QR codes

The central banks of Hong Kong and Indonesia are deepening cooperation on cross-border QR code payments, aiming to make retail payments between the two economies faster and more interconnected. The move fits a broader regional push, led by Southeast Asian regulators, to link national payment systems and reduce reliance on traditional correspondent banking channels for everyday transactions.

A court has ruled that ballots marked with barcodes and QR codes are constitutional, clearing the way for their use in elections. The decision resolves a challenge over whether coded markings on ballots compromise vote secrecy. Supporters say the codes help prevent fraud and double voting, while critics had argued they could be used to trace individual voters, raising concerns about ballot confidentiality.

A blind MacBook Air M1 user cracked the display after lifting the laptop by its screen, but says being screenless is no problem because they rely on Apple's VoiceOver screen reader. The practical sticking point is QR codes, which normally require seeing the screen; they describe working around this without buying an external monitor, sparking discussion about accessible computing.

Writer Thu-Huong Ha tested life in Singapore with no smartphone, in one of the world's most digitally dependent cities. Her account describes navigating QR-code payments, app-only bookings and services that assume constant connectivity, highlighting how difficult everyday tasks become for anyone offline in a hyperconnected society.

A feature from The Hustle argues that the traditional barcode is heading toward extinction, as retailers and manufacturers adopt newer identification technologies such as QR codes and RFID tags. Readers on tech forums are picking up the claim, though the piece itself notes that decades of infrastructure built around the familiar striped code will not disappear overnight.

Rakuten Pay has rolled out offline code payment support on Android, roughly two months after the same feature arrived on iOS. The function lets users complete Rakuten Pay and Rakuten Cash transactions even without a network connection, using a barcode or QR code generated on the device. Japanese Android users had been waiting for parity with the iPhone version.

Cybersecurity observers are flagging a link hosted on Flowcode, a QR code platform, that redirects to a page labelled 'billinginfo-uptodate' and is suspected of being a phishing scam designed to trick users into entering payment details. The link has been defanged for safety and submitted to the URL analysis service urlDNA for scanning. Security researchers are urging people to avoid clicking suspicious billing-related links.