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QR codes half the diameter of a hair help combat fraud

| December 20, 2012

Helpful QR CodesTiny, microscopic particles make up invisible labels to track and prevent counterfeit products.

The spotlight has been on QR codes in terms of extreme sizes lately, as records are being broken both on the large and small ends of the scale.

Microscopic barcodes are being used as labels to protect against and track counterfeit goods.

The tiny labels are called microtaggants, and they cannot be seen by the naked eye. They are particles which are used for identification on a microscopic level, so that counterfeit goods can either be prevented or tracked. Though there are many different methods that have been used for this process, it now involves the use of QR codes that are small enough to fit in an area as wide as 80 microns – which is about half a human hair’s diameter.

These QR codes may be small, but they were not able to break the current size record.

Though these QR codes on microtaggants may be exceptionally tiny, and are among the smallest in the world, they have not broken the current record. Instead, Trinity College scientists in Dublin, Ireland were able to achieve that goal earlier this year.

Mircrotaggants, which are the labels that hold the tiny QR codes, are a Microtrace LLC registered trademark. This company specializes in technology to battle counterfeiting on a microscopic level. Using the quick response barcodes is only the latest among many innovations that the company has introduced.

QR codes are seen as beneficial for this purpose because they are capable of holding a great deal more information than other types of these microscopic labels. The barcode can be scanned so that this additional data can be provided.

This anti-counterfeiting development with microscopic QR codes were the result of the work of Korean University professors named S. Kwon and W. Park. They and their teams formed these particle based barcodes which were described in their recently published paper that outlined the process. The most recent edition of the journal Advanced Materials (volume 24) included the report, called “Lithographically Encoded Polymer Microtaggant Using High-Capacity and Error-Correctable QR Code for Anti-Counterfeiting of Drugs”, which received added recognition through a cover image.

Social media marketing from Facebook and Pinterest most successful offline

| December 19, 2012

Social Media MarketingThese two industry leaders are generating more in store action than other networks.

A new social media marketing survey conducted by ACTIVE Network has revealed that 47 percent of social network users have taken offline action in some way following an interaction on one of those sites.

These actions consisted of such behaviors as making a purchase, meeting someone, or participating in an event.

Social media marketing and consumer behaviors from five networks were examined within the survey. They included Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. Among them all, it was determined that Facebook was the greatest driver of offline actions. In fact 87 percent of the users of that site had taken part in at least one offline action as a result of an online interaction there.

The second social media marketing position was taken by relative newcomer, Pinterest.

Pinterest’s social media marketing generated offline action among 70 percent of its users. Next was LinkedIn, with 60 percent, then Twitter, at 56 percent, and finally Google+ at 37 percent. The ACTIVE Network study was entitled “Beyond the Click”.

Also determined through this study was that Facebook and LinkedIn were the leaders in social media marketing that brought about personal connections and meetings in person. These two networks frequently led to meeting offline as well as building direct contacts. In fact, 70 percent of the users of Facebook have gone on to make direct contact with someone because of an interaction that had occurred on the site. Comparatively, 56 percent of LinkedIn users experienced the same result after an interaction on that network.

Similarly, among Facebook users, 40 percent had actually met someone in person because of an interaction that had occurred on that website, where 25 percent of LinkedIn members had done the same thing for that reason.

When it came to event attendance, the leaders were Facebook and Twitter. At Facebook, 58 percent of users had attended an offline event following social media marketing on that site, whereas 31 percent of Twitter users had done the same thing because of what they’d experienced on that network.