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CNET Says CueCat Restrictions Are Bogus

Posted by Hemos on from the dc-is-going-down dept.

Barondude writes: "Steve Fox at CNET Insider wrote The CueCat: When Free Isn't Worth the Price. Besides mentioning Slashdot, he brings to the general public many of the points that have been made here."

10 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. The Actual URL by waldoj · · Score: 3

    http://www.cnet.com/insider/ 0-1 21949-7-3304007.html

  2. Good enough for me! by Xerithane · · Score: 5

    Cheap enough for free?
    Bah, look at all the cool stuff you get..
    A barcode scanner
    A marital aid
    A good time harassing the Radio Shack employee
    Thousands of minutes spent thinking, "What can I waste my time doing with this thing?"
    Hours of Slashdot stories updating the idiocy of DC and their marketing strategy
    Being embraced by DC's approach of loving the linux hackers
    heh.. I found that it just looked to ridiculous to use it myself.. but it has provided me with a lot of laughter.

    --
    Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
  3. slashdot? by dieMSdie · · Score: 3

    Yeah, they mention Slashdot alright... but, erm..

    from the article:

    (For an extensive, often impassioned discussion of the issues, check out Slashdot, at www.slashdot.com )

    I know. It works, but still :)

    --
    Don't throw your computer out the window, throw the Windows out of your computer!
  4. More info by 1010011010 · · Score: 4

    It's doubtful, but someone may have missed the previous 6,000 cuecat stories.

    If you're seeking more information, I have a lot of links to news stories, info on the hardware (including disabling and reprogramming the serial number), and software for Linux, Windows and the Mac at http://www.flyingbuttmonkeys.com/foocat/



    ________________________________________

    --
    Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
  5. You Know You've Been Reading alt.tasteless too... by Tackhead · · Score: 4
    You Know You've Been Reading alt.tasteless too long when you read...

    > a handheld scanner fetchingly shaped like a cat

    ...and, remembering what the CueCat's shaped like, you wonder how a word like "felchingly" got past CNet's censors...

  6. Java Classes for CueCat by mtDNA · · Score: 3
    I wrote some Java classes for handling CueCat scans. They are called CCScan and they are available at:

    http://www.popbeads.org/Software

    --


    If you watch TV news, you know less about the world than if you just drank gin straight from the bottle.
  7. Its not so much the Cue:Cat by Captain_Frisk · · Score: 3

    or DC for that matter. This event is just one example of a seemingly rising trend of revocation of consumer rights. I personally have no desire to take apart a cue cat. But I am an electrical engineer. What if I did? What if I wanted to figure out how it works, then put it to good use in some other barcode related application?

    I think whats important here is what precedent gets set. If DC wins and is able to prevent us from investigating objects in our possession, it sets a legal precedent for another company to do the same thing.

    Another reason why Slashdotters have latched onto this story is because it is a very good example for us. The ability to circumvent copy protection schemes to pirate movies is morally hazy. Hacking the cue:cat doesn't harm anyone, and is thus a prime example of situations where the DMCA and like legislation are a bad idea.

    I'm relatively new to Slashdot, but I think I've captured the gist of it. Any veterans care to add / respond?

    Captain_Frisk

  8. Re:He called you slashdot.com by Nopaca · · Score: 3
    Yeah, and I went to the slashdot.com site. It's terrible, they've framed the site with ad banners from ThinkGeek and such, and then wrapped all of the content in moronic and misleading commentary.

    At least the stuff that they add is so poorly edited that it's clear that it is not part of the true, professional Slashdot site.

    "We will compete with anybody."

    - Michael Risse, general manager at a company that complains that all antitrust complaints are instigated by competitors

  9. pretty good summary by Alien54 · · Score: 3
    The article is a pretty good blow by blow summary of the situation as it now stands.
    "In fact, the CueCat license agreement asserts any number of rights, many of them unsupportable and unenforceable."
    Pretty much says it all right there, but definitely worth the read
    --
    "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
  10. He called you slashdot.com by e_n_d_o · · Score: 5

    And you STILL posted the article?