have you any wool?

Microsoft is currently working on a project called Microsoft Tag that I was introduced to today. The concept is pretty simple and not unlike the barcode readers you currently see on mobile phones like the iPhone. You hold your camera up to a  barcode, snap a picture, and the application downloads pricing information or product details. Handy, right?

Well what if you could do this with anything? That’s what Microsoft Tag allows you to do. You signup for an account on their website and can instantly start creating these Tags. You can type in some free form text, create a vCard or embed a URL. When you’re finished, MS does it’s magic and a simple square image is produced that is filled with a multitude of color triangles. This, in effect, is a barcode.

So how do you read it? Well that’s easy too. MS has produced a Windows Mobile app and an iPhone app that reads these Tags instantly and performs a function. By instantly I mean, you don’t have to *snap* the photo. When the software detects the image pattern, it’ll launch the resulting function automatically. And by function, I mean – it might link your web browser to target the URL, it might dial a phone number, import a vCard into your contacts or just display some free form text that the Tag author inteded you to see. What’s more, you can share these tags with your friends.

So – cool idea, what would I use it for? Oh the possibilities are near limiteless provided MS continues to expand on the concept and it takes hold with consumers, which I think it will. For starters, you’ve got business cards. Put one of these tags on your business card and when it’s scanned, it’ll import your vCard into someone’s phone. No need to type it out. Heck, don’t even PRINT your contact info on the card – just use the tag. That way, your clients are forced to import your vCard to get your info and now you’re in their phonebook and not another business card lying on kitchen counter. You could place a particularly eye catching ad in a magazine with a little Tag that directs people to your website. Your restaurant could place a tag on it’s takeout menu that will launch google maps and give people directions to your location. These are all some of the ideas Microsoft has already posted on their site.

But…..what else could you do? I started thinking up some ideas and suggestions and I may continue to add to this post as more come to mind. Some are probably silly, some already done, but these are just some things I thought would be cool.

• Obviously an API is needed so that you can create tags on the fly in your web applications and would not need to visit Microsofts site to produce them manually.
• Phone Number Validation: If a phone is required to sign up for your webapp, you could use an API to produce a Tag that directs the users phone to call an authentication server of even send a text. You could verify this text came from their entered phone number and you’ve just validated their entry.
• Integration with a push/pull desktop App: This would take MS getting involved, but often if you’re out on the run you don’t have time to stop and smell the roses. So scanning a tag of a movie poster takes you to their official website to view the trailer. Great, but you don’t have time right now. Instead, have it queue up your scanned tags and when you get home you could have a desktop app pull down all the ones you’ve scanned. Or with a push service, have them there already waiting.
• Integration with other reminder or bookmarking services like Evernote. Scanning a tag sends it to evernote so you can check it out later. You could even embed it with geo-location information because you’re taking the pick with your mobile. So if the Tag was as some fancy restaurant you wanted to remember, you’d know where it was.
• Reporting Malicious Tags: I think they need to implement a feature when you can flag a tag as being malicious. Maybe a tag at the local store actually sends you to a porn site. You don’t want your kids inadvertently scanning those.

These are just a few ideas I had. I’ll post some more later. Comment and let me know what you think!

Wordress Tag for Microsoft Tags Blog Post

I attended my first Findlay Area dot Net User Group meeting today and I must say, it was pretty cool. They had a Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 Launch Event with guest speaker Brian Prince, an Architect Evangelist from Microsoft.

There are oodles of cool new features in VS and SQL 2008, most exciting I think is LINQ. I’ve heard all this talk about LINQ in the past and just thought it was a new way to write SQL and I was like “no way, I’m not changing, I love my T-SQL”. Boy, was I awakened. LINQ looks like it rocks!

A couple of the guys from work went and 2 of em walked out with a software bundle of VS 2008, SQL 2008 and Windows Server 2008. Nice! Brian also gave out a $1,000 Expression Studio package and gave a great presentation. I’m definitely going to have to start attending this regularly.