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{{Short description|Cat-shaped handheld barcode reader}} | |||
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] cables with male and female ]s ]] | |||
The '''CueCat''', styled ''':CueCat''' with a leading colon, is a cat-shaped handheld ] designed to allow a user to open a link to an Internet ] by ] a ]. The devices were given away free to Internet users starting in 2000 by the now-defunct Digital Convergence Corporation.{{cn|date=November 2024}} | |||
By year-end 2001, barcodes were no longer distributed for the device, and scanning with the device using its original software no longer yielded results. However, third-party software can decode the lightweight encryption in the device, allowing it to be used as a general-purpose wand-type barcode reader. The CueCat can read several common barcode types, in addition to the proprietary CUE barcodes which had been promoted by Digital Convergence. | |||
Introduced as the FIRST consumer scanner, the '''CueCat''' (trademarked ''':CueCat''') was a cat-shaped handheld ]. The CueCat™, CueCode™ and the ] behind it was developed by ] (also known by the one word moniker "Jovan", in the spring of 1992 and was launched to much fan fare in the fall of 1999. The device, was designed for both tethered and mobile commerce, but was originally introduced in it's connected connected form factor for use on computers using the ] and ]. The CueCat enabled a user to direct their web browser to a website for a product by scanning a proprietary patented barcode — called a CueCode™ or "cue" by Digital Convergence — appearing in an article or catalog or on some other printed matter. In this way a user could be directed to a web page containing related information without having to enter a URL. In addition, to the tethered CUECAT device, the software drivers used to operate the CueCat also worked on an ], ] used an Audio CueCode™( audio tone in programs and/or commercials ) that when, attached to a computer (via an audio cable) will instantly direct their computer to the webpage being covered or sponsored by the broadcaster, i.e. remotely controlling the viewers computer through the television broadcast. <ref></ref> <ref>http://</ref> | |||
==Description== | |||
The CueCat device communicated to desktop "CRQ" software running on ] and ]. Users were able to register to their zip-code, gender and a valid email address so they could receive specific promotions or coupons related to their scanning activities, if desired. <ref></ref> This registration process within the software enabled the device to deliver relevant content to a single or multiple users within a household. The systems that employed this registration process are no longer on the Internet and codes cannot be generated in order for the software to be re-installed today. | |||
The CueCat was named CUE<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&s1=6708208.PN.|title = United States Patent: 6708208 - Unique bar code for indicating a link between a product and a remote location on a web network}}</ref> for the unique bar code which the device scanned and CAT<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&s1=D432539.PN.|title = United States Patent: D432539 - Keystroke automator}}<!-- https://patents.google.com/patent/USD432539S/en --></ref> as a wordplay on "Keystroke Automation Technology".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://trademarks.justia.com/758/75/keystroke-automation-technology-75875851.html|title=Keystroke Automation Technology Trademark - Serial Number 75875851 :: Justia Trademarks|website=trademarks.justia.com}}</ref> It enabled a user to open a link to an Internet ] by ] a ] — called a "cue" by Digital Convergence — appearing in an article or catalog or on some other printed matter. In this way, a user could be directed to a web page containing related information without having to type in a URL. The company asserted that the ability of the device to direct users to a specific URL, rather than a domain name, was valuable.<ref>{{cite news | last = Kaufman | first = Leslie | title = Speaking in Bar Code; Personal Scanners Link Products Directly to Consumers | newspaper = ] | date = October 6, 2000 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/06/business/speaking-in-bar-code-personal-scanners-link-products-directly-to-consumers.html?pagewanted=all | access-date = November 10, 2001}}</ref> In addition, television broadcasters could use an audio tone in programs or commercials that, if a TV was connected to a computer via an audio cable, acted as a web address shortcut.<ref>{{cite news | last = Stepanek | first = Marcia | title = The CueCat Is on the Prowl: This gizmo is on the cutting edge of e-marketing. But with each swipe, it tracks your moves through cyberspace | newspaper = ] | location = ] | date = September 28, 2000 | url = http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/sep2000/nf20000928_029.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001017162623/http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/sep2000/nf20000928_029.htm | archive-date=2000-10-17 | access-date = November 10, 2011}}</ref> | |||
The CueCat was connected to computers in the same way as a ], as a "]", ], or pass-through between the ] ] and the ] ]. Because of ], USB-PS/2 adapters may be optionally used. A native ] version of the CueCat scanner hardware was also produced, but fewer of them were made before all manufacturing of the hardware was discontinued.<ref name="Readerware"/> | |||
Pulitzer turned away by numerous manufacturers, needed to find a solution for a consumer based scanner solution. So in order to gain fast and widespread adoption of his invention and wanting to develop a cheap alternative to scanning. Pulitzer achieved this idea by engaging the support of along his long time sponsor of his Television Talk Series, ] , ]. RadioShack being already familiar with Pulizter’s marketing efforts and successes, readily agreed to help develop a cheap free scanning solution. Early in its development, Pulitzer approached ], the former CEO of ], with his pitch for using barcode scanners for linking products in the physical world to the virtual world through the Internet. Symbol and it’s CEO readily dismissed Pulitzer’s idea for scanning to connect to the web, and refused the idea that a scanner could be made for less than $1000 a unit and could not be given away for free, and that new proprietary forms of barcodes which could be patented could ever be created. Additionally they believed to do such would harm the existing high-end scanner market and in which Technologies was the market leader. The relationship between Digital Convergence and Symbol became almost immediately adversarial. | |||
== Marketing == | |||
] parallel barcode patent concerns.]] | |||
The CueCat patents are held by Jeffry Jovan Philyaw,<ref name="patents.justia.com">{{Cite web|url=https://patents.justia.com/inventor/jeffry-jovan-philyaw|title=Jeffry Jovan Philyaw Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search|website=patents.justia.com}}</ref> who changed his name to ] after the failure of CueCat.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wilonsky |first=Robert |author-link = Robert Wilonsky |title = CueCat Inventor Returns. With What? Not Quite Sure. Something To Do With Interwebs. |newspaper = ] |date = October 25, 2007 |url=http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2007/10/cuecat_inventor_returns_with_w.php | access-date = November 10, 2011}}</ref><ref name=Crystal>{{cite news | last = Celeste | first = Eric | title = Crystal Clear | newspaper = ] | date = April 10, 2003 | url = http://www.dallasobserver.com/2003-04-10/news/crystal-clear/ | access-date = November 10, 2011}}</ref> ], parent company of the '']'' and owner of many TV stations, invested ]37.5 million in Digital Convergence, ] $30 million, ] $28 million, and ] $10 million.<ref name=Rosenberg>{{cite news | author = Rosenberg, Scott | author-link = Scott Rosenberg (journalist) | title = CueCatastrophe: Next to the company that tried to wire Web users to bar-code scanners, money-burning dot-coms like Webvan don't look quite so bad. | newspaper = ] | date = July 11, 2001 | url = http://www.salon.com/2001/07/11/cue_cat/ | access-date = November 10, 2011}}</ref> Other investors included ], and ].<ref name="adweek-scratch-cuecat"/> The total amount invested was $185 million.<ref name=WSJ>{{cite news | last = Meyer | first = Katherine | title = The Best of the Worst: CueCat Falls Flat | newspaper = ] | date = May 3, 2006 | url = https://www.wsj.com/public/article/SB114424637699117715-OO16F7Ov3DMZcs1xpbu5ksPDTl0_20070503.html | access-date = November 10, 2011}}</ref> | |||
Each CueCat cost RadioShack<ref name="dmagazine-Suckers">{{cite web |last1=Whitley |first1=Glenna |title=The Suckers |url=http://www.dmagazine.com/october01/featured31001.shtml |website=] |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011129174000/http://www.dmagazine.com/october01/featured31001.shtml |archive-date=2001-11-29 |location=Dallas |date=2001-11-29 |quote=Steve Forbes "' will change the way you use the Internet forever The Mark: David Edmondson Title: President and COO, RadioShack Corp. Invested: $30 million Commitment: Manufactured CueCats and distributed them free at all RadioShack outlets. The Mark: Steve Forbes Title: Publisher, Forbes Invested: At least $2 million Commitment: Sent more than 800,000 subscribers CueCat and software. Quote: " will change the way you use the Internet forever."}}</ref> about $6.50 to manufacture.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Salkowski |first1=Joe |title=CueCat was cute, but dogged by reluctant Web consumers |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-09-17-0109170003-story.html |access-date=25 June 2021 |work=] |agency=Tribune Media Services |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625111619/https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fct-xpm-2001-09-17-0109170003-story.html |archive-date=2021-06-25 |quote=Every time someone uses a CueCat, two things happen. First they're directed to the exact Web page that an advertiser wants them to see, delivering the equivalent of the elusive "click-throughs" that banner ads usually fail to produce. Then Digital Convergence is notified of exactly which user is visiting which page through which bar code. In this way, CueCat lets companies track not only online preferences but offline behavior as well, such as people's soft drink preferences and what magazines they read. ... The scanners cost about $6.50 a pop, and they were distributed for free to magazine subscribers and electronics store customers. But as soon as millions of gadget-loving consumers started using their new feline friends, the money would start rolling in. By now, you've already guessed the punch line: Nobody used them.}}</ref> | |||
