You may or may not have heard about these little pictures taking off in the media world. Quick Response Codes, or QR Codes, are two-dimensional codes that can be scanned with smartphone scanning applications. Once scanned, a QR Code will provide the user with content on their smartphone, such as pictures, video, or web links. Essentially, QR Codes provide a link between the physical world and the Internet.

This is an example code, which links to my website. When someone scans the code using their smartphone, they will see the link to my website and have the option to click it, or to save it for later.

QR Codes can be used in many ways, and are only just beginning to show up in advertising campaigns. They have been used on jewelry, clothing, and giant billboards. They can also be attached to products for interactive marketing campaigns, with applications like Stickybits and Likify.

So, how do you get started? First, download an application to your smartphone to scan the codes. My favourites are QR Scanner for the iPhone, and Barcode Scanner for Android, both of which are free to download. Check here for a more comprehensive list of scanners to match your phone. Once you have the app, you can scan away! Or, try myQR for a 2-click QR Code generator, and start creating your own codes! You can print them on your business card, put them on your social media profiles, or on your blog. Have fun!

Image from here.

If you’ve ever been overwhelmed by hundreds of unread messages in your email inbox, Gmail has just rolled out a great solution to help you sift through the noise. Priority Inbox is a new feature in Gmail which sorts out which messages are important, and which ones can wait until later.

After a two-click process to set up the service, a new section is added to the top of your inbox list, called ‘Important and Unread’, which will include all those messages that Gmail thinks you will want to read straight away, based on various factors such as how often you read or respond to messages from a particular person, and keywords found in the subject title. All other messages will be left as is, with a new heading, ‘Everything Else’.

The great part about this service is that it’s not only easy to set up, but it’s easy to tweak, as well. Each message heading in your inbox has a button attached, so you can send it to ‘Everything Else’, or move it up to ‘Important and Unread’, if Gmail makes a mistake. Theoretically, as you do this the algorithm will get smarter, and you won’t have as many mistakes, but so far it seems like it’s working very well, and is definitely making my life easier! And, when you get through all the ‘Important and Unread’ messages, you’ll be greeted with this happy message:

Woohoo! You’ve read all the important messages in your inbox.

What a way to make my day! What do you think, will you give Priority Inbox a try?

Image: Google

Whether you’re using Twitter for personal interaction or to promote your business, there are all sorts of free tools available to enhance your Twitter experience. Here’s 5 that I enjoy using, which are all free and easy to use.

1. TweetStats

If you like data and statistics, TweetStats is the site for you. This is a free service that graphs the statistics of your Twitter activity, such as the frequency of your tweets, who you engage with most often, and what tools you use to tweet from most often. You can also view your most commonly used words and hashtags, which can be made into a funky-looking Wordle to share with your friends. One of the best parts of the TweetStats service is that you can see each month’s stats separately, or an overall average from the past 18 months.

2. Tweety Got Back

There are hundreds of free Twitter background services, but this is one of my favourites. Based on the work of featured designers, artists and photographers, these backgrounds are easy to install and wonderfully creative.

3. Klout

Another statistical analysis tool, Klout measures your level of influence on Twitter with a complicated algorithm. Klout uses over 25 variables to measure your score, including how many times you’ve been re-tweeted, how many unique users have mentioned your username, the possible reach of your tweets through re-tweets, and the popularity of the links you share. For an in-depth look at your influence in the Twitter-sphere and how popular your content is, Klout is a great tool.

4. Paper.li

If you want a fun way to read your twitter stream, check out paper.li. This service creates a ‘newspaper’ from your tweets, making it more fun and aesthetically pleasing to follow your stream. You can also set up a newspaper using a hashtag or search term, to keep track of tweets on a particular topic. After a minute or two, your paper.li page is set up, with stories organized by topics, videos and photos expanded, and your own tweets included on the side. Mine also had a photo stream and a live stream of my most popular hashtag included automatically. This is a great service for keeping on top of your Twitter stream and making it a more enjoyable experience.

5. Qwitter

If you have a large number of followers on Twitter, Qwitter is a great tool to help you keep track of them. Once you sign up (which is fast, easy and free) you will receive an email each day with a list of users who have stopped following your account. This is a great way to keep up with how your content is being received, and what’s not working for you.

Of course, there are many, many other free tools and services to enrich your Twitter experience, but these are just 5 of my favourites. I’d love to hear your opinion on these, or any others you use regularly!

Image: TweetStats

Twitter has just announced a new feature that is currently being rolled out, called ‘Suggestions For You’. Similar to Facebook’s ‘People You May Know’, the new feature suggests users you may want to follow, based on several factors, including who you follow, and who those users follow. When looking at another users’s profile, you will see suggested users who are similar, and a new tab will be added to the ‘Find People’ link on Twitter.com. The API is also being released to developers, so it can be integrated into third-party applications. Like Facebook, each suggestion will give you the option to hide the user, so they won’t show up in your suggestion list again, or to follow them with one click. Twitter’s true potential comes from a well-picked, well-populated timeline, and this new feature should encourage new users to engage more with the social network, making it a great move from Twitter.

Image: Flickr.

British Airways recently rolled out a new feature in their iPhone app, allowing Executive Club members to check-in with their phones. The app generates an on-screen boarding pass with a QR code, which can be scanned at the boarding gate, allowing iPhone-wielding flyers to bypass the check-in queues. So far, the feature is exclusive to Executive Club members, but British Airways plans to roll it out to all customers within a year. Although not a world exclusive, British Airways is the first UK airline to implement mobile check-in through an application. Their Android and Blackberry apps include updated flight schedules and check-in times, but are yet to gain the mobile check-in function. Image Credit: British Airways

Not to be left behind in today’s digital environment, toy company Mattel has launched Video Girl Barbie, a blonde, sparkling, denim-clad video camera. Barbie’s necklace functions as a video camera, recording up to 25 minutes of video, which can be played back on the LCD screen on Barbie’s back. A pink USB cord connects Barbie to your computer, where the free software download enables video editing, including the ability to add music and sound effects. To mark the release of Video Girl Barbie, Mattel is launching a social media scavenger hunt on July 20, using Twitter and Foursquare. To participate, Barbie’s followers will need to follow clues posted on her Twitter and Foursquare accounts as she conducts a scavenger hunt across New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. Barbie’s street team members will be on hand in each city to award the winners. Earlier this year, Mattel released Computer Engineer Barbie, after an online poll for consumers to choose between careers such as Surgeon, News Anchor, and Architect. The I Can Be campaign introduces children to new career options, and allows them to interact with online videos and games. Computer Engineer Barbie even comes with a code to unlock extra online content, not to mention the binary code spelling Barbie on her shirt. Mattel’s foray into social media is a testament to its important role in modern marketing campaigns, and with over half a million votes (according to Cnet) cast in the I Can Be poll, it’s clear that their approach is working.

Image from here.