is you would definitely find stores which don't accept anything but cash in many countries, but with India's QR codes, it's as easy as downloading an app to setup a QR. The apps in fact have hired people to go to each and every merchant in their assigned cities and convince them to setup their app and QR codes. It is just Direct bank-to-bank transfer without any intermediary. Mediums like Visa, MasterCard, or phone wallets charge either the customer or merchant. All you need is a bank account and a smartphone to setup your QR for free, while you need to pay merchant fee to the likes of Visa on every transaction and buy the card scanner machine. This is why small stores across countries charge extra if you pay with card.
I remember first learning about QR codes around 2010, and implementing QR codes in printed signage for the small business I worked for. I wondered how it was possible to have a code where we could insert symbols and still not lose data. Today I learned.
Go to Saily.com/veritasium and use the code 'veritasium' to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase.
No, we need a QR code for that
Fire video! very interesting like always.
Love this!! 💗
how you make informative video like I am watching a movie
aight
God I love when I’m watching a TH-cam video about the history of something and they bring on THE guy that did THE thing
Suji Nakamura in the blue led video lol
@@arvt_ yoooo, it's Suji Nakamura! from the hit invention Suji Nakamura's Blue LED!!!! 🗣🗣🗣
@@arvt_ yeah.. he literally changed LED screens forever, or can say single handedly made color screen possible.
What a time to be alive
japanese be goated in making stuff
30:18 Correction: He said Tokkyo (特許 patent), not Tokyo.
The entire sentence is: We made the patent open to everyone, which made the QR code so popular.
TY, that makes so much more sence
We made Tokyo open to everyone
This should be higher up in the comments
+
This should be pin'ed
Darn! I knew QR codes were clever, but the error correction is mind boggling.
It’s definitely really cool stuff, but it wasn’t invented by this guy who made the QR code. The error correcting codes themselves have been around since the 1960s, he just decided how to organize the information about which level of error correction is used.
Try an experiment, find yourself an (audio) CD, a corresponding player and a black marker, ideally one that can be washed off with iso, and then start painting sectoral covers, just paint 4 or more radial lines from the centre and start expanding them. You should be able to cover almost a quarter of the area before error correction gives up.
@@dougdouglass6126 But it was implemented in a simple functional system that is now universal. It is like you are bitching about Rembrandt because he didn't invent paint.
Didn't expect to see you here. Your channel is a must watch too.
Each person stands on the shoulders of the person who came before them.
It's so cool to see someone enjoying his creation evolving into something else.
Great video, dude. Simply genius.
It's kinda life after death. He'll be long gone, and his thinking will be a basic part of modern society and technology.
I stopped watching for 2 minutes and we went from error correction to 5 dimensional hyper cubes
😂😂
Technology moves prett y f a s t
Yeah I got totally lost there too
Fr my head started ache.
That's what I love about Veritassium. I understand then first 2 minutes, then we're doing rocket science after that
Veritasium: Here is how damaged codes work. It's pretty simple
Also Veritasium: Here's a 15 dimensional cube to explain this.
Narrator: "It was not simple."
2 follows 1, 3 follows 2. It's pretty simple, just keep going. Once you have the basic code for higher dimensions, you just run it out to 15. Could be 100, just keep looping. It is simple. Let the computer do the work. They like "complex" things like that. lol
The number of dimensions literally doesn’t matter in linear algebra. I wouldn’t even have bothered with an animation.
@@paddor And that's why you didn't make the video. This video isn't made for people who have intrinsic and intimate understandings of higher dimensions, or at least not specifically. It's a helpful visualisation of how they actually affect the topic at hand in a way that is easier to understand for the average layman.
** HYPER cube
Error correction is the purest form of magic that I've ever come across in mathematics. It's like that children's trick where you take someone's birthday, add, subtract, multiply and divide it with some numbers and then guessing the original number from the result. That, but taken several steps further. It's honestly magical to me every time I think about it.
P.S. I was gearing up to write a 'long video but still no full form of QR' comment but you unexpectedly blindsided me with it at the end. Well played, good sir.
agree with you.
I want to learn more about error corrections
I love it too. Error correction in any form always happens to be done in a genius way.
optical discs like DVD or Bluray also has redundancy now these days, making storage on blurays (25GB - 128GB) slightly worth it still
Number theory and cryptography is the branch of mathematics you seek. We did this stuff in college.
Nah,
FFT/IFFT in ofdm modulation is a real magic from math...
It gives the possibility to craft a high bit rate signal that is immune to ISI (interSymbol interference) caused by signal reflextion and other disturbs in a communication channel...
Just by working out digitally the intermediate modulation signal instead of creating very complex hardware circuits...
That is a real magic, in comparison ecc codes are boring
I don’t know how this dude does it I just started a new job where I just scan QR codes for 8 hours and was wondering how they worked. You never miss.
The part in 30:18 where the translation of what Mr. Hara said was "We decided to launch it in Tokyo..." is actually「特許オープンにした」which means "made it an open patent..." So he actually said "We realized that it was the right thing to do when we made it an open patent. And as a result, it spread widely and we think that it's really good."
I learn so much from your videos Derek! Thank you so much!
That makes more sense contextually. Thanks!