Starting in late 2000 and continuing for about a year, advertisements, special web editions, and editorial content containing CueCat barcodes appeared in many US periodicals, including ], ], and ]. ''The Dallas Morning News'' and other Belo-owned newspapers printed the barcodes next to major articles and regular features like stocks and weather. Commercial publications such as '']'', '']'', and '']'' employed the technology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/cuecat-and-corporate-cluelessness/|title=CueCat and corporate cluelessness|first=David|last=Coursey|website=ZDNet}}</ref> The CueCat bar codes also appeared in select Verizon Yellow Pages,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.clickz.com/digitalconvergence-nabs-verizon-yellow-pages-deal/79286/|title=Digital:Convergence Nabs Verizon Yellow Pages Deal|date=March 28, 2001|website=ClickZ}}</ref> providing advertisers with a link to additional information. | |||
For a time, RadioShack printed these barcodes in its product catalogs, and distributed CueCat devices through its retail chain to customers at no charge. ''Forbes'' magazine mailed out the first 830,000 CueCats as gifts to their subscribers, since the magazine was starting to print CRQ ("See Our Cue") barcodes in their magazine.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20001002/aponline001832_000.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060311154045/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20001002/aponline001832_000.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2006-03-11 |title=CueCat Rollout Proceeds Amid Debate|website=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref> ''Wired'' magazine mailed over 500,000 of the free devices as gifts to their subscribers. Each publisher private-branded the CueCat hardware they sent to their mailing list.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2013/11/before-you-were-born-the-hardware-edition/|title=Before You Were Born: The Hardware Edition | The Signal|first=Leslie|last=Johnston|date=November 12, 2013|website=blogs.loc.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://computeme.tripod.com/cuecat.html|title=Hardware Review: CueCat|website=computeme.tripod.com}}</ref> | |||
== Marketing partners == | |||
Organizations that used the :CueCat and compatible :CRQ software:<ref name="getcuecat-partners">{{cite web |title=Affiliate Partners |url=http://www.getcuecat.com:80/partners.html |website=getcuecat.com |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001017203818/http://www.getcuecat.com:80/partners.html |archive-date=2000-10-17}}</ref> | |||
{{div col|colwidth=13em}} <!-- column width of 10em --> | |||
=== Magazines === | |||
* '']'' | |||
* '']'' | |||
* '']'' | |||
* ''MC Magazine'' | |||
* '']'' | |||
* '']'' | |||
* '']'' | |||
=== Catalogs === | |||
* ] | |||
=== Newspapers === | |||
* '']'' | |||
* '']'' | |||
* '']'' | |||
* '']'' | |||
=== Broadcast stations === | |||
* ], New York | |||
* ], Los Angeles | |||
* ], Chicago | |||
* ], Philadelphia | |||
* ], Dallas | |||
* ], Washington DC | |||
* ], Detroit | |||
* ], Houston | |||
* ]/], Seattle | |||
* ], Tampa | |||
* ], Cleveland | |||
* ], Miami | |||
* ]/], Phoenix | |||
* ], St. Louis | |||
* ], Portland | |||
* ], Baltimore | |||
* ], San Diego | |||
* ], Hartford | |||
* ], Charlotte | |||
* ], Raleigh | |||
* ], Kansas City | |||
* ], Cincinnati | |||
* ], Milwaukee | |||
* ], Columbus | |||
* ], San Antonio | |||
* ], Birmingham | |||
* ], New Orleans | |||
* ], Norfolk | |||
* ], West Palm Beach | |||
* ], Louisville | |||
* ], Providence | |||
* ], Las Vegas | |||
* ], Fresno | |||
* ], Tulsa | |||
* ], Austin | |||
* ]/] Tucson | |||
* ], Omaha | |||
* ]/] Spokane | |||
* ], Boise | |||
{{div col end}} | |||
==User experience== | |||
Installation of software and hardware, configuration, and registration took around an hour.<ref name="Salkowski">{{cite news |last1=Salkowski |first1=Joe |title=Cuecat - Just a Lap Dog for Internet Advertisers |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-09-25-0009250014-story.html |access-date=25 June 2021 |work=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224034420/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-09-25-0009250014-story.html |archive-date=2021-02-24 |quote=To contact syndicated columnist Joe Salkowski, you can e-mail him at joes@azstarnet.com or write to him c/o Tribune Media Services, Inc., 435 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60611.}}</ref> Registration required the user's name, age, and e-mail address, and demanded completion of a lengthy survey with invasive questions about shopping habits, hobbies, and educational level.<ref name="Salkowski"/> Then users could scan ], ], and custom bar codes in ads in <!-- Adweek, BrandWeek and MediaWeek -->magazines, newspapers, Verizon Yellow Pages, and RadioShack catalogs. The '':CRQ'' software then used that unique serial number from the device to return a URL which directed the user's browser to the sponsored website.<ref name="Salkowski" /> It also created a permanent advertisement-displaying ] on the user's computers, and could log the web-surfing habits associated with a user's real name and email address.<ref name="Salkowski"/> | |||
==Reception== | |||
In ''The Wall Street Journal'', ] criticized CueCat: "In order to scan in codes from magazines and newspapers, you have to be reading them in front of your PC. That's unnatural and ridiculous." Mossberg wrote that the device "fails miserably. Using it is just unnatural." He concluded that the CueCat "isn't worth installing and using, even though it's available free of charge".<ref>{{cite news | author = Mossberg, Walter S. | author-link = Walter Mossberg | title = CueCat Fails to Meet Its Promise Of Being Convenient and Useful | newspaper = The Wall Street Journal | date = October 12, 2000 | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB971305166620370724 | access-date = November 10, 2011}}</ref> ], a computer technology reviewer, also criticized the device as "not solving a problem" and characterized the venture as a "feeble business idea".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000037.html |title=Wasting Money on Cats |work=joelonsoftare.com |first=Joel |last=Spolsky |date=September 12, 2000 |access-date=November 12, 2011}}</ref> | |||
The CueCat is now widely described as a commercial failure. It was ranked twentieth in "The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time" by '']'' magazine in 2006.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tynan |first=Dan |date=May 26, 2006 |title=The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time |url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/125772-8/the_25_worst_tech_products_of_all_time.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417171619/https://www.pcworld.com/article/125772-8/the_25_worst_tech_products_of_all_time.html |archive-date=April 17, 2011 |access-date=April 4, 2011 |website=PCWorld}}</ref> The CueCat's critics said the device was ultimately of little use. Joe Salkowski of the '']'' wrote, "You have to wonder about a business plan based on the notion that people want to interact with a soda can",<ref>Salkowski, Joe (2000-09-25). ''].'' Retrieved 14 November 2017. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115151330/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-09-25/business/0009250014_1_cuecat-bar-code-wires |date=2017-11-15 }}</ref> while ] of the '']'' quipped that the CueCat "fails to solve a problem which never existed".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Whitley |first1=Glenna |title=The Reviews |url=http://www.dmagazine.com/october01/featured41001.shtml |website=D Magazine |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011204204916/http://www.dmagazine.com/october01/featured41001.shtml |archive-date=2001-12-04 |location=Dallas |quote=Debbie Barham, The Evening Standard; Sandra Brown Kelly, Roanoke Times & World News; Russell Shaw, Broadcasting & Cable; Sunday Times, London; Dave Plotnikoff, San Jose Mercury News; Jeff Salkowski, Chicago Tribune; David Coursey, ZDNet News; Edward Baig, USA Today; John Dorschner, Miami Herald; Walter S. Mossberg, Wall Street Journal; Richard Des Ruisseaux, Louisville Courier-Journal; Leander Kahney, Wired; Clive Thompson, Newsday;}}</ref> In December 2009, the popular gadget blog '']'' voted the CueCat the #1 worst invention of the decade of the "2000s". In 2010, '']'' magazine included it on a list of "The 50 worst Inventions",<ref name=CueCat.Time50>{{cite magazine |magazine=] |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1991915_1991909_1991857,00.html |title=CueCat |author=Dan Fletcher |date=May 27, 2010}}</ref> adding that people didn't accept "the idea of reading their magazines next to a wired cat-shaped scanner". | |||
The CueCat device was controversial, initially because of privacy concerns about its collection of aggregate user data.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Colin J.Bennett |journal=Ethics and Information Technology |title=Cookies, web bugs, webcams and cue cats: Patterns of surveillance on the world wide web |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=195–208 |publisher=] |location=] |year=2001 |doi=10.1023/A:1012235815384 |s2cid=32667151 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |year=2000 |title=Curiosity killed the CueCat |journal=Network Security |volume=2000 |issue=11 |page=2 |doi=10.1016/S1353-4858(00)85003-5 }}</ref> Each CueCat has a unique ], and users suspected that Digital Convergence could compile a database of all barcodes scanned by a given user and connect it to the user's name and address. For this reason, and because the ] market targeted by Digital Convergence was unusually tech-savvy, numerous websites arose detailing instructions for "declawing" the CueCat — blocking or encrypting the data it sent to Digital Convergence. Digital Convergence registered the domain "digitaldemographics.com", giving additional credence to privacy concerns about the use of data.{{cn|date=July 2023}} | |||
==Security breach== | |||
According to Internet technologist and Interhack founder ], each scan delivered the product code, the user's ID and the scanner's ID back to Digital Convergence.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rosencrance |first1=Linda |title=Sharing of personal data by Web sites sparks new privacy controversy |url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2596692/sharing-of-personal-data-by-web-sites-sparks-new-privacy-controversy.html |website=Computerworld |access-date=25 June 2021 |language=en |date=2000-08-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Curtin |first1=Matt |author1-link=Matt Curtin |title=Developing trust : online privacy and security |date=2002 |publisher=] |location=Berkeley, CA |isbn=9781893115729 |url=https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781893115729}}</ref><ref name="Privacy-Foundation-report-criticizing">{{cite web |last1=Lemos |first1=Robert |title=Will privacy kill the CueCat? |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/will-privacy-kill-the-cuecat/ |website=ZDNet |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180531064859/https://www.zdnet.com/article/will-privacy-kill-the-cuecat/ |archive-date=2018-05-31 |language=en |quote=The Privacy Foundation plans to deliver the latest blow to Internet data collector Digital:Convergence Corp. on Friday when the organization releases a report criticizing the company's collection of potentially identifying information over the Internet. ... The moderated e-mail digest Privacy Forum and the Internet-technology consulting firm ] have both pointed out shortcomings in the company's privacy policy and information collection practices. ... Consumers believing the company's data collection claims will be key to Digital:Convergence's standardizing the CueCat system as the way to connect real-world objects to additional information on the Web, stated the startup in its application for an initial public offering. 'Even the perception of security and privacy concerns, whether or not valid, may inhibit Internet user acceptance of our technology and products,' read the statement.}}</ref> | |||
The data format<ref name="patents.justia.com"/> was ], and was scrambled so the barcode data could not be read as ]. However, the barcode itself is closely related to ], and the scanner was also capable of reading ]/] and other ], such as Priority Mail, UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-13, EAN-8, 2-of-5 interleaved, CODABAR, CODE39, CODE128, and ISBN.<ref name="amazon-CueCat-PS"/> Because of the weak obfuscation of the data, meant only to protect the company under DMCA guidelines (like ]'s ]), software for decoding the CueCat's output quickly appeared on the Internet, followed by a plethora of unofficial applications.<ref>{{cite web|author=Kevin Poulsen |url=http://www.securityfocus.com/news/89 |title=Hackers skin CueCat |publisher=Securityfocus.com |date=2000-09-19 |access-date=2015-02-15}}</ref><ref name="Toren"/> | |||
":CRQ" ("see our cue"), the desktop software, intercepted the data from both the keyboard and the CueCat, before passing it on to the ]. Versions for both ] or ] were included. Users of this software were required to register with their ], gender, and email address. This registration process enabled the device to deliver relevant content to a single or multiple users in a household. | |||
Server reports and data submitted to the SEC, in DigitalConvergences bid to do an IPO, show that ver 1,000,000 Internet users went into their local RadioShack stores picked up and installed a CueCat within the first 30 days of release making it one of the fastest growing and adopted technologies of all time. Currently, CueCat and its technology, which launched the scan to connect and scan to conduct commerce development platform, have seen a revival almost 10 years after its introduction and 19 years after after Pulitzer’s first test and prototypes, and almost 2000 apps have been developed using CueCat and its scanning capabilities. Those who now use CueCat to scan and run simple apps can utilize third-party software to decode the lightweight encryption employed within the device. <ref></ref> | |||
Privacy groups warned that it could be used to track readers' online behavior because each unit has a unique identifier.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jesdanun |first1=Anick |title=Tinkering by Vegas man, others, improves tech devices - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper |url=https://lasvegassun.com/news/2001/may/21/tinkering-by-vegas-man-others-improves-tech-device/ |access-date=25 June 2021 |work=] |date=2001-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625055007/https://lasvegassun.com/news/2001/may/21/tinkering-by-vegas-man-others-improves-tech-device/ |archive-date=2021-06-25 |language=en |quote=Ken Segler likes to fiddle with electronic gadgets in his spare time. So when the i-opener promised Internet access without a full-powered computer, he grabbed one and tinkered away. Soon enough, he figured out how to add a hard drive for storage, turning the $99 Internet appliance into a low-end computer that normally costs $1,000. ... Segler also took apart the CueCat, a mouse-like device that links bar codes in printed ads and catalogues with specialized Web pages. Using an ], he disconnected a chip containing a serial number, turning the free device into a regular bar code reader that he could use without worrying about the potential for surveillance ... Digital Convergence Corp., the distributor of the CueCat, is even launching a Web site this month to encourage unofficial uses, such as cataloging CDs and books through their bar codes or linking game cartridges with online cheat sheets.}}</ref> Belo officials said they would not track individual CueCat users but would gather anonymous information grouped by age, gender and ZIP code.<ref name="adweek-scratch-cuecat"/> | |||
== Introduction == | |||
{{Infobox_Company | | |||
company_name = Digital Convergence Corporation| | |||
company_type = Corporation| | |||
company_logo = | | |||
company_slogan = Engineering Your Digital Future | | |||
foundation = ], ] (])| | |||
location = ], ] | | |||
key_people = | | |||
num_employees = 1,250 | | |||
revenue = | | |||
industry = Electronics | | |||
products = ]s, ]| | |||
homepage = | | |||
}} | |||
] | |||
In early 2000, advertisements, special web editions and editorial content containing CueCat CueCodes (aka. "cue", CueCode™ or QCode) appeared for more than a year in many high-circulation U.S. mass-market periodicals, notably ], ] and ]. Commercial publications such as ], ] and ] also employed the technology. The CueCat CueCodes also appeared in select ], providing advertisers a link to additional information. RadioShack published their product catalogs containing these CueCodes, and even distributed CueCat devices through their retail chain to customers at no charge.<ref></ref> CueCats were also to subscribers of technology magazines, notably Forbes and Wired. Starting in October 2000, The Dallas Morning News and other Belo-owned newspapers added the CueCodes next to major articles (Belo had invested in Digital Convergence) and regular features like stocks and weather. | |||
The mailings of Cuecats were sent to subscribers of various publications as a gift from various publishers and as a “Thank You” for their business. Numerous Publishers participated in the launch of the CueCat and this added to the 1,000,000 users of the CueCat device almost immediately. <ref></ref> DigitalConvergence provided free CueCats to certain large Publishers and at a reduced cost to smaller publishers. Each publisher was responsible for its own mailings and this mailing was done, due to the books and software in the package at the Media Mail mailing rate offered by the United State Post Office, thus saving millions on Sponsors mailing costs. <ref>http://adage.com/article/news/nbc-s-fall-lineup-spotlight-web-technology/58071/]</ref> | |||
In September 2000, security watchdog website Securitywatch.com notified<ref name="digitalconvergence-alerted">{{cite web |title=Digital:Convergence Experiences Electronic Security Breach |url=http://www.digitalconvergence.com/news/20000915.html |website=Digital:Convergence |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001017122616/http://www.digitalconvergence.com/news/20000915.html |archive-date=2000-10-17 |date=September 15, 2000 |quote=Internet technology company Digital:Convergence Corporation experienced a security breach that may have exposed certain members' names and email addresses. The company was alerted of breach efforts by Peter Thomas at Securitywatch.com.}}</ref> Digital Convergence of a security vulnerability on the Digital Convergence website that exposed private information about CueCat users.<ref name="arstechnica2019"/> Digital Convergence immediately shut down that part of their website, and their investigation concluded that approximately 140,000 CueCat users who had registered their CueCat were exposed to a breach that revealed their name, email address, age range, gender and zip code. This was not a breach of the main user database itself, but a flat text file used only for reporting purposes that was generated by ] code that was saved on a publicly available portion of the Digital Convergence web server. | |||
The bars on a CueCode are tilted 22.5° to the left, both for ] and Trade Dress reasons , to avoid Lemelson parallel barcode patent concerns and as a Patent Warfare Strategy developed by Pulitzer, to create a atmosphere of “Willful Infringement” by competitors to the DigitalConvergence and CueCat Technologies. This strategy meant, if CueCats CueCodes were made readable by any device other than the ] approved devices, they would have to hack the internal code and software, proving the use of Digital’s proprietary technology. Such hacking or reverse engineering, would then backfire against a competitor and open them to immediate “Willful Patent Infringement” lawsuits by DigitalConvergence. This patent edge, and the shear vastness of the Pulitzer ], later forced all companies engaged with Scanning to connect to deal and/or license with DigitalConvergence and Pulitzer Patent Portfolio. <ref></ref><ref></ref> | |||
This failure was given a multi-citation Octopus TV "Failure Award" regarding brands that failed to take off and were hacked.<ref name=DrumCat>{{cite news |work=The Drum | |||
The data format was proprietary, being scrambled so as not to be usable as plain text. However, the CueCode (proprietary barcode) itself somewhat resembled Code 128, and the CueCat was also capable of reading ], ] and other symbologies. This intentional design allowed CueCat to become the ONLY scanner in the world able to read all existing bar codes, all past types of bar codes and all future types of bar codes yet to be issued. The software for decoding the CueCat's output quickly appeared on the Internet, followed by a plethora of unofficial applications and many of these applications were encouraged by DigitalConvergence before its untimely demise. <ref></ref><ref></ref> | |||
|url=https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/10/10/the-failure-awards-defunct-branding-9-cuecat-barcode-scanner | |||
|title=The Failure Awards for defunct branding .. #9 :CueCat barcode scanner | |||
|quote=The ambition was to make the :CueCat barcode the standard for advertising. A cat designed to work side by side with your mouse. ... To add to its woes, the feline company suffered a security leak when a tech employee left with a development computer and connected to an unsecured net connection and surprise, surprise was hacked. About 140,000 :CueCat users had their personal data stolen including their name, email address, age range, gender and zip code. What was the price of privacy? Digital Convergence offered each victim a $10 gift certificate to Radio Shack. | |||
