I’m not sure I have all the pieces put together. From what I’m gathering, starting today the “Mister Boffo” has a “tag” printed inside the strip that when scanned by a mobile device (requires an app download) reveals an animated comic. I’m reading about this in the Star Tribune’s (MN) paper, so it may be localized to that paper. The Tribune says that the technology allows the tag to link to any type of media on the phone such as ads, video, etc.
Joe Martin, the creator of Mister Boffo doesn’t say much on his website, but does link to the animation, I believe readers will see in their mobile device.
I used scannable tags as part of the Schlock Mercenary story a few months ago. The most recent installment is here:
http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20100502.html
It’s not a link to web content, though. It’s straight text, that tells you what her device is saying to the security camera. It’s very much in-story.
@Howard: Oooh, clever! Too clever for me though, what does it say?
It’s computer geek humor.
fnord UID=***** PASS=***** CMD=”overwrite daylog, prev 28800sec, sleep, 6000sec, noprompt” fnord
And yes, there were Unix sysadmins on my forums screaming at the characters for leaving a back door open in their security camera software.
Interestingly, “database insertion attacks” actually work with some traffic cameras in Europe. Put the right code on your front bumper, and when the camera tries to read your license plate and stick in the database, the whole system goes down.
Truth? Stranger than fiction. Stranger even than science fiction.
Well the western world’s gotten quite futuristic. We still don’t have our hoversocks, but at least we’re at the beginning stages of humanity’s hive mind.
I’m a little underwhelmed at the flying car.
Thanks for explaining this, Alan! I thought it was just some weird modern art that was appearing in “Mister Boffo” this week.
I can report that scanning the “Seattle Times” version of “Mister Boffo” using a BlackBerry with the Microsoft Tag app installed, I can scan the tag and in a very 21st Century way, quickly and easily receive the following content:
“Unsupported Device
We’re sorry, the video format is not compatible with your device.”
I feel so connected!