Canonical companion video (I think I saw this on BB a while ago) -- more robot-arm clocks, but with what I assume is a zillion-dollar robot arm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpxD01oRMlI

@Takuan: The precursor to my p8tch gig was the "nerdlepoint" project, where I was hand-needlepointing QRCodes (I made the one that Semapedia links to "pillow.")

Check out the closeups of the Sharpie-on-canvas at the Etsy store. Funny, after doing it for a few hours, I started seeing the matrix in those thread intersections.

Agent 86, here's what I did:

* Clicked on your QRCode link
* Opened up the 2D Sense iPhone application
* Scanned your QRcode
* Watched a spinny as 2DSense took the photo
* Watched a spinny as 2DSense processed the photo
* Was told by 2DSense that it couldn't decode the code.
* Scanned the code again, making sure to align the QRCod in the top-left corner of the screen.
* Watched a spinny as 2DSense took the photo
* Watched a spinny as 2DSense processed the photo
* Saw the link encoded in the code
* Waited as Mobile Safari opened the link
* Waited as Mobile Safari passed the link to YouTube
* Waited for YouTube to buffer the movie, and...
PAYOFF.

Was it worth it? YES. IT WAS WORTH IT.

@cruxx:

Can I interest you in my "buy one for the price of two, get one free" sale?

Here's what goes into the twenty-buck price:
* Uniqueness. I could bang out a hundred patches all the same and sell them for five bucks each, but each patch has a different QRCode. I've been laughed out of several manufacturers' offices :)
* Digital-ity. Each p8tch is an entity in a back-end system that's been configured to control it (I know, cry me a river, slaving over those hot pixels all day.)
* Velcro backing. The stitching happens after the patch gets made.

Frankly, I think "Velcro Backing" should become Kevin Kelly's ninth Generative Value.

Anyhow, if twenty bucks for a unique velcro-backed p8tch that you control is too steep, check out the excellent Flickr group QR Codes in the Wild for some ideas on stuff you can do yourself. Keep QR codes open!

Takuan, I dare you to do this using nothing but black and white pigeons, each conditioned to want a particular combination of black and white pigeons as its neighbor. Then you release the pigeons, and the resulting midair QRcode scans to a video of Dean Martin singing "Volare."

Wait, wait, or we do this by selling homeowners in a giant development shingles in various grades of UV-proofness. Over the course of twenty years, some of the house roofs fade to white, revealing a QRCode that links to an MP3 of Malvina Reynolds singing "Little Boxes."

You, sir or madam, are a GENIUS.

Takuan, I really really like where you're going with this. Do you think we could genetically engineer a breed of corn with a mix of black and white kernels that forms a QR Code LINKING TO ITS OWN GMO CEASE-AND-DESIST ORDER?

Your ideas intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Please display your p8tch linking to your RSS feed, so that I may scan it.

Takuan, every cameraphone has a "sweet spot" for how big it likes a QRcode. I've tested on a friend's Nokia n95, and that seems to be able to zoom in closer than an iPhone, which seems relatively, er... "farsighted."

One of the most important things is the "quiet zone" around the code. As long as there's sufficient white around the code, these codes are pretty resilient. Different levels of error-checking are built into QRcode; I use the highest level I can and still have a small code.

"North Americans and mobile devices. You still don't get it."

Well, actually, we're ABOUT to get it, and about damn time, too. I'm tired of having to start any explanation about QR codes with the phrase "Now, you know, in JAPAN..."

I agree we're late to the party, but by golly we're gonna have FUN at this party now that we're here. I'm having a great time thinking of UTTERLY PRACTICAL use cases. Like this one:

YOU: "Here, pick a card, any card"
THEM: [Picks a card]
YOU: "Okay, now scan the patch on my shoulder right here..."
THEM: "Uh, okay..." [scans patch with iPhone]
iPHONE: [Displays a youtube video]
THEIR MOM (In YouTube video): "Hi sweetie! Say... is... THIS your card? [HOLDS UP THEIR CARD]"
THEM: Brain explodes

Now, this use case is totally do-able as long as you have access to their mom, and can learn the hindu shuffle. And you can get them to install a QRCode reader in the App Store. Details, details, man. Hey, it's not called a commando PRACTICALITY patch.

