Stickybits - Life's Personal Barcode

Augmented reality and location based apps are big trends in the mobile application world. A new app called Stickybits is looking to integrate these technologies and create a social and personal way to digitally tag objects in the real world.

Stickybits works like this. Using the free app and your iPhone's camera, you scan a barcode to store onto your device. You can then attach any form of media to the barcode. A photo. Audio. Text. Website URL. The barcode is also geo tagged to keep track of where it's been. The idea is these barcodes can then be shared with others to trigger the tagged media.

Augmented reality is enabling this identification system be used in the real world by tagging landmarks and buildings but Stickybits takes this idea and personalizes it. Although any barcode you have in the house will work, the developers are offering barcode stickers that you can purchase to slap on your own items. Some use cases include attaching the stickers to old photographs for inventory and annotation. Or perhaps, attaching the barcode to your business card and tagging your resume, website or portfolio to provide info for clients. My favorite: placing the sticker on a birthday card and tagging your own rendition of "Happy Birthday" for your friend to hear.

Barcodes can be scanned and tagged only once but subsequent scans will allow other users to add their comments as well as geo tags so you can track where it's been. The app provides push notifications so that you know if and when your barcode is scanned in the future.

The developers are hoping to make a big splash with this app at the SXSW show this week in Austin, TX and hope this application will spark a new trend in social and mobile sharing. Or it could just become a really geeky version of graffiti. Either way, there are some exciting and fun possibilities. Perhaps we're not too far away from this: