Just when you thought QR Codes were dead … Jimmy Fallon uses a QR Code to promote a band. I hope it boosts Augment Reality to mainstream, like the Kinect is doing in some part these days.

Of course, NFC is coming … but it’ll be a few years before it hits in any significant #’s (RFID had some similar pain points for adoption, but I think it’ll be easier to adopt than having users to learn how, where, and why QR codes work).

I have to wonder if Japan still uses QR Codes these days in their Keitai … haven’t seen a latest handset in a while, but I imagine there’s a lot of iOS and Android over there, especially preferable voer older Keitai feature phones?

US is just now catching on to QR, but I do believe it’s been 1/2 a decade a more since the idea has been around if not more. We also have several companies with their own QR. Not sure if they gained any traction.

There’s a MobileCamp Boston this Saturday sponsored by Mobile Monday Boston, Nokia and others.

Logistics:
Saturday, February 19, 2011 from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (ET)

MIT Sloan E-51
70 Memorial Drive
Cambridge MA
(Map)

MobileCamp Boston is a one-day un-conference style event that brings together entrepreneurs, students, faculty, and telecom industry professionals to share ideas, network and discuss the latest advances in the mobile industries. MobileCamp is one of the premier development focused events in the Boston region and attracts developers from throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and as far as California, Europe, and Asia.

This year’s MobileCamp Boston will give participants the opportunity to learn with visionaries, developers, entrepreneurs, investors, and carriers in the mobile industry, and to explore advances in the field. Building on the success of previous years’ MobileCamps, this year’s full-day event will bring together hundreds of participants and will feature technical sessions, discussions on industry topics, and the popular unconference style learning.

If you are interested in leading a session for the 2011 MobileCamp Boston, or have any questions about the event, please send an email to ‘learn’ [at] ‘momoboston.com’.

There’s more info on the Mobile Monday blog.

REGISTER NOW: xconomyforum33.eventbrite.com

Logistics
Wednesday, March 9
1:00 – 5:30 pm – Saver Rate ends soon

Overview
In our age of ubiquitous feature phones, smartphones, and tablets, the mobile revolution is now irreversible. But how are Internet entrepreneurs, application developers, and platform providers adapting to the new era? Which monetization strategies are really working? And how is it all changing the habits and expectations of consumers?

Xconomy’s third annual spring mobile forum will convene the leaders of the New England wireless scene, along with a few special guests from Xconomy’s other mobile-rich hubs around the country. These industry leaders will take a hard look at how the shift to smartphone and tablet-based computing is changing consumer mindsets and opening up new business opportunities. In a series of interactive panels and intimate chats, we’ll discuss the rollout of 4G networks and mobile payment systems and delve into how enterprises are deploying mobile applications like never before. We’ll explore the technological advances that are making smartphones even smarter—in effect making you smarter—and in a “location smackdown” we’ll let proponents of some of the leading location-based services platforms duke it out (rhetorically, at least). Finally, in a series of “startup bursts,” we’ll introduce you to hot, under-the-radar mobile companies you should keep your eye on.

Keynote:
Stephen Wolfram, Founder and CEO, Wolfram Research

Featured Speakers:
Santiago Becerra, Founder and Chairman, Mellmo
Jeff Bussgang, General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners
Walt Doyle, CEO, Where
Steven Glapa, Senior Director of Technical Field Marketing, Ruckus Wireless
Chuck Goldman, Chief Strategy Officer, Apperian
Mike Grimes, CEO, Modiv Media
Pete Lancia, Senior Director of Marketing, Qualcomm
John Landry, Founder and Managing Director, Lead Dog Ventures
Mark Lowenstein, Managing Director, Mobile Ecosystem
Chris Mahl, Senior Vice President & Chief Brand Alchemist, SCVNGR
Max Metral, Founder, Fig Card
Rich Miner, Partner, Google Ventures
Ted Morgan, CEO and Founder, Skyhook Wireless
Andrew Paradise, Founder and CEO, Aislebuyer
Mike Phillips, Co-Founder and CTO, Vlingo
Roy Rodenstein, Director of Business Planning, AOL; Co-Founder, HackerAngels, Going
Mort Rosenthal, Chairman and CEO, Enterprise Mobile
Aaron Sheedy, COO, Swype
Michael Sievert, Chief Commercial Officer, Clearwire
Ken Singer, CEO and co-founder, Ondeego
Drew Volpe, Co-Founder and CTO, Locately

Burst Presentations:
Meredith Flynn-Ripley, CEO, MediaFriends
Evan Neufeld, Vice President of Marketing, Ground Truth
and Mystery Stealth Startups

Full Agenda here

Schedule:
Registration: 12:15 – 1:00 pm
Program: 1:00 – 5:30 pm
Networking Reception: 5:30 – 6:30 pm

Location:
Microsoft New England R&D Center (NERD)
One Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02142

Registration Information:
Saver Rate (ends Feb. 24): $150
Regular Registration: $195
Student Registration: $35 – Student scholarships available through the Stay in MA program.
Walk-in Registration: $225

To inquire about press registration, e-mail events@xconomy.com.
Tickets are transferable but not refundable.

There’s an upcoming MAKE Developer challenge happening this week that resolves around health industry.

The Health 2.0 / MAKE Developer Challenge is happening this weekend, Feb 19th, in Boston. The day is bringing developers, designers, makers, researchers, care providers, sensor-geeks, hardware hackers, patients, and anyone else interested in improving healthcare by building new applications and tools. If you haven’t signed up already, register now, because it’s filling up fast.

Here’s a sample of a few of the speakers that will be on hand:

Vaibhav Bhandari from Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group. Vaibhav is going to be talking about HealthVault, medical ontologies, and untangling the various HealthCare IT standards.

John Brownstein from Harvard Children’s Hospital. John is an epidemiologist who has studied diseases as varied as malaria, dengue, HIV, West Nile virus, Lyme disease, RSV and influenza. He’s going to be speaking about his work with HealthMap, a site that brings together a variety of data to provide a comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health.

Greg Borenstein from NYU’s ITP school. He’s going to be talking about how to hack the Kinect using Processing and Open Frameworks, and how it can be applied to health.

John Luciani from Wiblock. John is going to be walking through how to use the various goodies MAKE is supplying for the event: arduinos, sensor, modules, and so forth. He’s also got some code demos teams can use for their projects.

Far McKon from Bug Labs. Far is bringing some really cool gear — 5 complete bug bundles. The heart of the kit it is the ‘Bug Base’ which has built in wifi, bluetooth, and battery. Each kit has a general IO module (the Von Hippel), GPS, and a camera + accelerometer module. And sample code to use all of them, naturally.
Huge thanks to the MAKE team (particularly Dan Woods at the Maker Shed), Microsoft, and Bug Labs for their support for the event.

As a teaser, check out Greg’s demonstration code that uses OSCeleton Processing MotionCapture3D to convert data from the Kinect into 3D coordinates representing each of the joints of the body.

I found this in my travels online … it’s called The Icebook. I’m going to call it “Story Projection” rather than a Popup Book.

The Ice Book (HD) from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.

More info:
theicebook.com