Hardlink (homonymy)
Encyclopedia
A hardlink is one of several methods of object hyperlinking
Object hyperlinking
Object hyperlinking is a neologism that usually refers to extending the Internet to objects and locations in the real world. The current Internet does not extend beyond the electronic world. Object hyperlinking aims to extend the Internet to the real world by attaching object tags with URLs as...

 including graphical tags (2D barcodes), SMS tags and RFID tags. The hardlink method establishes a reference link between a physical world object and a .mobi
.mobi
The domain name mobi is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from the adjective mobile, indicating its use by mobile devices for accessing Internet resources via the Mobile Web....

 web page just as a traditional hyperlink
Hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...

 establishes an electronic reference to information on a Web page. A common cell phone is the medium of this information exchange that is initiated whenever a user makes a connection with a hardlink database, such as Objecs.mobi, and enters some alphanumeric sequence found on the target object. This alphanumeric sequence may be the objects part number or common name. This concept is also known as 'physical world connection', Object hyperlinking
Object hyperlinking
Object hyperlinking is a neologism that usually refers to extending the Internet to objects and locations in the real world. The current Internet does not extend beyond the electronic world. Object hyperlinking aims to extend the Internet to the real world by attaching object tags with URLs as...

 and Physical world hyperlinks with a number of companies developing, what are currently, non-standardized methods of creating this connection. This topic is not to be confused with, a hard link
Hard link
In computing, a hard link is a directory entry that associates a name with a file on a file system. . The term is used in file systems which allow multiple hard links to be created for the same file. This has the effect of creating multiple names for the same file, causing an aliasing effect: e.g...

 (two words) which is Unix terminology for a pointer to physical data on a storage volume.

The hardlink method does not require a graphical object tag or any special software be loaded on the users cell phone, but does require the phone be internet enabled.

The consumer use and market for object hyperlinking methods is a very small and limited one in the U.S. with a slightly larger audience of users in some eastern countries. Unlike Japan, few US cell phone providers currently offer graphical tag readers or other support for object hyperlinking methods and this will likely continue until a clear linking method becomes dominate.

See also

  • Yellow arrow
    Yellow arrow
    Yellow Arrow is a global public art project in that began in New York, New York but has now spread globally. Yellow arrow stickers can be obtained from their website and placed anywhere in the public realm. When encountering a sticker on the street, one can send the unique code printed on it as a...

  • Physical world hyperlinks
  • Data Matrix
    Data Matrix
    A Data Matrix code is a two-dimensional matrix barcode consisting of black and white "cells" or modules arranged in either a square or rectangular pattern. The information to be encoded can be text or raw data. Usual data size is from a few bytes up to 1556 bytes. The length of the encoded data...

  • Semacode
    Semacode
    Semacode is a software company based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is also this company's trade name for machine-readable ISO/IEC 16022 data matrix symbols, a type of barcode resembling a crossword puzzle, which encode Internet URLs....

  • ShotCode
    ShotCode
    ShotCode is a circular barcode created by High Energy Magic of Cambridge University. It uses a dartboard-like circle, with a bullseye in the centre and datacircles surrounding it...

  • QR Code
    QR Code
    A QR code is a type of matrix barcode first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside of the industry due to its fast readability and comparatively large storage capacity. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white...

  • Barcode
    Barcode
    A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...

  • Dot code
    E-Reader
    The is a device made by Nintendo for its Game Boy Advance portable video game system. It was first released in Japan in December 2001, with a North American release following in September 2002...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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