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Domain: digitalconvergence.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to digitalconvergence.com.

Comments · 56

  1. FOUND IT! by Krimsen · · Score: 4 · on Linux Drivers For Free Barcode Scanner Cease-And-D...

    Here is the exact text, from their site:
    The :CueCat reader is only on loan to you from Digital:Convergence and may be recalled at any time. Without limiting the foregoing, your possession or control of the :CueCat reader does not transfer any right, title or interest to you in the :CueCat reader.

    If you want to view it yourself, check here and go down to the third heading called "Permitted Uses and Restrictions". Read about halfway down that section, then be careful you don't hurt youself as your jaw drops into your lap.

  2. HW eulas by ConversantShogun · · Score: 2 · on Linux Drivers For Free Barcode Scanner Cease-And-D...

    You can check out the license here. It says that "the CueCat reader distributed under this license is covered by this license."

    Well, I got my reader at RS, and no license agreement or coverage was implicitly or explicitly stated, requested, or alluded to regarding opening, installing, or using the device itself. I have not installed or opened the software. (In fact, I've thrown it away, since I had no use for it.) So I would have to say that my device was not distributed under the license, and therefore is not covered by the license.

    Does anybody know whether this is sound legal reasoning?

  3. Cue Cat TV<-->Computer Interface by Midnight+Warrior · · Score: 1 · on "Fingerprinting" of Audio Files?
    For those of you who got the CueCat barcode reader from Radio Shack (free giveaway), you may have noticed mention of a "convergence cable" which hooks from audio out of TV/VCR to audio in on computer. Computer then "listens" for secret information from ads/shows to link you to Web-related info. Note that the cable was not provided with the Cat, but available separately at RS.

    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?

  4. Too many myths by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2 · on Free Barcode Reader From Radio Shack
    Disclaimer: Yes, I do have some first hand knowledge of Digital Convergence, it's employees, and it's technology. With that said I am NOT an employee of the company. I'm not really privy to any information that's not already publicly available (and if I were, I wouldn't talk about it anyway)

    There's a lot of people who have responded to this article and drawn the wrong conclusions. I'll dispel a few myths:
    • This is NOT a Radio Shack product. Radio Shack is a primary distributor of the product, yes, but the product is made for and designed by Digital Convergence.
    • Digital Convergence public statements on their business model indicate that they do NOT intend to suddenly start charging for the device. Clearly they intend the product (the one available at Radio Shack) as a way to get eye balls using their system. The revenue stream is clearly on the other end data system (you didn't think all those bar codes were free did you?).
    • Everyone seems to have not noticed the other part of the product. While it appears that Radio Shack is NOT including the audio cable, there are pieces in the software that will listen to the audio stream off your sound cards input source (your TV), and using markers in the, audio take you to certain websites. While there's not may (any) places where the markers are currently being used, it's gonna be nearly impossible to avoid them RSN.
    • Digital Convergence has a pretty strict privacy policy. Knowing the people that I know at DC, this policy means business, and will be strictly enforced.
    • There's a USB version on the way. And while, I can't find the text to cite, it's been stated that Windows is not the only OS the Cat will support (via Digital Convergence software).

    It's clear that just from the design of the scanner, that Digital Convergence didn't intend it to be really that hard to reverse engineer the encoding method. That's already been done. The sourceforge project really is a good start, but ultimately any open source project also needs to be able to ask the questions of the DC database to get it's answers. Why? Well, think about it. Digital Convergence charges companies to store their UPC/ISBN/Whatever bar codes in their database with pointers to the product's website. How long do you think it will take DC to get mean once you start trying to kill their revenue stream? The other side of that is simple. Digital Convergence, would be definition have a large, established database full of bar codes and to whom they belong.

    Now... here's my basic analysis of the datastream, just from playing with the few units I've got lying around (note that I'm crippled in that most of the units are not the retail version, so it's possible that something changed slightly -- I've only got 1 retail Cat). Note that all the tests I did below were done using a retail kit I obtained from my local Radio Shack.

    The datastream seems to consists of 3 octets, each ending in a period. The first seems to be some kind of serial number. All the kits I have seem to prefix the first octet with 3nZC3nZC3nZ. The rest of the digits seem to be the same encoding method already published. The second octet seem to indicate either the length or the type of bar code. UPCs are "fHmc" ISBN's are "oGen" and the DC Cue's are "aabi", USP tacking numbers are "CNf7", Fedex Labels are "aaer", sort UPC (Coke cans..) are "fHmg". The third octet is of course the UPC symbol.

    Unfortunately, I can't talk much about the Audio stream, or what the Winders software does over the network. Given what I know, these bits are probably pretty easy to figure out though.
  5. Re:hrm... problem? by CArnesen · · Score: 1 · on Free Barcode Reader From Radio Shack
    Newsflash: :CueCat is actually a creation of Digital:Convergence.

    Digital:Convergenc e Corporation is a privately held Internet technology company headquartered in Dallas with offices in New York and London. Working in conjunction with industry-leading partners such as Forbes magazine, Young & Rubicam Inc., A.H. Belo Corp. and RadioShack Corp., the company's proprietary technology can link almost all media or products instantly and easily...

    In other words, RadioShack and these other companies are licensing the technology and software from Digital:Convergence. It started (about a year ago) on a television show called NetTalk Live! where they would show the ':C' in the bottom of the screen and they told you to learn more about the ':C' by going to their web site and taking a survey. Well, they didn't tell you much but the survey was full of questions relating to barcodes and magazine ads. It is making complete sense today!!!

  6. :Cat scanner by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2 · on Free Barcode Reader From Radio Shack

    I work for RadioShack.
    The official word to the stores was 'start giving them out as soon as you get the new catalogs.'
    Of course the idea is to get you to come into the store and buy something while you're there.
    The current version works with the ps2 keyboard port. (If you have an AT style keyboard you need an adaptor. A USB version is planned for novemeber.) RadioShack made a deal with a company called DigitalConvergence, the makers of the "Cue Cat". The ":" is their idea.