Hi-Tech Shirts Link Social Networks to the Real World

18.11.2008
You see an interesting girl at the bar. Before you approach her, you take a quick snapshot of her with your phone, and -- within seconds -- get automatically connected to her Facebook page to find out her favorite song, or to see if she's even single.

It may sound like something out of a movie, but this sort of online-offline integration is now a reality. A company from the Netherlands has come up with a way to let you wear functioning social Web links on your clothes, and you can take their idea and do it for free. Sound crazy? Keep reading.

The Scannable Shirt

The company, called , has created a with specially created barcodes that can be "scanned" by cell phones. The barcodes correlate with any URL you want -- your Facebook page, your blog, whatever. Anyone else can take a photo of the barcode with their Internet-enabled cell phone and then automatically be directed to your URL within their phone's browser. It's just like a regular Web link, only transported to the real world.

How It Works

The barcodes are powered by something called -- a technology that has been around for several years. ShotCode follows the model of other 2D barcode systems such as and , and, like its competitors, has thus far been used largely limited to commercial endeavors. The shirts are among the first personal and social applications for the technology.