Microsoft now offers a solution, called Tag. It's essentially a barcode - an optical machine-readable representation of data - and it lets paper magazines create visual links to content which can be "opened" simply by pointing your smartphone's camera at them. In today's world of iPhones, iPads, Nexus Ones and other smart mobile gadgetry, this actually makes more sense than forcing the reader/user to type in a link, no matter how short.
Of course, the possible uses of Tag go far beyond paper magazines; you can put a tag almost anywhere: on a wall, a product, or a giant outdoor sign.
To be able to "read" tags with your phone, you need to download a piece of software; luckily enough, Microsoft has supported most modern smartphone operating systems, including several varieties of Symbian, the iPhone OS, Android, BlackBerry and others.
Check out CNET's video about Tag below.