Daily Dispatch: Weather Channel pushes app via onscreen QR code; Twitter launches hovercards

Combing through hundreds of blog posts and news articles daily, Dirk Klingner, our technology-trend watcher, sifts through the noise to bring you the tech news most important to consumers. If you have a tip on a story you want to share, leave a comment below.

Google's been doing some pretty slick stuff with QR codes lately, and now it looks like The Weather Channel's getting in on the fun -- it's running a little on-screen graphic prompting Android owners to download their app by scanning their TV screens.

Focusing on the Lens Inside Phones (Wall Street Journal)

...The closely held company, LensVector Inc., says it has developed tiny transparent components for autofocus systems that replace larger mechanical parts. With sturdier and less-expensive components, autofocus could change from an option found only on certain handsets into a standard feature of mainstream phones, the company said.

Kwedit Launches: The First Completely Unreliable Payment Network (TechCrunch)

Something tells me Kwedit, which launches today, is going to be a hit. It's a new payment service that absolutely doesn't guarantee payments. In fact, its unreliability is what makes it so attractive to social game publishers and other people selling virtual goods.

Twitter Launches Hovercraft...I Mean Hovercards (ReadWriteWeb)

...the hovercard is like a business card that will appear whenever you mouseover another user's name or avatar.

Rebecca's War Dog of the Week (The Best Defense)

...Presently, the United States has 28,000 dogs enrolled in military service, "the largest canine force in the world." Where there is a U.S. troop surge to Afghanistan, so too is there a dog surge. As Nick Guidas, the manager of the K-9 unit in Afghanistan, told AP earlier this week, he expects to have as many as 219 dogs by July.

Lighter Side: A Sculpture That Perpetually Sells Itself On eBay (Laughing Squid)

Artist Caleb Larsen has created an art sculpture which, when connected to the Internet, perpetually attempts to sell itself on eBay.