I was tempted to write about Microsoft Tag when Long Zheng mentioned it over on his blog in January, but other than being a new format in the tag-space there wasn’t much else to it other than carrying more data in a smaller area than say a standard QRCode.
QRCode and Data Matrix Codes (for reference not size comparison:
Here is a Microsoft Tag (again, for reference only):
What makes Microsoft worth writing about this time around, is the way the use of colours in the tag can be exploited to place tags in pictures or to generate tags from pictures. So, instead of a dirty great QRcode on your product, or even a bunch of harshly coloured triangles on the front of a product, website or advertisement, the tag can be integrated into an image or colouring that blends in more with the branding of the location it is placed. Below is an example and an animated gif showing how an image can be created around a tag.
You can read more about custom Microsoft Tags here.
To download the Microsoft Tag app for your mobile device go to http://gettag.mobi from your phone