QR Codes, those mysterious little blocks that remind me of a crossword puzzle background, are showing up everywhere lately. What are they doing here and what do they want?

The Quick Response code was designed by Denso Wave in 1994 to track vehicles for Toyota during the manufacturing process. It’s actually an evolution of the bar code.

Also known as a two-dimensional (2D) code, these black and white squares have been widely used in Japan for the past decade. What makes it special is the fact that it can hold thousands more characters than a 1D bar code, which is limited to 20. The more information you ask a 2D code to store, the smaller the pixels will be. A QR Code can be scanned vertically or horizontally, unlike a standard UPC code.

When you scan a code, you are linked to information in the form of a text, phone number, web site, etc. To enable scanning, you must first install a QR Scanner app on your smartphone. You can find this by searching for “QR Scanner” and your model of smartphone in your browser. If your phone has a built-in camera, there should be a QR app available. YouTube has videos posted for how to scan and use QR Codes if you’d like to see a demonstration.

Enabling a QR Code is relatively easy and free of charge. You enter your information into a QR Code generator, found on many web sites and the code is created instantly. The QR Code at the top of this page was created by me in seconds on qrcode.kaywa.com. Many airlines are using these codes as a superfast boarding pass and I’m starting to see these on the back of business cards as well.

There is a downside to utilizing QR codes. Malicious QR codes can contain viruses and attack codes that could lead to a compromise of the information on your phone or computer, so you should only scan a code it if it links to a company or site you trust.

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