Tag Your Stuff
Michael Arrington at TechCrunch flags an unfortunately named app called Mytago, which lets you tag the real-world stuff around you for later access on the Web by putting a scanable sticker on it. I’m not convinced (neither is Michael). This kind of physical tagging of real-world objects only makes sense if you’re tagging someone else’s stuff; if it’s your own, there are plenty of better ways to upload things and acquire a Web presence for them. Tagging items out in the world for people to see and share on the Web is a great idea, but I doubt it will be accomplished by introducing a new protocol into the mix. Arrington prefers Mozes, which lets you bookmark things via text messaging. That’s a nice idea, but aren’t our mobile devices soon going to be more powerful than that? In a couple of years, pretty much everyone’s going to be able to Digg (or insert name of new app) pretty much anything they want. I doubt it will be via Mytago or Mozes, however.
Feeds
Mark, check out http://www.shotcode.com/ which is similar but more of an actual offline ‘link’ as opposed to a bookmark you’d use later. Shotcodes connect instantly connect you via your cell phone which is a bit more compelling.
Of course the quite successful (in japan) QR code comes to mind. This is all very interesting, several different people from different academic realms have brought this sort of thing to my attention lately. I think a blog post is in the offing!
Mozes will have to adjust with technology changes for sure (mobile im, photo, geo, rfid, etc). A couple years out has been a couple years out for about eight years now though. I am glad we are not running around telling people how cool all this is as long as you’ve downloaded the app to the Nokia N90, purchased a Carl Zeiss lens extension, are on the EVDO network and have an unlimited data plan. I suspect sms will hang around longer than we think.
Mytago is not trying to be the “real world hyperlinks”. Mytago can be called more aptly “real world bookmarks”, or a real/online world bridge, using real world tagging for later discovery and sharing online.
The existing 2D bar code systems are more like real world hyperlinks, where you scan the tag and immediately get data on your mobile phone. But this means they need to have special software on the phone and you need internet access on the phone. The limited screen real esatate and interactivity on the phone is another reason we want to move the sharing/discovery to the PC.
The phone functions only as a bookmark collector, and the Mytago tags are just bookmarks for later.