The Air Source

Optiscan QR Code® Scanner and Generator – version 2.0 released

soconnor — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:00:05 +0000

Today we released the latest revision of Optiscan to the App Store. With an all-new look and some greatly enhanced features, this version is the king of QR Code scanners on your Apple device!

Create a QR Code - so many options!

Optiscan 2.0 Scanning screen

What’s new in 2.0:

No more tap to scan! Optiscan now launches straight into scan mode for ease of use.
Icon and UI redesign. We thought it could do with a sprucing up, so we tweaked the look to be more up-to-date and utilitarian. What do you think?
Enhanced scanning engine. With every release of Optiscan we tweak the scanning software more and more to cope with the plethora of designer codes and locations. After testing, we scan more QR Codes than any other app!
Scan from clipboard.“I can’t scan from my mobile browser!”, we heard you cry. Well now you can!
QR Codes for Events. We wanted to include this last time, but we just weren’t happy enough with the way they where dealt with. Now we are!

We hope you enjoy using this version of Optiscan. Show us what you’ve done with it and we’ll pass it on!

Optiscan QR Code Scanner and Generator 1.9.3 update released to the iTunes App Store!

soconnor — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:27:41 +0000

Today we released the latest update for Optiscan, our QR Code scanner and generator, on the iTunes App Store.

Optiscan 1.9.3 Create screen

You’ve always been able to create a plethora of QR Code content types with Optiscan, but now we’ve made it even easier for you with a new menu of options. These include:

SMS Create a QR Code containing a message and the phone number to SMS it to – great for marketing!
Location To our knowledge Optiscan is the only QR Code generator app that lets you pinpoint a map location without having to type the address in!
Email Similar to the SMS option, setup an email message, subject line and recipients all in one QR Code
Telephone Keep it simple – your phone number in a QR Code
Wi-Fi Need to share your wi-fi details easily? Put them in a QR Code and pass it round!

All these options have been added at the request of our users in addition to our standard Contact (with vCard or MeCard options), URL and Text note options. We hope you enjoy using Optiscan even more now to scan and create all those QR Codes!

Coming to an iPhone near you soon: Optiscan 2.0: The Scanner Strikes Back!

A Summer At Airsource

ehughes — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:05:46 +0000

Well – this is it! After a fantastic 9 week internship it’s sad to be leaving behind the code, co-workers and, of course, coffee machine I have got to know so well. From the very first day I was plunged straight in the deep end, coding new features and fixing bugs. It’s been fun, frustrating and interesting in equal measures, but I can assure you that an internship here is never dull!

So what is it that I’ve been doing? My first few weeks were a steep learning curve, as I battled to comprehend the delegate design pattern while also trying to work out why there’s a small toy bear which lives in the office. (Though I am now completely au fait with the former, the latter continues to bemuse me)! A couple of code reviews later I had free reign to amend or add code, and moved onto adding social media compatibility to several of our apps. If you’re planning to do this yourself, I would recommend ShareKit as a good starting point.

By mid-August I was working full time on Optiscan. There’s a host of new features which will arrive on the AppStore soon, including much more support for creating QR codes. As a member of the engineering team I played a big role in delivering this functionality, both from a coding perspective and by participating in numerous (friendly if raucous) office arguments! The last couple of weeks have seen development give way to testing, so I’ve been scrambling to fix any bugs before I leave. For any of you who are newbie iPhone developers I’d have 3 words of advice – watch out for memory warnings, be careful when using UITableViews, and always keep an eye on your reference counting!

It hasn’t all been coding though. I’ve spent many a lunchtime dreaming up app ideas on the office kitchen whiteboard, with concepts ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. The company lunches and barbecues were a particular highlight, as was a (slightly surreal) morning of set theory in order to write a Python script. These and other amusements unique to a small company like Airsource made this summer particularly enjoyable, even on the odd occasions where I did stare at the same bug for hours before seeing the simple solution!

Time to say farewell to everyone here, and thanks for a great summer. Keep an eye out for future releases of Optiscan and Cellar (there’s some quite cool stuff to come, by the sounds of things in the office). Adios!

(Oh and I must ask someone about that bear before I go…)

Awww, shucks…

Nick — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:51:23 +0000

It’s always nice when you read a lovely review of one of your products, and this month’s iCreate magazine in the UK has given Cellar a test drive and decided they love it.

Thanks guys

4Music sting featuring QR code

soconnor — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:12:10 +0000

Last night, during the 19:30 ad break, More 4 ran a sting for their sister channel, 4Music. The surreal set included a QR code on a TV in the left hand corner and, in a change from previous televised QR codes, the voiceover dialogue was doing nothing more than hinting that the viewer “knew what to do”. The code was onscreen for the majority of the 30 second sting. When scanned the code takes you (via a bit.ly shorturl) to an article on the 4Music site where you are congratulated for being tech-savvy and ‘rewarded’ with a free N-Dubz download. Sounds good, right? Almost. Just two minor points:

The website isn’t mobile.
This is supposed to be the (quote) “new and improved” 4Music site – so why is there no mobile optimised version? Surely a consideration for your average site now, but a must for a youth oriented site such as this.
The track cannot be downloaded on all mobile phones.
Yes, if you are running Android or Windows 7 there should be no problems but, in a about face from the usual turn of events, iPhone users are denied the free track. Why is that? It could have easily been included on iTunes, no?

It’s a shame to see a QR code campaign that looked promising to begin with, be let down yet again by the end result.

4Music QR code sting