Ok yeah, I thought that sentence needed some error correction! Made no sense.
thanks
He talked about creating a new version with some sort of cryptographic attestation. I wonder, now that the basic QR codes are so ubiquitous, if that company will try to commercially license the crypto version? They could probably piggyback the wild success of the insecure version, to get companies to fork out real money for the secure version.
ahh japanese so many similar pronunciation. need to listen to the mora and tones.
tokkyo (patent) vs toukyou (city)
Death was such a big motivator for change at the time. Another fairly well known example (atleast up here in Canada), is Joseph Bombardier, who invented the snowmobile. A snow storm rolled in and his kid was sick, Joseph couldn't go to the doctor or get any medicine. The child passed away, and Joseph dedicated his life to building the snowmobile and perfecting it.
Great fact. You could say the same thing for love, the love for his child was so big that when he lost him he didn't want anyone else to experience that loss in the same way, so he invented the snowmobile. Cheers
I love human mind
Gonna die of sex starvation so my dad finally invents sexbots
@@jimbojimbo6873ofc there has to be the weird guy
There is a similar story of a man named Dashrath Manjhi here in India. His wife got sick and he could not take her to the hospital because of the mountainous terrain that made commute difficult to the city. His wife passed away. However, he set on an expedition to cut the mountain all the way through and build a road so that no one in his village would die like this again.
*Are you kidding me....* I just spent _two weeks_ researching how QR codes are made and implementing my own generator... and then days later you drop _this_ , revealing all of my laboriously-gained arcane knowledge to the masses in half an hour.
That's silly, why reinvent the wheel? There are good libraries already.
The good news is: The masses will not gain the knowledge you have acquired through hard work.
The other news is: how much good this knowledge will do you, depends on your next step.
Atleast you revealed your idea to us. Feel free to share us the github link anytime you want.🙏
@@mica_55 Because you didn’t buy a Go chessboard
just use a library
I absolutely loved this! Now this is the kind of content we need! TH-cam had gotten so boring lately and now finally I am being suggested this type of content. Keep it up!
You missed the opportunity to post the link to this video as a QR code on your community page
Edit: He did it let’s goooooooo
😂
He actually did it after seeing this comment
Can still do it!
scan the QR at @13:04
@@antifreeze44 try this one 25:20
I love how the Version 40 QR code at 12:10 is a snippet of the script. Great way to put in an Easter egg.
The other two are saying "I´m a bog-standard QR code" and the version 1 is saying "I´m the OG"
Sorry, but now I know and I have to say it. That isn't a snippet of the script, it's (almost) the content of Qr-code-ver-40.svg that's available on Wikimedia Commons.
@@rosskrt I was about to say "what do you mean "almost" its exactly the same?!" But, then I compared them with a difference filter in photoshop, and now I see the shape that is created by the pixels that were changed.... illuminati confirmed.
For those that are convinced that SOS is an acronym a quick Wikipedia search explains that, originally (in 1906), SOS was chosen because is easy to remember and to read. The idea that it is an acronym for "save our souls" or even "save our ship" emerged years later as a way to help in remembering it.
Fun fact, this phenomenon in which a meaning is invented for a sequence of letter is called a backronym
cool, I never noticed that 505 is easy to read.
@@paulgoogol2652in Morse code it is
And the term backronym is an example of a portmanteau :)
bazinga!
It’s still a pity that ‘Big V’ asserts the ‘code’ was invented by Morse. It was not, he merely ‘popularised’ it 🤬
I guess I’m wasting my breath pointing out that it’s not a ‘code’, it’s a cypher. NaYa. 🤓👍
Masahiro seems so down to earth and inspiring with whatever he says about the future of QR codes will be etc. He's truly a great personality. Me being from India use QR code for payments everyday with UPI and we all can't thank him enough for making payments so easier and useful!
I was not able to understand the mathematical details but very grateful that we have OG youtubers like Veritasium who keep our YT feed sane. Thanks Veritasium!
I JUST GOT RICK ROLLED 13:00
Agreed 💯
10:15 "In Go, you basically place stones at the intersections of lines"
12:40 Derek: mmh yes squares
Lmfao it would be annoying though to do it at thte intersection
That annoyed me so much
I wished I wasn't as annoyed with the placement of the go stones inside the squares instead of on the line's crossings.
Also go is most commonly played on 19x19 (19x19 intersections) board. The board he uses is 26x26 (intersections) that's too big to play on. So yes, it's annoying and looks weird to me but it's not even common go board so I don't care that much.
@@DorrySkog Right, but he's just representing zeros and ones using discrete units, so in the end the result is the same as if he shifted all of the stones to a vertex.
2:00 “…Breese Morse…” what a strange na… OH HE’S THAT ONE
I was like "What a tragic origin to Morse Code" when I saw the last name.
But if you meet a friendly horse
Will you communicate by
mo-o-o-o-orse?
mo-o-o-o-orse?
mo-o-o-o-orse?
@@ivanborsuk1110 how will you speak to that
ho-o-o-o-orse
ho-o-o-o-orse
ho-o-o-o-orse
that's a throwback
BAHA WHILE I WAS WATCHING THIS COMMENT SHOWED UP I WAS LIKE “wha- OH” when he said the last name by itself
The creator of the Morse Code language
Laying out the QR code on a go board is such a simple and elegant real-life visualization, I love it so much
34:13 "They're called quick response because they react quickly."
