QR codes may be turning up in more places than ever these days, but are people actually using them? According to market research firm Comscore, at least some of them are — 14 million in June in the US alone, to be specific, or about 6.2 percent of all smartphone users. As for who makes up that slice of the smartphone market, Comscore says that just over 60 percent are male, 53 percent are between the ages of 18 and 34, and 36 percent have a household income of 0k or more. Folks are also apparently more likely to scan QR codes at home than at a retail store, and magazines and newspapers edge out websites or product packaging when it comes to the top source of the QR code being scanned. So, not exactly an explosion in use, but still fairly impressive for a weird-looking barcode that was rarely seen outside of Japan until a few years ago.

Comscore finds 6.2 percent of smartphone users scan QR codes originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Aug 2011 07:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What do you do after you’ve bought the most powerful smartphone to yet grace the Android universe? Some timid folks would urge you to just enjoy it, but if you’re like us, you’ll probably want to know just how high that dual-core Exynos 4210 birdie could fly. The processor inside the Galaxy S II started off life at 1GHz, then got sped up by Samsung to 1.2GHz just before release, and has now been taken all the way to 1.5GHz thanks to coolbho3000 over on the xda-developers forum. He’s been nice enough to provide the source code and instructions necessary to reproduce this stable overclock on your Galaxy S II, but don’t rush off just yet — there’s video of the GSII romping through Quadrant and Linpack after the break.

[Thanks, Mike and Sam]

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S II overclocked to 1.5GHz, used to obliterate benchmarks (video)

Samsung Galaxy S II overclocked to 1.5GHz, used to obliterate benchmarks (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 04:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the right Arduino board, an R/C race car, a couple paperclips and the MacGyver spirit, we imagine most anyone can hack together a creative remote control these days… but how many can open-source an HTML5 web app that’ll do the deed from any tablet, phone or PC? Gaurav Manek crafted just such a thing, and he’ll demonstrate it for you on an Apple iPad in the video immediately above. What’s more, he’s also got a Kinect hack that uses Microsoft depth camera (with Code Laboratories’ NUI SDK) to control the very same with the wave of a well-placed hand — we’re already envisioning fisticuffs should he and a lab partner try for some head-to-head racing action. That said, you don’t need to wait for an illustrious creator to have all the fun. Why not download his source code at our links below and give it a go yourself?

Man steers R/C car with his hands, not to mention an HTML5-based web app (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In Duncan Jones’ new movie, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a military man who undergoes “time reassignment” in a secret mission to prevent a train bomber from pulling off an even bigger terrorist attack. This exclusive animated video cracks the code on Source Code‘s weird science.

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As his follow-up to critical hit Moon premieres at SXSW, the director laughs off nerves as he makes the transition from indie darling to Hollywood helmer. While not as heady as Jones’ first film, new techno-thriller Source Code reveals a remarkably confident director with a knack for telling gorgeous sci-fi stories.

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