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They been saying this, what, 3 years now?

Three years? Really? Well what do you know? You're right!

Now if you want a better example of digital convergence gone bad than the N-GAGE, check here.

These Texans know how to name things, too.

Well, remember, you are talking about the state that brought you the cuecat..

Maybe the same people were involved in some way?

Thanks for pointing that out! Looks like I'll need to buy some more :cue cats before they are all gone.

I would just like to take this opportunity to point out that the Flying Butt Monkey is mightier than the ::Cue::Cat!

Although I would have much preffered to watch crq's lawyers explain to the judge that they were suing Flying Butt Monkeys for absconding with their IP.

(Actually, I just like saying Flying Butt Monkeys...)



AHAHAHA&nbsp HAHAHA!&nbsp HOW&nbsp DO&nbsp YUO&nbsp LIEK&nbsp THEM&nbsp APPELS,&nbsp FELLOWS? GRABOULOUS!

You might be able to pick up some here for a while after Radio Shack hammers theirs. A tasteful selection is available in prices ranging from $7.95 to $89.95 for your privacy dilution needs.

What is even more interesting is the fact that Digital Convergence is still alive!
It looks like they changed their business plan (of course) and are now *selling* the CueCat reader and books (this last one is a ROFL site. Look at the titles: Online Weight Loss Assistant, WAR ON TERROR (PHASE ONE: AFGHANISTAN & USAMA BIN LADIN), and so on...)

What is even more interesting is the fact that Digital Convergence is still alive!
It looks like they changed their business plan (of course) and are now *selling* the CueCat reader and books (this last one is a ROFL site. Look at the titles: Online Weight Loss Assistant, WAR ON TERROR (PHASE ONE: AFGHANISTAN & USAMA BIN LADIN), and so on...)

What is even more interesting is the fact that Digital Convergence is still alive!
It looks like they changed their business plan (of course) and are now *selling* the CueCat reader and books (this last one is a ROFL site. Look at the titles: Online Weight Loss Assistant, WAR ON TERROR (PHASE ONE: AFGHANISTAN & USAMA BIN LADIN), and so on...)

Just to be clear: the Digital Convergence named in the story isn't the same Digital Convergence which gave people a hard time for messing with their "CueCat" foo.

People always talk about how dumb the CueCat was. Did you guys notice these idiots' other thing, CUETV?!?!?

Here's their proposition:

You pick up this free cable and software from Radio Shack. (yes, they didn't learn from the cuecat debacle)

You bring your computer out of your study and set it up next to your TV (or TV next to your computer) and plug the audio out of your TV to the audio in of your computer using said cable.

Install crazy software on your PC.

Dial up your PC to the internet.

Tune your TV to NBC, and wait....

When a "CueTV Enhanced" commercial plays, at the end of the ad ther is a jarring burst of static. WHOA! My PC just went to the webpage for that ad! THIS IS SO WORTH ALL THE TROUBLE! GOD BLESS DIGITAL CONVERGENCE, THOSE MORONS!

Yes, NBC actually fell for this, for about a month or so this summer (I think June or July) they were broadcasting ads and other stuff with these annoying bursts of static that the CueTV software would pick up and decode and cause your browser to go to certain URLs. That was just about the same time D:C laid off all employees and folded up. It took NBC a few weeks to clean their programming up to get rid of the CueTV pollution after that.

Here's the URL that proves that as ridiculous as this sounds, I'm not making this up.


CueTV! Yay!

The :CueCat has been the only really affordable barcode scanner I've seen in some time, and many people managed to put the thing to industrial use (most often by doing something that D:C didn't approve of). The only upcoming replacement I see is the new expansion pack for Wizcom scanner pens to allow them to recognize barcodes. However, although Wizcomtech told me about 6 months ago they'd be opening specs so Linux drivers could be writen, nothing's come of that, so that solution won't work for me. Seems like hardware to do this type of stuff ought to be really cheap. Does anyone know of low-cost alternatives?

