Audio Video News

If you watch Bravo, you may recently have seen a 45-second ad from Bluefly that featured an onscreen barcode. If you held your cellphone up to the code, it would have linked you to a five-minute infomercial featuring celebrity interview videos plus a $30 discount on clothing and accessories purchases of $150 or more.

Though TV barcodes have appeared on European and Asian TV screens, this was among their first uses in the United States, as well as their first use by an advertiser. The Weather Channel has experimented with a bar code that led to an Android app offering local weather reports. An episode of HBO's Lost recently included a barcode that led to promos for the summer vampire series True Blood.

See The New York Times.