New technology, already in use in parts of Asia but still in development in the United States, allows the phones to connect everyday objects with the Internet. In their new incarnation, cellphones become a sort of digital remote control. The phone can read encoded information on everyday objects and translate that into videos, pictures or text files on its screen. In Japan, customers can point their cell phones at the wrapping on a hamburgers to get nutrition information on their screens.
Ko Sasaki for The New York Times The pattern on a building in Tokyo is filled with information that can be read by a properly programmed cellphone with a camera. The technology can also be used for many other things, like buying airline tickets.
“The cellphone is the natural tool to combine the physical world with the digital world,” that executive, Cyriac Roeding, the head of mobile-phone applications for CBS, said the other day.
“The cellphone is the natural tool to combine the physical world with the digital world,” that executive, Cyriac Roeding, the head of mobile-phone applications for CBS, said the other day.
"Advertisers say they are interested in offering similar capabilities in the United States, but cellphones in the States do not come with the necessary software. For now, consumers have to download the technology themselves" ("New Bar Codes Can Talk With Your Cellphone," April 1)
Still, big advertising and technology companies like Hewlett-Packard and the Publicis Groupe, an advertising conglomerate, are pushing to popularize the technology here.
This technology will help consumers get more accurate information at a more rapid rate. Also, advertisers will be able to track which consumers are searching their product, which should lead to more targetted and relevant ads.
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