|date=October 10, 2017 |archive-date=2021-05-25 | |||
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525094458/https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/10/10/the-failure-awards-defunct-branding-9-cuecat-barcode-scanner }}<!-- https://www.octopus.tv/ https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/11/07/the-failure-awards-defunct-branding-2017-winner-revealed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHnxPQBZskY --></ref> | |||
== Aftermath == | |||
":CRQ" (a play on "see our cue") is software developed by Digital:Convergence intended to convert Audio CueCodes™ or Audio QCodes or "cues" from television signals and the :Cuecat reader into URLs. The television technology was launched on NBC during its "Must See TV" programming and used a computer sound card to decode an audible CueCode™ and collect or launch a web site. | |||
Digital Convergence responded to this security breach by sending an email to those affected by the incident claiming that it was correcting this problem and would be offering them a $10 gift certificate to ], an investor in Digital Convergence.<ref name="arstechnica2019">{{Cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/are-a-million-free-google-cardboard-sets-doomed-to-repeat-cuecats-history/ |title=Are a million free Google Cardboard sets doomed to repeat CueCat's history? |last=Machkovech |first=Sam |date=2015-10-22 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us |access-date=2019-02-14 |quote=Major CueCat funder RadioShack later offered a $10 coupon to anybody affected by an eventual private-data leak.}}</ref> | |||
== Revered and Reviled == | |||
At inception and announcement, CueCat, DigitalConvergence and Pulitzer were heralded throughout Wall Street and Hollywood and attracted huge named investors such as ] and ], but when the company closed shop (coming from both the tech world and publishing world combined) CueCat, DigitalConvergence and Pulitzer became heavily reviled (history shows the same such fate and the same revile and rhetoric plagues famous Inventors such as ], ], ], ] and ]). <ref>http://adage.com/article/news/nbc-s-fall-lineup-spotlight-web-technology/58071/]</ref> | |||
The company's initial response to these ]s was to assert that users did not own the devices and had no right to modify or ] them. Threats of legal action against the hackers swiftly brought on more controversy and criticism.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2000/10/09/use-of-free-bar-code-scanners-turning-into-a-cuecat-fight/ |title=Use Of Free Bar-code Scanners Turning Into A Cuecat Fight |work=Chicago Tribune |date=2000-10-09 |access-date=2015-02-15}}</ref> The company changed the licensing agreement several times, adding explicit restrictions, apparently in response to hacker activity. Hackers argued that the changes did not apply retroactively to devices that had been purchased under older versions of the license, and that the thousands of users who received unsolicited CueCats in the mail had neither agreed to nor were legally bound by the license. | |||
=== Accolades === | |||
In the year 2000, the ] - Computerworld Honors Program, in consultation with its Chairmen and Laureates, , advisors from academia and the IT industry, various diplomatic corps, began to disseminate its annual collection of primary source materials of technology and innovations that change and positively impact the World to ], State and University Libraries, Research Institutions and similar repositories around the world. | |||
No lawsuit was ever brought against "hackers", as this tactic was not employed to go after specific users or the hacker community, but to show "reasonable assertion". This would prevent another corporation from developing integrated software within an operating system or browser, which could take over the device and circumvent the :CRQ supervisory software and the revenue model that Digital Convergence desired.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grand |first1=Joe |last2=Mitnick |first2=Kevin D. |last3=Russell |first3=Ryan |author1-link=Joe Grand |author2-link=Kevin D. Mitnick |title=Hardware Hacking: Have Fun while Voiding your Warranty |date=2004-01-29 |publisher=] |isbn=9781932266832 |page=78 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/741395468 |language=en |chapter=Declawing Your CueCat |quote= |oclc=741395468}}</ref> | |||
To date, 134 institutions are actively engaged in the preservation, protection and dissemination of these materials and have been designated Members of Honors Global Archives and Academic Council. CueCat, DigitalConvergence and the Patents and Ideas of J. Hutton Pulitzer are part of this now famous archive. | |||
In 2001, CueCat, DigitalConvergence and J Hutton Pulitzer, the Inventor, was awarded the coveted Smithsonian – ComputerWorld – “Search For New Heroes Award”. | |||
In May 2001, Digital Convergence fired most of its 225-person workforce.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Whitley |first1=Glenna |title=The Dumbest Invention in the History of Computers |url=https://www.dmagazine.com/october01/featured1001.shtml |access-date=25 June 2021 |work=D Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011114135834/https://www.dmagazine.com/october01/featured1001.shtml |archive-date=2001-11-14 |location=Dallas |quote=On Sept. 6, Belo finally ran up the white flag. In a small story on the front page of the business section, the Morning News announced it was giving up on a promotion it had hyped more than the paper's recent redesign: a device dubbed "CueCat" that read bar codes implanted in stories in the News and on sister TV station WFAA.}}</ref> | |||
Notable voting members who voted for the coveted award to be awarded to CueCat, DigitalConvergence and J Hutton Pulitzer included Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Carly Fiorina, Lou Gerstner and Larry Ellison, to name just a few. | |||
CueCat, DigitalConvergence and J. Hutton Pulitzer also won the coveted ]. The SIIA CODiE awards recognize excellence in the business software, digital content, and education technology industries. All nominated products and services receive a thorough review from seasoned industry experts who can identify strengths and give significant insights for improvements. In 27 years, SIIA has recognized more than 1,000 companies for achieving greatness in industries that expect innovative thinking and demand market validation.<ref></ref> | |||
In September 2001, ], CueCat investor and owner of newspapers and TV stations, who had sent at least 200,000 free CueCats to its readers, wrote off their $37.5 million investment,<ref name="adweek-scratch-cuecat">{{cite news |title=Belo Scratches CueCat |url=https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/belo-scratches-cuecat-51778/ |access-date=25 June 2021 |work=Adweek |agency=] |date=September 7, 2001 |quote=Belo's WFAA-TV in Dallas used a related technology that used electronic signals transmitted to viewers' computers if they were attached to the TV with a special cable. But readers and viewers skipped over the cues and preferred to go directly to the newspaper and TV station Web sites, said Belo senior vice president Skip Cass. Newspaper and online columnists ridiculed the CueCat as an unwieldy device that assumed people read newspapers while seated at their computer.}}</ref> and stopped using CueCat technology with newspapers's editions, notably '']'', '']'', and '']''. | |||
=== Detractors === | |||
Investors in CueCat lost their $185 million. Technology journalist ] called the CueCat a "]", a "massive flop", and a "fiasco".<ref name=Rosenberg/> | |||
The media outlash over the CueCat device, the company DigitalConvergence and Pulitzer himself, took on a life of their own. Even with Pulitzer being nominated the JD Powers “Entrepreneur of the Year” and the attracting of a record breaking technology device adoption of 1,000,000 initial device users and creating the largest barcode database ever created (and linked) the CueCat in its initial concept was branded by the media a commercial failure. It received the dubious distinction as one of "The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time" according to ]. <ref></ref> The CueCat's critics said the device was ultimately of little use: wrote Jeff Salkowski of the ], "You have to wonder about a business plan based on the notion that people want to interact with a soda can," while Debbie Barham of the Evening Standard quipped that the CueCat "fails to solve a problem which never existed." In December 2009, the popular gadget blog Gizmodo voted the CueCat the #1 worst invention of the "2000s" decade. <ref></ref> | |||
== Awards == | |||
In 2001, '']'' named CueCat as a Laureate in the Media Arts & Entertainment category.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwhonors.org/Search/his_4a.asp?search=&cat=Media&year=2001&Submit2=Search |title=A Search for New Heroes |work=Computerworld Honors |access-date=November 7, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425063820/http://www.cwhonors.org/Search/his_4a.asp?search=&cat=Media&year=2001&Submit2=Search |archive-date=April 25, 2012 }}</ref> | |||
In 2001, '']'' named Digital Convergence Corp.'s :CRQ Technology as Best Reference Tool.<ref>{{cite web |title=2001 Winners |url=http://www.siia.net/archive/codies/2015/pw_2001.asp |website=CODiE Awards |publisher=] |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815053933/http://www.siia.net/archive/codies/2015/pw_2001.asp |archive-date=2015-08-15 |quote=Best Reference Tool - :CRQ Technology, Digital: Convergence Corp.}}</ref> | |||
== |
== Surplus liquidation == | ||
In June 2005, a ] offered two million CueCats for sale at $0.30 each (in quantities of 500,000 or more).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boingboing.net/2005/06/12/two_million_cuecats_.html|title=Two million CueCats at $0.30/each|publisher=Boing Boing|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220141009/http://boingboing.net/2005/06/12/two-million-cuecats-.html|archive-date=2009-02-20|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
Now scanning to connect to products, offers and the web are commonplace and available in almost every connected device. Thus, the idea and technology of Pulitzer succeeded and now may employee as many as 20,000 employees global in the business of (1) scan to link (2) scan to buy (3) scan to inquire and (4) scan to connect/support), thus proving the consumer adoption, business adoption and the viable business model created by Pulitzer. However, the malicious press attacks on both CueCat and its Inventor Pulitzer and the idea of scanning to connect was further bashed and thus additionally marred by DigitalConvergence’s unfortunate security compromise. | |||
==Controversy == | |||