The man is thrilled with his work :D
:D
when I first used QR codes I thought the QR stand for "Quick Read" but Quick Response is much more viable
I learned about QR codes around the time when I was studying linear algebra, and thought they must be related to the QR algorithm and QR decomposition.
It has the same vibe as Tony Hoare naming his sorting algorithm "Quick Sort" because man it is quick
Honestly, if I could’ve had professors as skilled as you at teaching for my Comp Sci degree, I might have actually taken a genuine interest in stuff like this. Well done!!! ❤
30:18 miss translation bro
（Japanese）「いわゆる特許をオープンにしたことで...」
（English）”We decided to launch it in Tokyo..." -> "Because we made the patent open for everyone to use...”
Weeb
@@PuthySlayer69420 Japanese =/= anime
@@PuthySlayer69420 just because he speaks japanese doesn't make him a weeb. he could be but he could also have learned the language for fun or been born in japan.
@@jasperkuijstermans171I mean considering their yt username is written in Japanese I wouldn’t be surprised if they just spoke it
@@PuthySlayer69420 you proved the *quality* of the 'murica education system
username checks out btw
I absolutely love your style of giving technical information via story telling. It's fantastic
Derek, you really use the internet to make the world a better place. You're awesome and I've been watching you well over a decade. Every video is so well done. Congratulations on being such a great guy, using your passion to bring knowledge to the world.
Also: Amazing video! I've always wondered about QR codes. Now I know something about them and their history. The error correction part was also really interesting as I've always been amazed by the idea of correcting errors with only small amounts of additional data.
Well said! When YT first hit the scene it was like TikTok, but in one way worse: On a 20" monitor, it came up as a little box about 6X6 inches. Like TT it was loaded with fun silly stuff. NOW when I want to find out about any subject, I come here first! Science never was anywhere near as interesting in school as it is here. This Gentleman is a BRILLIANT individual!❤
Indonesians are also really into using QR codes. They’ve even standardized QR payments with something called QRIS (with IS standing for "Indonesia Standard"; also a pun of keris, a traditional Indonesian weapon). What’s craaaazzyy about QRIS is that it accepts payments virtually from any bank and any e-wallet. At first, each payment provider had its own QR code, but now it's just QRIS everywhere. From minimarkets to restaurants, and even street vendors/peddlers on the roadside! It’s wild!
In India it's been there for half a decade
The Philippines also has QRPH as their standard bank ongoing QR code
What's really crazy is few of the south east asian countries actually made these QR payment cross border capable, As a Malaysian I can use my DuitNow QR capable banking app to pay for something in Indonesia by scanning the same QRIS QR Code
Indonesia best country, I love Indonesia. I am from Jatim
All of these third world country pigs promoting their country's liking of qr codes make me laugh. Nobody cares about how you think it's wild. Better countries do that for a long time alreay 😂
The Snake QR code guy is named MattKC and he has a has a TH-cam channel. I’m sad you didn’t shout him out he has a lot of really cool stuff on there.
Edit: He added a shout out in an info card.
Yeah, the lego island guy makes really cool content!
yes, i remeber watching it
I remember watching his videos
@@vaisakh_km and I remember getting the recomdation for it, youtube recomended it to me many times because it knows a lot about me. But I ignored the video becuase I thought he would simply point a link to the game, It was a tempting click and I gave a hard thought to think what the guy is tryna do and i just cannot comprehand how you play a game with a barcode. I will indeed check the video out now. TH-cam will be like bro I told you to check this out so many times! Now you realised. lol
he did in the desription
i actually like the way they pop out on my marketing materials. remember that parental advisory on old cds? it kind of has that visual effect of making something look "official".
Clever adding a checksum at the end for the barcode! I've always wondered what would happen if any of the lines got misprinted/scratched but never got around to study about it
Error at 11:05 into the video. 8 bit ASCII are not assigned a value from 1 to 256. They are assigned a value from 0 to 255 giving them 256 possible combinations. Zero is 00000000. One is 00000001. 255 is 11111111.
nurd
@@randomtuberhandle Doesn't conventional ascii only use 7 bits? Is there a version that uses 8?
@@rubendriezen7177 Well, if you consider the many character sets/encodings that include ASCII as a subset, there are plenty that use 8 bits. But, by definition, these aren't ASCII: ASCII is well defined, has a clear standard (ISO/IEC 646:1991), and uses only 7 bits to encode 128 code points.
I mean rebasing it doesn't make a difference if consistent but of course 8 bit binaries are capable of representing 0 to 255 in unsigned form.
Index shmindex 😉
Derek went straight from the telegraph to bar codes while completely glossing over the facsimile machine (aka the fax machine), which could be thought of as a predecessor to the digital photography that lets you scan QR codes.
There was also OCR (optical character reading) that was common for library books and we had them at Sears on products for sale.
Absolutely astonishing! I had no idea it was that complex yet logical with the ability to correct errors. Mind boggling for sure.
I love how you emerge from the exercise and having an interview with the inventor of QR code, you maintain that you hate QR code, while having gained insight. Might be just me, but I find it lovely to be able to appreciate the ingenuity of something without liking it 💖
22:28 Ok I will definitely treat those six numbers as Coefficients of a degree-five polynomial. Wait.... I have no idea what that is
Don't worry, your computer is the one that needs to treat those six numbers as coefficients of a degree-five polynomial, not you.
