After the Scan
Short episodes about the links and QR codes behind real campaigns. What expires, what you are actually renting, and what breaks when you stop paying. Three to four minutes each, hosted by Whooshly's founder.
One question an episode, answered in the first fifteen seconds
Every episode has its own page with the full transcript, so you can read it instead of listening, quote it, or check it. Every episode comes from an article already published here, and every fact in it traces back to that article. Where we measured something ourselves, we say what we measured and how. 3 of the 12 episodes in the first season are built on our own original studies.
There are no prices in any episode, ours or anyone else's. Pricing moves, and a page can carry a date and a "re-check before you buy" line where a recorded sentence cannot. The pricing page stays the source of truth.
And where the honest answer is that you do not need the thing, or that a competitor fits better, the episode says so. That rule is already in our editorial policy, and it does not change because it is being read aloud.
12 episodes, in three arcs
The lineup below is the full season. Each links to the article it is drawn from, all of which you can read now.
The printed code
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01 Do QR codes expire? Original data Coming
Static codes do not. Dynamic ones can, and we checked fifteen generators against their own documentation to find out which.
Episode page and full transcript
Drawn from: Do QR Codes Expire? We Checked What 15 Popular Generators Actually Do
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02 The code outlives the subscription Coming
What actually happens to a printed code when the plan lapses, and the one thing that decides your options: whose domain the redirect sits on.
Episode page and full transcript
Drawn from: What happens to your QR codes if you cancel the subscription?
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03 You are renting the redirect Coming
Static versus dynamic, what a dynamic code can really track, and the catch that never makes it onto the flyer.
Episode page and full transcript
Drawn from: Dynamic QR Code: Editable, Trackable, Rented by the Month
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04 How big does it have to be? Original data Coming
The sizes that actually scan at distance, why the ten-to-one rule is a heuristic rather than a standard, and what sets the true floor.
Episode page and full transcript
Drawn from: How Big Should a QR Code Be? The Sizes That Actually Scan
The card in your hand
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05 Do you need the NFC card, or just the QR? Coming
What the chip stores, which phones read it, and the honest answer about whether the hardware earns its place.
Episode page and full transcript
Drawn from: NFC Business Cards: How They Work and What They Cost in 2026
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06 Three ways to be a digital card Coming
NFC, a QR code, or a hosted page. They fail differently, and the difference matters more than the format.
Episode page and full transcript
Drawn from: Smart Business Cards, Explained: How to Make One Free in 2026
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07 Why the QR should not hold the whole card Coming
What is inside a .vcf file, and the common mistake of encoding the file itself instead of a link to it.
Episode page and full transcript
Drawn from: Electronic Business Cards: What They Are and How to Make One
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08 Static file or hosted card Coming
The one tradeoff that decides which you want, what belongs on the card, and the mistakes that cost you the follow-up.
Episode page and full transcript
Drawn from: How to Make a Digital Business Card Free (Step-by-Step)
The link behind the work
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09 How long a short link really lasts Original data Coming
We re-resolved two thousand seven hundred and sixty-five short links out of the Common Crawl archives, and a quarter of them were already dead.
Episode page and full transcript
Drawn from: Link Rot: How Long Short Links Really Last (We Checked)
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10 Vanity URLs, and the thirty-nine percent myth Coming
Where that click-through figure came from, why it does not hold up, and the redirect choice that actually changes your numbers.
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11 When is it worth leaving your shortener? Coming
Not a pricing question. Rot risk, who owns the domain, what expires, and what a migration actually costs you.
Episode page and full transcript
Drawn from: The Best URL Shortener in 2026: 7 Tools Ranked and Priced
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12 The promise we cannot take back Coming
Why we published a pledge in a form that cannot be quietly walked back, and what it commits us to.
Questions about the show
Where can I listen to After the Scan?
Wherever you already get podcasts. The show is distributed by RSS, so Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Overcast and the rest all carry the same feed at https://podcast.whooshly.co/feed.xml. Listings are linked at the top of this page as each directory accepts the show.
How long is an episode?
Three to four minutes. Each one answers a single question and answers it in the opening seconds, then explains why it is true and what to do about it. If a topic needs two questions, it becomes two episodes.
Why are there no prices in the episodes?
Because audio cannot be corrected once podcast directories have cached it. Competitor pricing moves constantly and our own comparison pages carry a dated 'as of this month, re-check before buying' note that a recorded sentence has no way to carry. The episodes describe the shape of the cost and point at the pages, which stay current.
Is this just the blog read aloud?
No. Each episode is drawn from one article and every fact traces back to it, but an episode answers one question where an article often covers several, and it is written for a listener rather than a reader. The article link on every episode above is there so you can check the sourcing.
Can I use a clip or quote an episode?
Yes. Quote it, clip it, or link it, with attribution to After the Scan by Whooshly. If you want the underlying data from one of the original-data episodes, the method and sample are published in the linked article.
The tools the show is about
Short links, dynamic QR codes, UTMs and digital cards on whooshly.co – paid for once, with the permanence pledge attached.