Computerworld has a feature today on an experimental app from Casio, which has just been demoed in Japan (see above), which uses visual light communication, encoding and sending data using colours. The app is called PicapiCamera, and to use it you first select from a choice of icons, as well as writing a short message. Once chosen, the app displays a multicoloured blinking dot on the screen, which is an encoding of the data using visible colours, according to Computerworld. Another iPhone or iPad, such as one that your friend is using, can then also scan in multiple dots with the same app. The picture that is taken by the camera will then show the blinking dots replaced by the icons and messages, and that picture can then be sent back to everyone who displays a dot. The information is exchanged using only visual colour data rather than words and pictures.

“We are sending a basic ID code using visible light transmission. The camera then captures this and the code captured by the camera is combined with location information. This is sent to a server in the cloud, which then sends the picture information," Nobuo Iizuka, research manager at Casio, told Computerworld.

For now, Casio has released the app primarily to get user feedback. Although apps that tweak digital snaps are common these days of course, Computerworld says that Casio is interested in experimenting with technologies that let users digitally change and tweak their appearance, such as choosing icons to represent them, as in this instance, before the shutter is pressed. The technology could also be used to exchange people’s contact info without having to first exchange emails or phone numbers.

Click here to download the app: App Store - PicapiCamera

Source: Casio iOS app can encode and send data using colors - Computerworld
via The Verge