I was with him when he added the A and B to the number string... then i might as well have been hit with a bat. ive never heard the word polynomial before
@SuperLifeStream Seriously!!! I'm fairly decent at math .... or so I thought until I heard that word. Personally, I think he made it up 😂
@@SuperLifestream Have you never taken any math algebra or higher? That's one of the basic concepts used in EVERY subject starting in algebra.
@andrewreyes4624 have you not taken algebra?
22:48 you lost me bro
Deadahh said to myself at this time “no idea wtf this dude talkin bout anymore” and clicked off the video but saw this just in time before leaving 😂 🙌
Same here 😂
lmao exactly at this point I was “wtf is this dude”
Same
nobody cares about your lack of math literacy
I was part of an imaging and print quality design group in a color printer and copier company. 20+ years ago we created color codes that could be printed on a page. These codes contained information about how we created the print or copy as well as other useful information about the state of the machine at the time the page was created. When scanning a print or copy to analyze image quality characteristics, the information color code was also scanned and decoded. While up to 16.7 million colors are typically available, the practical number that could be used for multicolor QR codes is much a smaller number. However, when compared to a binary, i.e. 2 color format, a multicolor format could provide much higher information density.
10:08 Are you nodding to a screenshot of Hara? 😂
no
0:20 : “QR codes are a language for machines, and I am a human. But I was wrong”
Finally Derek admits his true nature.
This was hilarious 😂
Best part of the vid
The QD Code at 13:07 didnt disappoint
😂
It was an RA code
25:20 check out this one. 😂
Ha!
Watching the whole video again to find all Easter eggs 😩
P.S.: the game
A most excellent and informative video. Having Masahiro Hara join for an interview was special.
Amazing how simplified you explained ReedSolomon encoding-decoding without going in Galois field and finite field algebra! Beautiful.
I got teary eyed hearing the painter's name. He lost the love of his life and dedicated his life to solve the problem that cause him heartburn. A grieving man knows no rest.
Yes, it is upsetting. Now this is why some things should be improved. That was his goal. He succeeded. So may he rest in peace content as he has achieved what people would use for centuries to come.
yeah the story was sad
I mean... to solve A problem that caused him heartburn. THE problem was that he left his wife right before she gave birth which is always a medically scary situation.
Me too, but also when Masahiro Hara said he wants to make qr codes transmit images like X Rays...that's a noble cause.
it reminded me of a similar story about a guys wife dying because of slow delivery time, but instead of inventing morse code he dug a hole through a mountain
A quick note about barcodes from someone who used to work with them a lot in a software setting. The bar codes you're specifically talking about are UPC-A codes, which consist of 12 digits. There are several other barcode formats as well, extending into even alphanumeric barcodes (which began in 1981 thanks to the development of Code-128), which means there are essentially infinite bar codes. Another trick is that, for example, 00000001 is different from 0001 is different from 01. It's reading the numbers as a string rather than an integer, which allows for the other UPC variations such as UPC-E, or other shorter barcodes you might find on produce.
You also got it slightly incorrect on how the scanner knows the beginning and end of the barcode. This is done by a Start symbol and a Stop symbol. The check symbol isn't the last symbol in the bar code. A lot of software can even be configured to have specific start/stop symbols.
The main limitation of bar codes is their size and, as you mentioned, the destructibility. And while there's technically an infinite number of bar codes that could be made thanks to Code-128, there was a theoretical limit (and I think a couple hard coded limits) to the length of a bar code. It also required a special tool, or special software (while it's now ubiquitous for smart phones to scan QR codes, you would still need special software or even a special peripheral to properly scan a bar code). QR codes do not (well, they do, but it's ubiquitous to any smart phone now) 2D barcodes (QR codes and others) are also much better at encoding information.
I first noticed the qr codes when I was working in Japan and I thought these were strange looking code. But when I used my phone to scan it, it goes directly to a website which I found it fascinating! To whoever invented this... ingenious!
ASCII is actually a 7 bit code. There are very many supersets of it, with ISO 8859-1 ("Latin 1") being one of the most common ones.
UTF-8 is much more common than Latin 1
This is true, but most people have come to know "extended ASCII" as just plain ASCII in common parlance these days. And it's probably easier to explain a full byte/character anyway.
@@kdallas2007 No, extended ASCII is not used much anymore.
@@__nog642 I was responding to the OP, not your comment about UTF-8, which I do agree with. I was merely referring to what most people have come to know ASCII as -- which is the 256 chars, not 128. Even my high school teacher in the 90's used the 8-bit examples back then.
@@kdallas2007 They used the special characters above 127?
ASCII can be 8 bits. It's just a mapping of 7 bit character codes to characters, but you can encode ASCII into 8 bit characters, which is the standard way to encode it. It's still ASCII, not extended ASCII / latin-1, as long as all the character codes are under 128.
