Since I won a Kodak wide angle M580 camera last, several people have comment that they want to see pictures. Returning on the ferry yesterday afternoon from Bainbridge Island I took a picture of Seattle. Compare it with a shot from about the same distance I took last summer with my Nikon CoolpixS550.

First, with the Nikon

And now the Kodak M580

Do I know if I was in exactly the same place? No. I actually think I was closer with the Kodak.

And of  course, the wider angle lens makes a difference. I took some pictures in a house yesterday and was pretty pleased with the results. I'll share a comparison of those another time.

There have been a multitude of posts about QR codes recently but I haven't stumbled across any on Microsoft Tags.

It's possible that's just oversight, or perhaps word of mouth advertising is stronger in the QR sector. At any rate, I recently posted a Microsoft Tag on a sign post for a listing of mine and there were only two scans. Those two were from fellow agents I asked to scan the icon so that I could see if it worked at all. (I don't have a smart phone.) It worked, and yet, it didn't work. The public didn't make the effort as long as the paper flyer was on site. The listing sold in two weeks and the flyer box was never empty, so it may not have been a valid test of the application.

Someday I'll have a listing and not put a flyer box on the sign post (with concurrence of the owner, of course. And I'll post both a QR Code and a Microsoft Tag. That will challenge the public.

I like the Microsoft Tag because it is more eye appealing as it is in color. It is also customizable in that you can potentially convert your brand into a scanable tag. There is a handy pdf instruction manual for the construction and use of Microsoft Tags.

Here is a QR Code and a Microsoft Tag. One is to my personal website and the other is to my profile on my company website. Which icon would you scan given you had both applications loaded in your phone?