Amazon is experimenting with its own QR code style ‘SmileCodes’

QR code style markers — those lil’ barcode-looking boxes you’ll see on ads from time to time, meant to be scanned with your phone to launch some website or app — have yet to really find their footing in the U.S. But that’s not going to keep Amazon from taking a stab at it. Amazon is rolling out its own take on the concept and calling them “SmileCodes.” If you’ve scanned a QR code before, the idea will seem similar: see a code in, say, a magazine, open a scanner (built into the Amazon app), line up your camera with the code, and… something happens. What that something will be will vary from code to code, but they can open product pages, play videos (movie trailers, product reviews, etc.), etc.