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Free Barcode Reader From Radio Shack
Skyhawk128 writes: "I was in my local Radio Shack yesterday, and as I was checking out, the manager offered me a free barcode scanner to use with their new catalog. By hooking up the scanner to your PS2 keyboard port and installing their software (Windows only) you can scan the bar codes found on most pages and be taken a web page with expanded information about that product. They claim to be able to scan the bar code on all sorts of things (i.e.- UPC codes on food, etc.) I have been too busy playing with the scanner in Notepad to install the software, but I thought this gadget might be of interest to other geeks." Several folks have confirmed that you can get a free barcode reader if you're into it. P'raps a SANE module shall soon follow? [Note from timothy:] Not all RS locations are giving them out yet -- the nearest one to me, despite telling me otherwise on the phone, refused to give me one until they had the new (bar-coded) catalogs in stock. That's at Chatham Station shopping center in Howard County, MD.
Pardon my negativity, but this thing strikes me as a supremely idiotic piece of hardware (at least for its intended purpose). I have to plug yet another piece of crap into my machine and, while conveniently sitting by my computer, read dead-tree periodicals and scan the codes in when I see something I like? Am I the only person here who would probably just type the damn URL in, rather than go to the trouble of picking up the thing and scanning the page? Also, how common is it to read magazines while conveniently next to your computer? I almost never do. That's what the toilet is for, and I'm afraid I don't have a terminal there yet. Am I missing something? Have people been demanding this capability? Has the lack of a magazine-computer interface been holding up the adoption of internet technology and impeding the advance of the new economy? This sounds to me like a pure marketdroid invention. No useful purpose, but at least you can slap a brand on it.
-Vercingetorix
-Vercingetorix
"Necessitas non habet legem." -St. Augustine
I can't believe no one sees the big picture here.
Why would they be giving away bar code readers?
To make you look at their catalog? Of course not!
So they start by giving away the bar code readers. If the stuff becomes popular, they will stop giving them away, and people will buy them. But that's not where the big bucks are. It's just good for the scanner factories. And I'm sure they will be happy to let other companies sell Cue:cats
Think about it: whenever you scan your can of cola or your favourite magazine, your computer connects to Cue:cat, sends the code you scanned (and probably your ID as well, I don't know -- can someone check that?). Then, their server sends back the URL of some webpage.
Now, here is where they win: if their software becomes popular, their server will be the main gateway of all bar code readers. So if you scan a book, where is it going to go? To Amazon or barnes and nobles? If you scan a DVD, the logical URL would be the corresponding record of www.imdb.com. But do you really think it will ever send you there? They have no reason to set it up that way. So here is their first advantage: they control where you go on the net. And how long before it sends you to a "Pepsi is better" page whenever you scan a can of coke.
And then, if I am right to suppose that they send your ID with every scan, they can also collect a huge amount of info about you.
I think the idea of being able to scan a barcode and get a relevant URL is cool. But the interpretation of the code should not be left to one organization only. LET'S REACT!!! We should quickly release a concurrent software for Linux, Windows and Mac, and create an open search engine. The software should be open source so you can check it doesn't invade your privacy. The gateway you use should be configurable so that if you don't like the practices of one, you can switch to another. Ideally, I would imagine a gateway in which users could vote on the best URL for a bar code.
Let's create this OPEN:Cat FAST, before Radio Shack takes over the world! http://uscan.sourceforge.net is a step in the right direction, now we need to set up the server.
-- Slef
About four days ago, a few people I know and myself cracked the simple cipher the reader uses, so don't bother trying yourself. Just go to this page and see it and try out our PHP beta translator and whatever-er at this page. If you wanna help, send an email to jackw@users.sourceforge.net and let me know, as this is completely a GPL project designed to make the most out of this reader.