Once available for free, the device can now be found on sale at eBay for prices ranging from $5 to as much as $100.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Oreskovic |first1=Alexei |title=CueCat scanner flashback |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/cuecat-scanner-flashback-2015-8 |website=] |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150902020246/https://www.businessinsider.com/cuecat-scanner-flashback-2015-8 |archive-date=2015-09-02}}</ref><ref name="amazon-CueCat-PS">{{cite web |title=CueCat PS/2 Standard Barcode Scanner |url=https://www.amazon.com/CueCat-PS-Standard-Barcode-Scanner/dp/B0006SJTOY |website=] |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125220449/https://www.amazon.com/CueCat-PS-Standard-Barcode-Scanner/dp/B0006SJTOY |archive-date=2020-11-25 |quote=Reads UPC, Priority Mail, etc., barcodes Specific formats include: UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-13, EAN-8, 2-of-5 interleaved, CODABAR, CODE39, CODE128, and ISBN}}</ref> | |||
CueCat was initially controversial, because of privacy concerns raised over its collecting of aggregate user data, <ref name=Bennett2001>{{citation | author = Bennett, Colin J. | year = 2001 | journal = Ethics and Information Technology | volume = 3 | pages = 195 | doi = 10.1023/A:1012235815384 | issue = 3 }}</ref><ref>{{citation | year = 2000 | title = Curiosity killed the CueCat | journal = Network Security | volume = 2000 | issue = 11 | pages = 2 | doi = 10.1016/S1353-4858(00)85003-5 }}</ref>Each CueCat has a unique serial number, and users suspected that Digital Convergence could compile a database of all barcodes scanned by a given user and connect it to the user's name and address. However, DigitalConvergence did not keep such combined information, but did have a security leak when a tech employee left with a development computer connected to an unsecured Net connection and was hacked. A small amount (5%) of DigitalConvergence’s users records were stolen. For this reason, and because the demographic market targeted by Digital Convergence was unusually tech-savvy, numerous web sites arose detailing instructions for "declawing" the CueCat — blocking or encrypting the data it sent to Digital Convergence. The site digitaldemographics.com was also registered through Digital Convergence, and was the division of DigitalConvergence responsible for attracting brand companies to the technology platform. Although DigitalDemographics did not release users personal identification information, it did make available how many “bottles, boxes or bags” of a consumer product were scanned within any given week, similar to the data collected at the average grocery store level. The database utilized the unique serial number within each device to determine the viability of deployment through retail, magazine and other distribution partners. Any data collected was aggregated anonymously much like other serialized and identifiable devices such as TiVo have been employing since 1999. <ref></ref> | |||
The company's response to these hacks was to assert that users did not own the devices and had no right to modify or reverse engineer them. Threats of legal action against the hackers swiftly brought on more controversy and criticism Hackers argued that the thousands of users who received unsolicited CueCats in the mail had not agreed to nor were legally bound by the license. No lawsuit was ever brought against "hackers," as this tactic was not employed to go after specific users or the hacker community specifically, but to show "reasonable assertion" that would prevent a corporation from developing integrated software within an operating system or browser which could take over the device and circumvent the CRQ watchdog software and therefore revenue model that Digital Convergence employed. <ref>http://seclists.org/interesting-people/2000/Sep/25]</ref> | |||
== Open source == | |||
Hobbyists have reverse-engineered the firmware, software, and the customer database.<ref name="Toren">{{cite web |last1=Toren |first1=Michael C. |title=Mirror -- Open Source CueCat related software |url=http://michael.toren.net/mirrors/cuecat/ |website=michael.toren.net |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010428151041/http://michael.toren.net/mirrors/cuecat/ |archive-date=2001-04-28 |date=2001-01-01}}</ref><ref name="oss">{{cite web |title=oss.lineo.com/cuecat |url=http://oss.lineo.com/cuecat/index.html |website=] |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001017221021/http://oss.lineo.com/cuecat/index.html |archive-date=2000-10-17 |quote=Important Notice ! Once again, although we do not understand why, DigitalConvergence has contacted us regarding the CueCat project, so we are forced to take down the project page again. We are sorry for any inconvenience, and we thank you for your interest and support. We will try to update this page as soon as possible. Pierre-Philippe Coupard}}</ref><ref name="SourceForge">{{cite web |title=Forums for UScan Bar Code Scanning System |url=http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=9965 |website=] |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010421160702/http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=9965 |archive-date=2001-04-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Greene |first1=Thomas C. |title=What the Hell is ... CueCat? A New-Economy marketing gimmick gone horribly wrong ;-) |url=https://www.theregister.com/2000/09/22/what_the_hell_is_cuecat/ |website=] |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126032832/https://www.theregister.com/2000/09/22/what_the_hell_is_cuecat/ |archive-date=2021-01-26 |language=en |date=2000-09-22 |quote=A bit of history tells a tale of what can only be described as an idea-mill going live with a high-tech gimmick in the absence of anything resembling high-tech savvy. ... They likely have too many 'concept guys' in control with too little practical, nuts-and-bolts foresight and imagination. ... Then there is the CueCat's serial number, which privacy alarmists see as a potential user-profiling weapon. ... In all, a disastrous start to a marketing concept clearly executed by greedy fools.}}</ref><ref name="Perez-Albuerne">{{cite web |last1=Perez-Albuerne |first1=Evelio Domingo |title=CueCat Mirror List |url=http://www.ultradrive.com/files/cuecat/mirrors.html |website=ultradrive.com |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001204093000/http://www.ultradrive.com/files/cuecat/mirrors.html |archive-date=2000-12-04}}</ref><ref name="Peri">{{cite web |author1=Peri |title=CueCat Mirror List |url=http://www.logorrhea.com/cuecat/mirrors.html |website=logorrhea.com |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001017190410/http://www.logorrhea.com/cuecat/mirrors.html |archive-date=2000-10-17 |quote=35 4 * * * wget --quiet --no-host-directories --no-parent --convert-links --directory-prefix=/home/htdocs/cuecat/ --cut-dirs=2 --mirror <nowiki>http://www.logorrhea.com/cuecat/mirrors.html</nowiki>}}</ref> Other unrelated companies sold and supported surplus new CueCats as low-cost barcode scanners for use with their software, such as the Readerware library cataloging utility.<ref name="Readerware">{{cite web |title=How do I scan a barcode with a CueCat scanner? - Knowledge Base |url=https://www.readerware.com/index.php/kbase/how_do_i_scan_a_barcode_with_a_cuecat_scanner |website=Readerware |publisher=The Readerware Corporation |access-date=2023-03-09 |date=October 5, 2019}}</ref> Eventually, the widespread availability of barcode scanner smartphone apps made the CueCat's capabilities mostly superfluous.{{or|date=July 2023}} | |||
In September 2000, security watchdog website ] notified Digital Convergence of a security vulnerability on the Digital Convergence website that exposed private information about CueCat users. Digital Convergence immediately shut down that part of their website, and their investigation concluded that approximately 140,000 CueCat users who had registered their CueCat were exposed to a breach that revealed their name, email address, age range, gender and zip code. This was not a breach of the main user database itself, but a flat text file used only for reporting purposes that was generated by ColdFusion code that was saved on a publicly available portion of the Digital Convergence web server. Subsequent reports and internal investigations showed that less than 50,000 users information was actually compromised out of a user base of just over 1,000,000 activated Cuecat devices. | |||
Digital Convergence responded to this security breach by sending an email to those affected by the incident claiming that it was correcting this problem and would be offering them a $10 gift certificate to Radio Shack. | |||
== |
== Books == | ||
* {{cite book |last1=Grand |first1=Joe |last2=Mitnick |first2=Kevin D. |last3=Russell |first3=Ryan |author1-link=Joe Grand |author2-link=Kevin D. Mitnick |title=Hardware Hacking: Have Fun while Voiding your Warranty |date=2004-01-29 |publisher=] |isbn=9781932266832 |pages=48–82 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/741395468 |language=en |chapter=Declawing Your CueCat |quote= |oclc=741395468}} | |||
The CueCat itself is still being sold on secondary marketplace sites like Amazon and eBay. The booklover social networking site LibraryThing sells USB CueCats to aid with scanning ISBN barcodes for entering books into the site and a whole community of apps which have developed many uses for the CueCat scanner have appeared over the years. | |||
In June 2005, a well known electronic liquidator purchased at the bankruptcy asset auction the remaining Cuecat un-distributed inventory. The liquidator purchased approximately 2,000,000 CueCats at a price of $20,000 for the entire lot of device (purchasing the device at a liquidated cost of $0.01 cents each) and subsequently the liquidator offered two million CueCats for sale at $0.30 each (in quantities of 500,000 or more). <ref>http://boingboing.net/2005/06/12/two-million-cuecats-.html</ref> | |||
== Gallery == | |||
Currently, on ], one can purchase a CueCat for an average BUY NOW price of $9.99 and the original sponsored distribution kits, private labeled and mailed to customers by such companies as RadioShack, NBC, Forbes, AdWeek, BrandWeek and others, have started being offered on the Tech Collectors market for as high as $50 for an intact Branded CueCat Offering Kit. | |||
<gallery mode="packed" caption=":CueCat"> | |||
File:CueCat-inside.jpg | |||
=== Defunct Company === | |||
File:CueCat-board.jpg | |||
Digital Convergence and the CueCat system are generally assumed to be defunct, the Digital Convergence website remained as a ghost site. The website has contained the following statement: | |||
File:CueCat-boardbottom.jpg | |||
The dream was to connect items in the physical world to the Internet, automatically. In January that dream hit a bump in the road and the servers were taken offline. They will scan again… If you have a Cue Cat, save it. The patents and technology created by Digital Convergence will again be available for business and consumer use. <ref></ref> | |||