QRCodes can hold just as much data as you want them to, they just grow to fit the data.

In this case, the patch is like a tinyURL that you can wear, so there's not much to hold besides a URL that's as short as possible (so that the code can be as small as possible, and easier for a cameraphone to read.) I registered the Swiss domain p8t.ch to keep the URLs small.

While I'm here, lemme take a moment to plug the folks at semapedia.org. My patches are a fun toy and a nerd fashion accessory, but they're actually trying to do something worthwhile and open (in the face of all the industry players that are trying to build proprietary "walled gardens" in the 2D barcode space.) I'm not affiliated with them, but am a big fan of their work.

"Harley Compatible?"

I respond thusly:

Q: What is the difference between a Harley Davidson and an old dog?
A: The dog can get in the back of the pickup by itself.

Anyhow, Motorcycle Clique Jousting aside, the other nitpick is that we actually don't break copyright law in the West Chester Guerilla Drive-In (that's my BMW rig in the picture above.) We license our 16MM prints from Swank, and they're actually legit. The part about shoe malls and retirement castles, though? TOTALLY true.

Though I'm sure I won't be the first to say this, I bet Ram Babu moonlights as a high school chemistry teacher.

YAY for clawhammer banjo!

#3: The consumer-printable temporary-tattoo paper I've used always has a noticable plastic layer on it, almost as if you were applying a piece of cling-wrap to your skin. The last time I tried was a couple of years ago, so it might have gotten better.

But that's the reason that I like the paint approach -- if you put it on carefully, it looks plenty real (if that's what you're going for.) I worked on the set of Nickelodeon's Pete and Pete, and Little Pete's Petunia tattoo was painted on (retouched daily)

I don't have a point here, I just love temporary tattoos right now.

Oh, yay! Temporary tattoo meme! This popped up in my RSS feed just as I was finishing the vector art for an "ice cream cone in flames" airbrush tattoo for a local ice-cream shop crawl.

There are two flavors of temporary tattoos -- the kind like the ones above, which are basically ink on a plastic substrate that you glue to your skin, and the kind where you spray on alcohol-based pigment through a stencil. (Well, three -- you can also roll on prosthetic glue through the stencil, then sprinkle glitter.)

You can see pictures of a tattoo booth I set up two weeks ago -- my first ever trying airbrush tattoos -- on Flickr, at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tikaro/sets/72157605393627081/

If you have access to a vinyl plotter (every local sign shop has one), plus a cheap airbrush, you can start making every kid in your neighborhood like like a grizzled stevedore. Unless they opt for the magical unicorn design, that is!

Whoa, speaking of cooler props, the gorilla suits at 0:47 are awesome. We're getting together to make custom gorilla suits this October at the Gorilla Suit Workshop, and I think I've just made two firm design decisions:

1) No rubber gorilla chests
2) Snaps, not velcro, and
3) Front closure.

Because, you know... DAMN.

Sputnik! Awesome! I can't believe we haven't connected before. The West Chester Guerilla Drive-In is just about 10 miles west of your Lawn Chair Drive-In.

Us Internet types have been doing the portable drive-in thing for, like five years, and we thought we were the granddaddies of the movement, but you've been doing this for TWENTY YEARS?

Teach me, master!

Re: the #2 and #5 "illegal public performance" thread: actually, I do exactly what #2 is describing, except I *do* license the movies through Swank, the last 16MM distributor in the states. So we're actually giving Caesar his due.

Last weekend we showed "Caddyshack" at the local driving range (we show the movies at different locations every time), and even got to drive the ball-cart around under fire. Which continues the proud tradition of drive-in gimmicks.

Both my east-coast outfit and the west-coast outfit have been Boinged before, just google "guerilla drive-in" to see 'em! (I'm the "West Chester" one.

Thanks for these photos, Cory!

You're absolutely right, Jun-dai. I should be more careful how I use my language. Semapedia uses QRcode for its machine-readable URLs, not semacode. So it's a QRcode barcode, leading to a semapedia link.