Have you heard of QR codes?

Although initially used to track parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR codes are now (as of 2011) used over a much wider range of applications, including commercial tracking, entertainment and transport ticketing, product marketing and in-store product labeling. Many of these applications target mobile-phone users (via mobile tagging ). Users may receive text, add a vCard contact to their device, open a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or compose an e-mail or text message after scanning QR codes. They can generate and print their own QR codes for others to scan and use by visiting one of several pay or free QR code-generating sites or apps. Google has a popular API to generate QR codes, and apps for scanning QR codes can be found on nearly all smartphone devices.

QR codes storing addresses and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) may appear in magazines, on signs, on buses, on business cards, or on almost any object about which users might need information. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader application can scan the image of the QR code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network , or open a web page in the telephone's browser. This act of linking from physical world objects is termed hardlinking or object hyperlinking . QR Codes may also be linked to a location to track where a code has been scanned. Either the application that scans the QR Code retrieves the geo information by using GPS and cell tower triangulation (aGPS) or the URL encoded in the QR Code itself is associated with a location.

QR code is used and printed on Chinese train tickets since late 2009.

QR codes can be used in Google's mobile Android operating system via both their own Google Goggles application or 3rd party barcode scanners like ZXing or Kaywa . The browser supports URI redirection, which allows QR codes to send metadata to existing applications on the device. Nokia's Symbian operating system features a barcode scanner which can read QR codes, while mbarcode is a QR code reader for the Maemo operating system. In the Apple iOS, a QR code reader is not natively included, but more than fifty paid and free apps are available with both scanning capabilities and hard-linking to URI. With BlackBerry devices, the App World application can natively scan QR codes and load any recognized Web URLs on the device's Web browser. Windows Phone 7.5 is able to scan QR codes through the Bing search app.

In the USA, QR code usage is expanding. During the month of June 2011, according to one study, 14 million mobile users scanned a QR code or a barcode. Some 58% of those users scanned a QR or bar code from their home, while 39% scanned from retail stores; 53% of the 14 million users were men between the ages of 18 and 34. QR codes are also being tested for "virtual store" formats, particularly in South Korea and Argentina.

While the adoption of QR codes in some markets has been slow to begin (particularly in markets such as the United States, where competing standards such as Data Matrix exist), the technology is gaining some traction in the smartphone market. Many Android, Nokia, Blackberry handsets, and the Nintendo 3DS, come with QR code readers installed. QR reader software is available for most mobile platforms. Moreover, there are a number of online QR code generators which enable users to create QR codes for their own needs.

Get your business online this Christmas using the fantastic Joomla Content Management Software ... so you can update your own site when ever you wish!!!

Joomla URLs that have index.php? .... i.e. http://www.yoursite.com/index.php/aboutme.htm.

I have used Joomla on many servers, Webtapestry only needs the following to achieve http://www.yoursite.com/aboutme.html:

htaccess.txt changed to .htaccess on the server.

• Search Engine Friendly URLsYes
• Use Apache mod_rewrite Yes
• Add suffix to URLs Yes

and all is well with the world.

With 1and1 hosting, doing this creates "not found" errors proves to be an issue. Looking through the forums, it is difficult to find a definitive answer.

So this is what to do with 1and 1 to remove the random index.php:

• Go to the Global Configuration area within your Joomla admin.
• Under SEO Settings, click YES for the following 3 items:
• Search Engine Friendly URLs Yes
• Use Apache mod_rewrite Yes
• Add suffix to URLs Yes
• Rename you htaccess.txt file to .htaccess
• Use a text editor to remove the "#" before the words RewriteBase on line 70 (Joomla 1.5.23)

Fixed!!!

With Joomla 1.7 the user community placed a large emphasis on making the CMS installation process as simple as possible and new versions more frequent.

This will allow users to more easily and frequently migrate to the latest version of Joomla, and take advantage of all the security benefits associated with running the newest code. We think Joomla users around the world will really embrace this new process.

One Click Version Updating

Update a site to the latest stable Joomla release with just a click. The new built-in updater also handles updates for Joomla and Joomla extensions.

This is a major enhancement improving upon the previous system of manually updating individual files on the server.

Six-Month Release Cycle

A shorter development cycle that will enhance Joomla's stability by providing more core feature development and adoption. Short-term releases will be in active development for six months, then reach the end-of-life one month after the next version's release. Long-term support will be active for 15 months, starting with Joomla version 1.8. Version 1.7 will have a support cycle of seven months.

Multilanguage Improvements

Multilanguage improvements allow you to associate menu items in different languages for faster navigation.

Language packs can now also be built to automatically select the best font for that language for the administrative back end.

Additional Features

• The ability to create a search menu option with pre-defined search options. This allows developers to create a menu item that pre-fills out the search fields so end-users can have a built-in search for a specific phrase.
• Better example code for different plug-in types. The enables developers to more easily build custom extensions.
• The ability to automatically validate form data against a list of options during the save operation. This makes it easier to protect against hackers manipulating forms and trying to save invalid data.
• Enables the submit article form to automatically set the article category. This makes it easier for site administrators to restrict users to a specific category meaning content isn't accidentally added to the incorrect page on a website.
• Batch processing (copy & move) of articles is now available in the same way as it is for categories and menu items.

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