Cuecat2.jpg | |||
Currently the website contains information about the device, its history and information on the company licensing the resulting intellectual property which numbers more than 115 granted US patents. Currently, as of October 2011, Pulitzer Patents are being award at the rate of almost 1 patent every two weeks. | |||
</gallery> | |||
=== Legacy === | |||
Videos and Deal Memos float on the Internet showing how Pulitzer was in negotiations with ] and others to tie CRQ into Internet Explorer and make Cuecat and CRQ part of the regular ] and ] Operating Systems and Applications. DigitalConvergence’s demise thwarted these efforts, although Pulitzer tried to save the company’s downfall with cash infusion/acquisition negotiations from Microsoft, ], ]l and ]. These negotiations failed due to stock market conditions and the advent of the attacks on The Pentagon and New York City on September, 11, 2001. | |||
These videos and documents show how far the Cuecat was down the development road with technology, patents and codes being included in pagers, cellphones, hand held devices, Palm’s, Keyboards, Computer Mice and keychain and fob applications. Lack of funding and the bankruptcy of DigitalConvergence halted the release of these devices and caused the layoff of almost 1200 people in DigitalConvergence Offices in ], ], ], ] and ]. | |||
Today, Scanning to connect, buy, register or gain information is a common device application and feature. In the years after CueCat, several different technologies have emerged, emulating the goals; ideas and technologies developed by Pulitzer and Digital Convergence. These technologies, popularized by the introduction of CueCat, provide some of the same features for consumer bar code scanning and web-connected interaction. The QR code, <ref></ref> seen regularly today almost a decade after CueCat was introduced and Microsoft Tag, <ref></ref> introduced in 2009, have been mentioned as modern reinventions of CueCat. | |||
=== Patent History === | |||
As a result of the creation of CueCat and DigitalConvergence, J. Hutton Pulitzer, has become one of the most granted and referenced patent authors in the United States. For the last two years he his patents have been granted at a rate of one every two weeks. His patent Portfolio spans applications and systems for Internet Communications, Internet Marketing, Internet Commerce,Transactional Media, Interactive Media, Broadcasting, Communications, Manufacturing, Content Distribution, Social Media, Transactional Analysis, Computer Interface and Systems, Customer Identification, Security Identification, Environmental Systems, Mining Systems, Environmental Applications and Research and Data Analysis . | |||
With 115 US Patents, over 1476 (and growing daily) Forward Citations and 2850 Patents within the European Union, Pulitzer’s have arguably developed as one of the most important patent portfolios within the Digital Age. Pulitzer’s Core Internet Patents have spawned 1476 Forward Citations. The forward citation count shows the influence of a particular patent on the further development of the industry as a whole. The more the citation counts, the larger the impact is on the industry development. The normal USPTO average for a Patent of worth is a measure of 1.0, meaning 1 patent and 1 forward reference within 5 years (one patent begets a future patent). Pulitzer’s Core Patents have a measure of 49.0, meaning one Pulitzer Patent begets 49 new Industry patents or an astonishing growth impact of 4900%. Pulitzer’s current Forward Citation Matrix shows 49.2 average core citations, 1870 total citations and an estimated 5 year 5684 citations. | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
* ] | * ] | ||
* ] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
== References == | == References == | ||
{{Reflist}} | {{Reflist|30em}} | ||
== External links == | == External links == | ||
{{commons}} | {{commons}} | ||
* {{cite web |title=Order Your :CueCat {{!}} Welcome Readers! |url=http://www.getcuecat.com/welcome/index.asp |website=getcuecat.com <!-- |access-date=25 June 2021 --> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001017113157/http://www.getcuecat.com/welcome/index.asp |archive-date=2000-10-17}} | |||
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* {{cite web |title=Welcome |url=http://www.digitalconvergence.com/index.html |website=Digital:Convergence <!-- |access-date=25 June 2021 --> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001018210037/http://www.digitalconvergence.com/index.html |archive-date=2000-10-18}} | |||
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* {{cite web |last1=Lin |first1=Sam C. |title=CueCat: tear down, parts inventory, and HOWTOs |url=https://www.lincomatic.com/cuecat/ |website=lincomatic.com <!-- |access-date=25 June 2021 --> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112010447/https://www.lincomatic.com/cuecat/ |archive-date=2020-11-12}} | |||
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* {{cite web |author1=] |title=Nomination Case Study for CueCat 2001 Laureate, Category: Media Arts & Entertainment |url=http://www.cwhonors.org/Search/his_4a_detail.asp?id=4259 |website=] Honors Program <!-- |access-date=25 June 2021 --> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425063830/http://www.cwhonors.org/Search/his_4a_detail.asp?id=4259 |archive-date=2012-04-25 |date=2012-04-25}} | |||
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* {{cite web |author1=] |title=CueCat: Forbes Best OF The Web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHnxPQBZskY |website=CBS |publisher=] |access-date=25 June 2021 |language=en}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 15:40, 5 December 2024
Cat-shaped handheld barcode readerThe CueCat, styled :CueCat with a leading colon, is a cat-shaped handheld barcode reader designed to allow a user to open a link to an Internet URL by scanning a barcode. The devices were given away free to Internet users starting in 2000 by the now-defunct Digital Convergence Corporation.
By year-end 2001, barcodes were no longer distributed for the device, and scanning with the device using its original software no longer yielded results. However, third-party software can decode the lightweight encryption in the device, allowing it to be used as a general-purpose wand-type barcode reader. The CueCat can read several common barcode types, in addition to the proprietary CUE barcodes which had been promoted by Digital Convergence.
Description
The CueCat was named CUE for the unique bar code which the device scanned and CAT as a wordplay on "Keystroke Automation Technology". It enabled a user to open a link to an Internet URL by scanning a barcode — called a "cue" by Digital Convergence — appearing in an article or catalog or on some other printed matter. In this way, a user could be directed to a web page containing related information without having to type in a URL. The company asserted that the ability of the device to direct users to a specific URL, rather than a domain name, was valuable. In addition, television broadcasters could use an audio tone in programs or commercials that, if a TV was connected to a computer via an audio cable, acted as a web address shortcut.
The CueCat was connected to computers in the same way as a keystroke logger, as a "keyboard wedge", interposer, or pass-through between the keyboard PS/2 jack and the motherboard PS/2 port. Because of USB-PS/2 compatibility, USB-PS/2 adapters may be optionally used. A native USB version of the CueCat scanner hardware was also produced, but fewer of them were made before all manufacturing of the hardware was discontinued.
Marketing
The CueCat patents are held by Jeffry Jovan Philyaw, who changed his name to Jovan Hutton Pulitzer after the failure of CueCat. Belo Corporation, parent company of the Dallas Morning News and owner of many TV stations, invested US$37.5 million in Digital Convergence, RadioShack $30 million, Young & Rubicam $28 million, and Coca-Cola $10 million. Other investors included General Electric, and E. W. Scripps Company. The total amount invested was $185 million.
Each CueCat cost RadioShack about $6.50 to manufacture.
Starting in late 2000 and continuing for about a year, advertisements, special web editions, and editorial content containing CueCat barcodes appeared in many US periodicals, including Parade, Forbes, and Wired. The Dallas Morning News and other Belo-owned newspapers printed the barcodes next to major articles and regular features like stocks and weather. Commercial publications such as Adweek, Brandweek, and Mediaweek employed the technology. The CueCat bar codes also appeared in select Verizon Yellow Pages, providing advertisers with a link to additional information.
For a time, RadioShack printed these barcodes in its product catalogs, and distributed CueCat devices through its retail chain to customers at no charge. Forbes magazine mailed out the first 830,000 CueCats as gifts to their subscribers, since the magazine was starting to print CRQ ("See Our Cue") barcodes in their magazine. Wired magazine mailed over 500,000 of the free devices as gifts to their subscribers. Each publisher private-branded the CueCat hardware they sent to their mailing list.
Marketing partners
Organizations that used the :CueCat and compatible :CRQ software:
Magazines
Catalogs
Newspapers
Broadcast stations
- WNBC-TV, New York
- KNBC-TV, Los Angeles
- WMAQ-TV, Chicago
- WCAU-TV, Philadelphia
- WFAA, Dallas
- WRC-TV, Washington DC
- WXYZ-TV, Detroit
- KHOU, Houston
- KING-TV/KONG-TV, Seattle
- WFTS, Tampa
- WEWS, Cleveland
- WTVJ, Miami
- KTVK/KASW, Phoenix
- KMOV, St. Louis
- KGW, Portland
- WMAR, Baltimore
- KNSD, San Diego
- WVIT, Hartford
- WCNC, Charlotte
- WNCN, Raleigh
- KSHB, Kansas City
- WCPO, Cincinnati
- WTMJ-TV, Milwaukee
- WCMH, Columbus
- KENS, San Antonio
- WVTM, Birmingham
- WWL, New Orleans
- WVEC, Norfolk
- WPTV, West Palm Beach
- WHAS, Louisville
- WJAR, Providence
- KTNV, Las Vegas
- KMPH, Fresno
- KOTV, Tulsa
- KVUE, Austin
- KMSB/KTTU Tucson
- KPTM, Omaha
- KREM/KSKN Spokane
- KTVB, Boise
User experience
Installation of software and hardware, configuration, and registration took around an hour. Registration required the user's name, age, and e-mail address, and demanded completion of a lengthy survey with invasive questions about shopping habits, hobbies, and educational level. Then users could scan bar codes on groceries, bar codes on books, and custom bar codes in ads in magazines, newspapers, Verizon Yellow Pages, and RadioShack catalogs. The :CRQ software then used that unique serial number from the device to return a URL which directed the user's browser to the sponsored website. It also created a permanent advertisement-displaying taskbar on the user's computers, and could log the web-surfing habits associated with a user's real name and email address.
