And I say "he" because a report just released by comScore says of the 14 million U.S. mobile users who scanned a QR code using their devices in June, about 61 percent were male. More than half were between the ages of 18 to 34 and more than a third had a household income greater than $100,000.

As for where these cell-phone wielding consumers the study found that users are most likely to scan codes found in newspapers and magazines and on product packaging and do so while at home or in a store.

While 14 million people making use of the codes in month sounds like a big number, it's actually only 6.2 percent of the total U.S. mobile audience. In Asia, however, people , which makes sense considering they were invented in Japan back in the 90s.

Considering that the smartphone the QR code will no doubt increase in popularity here. predicts, in fact, that we'll see much more QR activity going forward, including greater brand integration in print magazines, more consistent use in outdoor media, and with games and social commerce.

Ad Age says that for marketers, they're a for several reasons. They can make virtually anything interactive, even books or , for that matter. They're also easily customizable and easily trackable. Marketers can view how many times a code was scanned by whom and with what kind of device.