1. At 28:44 - I just love (a) the bare feet and (b) the fact that the grid is lined up with the parquet floor.
2. At 8:41 - the cows were "culled" not "called" (as per captions)
thanks! Fixed the captions. Feet are still bare.
yeah that's some clever ruse to advertise the channel on wikifeet, I guess :D
MattKC, the guy behind the snake-on-a-QR-code, is a beast! :D
i hate how he said "a programmer" instead of saying mattkc
@@Emayeahyeah, kinda disappointed by that. they atleast did reference it in the description tho
I would never have expected to see his work on this channel, shame there was no real shoutout :(
The lego island guy?
@@JohnSmith-qn3ob
Thats the guy
Mindblowing to learn that the evolution path of QR code is: Morse code (0-D) -> Barcode (1-D) -> QR code (2-D)
Same. I never knew this!
Cubic code next
Morse code is 1-Dimensional as well. It's just the time axis instead of space.
13:55 he's placing WHAT?
Red stones
💀
Bro think he's in Minecraft
Oh mine guy in chat
bro placedredstone, but didnt power it
One cool thing you can do with QR codes that intend to contain proprietary data, such as an inventory tracking app, is encode the data as a parameter to a URL. The app will know to expect that URL to say “these are the codes we are looking for” but also as a way for a generic code scanner to redirect any given code to an App Store to download the correct app. Of course this introduces some privacy concerns but something like a container ID may be harmless to send.
21:20 and the headache started 😂... Computers are awesome.
Hahahaha my brain turn upside down
I absolutely adore everything you put out for us. It’s like watching a well-put-together, well-documented lecture at the most prestigious university-Veritasium University.
12:05 I just scanned the QR code out of curiosity LOL
Version 1: I'm the OG
Version 2: I'm a bog-standard QR code
The giant version 3 one works too, but theres no way im pasting that all here
@@typothetical here it is: Version 40 QR Code can contain up to 4296 chars.
A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is designed to be read by smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, a URL, or other data.
Created by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. The QR code was designed to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.
The technology has seen frequent use in Japan and South Korea; the United Kingdom is the seventh-largest national consumer of QR codes.
Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR codes now are used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (termed mobile tagging). QR codes may be used to display text to the user, to add a vCard contact to the user's device, to open a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or to compose an e-mail or text message. Users can generate and print their own QR codes for others to scan and use by visiting one of several paid and free QR code generating sites or apps.
Well, that's the sad part. If you do it out of curiosity, some time you will get infected by some malware.
@@sykoteddy Eh, depends on if your phone opens all links that you scan…
Version 40 QR Code can contain up to 4296 chars.
A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is designed to be read by smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, a URL, or other data.
Created by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. The QR code was designed to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.
The technology has seen frequent use in Japan and South Korea; the United Kingdom is the seventh-largest national consumer of QR codes.
Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR codes now are used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (termed mobile tagging). QR codes may be used to display text to the user, to add a vCard contact to the user's device, to open a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or to compose an e-mail or text message. Users can generate and print their own QR codes for others to scan and use by visiting one of several paid and free QR code generating sites or apps.
The amount of quality videos we’ve been getting recently is insane
I know right! I cant believe they are not stopping, so great and so unbalievable!
yeah, hope they wont burn out
From where?
@@dfmayesDeez nuts
I love when i watch something that feeds me knowledge constantly. This was an amazing explanation of how QR Codes work. Never thought these little codes can do so much. The engineering behind it is insane and i'm here asking myself (after seeing this video) "How does one come up with this stuff?". Unbelievable, really!!!
he missed such a huge opportunity to rick roll
I wish this were true but he definitely got me.
it’s not funny anymore
A company in Norway called Piql fits 2MB of data into a QR code. They use it for super secure, long-term (2000 year) data storage. Pretty insane!
Piql, like pickled cucumber? Must be the coolest company name I’ve ever seen in a long time; they pickle data hahah😂
@@egoub That is truly pleasing! 😆
@@studiosilisium I did some digging and found out that their technology, the «piqlFilm», is a 35mm analog film (B&W) that apparently exploits light modulation and silver halide crystals to expose a «permanent» QR code to the film strip.
Very innovative for a technology that is so old, and so kind to the environment!
// Greta Thunberg would absolutely use this as her storage medium of choice.
@@egoub yeah hahaha
where can l find information on this?
The fact the go pieces are being placed in the spaces is driving me insane.
I noticed that too. I get why he did it that way (25x25 spaces instead of 26x26 intersections), but yeah, that looked wrong
I've never played go so it looks much more satisfying than placing on crossings
I played chess
@@squidwardfromua same
@@squidwardfromua You'll get used to place it on the intersections very quickly. And then it feels odd to place stones inside the squares. When you start playing go and get familiar with a 19x19 board it will feel very different from a chess board. So you won't confuse it with the chess way to place stones.
I actually stopped the video with a “did he…? Yes, he did. I bet someone commented on it…”
NO WAY I just got rickrolled 13:15
Nice spot!
Wouldn't that be RicQRolled
Nice. I knew it had to be in there somewhere.
Man ... I would never guess 😂
Man, didn't notice that. Thanks for informing us
While paying, I noticed that scanning QR codes at odd angles still worked, and I realized that vendor-specific details are stored in the lower right corner. Today, this video confirmed that my assumption was correct. Superb explanation as always, happy to learn about QR and its inventors.
