New technology is brilliant. Just look at smartphones, for example--the world's information in the palm of your hands, with the ability to talk, text and take photos when the mood takes you.

Or the Chevrolet Volt--38 miles of electric range, with the peace of mind of a gasoline engine backing you up should you run low on charge.

The trouble is, while most people know the benefits of smartphones, the benefits of cars like the Volt are less clear--and GM is fixing this with the aid of handy QR codes--for those ever-useful smartphones.

You may be familiar with QR codes, even if you don't realise it.

Ever seen those odd, black and white digital squares on everything from adverts to boxes of cereal? That's a QR code. Most smartphones have a scanner to read these, and typically take you to a video or website for more information on a particular product.

Blogger and Volt owner Kevin Tofel, spends a great deal of time telling passers-by about his Volt.

When he's not there, though, how do those passers-by find out about the car? As he writes on GigaOm (via Autoblog Green), GM recently sent him some QR code stickers to attach to his car--and they link people to the video above.

It's only in 360p resolution, meaning people can scan the code and watch the video without it eating up loads of mobile data or taking hours to load--and in only a couple of minutes, the bare essentials of Volt ownership are covered.

It's completely unintrusive for the Volt driver, too--meaning whether you're with the car or away from it, potential Volt customers can learn a little more about the car.

Chances are, most prospective Volt owners will always be tech-minded enough to have one of those rather useful smartphones handy...

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