Small black smudges about a centimetre long and 2 millimetres high can take
you straight from a printed article to a page on the World Wide Web. The
smudges, devised by GoCode, a company from Charleston, South Carolina, contain a
pattern of dark and light areas that represent URLs and can be read by a
hand-held wand attached to a computer. The URL codes made their first appearance
last week in the pages of the Charleston Post and Courier, providing
links to Web pages containing more information on articles or giving details of
advertisers’ promotions. The wand will sell for…
To continue reading, today with our introductory offers
Advertisement
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles
1
Where, when and how to watch the 2026 solar eclipse
2
How some people's brains make an extraordinary recovery from stroke
3
We鈥檝e uncovered a master gene that switches on human development
4
If you aren't terrified by this heatwave, you should be
5
Ancient human DNA found on cave art for the first time
6
Can home batteries help save the climate and save you money?
7
How menopause radically changes the brain 鈥 and what happens after
8
Fossil fruits show flowering plants flourished in time of dinosaurs
9
The race to understand how and when Thwaites glacier will collapse
10
Fully autonomous drones have killed human soldiers for the first time