Increasing storage by adding a dimension... So the next step is 3d codes. View them in slices, and boom, the QR GIF is born!
adding color as the inventor mentioned will essentially render them 3-dimensional, where each color represents a level, or maybe a combination of levels if enough colors are used.
@@MarcoLandin Exactly, also, we normally use 3 channels, so that would mean 24-bits per pixel in a QR Code.
Going from a single bit to a 24-bit is like making a building with 24 stores, so we can say it creates 24 levels.
However, i think since most colors are too similar and that would be a problem for the reader to read, they would reduce the number of color bits. In fact, it was proposed a 4 color and an 8 color version, which seems good enough...
There is research being done where they use lazer and crystals for 3d data storage, could be done that way
@@MarcoLandin then we can make it 4 dimensional with the third spatial dimension, or 5 dimensional with it being an animation, or even 7 dimensional if we use individual HSV values instead of colour
@@sophiacristina I don't think we'd use a full 24-bit depth as sun fading, odd lighting conditions, and other natural deterioration and obfuscation would be very problematic.
As a student studying engineering this video made me realise that there are very smart people in this world. And this is overwhelming.
1:00 i can't see this guy as anyone but america's favorite fighting frenchman
I get so angry when I hear ignorant Americans talking trash about the French. Had it not been for France, and Lafayette in particular, America would still be eating kidneys for breakfast.
@@DeanStephen I’m canadian, i was making a Hamilton reference
@@Cactacae Hamilton betrayed the Revolution to the bankers. He most certainly isn’t everyone’s favorite.
My late mother was a radio operator in the Navy during WW2. I loved watching old war movies and whenever there was a segue scene that played morse code she would either translate it on the fly or curse the film for recording meaningless dots and dashes lol.
0:40 the design is very human
1, I have always loved QR codes. I even practiced how to read them. 2, One of my favorite games ever is an extremely underrated, philosophically-driven story, puzzle game called The Talos Principle. That game uses QR codes as messages on walls for AI to speak to each other. It's an amazing game. I highly recommend it for everyone who enjoys puzzle games. It is similar to Portal 2 and other great puzzle games.
Tell us more.
The Talos Principle is one of the best games ever. Playing through the 2nd one now.
If you liked TTP, I can't recommend Outer Wilds enough. Don't google it, every little bit of information is a major spoiler. You'll have to trust a random stranger on this one
@@TomisaMaker
The Talos Principle is a first-person puzzle game developed by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital, released in December 2014. The game masterfully combines intricate puzzle mechanics with a deep, philosophical narrative that delves into themes of consciousness, existence, and what it means to be human.
In the game, you awaken as a sentient android in a mysterious world filled with ancient ruins and advanced technology. Guided by a voice known as Elohim, you're tasked with solving a series of increasingly complex puzzles to prove your worth. As you explore, you'll encounter terminals that reveal fragments of the world's backstory, prompting you to question the reality of your existence and the nature of free will.
What's great about The Talos Principle is its seamless blend of challenging gameplay and thought-provoking storytelling. The puzzles are engaging and well-designed, offering a satisfying sense of accomplishment without feeling repetitive. The game encourages players to reflect on profound philosophical questions, making it an underrated gem that leaves a lasting impression long after completion.
This game very deeply touched my psyche in a way that few or no other games have. It very strongly resonated with my worldview: there's no obvious god around us, but we're able to explore the universe, create meaning from an absurd universe, and create solutions to problems from life. Perhaps there's a way to transcend it everything: to become greater than a god we can imagine. Even without free will: we and the whole univerae can change for the better.
Plus, now there's a second Talos Principle and more DLC and story for the game's universe. There will likely be a third Talos Principle: the writers are already writing the third game.
Tldr: The Talos Principle 1 is a philosophical puzzle game about what it means to be a person and if people have free will. It's an amazing and underrated game.
Didn't think of TTP while watching the video, but you're right! What I love most about the implementation of QR codes in TTP1 is the ability to leave pre-composed QR code messages (possibly containing puzzle hints) for your Steam friends, or even your future self once you start a new game. Also, fun fact: if you switch the game to a different language, the QR codes also switch to that language. Meaning, if you try languages that contain lots of non-ASCII letters, such as CJK languages, the QR codes suddenly become a lot denser.
Can't believe Veritasium really got John Q.R. Code for an interview
That man created a very useful technique and it has been used in lots of applications. Very smart man and great interview with him. And you did a great job explaining how they work. Thanks.
11:50 This board is 26×26, as stones are placed on intersections, not on squares. The largest standard go board is only 19×19.
I am looking for this comment, because I really don’t think it’s a normal go board 😂
I always leave after watching these videos in awe. Awe that there are some really really smart people out there thinking of solutions to problems.
This is such an amazing video. For those interested in more about error correction codes and how they work, 3b1b has a couple of great videos on Hamming codes (which are kind of outdated but you'd be able to relate to what you saw in this video) he also made a video on an almost impossible chessboard puzzle which also related to error correction codes and how the puzzle connects to counting the vertices of higher dimensional cubes.
Did you just encode 3Blue1Brown?
@@fltof2 encode?
@@vamer423 OK, I meant abbreviate. But in the context this video about encoding I thought it was appropriate to use the term encode. Because if TH-cam hadn’t helped me decode it, I probably would never have guessed that 3b1b was an abbreviation for 3Blue1Brown. I don’t know the Channel’s backstory however.