Reception
In The Wall Street Journal, Walter Mossberg criticized CueCat: "In order to scan in codes from magazines and newspapers, you have to be reading them in front of your PC. That's unnatural and ridiculous." Mossberg wrote that the device "fails miserably. Using it is just unnatural." He concluded that the CueCat "isn't worth installing and using, even though it's available free of charge". Joel Spolsky, a computer technology reviewer, also criticized the device as "not solving a problem" and characterized the venture as a "feeble business idea".
The CueCat is now widely described as a commercial failure. It was ranked twentieth in "The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time" by PC World magazine in 2006. The CueCat's critics said the device was ultimately of little use. Joe Salkowski of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "You have to wonder about a business plan based on the notion that people want to interact with a soda can", while Debbie Barham of the Evening Standard quipped that the CueCat "fails to solve a problem which never existed". In December 2009, the popular gadget blog Gizmodo voted the CueCat the #1 worst invention of the decade of the "2000s". In 2010, Time magazine included it on a list of "The 50 worst Inventions", adding that people didn't accept "the idea of reading their magazines next to a wired cat-shaped scanner".
The CueCat device was controversial, initially because of privacy concerns about its collection of aggregate user data. Each CueCat has a unique serial number, and users suspected that Digital Convergence could compile a database of all barcodes scanned by a given user and connect it to the user's name and address. For this reason, and because the demographic market targeted by Digital Convergence was unusually tech-savvy, numerous websites arose detailing instructions for "declawing" the CueCat — blocking or encrypting the data it sent to Digital Convergence. Digital Convergence registered the domain "digitaldemographics.com", giving additional credence to privacy concerns about the use of data.
Security breach
According to Internet technologist and Interhack founder Matt Curtin, each scan delivered the product code, the user's ID and the scanner's ID back to Digital Convergence.
The data format was proprietary, and was scrambled so the barcode data could not be read as plain text. However, the barcode itself is closely related to Code 128, and the scanner was also capable of reading EAN/UPC and other symbologies, such as Priority Mail, UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-13, EAN-8, 2-of-5 interleaved, CODABAR, CODE39, CODE128, and ISBN. Because of the weak obfuscation of the data, meant only to protect the company under DMCA guidelines (like DVD-Video's Content Scramble System), software for decoding the CueCat's output quickly appeared on the Internet, followed by a plethora of unofficial applications.
":CRQ" ("see our cue"), the desktop software, intercepted the data from both the keyboard and the CueCat, before passing it on to the operating system. Versions for both Windows 32-bit or Mac OS 9 were included. Users of this software were required to register with their ZIP code, gender, and email address. This registration process enabled the device to deliver relevant content to a single or multiple users in a household.
Privacy groups warned that it could be used to track readers' online behavior because each unit has a unique identifier. Belo officials said they would not track individual CueCat users but would gather anonymous information grouped by age, gender and ZIP code.
In September 2000, security watchdog website Securitywatch.com notified Digital Convergence of a security vulnerability on the Digital Convergence website that exposed private information about CueCat users. Digital Convergence immediately shut down that part of their website, and their investigation concluded that approximately 140,000 CueCat users who had registered their CueCat were exposed to a breach that revealed their name, email address, age range, gender and zip code. This was not a breach of the main user database itself, but a flat text file used only for reporting purposes that was generated by ColdFusion code that was saved on a publicly available portion of the Digital Convergence web server.
This failure was given a multi-citation Octopus TV "Failure Award" regarding brands that failed to take off and were hacked.
Aftermath
Digital Convergence responded to this security breach by sending an email to those affected by the incident claiming that it was correcting this problem and would be offering them a $10 gift certificate to RadioShack, an investor in Digital Convergence.
The company's initial response to these hacks was to assert that users did not own the devices and had no right to modify or reverse engineer them. Threats of legal action against the hackers swiftly brought on more controversy and criticism. The company changed the licensing agreement several times, adding explicit restrictions, apparently in response to hacker activity. Hackers argued that the changes did not apply retroactively to devices that had been purchased under older versions of the license, and that the thousands of users who received unsolicited CueCats in the mail had neither agreed to nor were legally bound by the license.
No lawsuit was ever brought against "hackers", as this tactic was not employed to go after specific users or the hacker community, but to show "reasonable assertion". This would prevent another corporation from developing integrated software within an operating system or browser, which could take over the device and circumvent the :CRQ supervisory software and the revenue model that Digital Convergence desired.
In May 2001, Digital Convergence fired most of its 225-person workforce.
In September 2001, Belo Corporation, CueCat investor and owner of newspapers and TV stations, who had sent at least 200,000 free CueCats to its readers, wrote off their $37.5 million investment, and stopped using CueCat technology with newspapers's editions, notably The Press-Enterprise, The Dallas Morning News, and The Providence Journal.
Investors in CueCat lost their $185 million. Technology journalist Scott Rosenberg called the CueCat a "Rube Goldberg contraption", a "massive flop", and a "fiasco".
Awards
In 2001, Computerworld named CueCat as a Laureate in the Media Arts & Entertainment category.
In 2001, Software and Information Industry Association named Digital Convergence Corp.'s :CRQ Technology as Best Reference Tool.
Surplus liquidation
In June 2005, a liquidator offered two million CueCats for sale at $0.30 each (in quantities of 500,000 or more).
Once available for free, the device can now be found on sale at eBay for prices ranging from $5 to as much as $100.
Open source
Hobbyists have reverse-engineered the firmware, software, and the customer database. Other unrelated companies sold and supported surplus new CueCats as low-cost barcode scanners for use with their software, such as the Readerware library cataloging utility. Eventually, the widespread availability of barcode scanner smartphone apps made the CueCat's capabilities mostly superfluous.
Books
- Grand, Joe; Mitnick, Kevin D.; Russell, Ryan (2004-01-29). "Declawing Your CueCat". Hardware Hacking: Have Fun while Voiding your Warranty. Elsevier. pp. 48–82. ISBN 9781932266832. OCLC 741395468.
Gallery
See also
References
- "United States Patent: 6708208 - Unique bar code for indicating a link between a product and a remote location on a web network".
- "United States Patent: D432539 - Keystroke automator".
- "Keystroke Automation Technology Trademark - Serial Number 75875851 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com.
- Kaufman, Leslie (October 6, 2000). "Speaking in Bar Code; Personal Scanners Link Products Directly to Consumers". The New York Times. Retrieved November 10, 2001.
- Stepanek, Marcia (September 28, 2000). "The CueCat Is on the Prowl: This gizmo is on the cutting edge of e-marketing. But with each swipe, it tracks your moves through cyberspace". Bloomberg Businessweek. New York City. Archived from the original on 2000-10-17. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ "How do I scan a barcode with a CueCat scanner? - Knowledge Base". Readerware. The Readerware Corporation. October 5, 2019. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
- ^ "Jeffry Jovan Philyaw Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com.
- Wilonsky, Robert (October 25, 2007). "CueCat Inventor Returns. With What? Not Quite Sure. Something To Do With Interwebs". Dallas Observer. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- Celeste, Eric (April 10, 2003). "Crystal Clear". Dallas Observer. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ Rosenberg, Scott (July 11, 2001). "CueCatastrophe: Next to the company that tried to wire Web users to bar-code scanners, money-burning dot-coms like Webvan don't look quite so bad". Salon.com. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ "Belo Scratches CueCat". Adweek. Associated Press. September 7, 2001. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Belo's WFAA-TV in Dallas used a related technology that used electronic signals transmitted to viewers' computers if they were attached to the TV with a special cable. But readers and viewers skipped over the cues and preferred to go directly to the newspaper and TV station Web sites, said Belo senior vice president Skip Cass. Newspaper and online columnists ridiculed the CueCat as an unwieldy device that assumed people read newspapers while seated at their computer.
- Meyer, Katherine (May 3, 2006). "The Best of the Worst: CueCat Falls Flat". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- Whitley, Glenna (2001-11-29). "The Suckers". D Magazine. Dallas. Archived from the original on 2001-11-29. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Steve Forbes "' will change the way you use the Internet forever The Mark: David Edmondson Title: President and COO, RadioShack Corp. Invested: $30 million Commitment: Manufactured CueCats and distributed them free at all RadioShack outlets. The Mark: Steve Forbes Title: Publisher, Forbes Invested: At least $2 million Commitment: Sent more than 800,000 subscribers CueCat and software. Quote: " will change the way you use the Internet forever."
- Salkowski, Joe. "CueCat was cute, but dogged by reluctant Web consumers". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Media Services. Archived from the original on 2021-06-25. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Every time someone uses a CueCat, two things happen. First they're directed to the exact Web page that an advertiser wants them to see, delivering the equivalent of the elusive "click-throughs" that banner ads usually fail to produce. Then Digital Convergence is notified of exactly which user is visiting which page through which bar code. In this way, CueCat lets companies track not only online preferences but offline behavior as well, such as people's soft drink preferences and what magazines they read. ... The scanners cost about $6.50 a pop, and they were distributed for free to magazine subscribers and electronics store customers. But as soon as millions of gadget-loving consumers started using their new feline friends, the money would start rolling in. By now, you've already guessed the punch line: Nobody used them.