The :CueCat has been the only really affordable barcode scanner I've seen in some time, and many people managed to put the thing to industrial use (most often by doing something that D:C didn't approve of). The only upcoming replacement I see is the new expansion pack for Wizcom scanner pens to allow them to recognize barcodes. However, although Wizcomtech told me about 6 months ago they'd be opening specs so Linux drivers could be writen, nothing's come of that, so that solution won't work for me. Seems like hardware to do this type of stuff ought to be really cheap. Does anyone know of low-cost alternatives?

It might be too much to wish for that this thing broadcasts enough of the audio spectrum to use as a MP3 broadcaster, but it might be a good low-bandwidth wireless transmitter when used with some of the (baycom-like) audio-broadcasting technology that HAMs have developed. Also, it seems there must be some sort of memory associated with storing the information, which is also cool and hopefully hackable. The company almost made hacking the cue cat too easy - let's hope they still haven't a clue. I also hope that they keep trying this sort of business model, so that I can do my part in getting free stuff and causing them to go bankrupt.

cuebox

Subject: [CTA] :CueCat Reader for Mac
From: "Dan Fisher"
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 08:13:39 +1100

Hey Guys,

There's a really neat little product being pushed (FOR FREE) by RadioShack called the :CueCat Reader. There is a Mac version of the software in development, and they're gauging the response on their website with a form for Mac users to sign up if they're interested. Let's show them we want this! Go read up on it at the site, it's basically a barcode scanner that launches websites of the products or books, CDs, DVDs, whatever you scan into it.

http://www.crq.com/mac.html

Dan

Personally, I agree with Joel On Software -- I can't imagine why I would want one of these, regardless of whose software it runs.

Does this mean massive international man-hunts for the infamous "Carlos the Hacker"?

Best encrypt with ScramDisk (Windows 95/98 version here) locally, and with GnuPG for transmission, all your CueCat code and use anonymous remailers for version releases to Freenet, or be prepared to live out your life in a shadowy realm of underground coders dwelling in the hidden spaces between the giants of the United Corporations of the World.

If you're too lazy to go to Radio Shack, there's a web form you can fill out to get a cat.

DC seems to have realized the potential liability you just implied, and has sent email to every registered luser offering them a $10 RadioShack gift certificate to make it up to them. Probably, most of their normal users will take the offer.

What's their cost per user now? How many clickthroughs (scanthroughs?) do they need before it starts to pay back? Their financial statement for FY 2000 is looking redder and redder. Digital Convergence, meet fuckedcompany.com!

That's funny. I guess their lawyer didn't do a good enough job of combing through the EULA after cut-n-pasting it from somebody else's shrinkwrap software.

So are you bound to the specific contract that you agreed to with the "I agree" button, or can you use multiple copies since they publicly state that you can?
--

If there is patent infringement, what is the patent number?

Not that it isn't pretty shitty, what they're trying to pull and get us to believe.

--

This page says that you "get your new :CRQ system including the :CueCat reader free". This would seem to me that these things become your property when they are delivered. The licensing agreement states that it is on loan from them and may be recalled at any time.

I can't see how they could use the DMCA to defend their claims. The DMCA protects against access to copyrighted works without the authority of the copyright holders. So unless the majority of barcodes are copyrighted and permission to read these barcodes is restricted to the :CRQ software, I can't see how it is relevant. They may be encrypting the output of these bar code readers, but they don't own the copyright on the bar code contents.

I've been speculating on this for a couple of days. I'm wondering if the Digital Convergence software :CRQ doesn't already do something like the software mentioned in this article. Let's say an ad or show intro is fed into a signature (watermarks???) generator at 11KHz sample rate (to keep CPU usage low) then encode that signature as a CueCat trademarked barcode (can you trademark a class of barcodes?) and matches it against a list kept on a central server.

If my guess is correct, then the methedology mentioned here has already been done and put to the worst use for a new technology - marketing.

Just a thought. Expand on it if you can. Anyone else with insight into the :CRQ methodology?

Go to the :CueCat website for details on the reader, including the Radio Shack promotion.

They will send you a :CueCat reader and :CRQ System Software for the cost of shipping (I'm assuming this is for those folks without a Radio Shack nearby). Click here to link directly to the order form. Note that they won't be taking orders until August 24th.

So far, the software only supports Windows 95, 98, NT 4, and Windows2000.