@@fltof2 oh sorry I didn't get the whole encoding thing, and yea 3blue1brown is commonly "encoded" as 3b1b and the channel has some of the best content on this platform. Grant also has an excellent series of multivariable calculus that he made for Khan Academy. If that sounds like something that interests you I highly recommend you check it out.
Derek, a an active engineer and pilot I now have a better understanding and can enormous future opportunity -- just one point as a commercial pilot we MUST undergoe a radio operator licence every 2 years - ground stations use Morse code as identifiers that we dial up is VHF on approach to landing to ensure the stations ( runway is active in poor \slightly marginal weather. If the ILS OR Beacons we use to triangulate whilst flying drop out this might mean having to go to an alternate aero drome…. BUT S.O.S. = Save Our Souls; I noticed you said it didn’t have meaning but it’s why it’s the international distress code. Used by hikers (smart ones who are prepped to transport and policing and emergency. Also military. Easy to remember… Steve
My brain left the video at 20:00 ...
Same😂😂😂😂😂😂. Literally at 20min I opened comments to help me out😢😊
😂😂😂😂😂
My brain got fried
😂
This is a awesome explanation video. Love it!
28:51 Oh feel this. I once spent over an hour writing a QR code on a postcard by hand in pen as part of a practical joke. You can imagine my elation when it successfully scanned. They are not meant for humans.
I'm programming a QR code generator and man, he's right in every aspect, BCH and Reed Solomon's calculations are insanely difficult, specially BCH since he never even mentioned it directly in video. BCH is the error correction code for the format strip and it gets the 5 binary string that is composed of the mask and level of error correction and turns them into a polinomial, then proceeds to shift each one by x^10. The next step is to divide it by the generator polinomial, the "correct" code is the degree 10 polinomial that's left of this mess, and then you also apply a XOR gate on it with a very specific string of 10 bits to generate the actual correct code, which is laid down as first vertically in the upper left corner of the qr code to ↓ direction, after that you get the horizontal which goes this way →, then for the other 2 pieces you need to go the opposite of the first one but in the same order. Like derek said, not human like.
Barcodes wont run out. I'm a grocery store manager. I dont want to type in a search for cookies made in house. We just make up our own code and print our own labels. It's not like we're paying to register that and its easy to see if some number is already in our inventory. Besides, modern cash registers understand many UPC standards so I just make a barcode that uses letters.
I teared up a little bit listening to how Morse determined to invent a faster way to communicate upon death of his wife. So inspirational
0:22
"...and I am a human."
"But I was wrong."
It sounds so funny when taken out of context🤣
He approved what he is aliem
Or a robot
22:23 …aaaand you lost me
Exact same issue
I know i thought after a long time I get to see a veritasium video that I can fully understand
But yeah he goes into maths like it's casual but it's for him not for everyone
We also want to learn but the informational gap between us is too wide sometimes
I know it's not his fault but yeah it sometimes sucks 😢
I am as good at math as a potato, yet i still watch these videos
This editing and production is epic. Shoutout to whoever did it 👊🏼🙏🏼🚨🗣️
a few months ago, i was wondering how qr codes worked and looked for videos on it but couldn’t find a thing and i knew they were complex but i wasn’t interested enough to go research it myself so i’m eternally grateful for this video!!!
This was fascinating.
I gave up at 5 dimensional hyper cube, but still came away more knowledgeable.
I hate them when they’re displayed on the PS5 during a system update so you have to scan them with your phone to learn what the update is doing…instead of JUST TELLING ME WHAT THE UPDATE DOES
Hate sony for that, not qr codes
@@aditya.khapre to be fair, how they are used and applied accounts for most of the representation/reputation and that's fair by association. It is used more poorly than good.
@@wombat4583like restaurants that use QR codes instead of menus 😂
But I'll be the link it takes you too also has ads on the page.... and thats why they do it...
@@runswithraptors Eh, that I can somewhat understand, online menus can be kinda preferrable to physical ones given they are easier to update with, for example, a dish of the day or something.
1000 years later, when they discover the qr codes painted on glass, I wonder how long will it take for them to understand it's not abstract art...
Nah, they will think it is religious. Probably involved human sacrifice. Or only used by those of high status.
It should not take them long to figure out the decoding scheme.
Really interesting and insightful video - thanks
This editing is awesome !!!! Big respect to the editors.
This was such an awesome video! Thanks making the effort to interview Mashiro Hara. Capturing a moment in history for something that has become ubiquitous within a generation. Oh and all the encoding and error-correction was fascinating as always. :)
Edit: (kinda already a thing)
At the end he mentions that he's trying to incorporate color into qr-codes. There are probably a few differnet levels to it but if they can somhow get around color calebration isuues then then we would REALLY never run out.
I think the easiest way to start with this would be to use simple RGB where 0 is a 0 and 255 is a one. That way each pixel store hold 3 bits
Coloured 2D barcode is already a thing: High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB)
@@marcellkovacs5452 oh wow, seems like it's been around for a while too. I'm surprised he didn't mention it.
I guess it's not as widespread b/c it's easier to print black and white...