- Coursey, David. "CueCat and corporate cluelessness". ZDNet.
- "Digital:Convergence Nabs Verizon Yellow Pages Deal". ClickZ. March 28, 2001.
- "CueCat Rollout Proceeds Amid Debate". www.washingtonpost.com. Archived from the original on 2006-03-11.
- Johnston, Leslie (November 12, 2013). "Before You Were Born: The Hardware Edition | The Signal". blogs.loc.gov.
- "Hardware Review: CueCat". computeme.tripod.com.
- "Affiliate Partners". getcuecat.com. Archived from the original on 2000-10-17. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- ^ Salkowski, Joe. "Cuecat - Just a Lap Dog for Internet Advertisers". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2021-02-24. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
To contact syndicated columnist Joe Salkowski, you can e-mail him at joes@azstarnet.com or write to him c/o Tribune Media Services, Inc., 435 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60611.
- Mossberg, Walter S. (October 12, 2000). "CueCat Fails to Meet Its Promise Of Being Convenient and Useful". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- Spolsky, Joel (September 12, 2000). "Wasting Money on Cats". joelonsoftare.com. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
- Tynan, Dan (May 26, 2006). "The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time". PCWorld. Archived from the original on April 17, 2011. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
- Salkowski, Joe (2000-09-25). :cuecat Just A Lap Dog For Internet Advertisers.Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 14 November 2017. Archived 2017-11-15 at the Wayback Machine
- Whitley, Glenna. "The Reviews". D Magazine. Dallas. Archived from the original on 2001-12-04. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Debbie Barham, The Evening Standard; Sandra Brown Kelly, Roanoke Times & World News; Russell Shaw, Broadcasting & Cable; Sunday Times, London; Dave Plotnikoff, San Jose Mercury News; Jeff Salkowski, Chicago Tribune; David Coursey, ZDNet News; Edward Baig, USA Today; John Dorschner, Miami Herald; Walter S. Mossberg, Wall Street Journal; Richard Des Ruisseaux, Louisville Courier-Journal; Leander Kahney, Wired; Clive Thompson, Newsday;
- Dan Fletcher (May 27, 2010). "CueCat". Time.
- Colin J.Bennett (2001). "Cookies, web bugs, webcams and cue cats: Patterns of surveillance on the world wide web". Ethics and Information Technology. 3 (3). Berlin: Springer Science+Business Media: 195–208. doi:10.1023/A:1012235815384. S2CID 32667151.
- "Curiosity killed the CueCat", Network Security, 2000 (11): 2, 2000, doi:10.1016/S1353-4858(00)85003-5
- Rosencrance, Linda (2000-08-01). "Sharing of personal data by Web sites sparks new privacy controversy". Computerworld. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- Curtin, Matt (2002). Developing trust : online privacy and security. Berkeley, CA: Apress. ISBN 9781893115729.
- Lemos, Robert. "Will privacy kill the CueCat?". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 2018-05-31. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
The Privacy Foundation plans to deliver the latest blow to Internet data collector Digital:Convergence Corp. on Friday when the organization releases a report criticizing the company's collection of potentially identifying information over the Internet. ... The moderated e-mail digest Privacy Forum and the Internet-technology consulting firm Interhack have both pointed out shortcomings in the company's privacy policy and information collection practices. ... Consumers believing the company's data collection claims will be key to Digital:Convergence's standardizing the CueCat system as the way to connect real-world objects to additional information on the Web, stated the startup in its application for an initial public offering. 'Even the perception of security and privacy concerns, whether or not valid, may inhibit Internet user acceptance of our technology and products,' read the statement.
- ^ "CueCat PS/2 Standard Barcode Scanner". Amazon.com. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Reads UPC, Priority Mail, etc., barcodes Specific formats include: UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-13, EAN-8, 2-of-5 interleaved, CODABAR, CODE39, CODE128, and ISBN
- Kevin Poulsen (2000-09-19). "Hackers skin CueCat". Securityfocus.com. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
- ^ Toren, Michael C. (2001-01-01). "Mirror -- Open Source CueCat related software". michael.toren.net. Archived from the original on 2001-04-28. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- Jesdanun, Anick (2001-05-21). "Tinkering by Vegas man, others, improves tech devices - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper". Las Vegas Sun. Archived from the original on 2021-06-25. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Ken Segler likes to fiddle with electronic gadgets in his spare time. So when the i-opener promised Internet access without a full-powered computer, he grabbed one and tinkered away. Soon enough, he figured out how to add a hard drive for storage, turning the $99 Internet appliance into a low-end computer that normally costs $1,000. ... Segler also took apart the CueCat, a mouse-like device that links bar codes in printed ads and catalogues with specialized Web pages. Using an X-acto knife, he disconnected a chip containing a serial number, turning the free device into a regular bar code reader that he could use without worrying about the potential for surveillance ... Digital Convergence Corp., the distributor of the CueCat, is even launching a Web site this month to encourage unofficial uses, such as cataloging CDs and books through their bar codes or linking game cartridges with online cheat sheets.
- "Digital:Convergence Experiences Electronic Security Breach". Digital:Convergence. September 15, 2000. Archived from the original on 2000-10-17. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Internet technology company Digital:Convergence Corporation experienced a security breach that may have exposed certain members' names and email addresses. The company was alerted of breach efforts by Peter Thomas at Securitywatch.com.
- ^ Machkovech, Sam (2015-10-22). "Are a million free Google Cardboard sets doomed to repeat CueCat's history?". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
Major CueCat funder RadioShack later offered a $10 coupon to anybody affected by an eventual private-data leak.
- "The Failure Awards for defunct branding .. #9 :CueCat barcode scanner". The Drum. October 10, 2017. Archived from the original on 2021-05-25.
The ambition was to make the :CueCat barcode the standard for advertising. A cat designed to work side by side with your mouse. ... To add to its woes, the feline company suffered a security leak when a tech employee left with a development computer and connected to an unsecured net connection and surprise, surprise was hacked. About 140,000 :CueCat users had their personal data stolen including their name, email address, age range, gender and zip code. What was the price of privacy? Digital Convergence offered each victim a $10 gift certificate to Radio Shack.
- "Use Of Free Bar-code Scanners Turning Into A Cuecat Fight". Chicago Tribune. 2000-10-09. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
- Grand, Joe; Mitnick, Kevin D.; Russell, Ryan (2004-01-29). "Declawing Your CueCat". Hardware Hacking: Have Fun while Voiding your Warranty. Elsevier. p. 78. ISBN 9781932266832. OCLC 741395468.
- Whitley, Glenna. "The Dumbest Invention in the History of Computers". D Magazine. Dallas. Archived from the original on 2001-11-14. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
On Sept. 6, Belo finally ran up the white flag. In a small story on the front page of the business section, the Morning News announced it was giving up on a promotion it had hyped more than the paper's recent redesign: a device dubbed "CueCat" that read bar codes implanted in stories in the News and on sister TV station WFAA.
- "A Search for New Heroes". Computerworld Honors. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2011.
- "2001 Winners". CODiE Awards. SIIA. Archived from the original on 2015-08-15. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Best Reference Tool - :CRQ Technology, Digital: Convergence Corp.
- "Two million CueCats at $0.30/each". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on 2009-02-20.
- Oreskovic, Alexei. "CueCat scanner flashback". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2015-09-02. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- "oss.lineo.com/cuecat". lineo. Archived from the original on 2000-10-17. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Important Notice ! Once again, although we do not understand why, DigitalConvergence has contacted us regarding the CueCat project, so we are forced to take down the project page again. We are sorry for any inconvenience, and we thank you for your interest and support. We will try to update this page as soon as possible. Pierre-Philippe Coupard
- "Forums for UScan Bar Code Scanning System". SourceForge. Archived from the original on 2001-04-21. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- Greene, Thomas C. (2000-09-22). "What the Hell is ... CueCat? A New-Economy marketing gimmick gone horribly wrong ;-)". theregister.com. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
A bit of history tells a tale of what can only be described as an idea-mill going live with a high-tech gimmick in the absence of anything resembling high-tech savvy. ... They likely have too many 'concept guys' in control with too little practical, nuts-and-bolts foresight and imagination. ... Then there is the CueCat's serial number, which privacy alarmists see as a potential user-profiling weapon. ... In all, a disastrous start to a marketing concept clearly executed by greedy fools.
- Perez-Albuerne, Evelio Domingo. "CueCat Mirror List". ultradrive.com. Archived from the original on 2000-12-04. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- Peri. "CueCat Mirror List". logorrhea.com. Archived from the original on 2000-10-17. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
35 4 * * * wget --quiet --no-host-directories --no-parent --convert-links --directory-prefix=/home/htdocs/cuecat/ --cut-dirs=2 --mirror http://www.logorrhea.com/cuecat/mirrors.html
External links
- "Order Your :CueCat | Welcome Readers!". getcuecat.com. Archived from the original on 2000-10-17.
- "Welcome". Digital:Convergence. Archived from the original on 2000-10-18.
- Scan to Connect Patent Portfolio
- Lin, Sam C. "CueCat: tear down, parts inventory, and HOWTOs". lincomatic.com. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12.
- Dissecting the CueCat
- CueCat post mortem
- JD Edwards (2012-04-25). "Nomination Case Study for CueCat 2001 Laureate, Category: Media Arts & Entertainment". Computerworld Honors Program. Archived from the original on 2012-04-25.
- CBS Early Show. "CueCat: Forbes Best OF The Web". CBS. YouTube. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
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