The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina now
has bar codes to take readers to web sites relevant to stories (oh, and ads of course!). Hmm. This provides a solid way to track traffic
driven to sites via the printed paper. Think of the marketing possibilities: the first 100 people to swipe this ad get free
shipping on their order! or perhaps: swipe here if you’re planning to vote for Al Gore or here for Bush Jr. or perhaps if the laser pen software is also providing personal data (which I’m sure won’t fly for many consumers), swipe here and a salesman will call to show you our wonderful new set of encyclopedias on CD-ROM. Of course, how many people
will be reading their newspaper next to their computer? Will this make everyone want to have Internet access
in their breakfast nooks?