Black White and RGB would be 5 probably easily distinguishable different values
jabcode
couldn't resist it so I scanned the examples at 12:05 ...result? Version 1 "I'm the OG" and version 2 "I'm a bog standard QR code" ... funny.
3:40 when I was a kid over 60 years ago we were told that SOS stood for Save Our Souls. Has this been bogus inf. all that time?
So 2 Japanese engineers gave birth to 2 greatest inventions in the 20th century: QR codes and white LEDs
More than that really! The guy who came up with the blue LED; for his encore, he also did blue laser diodes, as used in Blueray, high speed fibre comms, the lot.
He announced this second invention at a conference on the topic of "why is a blue laser diode too hard to build?" by using a blue laser pointer in his presentation, not a red one. It took the audience a short while to notice, and then I imagine the conference got pretty interesting!
@@abarratt8869 That's some actual chad energy. Wish there was a video of that moment. Would love to see the crowd suddenly go whaaaat as they realize he's using a blue laser pointer.
Using technologies invented by white American engineers.
Those are wonderful accomplishments for sure, and I admire the Japanese people for not sliding into self destructive degeneracy like we have.
But the "greatest?" I'd argue that the internet is the greatest invention of the past century. Regardless of how people misuse it, it has given every human on earth instant access to the whole of recorded human knowledge. That's insane...
@@abarratt8869 any extra context on this? i might be able to find a video for QPoily
Its all fun and games until you get rickrolled by a veritasium video
Exactly LOL :))
😭😭got me good
He missed the opportunity to troll us.
Yeah, that's my issue with QR codes. Until you read them with an app you don't know what data it holds, and then it could be already too late.
@@SanderEvers as i know many apps now show you the link before following the link
0:22 '...and I am human. But I was wrong... or is it?'
*inserts Vsauce noises
Veritasium consistently delivers such thought-provoking content! The way you break down complex scientific concepts and present them in an engaging, clear, and entertaining manner is truly incredible. Every video leaves me more curious and excited about the world around us. Thank you for making science so accessible and inspiring!
12:20 "one programmer" sad MattKC noises.
yeah I was like "MattKC mentioned!"
Bro the fact his work was mentioned is wild! Still such an amazing vid of his!
yeah 😢
When they started talking about the 177 QR code I had a feeling he was going to be mentioned. Watched the video when it came out, this is a crazy cannon.
yee
Trivia nitpick: The distress code is not SOS. SOS would be ".../_ _ _/..." However, the distress code is "... _ _ _ ..." -- that is, there are no pauses between sections! This is usually represented by placing an overbar above the letters, to indicate that the operator should not insert pauses.
SAVE OUR SOULS
@@Sindrijothat's a backronym
SOS is one word. you seperate words with bars not letters
@@thesinghzingkid So it's sos.
Like in, "Dang, Melissa, I think we're completely sossed again. I guess hiking just isn't for us."
@@thesinghzingkid SOS is treated as a SINGLE LETTER, not a word. I used slashes here because multiple spaces in a row don't work reliably in TH-cam comments -- I know that's not the traditional way of writing it, but I assumed people could get the point in context of everything else I wrote.
I just had an epiphany @14:25 ‼ - it's like a file format! The QR code is a physical file format! A wrapper for different information forms/types which can be passed, neatly, through the real world when encoded.
29:26 They should have been able to just scan the cows 😉
"cows now genetically engineered to have QR codes on the sides" sounds about right xD
😮
Lol was thinking the same, they'll probably have unique patterns as well. :)
Reminds me of the book Shades of Gray by Jasper Fforde, in which animals are all born with barcodes indicating their classification and people would do the bird watching equivalent of writing down the barcode of an animal they saw in the wild in their notebook and showing it to their friends
Works better with zebras.
Indian here. We use QR code based UPI apps to carry out our transactions about 100% of the times. I genuinely cannot remember the last time i actually carried cash (and this is not an exaggeration). Everyone uses these QR codes to pay, and you will find them everywhere, the smallest street food vendor to the biggest luxury stores. I am used to scanning the QR with my phone within a second. Doesnt matter the angle, the blur, it instantly scans and pays, and i cannot imagine being in a country where this is not as mainstream as here
I don't use cash or use a phone app; I use card payments with cash as a backup.
We use NFC to do all those same things, either the chip in the bank card or phone pay app
The actual thing is it's totally free and instantaneous peer to peer transactions
@@googleboughtmee.
Yes, why this is different from NFC or cards, is you would definitely find stores which don't accept anything but cash in many countries, but with India's QR codes, it's as easy as downloading an app to setup a QR. The apps in fact have hired people to go to each and every merchant in their assigned cities and convince them to setup their app and QR codes. It is just Direct bank-to-bank transfer without any intermediary. Mediums like Visa, MasterCard, or phone wallets charge either the customer or merchant. All you need is a bank account and a smartphone to setup your QR for free, while you need to pay merchant fee to the likes of Visa on every transaction and buy the card scanner machine. This is why small stores across countries charge extra if you pay with card.
Btw, ASCII only encoded character codes up to 127, not 256 as mentioned (at 11:13). Only required 7 bits, not 8.
I remember first learning about QR codes around 2010, and implementing QR codes in printed signage for the small business I worked for. I wondered how it was possible to have a code where we could insert symbols and still not lose data. Today I learned.