Slashdot Mirror
CueCat Seeks Simpsons Endorsement
smirkleton writes "The San Jose Mercury News has a story about the current struggles of CueCat manufacturer DigitalConvergence. One of several interesting factoids within the article: CueCat is trying to procure product endorsements from Apu Nahasapeemapetilon and Lisa Simpson. Mr. Groening, for the love of Flanders, don't do it! 'The Simpsons' once dissed on Apple's Newton (hilariously)- and it had an actual purpose and loyal following. Endorsing this utterly useless and universally despised advertising toy would constitute a sellout of Dilbertian proportions."
Posted to the D:C web site:
Please don't defile my appreciation of the Simpsons with a marketing campaign based upon your fundamentally immoral and privacy invasive CueCat product.
If you should proceed against my wishes, at least pick a more appropriate character. I suggest an endorsement from Montgomery Burns would be more in the spirit of your product.
Toodles.
"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
GeneralEmergency
I read an article online somewhere (anyone know the one?) that had a good quote from the president of Digitial Convergence, makers of CueCat...
He basicly said "We were really suprised how much of a following we have with the geek crowd. We're really happy we've got such an 'underground' following." or some such.
So, to anyone, reading the article that's not really familure with the CueCat's past, thinks that DC is actually encouraging hackers to find alternative uses for their product.
Very frustrating.
In Soviet Russia...michael would be rotting in Siberia!
This could be a troll, but tell me, how can opening a cuecat and looking inside of it "tear the business model to pieces"? This, to me, defies logic.
"Tonight on ABC News: Well-Meaning Hackers Destroy Yet Another Business Model! with Peter Jennings. Right after 'Friends'"
heh
SDMI: Finally! Music that won't rip or burn! Brought to you by the fine folks at RIAA.
Ironically, this whole issue has been covered by The Simpsons already. They just have to tweak the script a bit from the episode where Krusty becomes a standup comedian...
Krusty: "Some Digital Convergence guys came to my place today wanting me to endorse their product. Know what I did? I sent them right out on their ass! This clown sells out to nobody!"
Homer: "Don't you hate pants?"
Krusty: "After they left, I took a bite out of a cripsy, crunchy, mouth watering Butterfinger bar..."
Worst business model ever...
With that in mind, I believe that it is time for all those remaining Buggy Whip manufacturers to begin a class-action lawsuit against Ford, General Motors, et al, with regards to the destruction of the Buggy Whip manufacturing industry that occurred when the automobile manufacturers made the Buggy Whip manufacturers business model irrelevant.
Of course, if Henry Ford, et al had exercised "self control beyond what is required by law" then we all would probably be living in a much different world: smaller communities, fewer products that are less available, poorer communications (it takes me an hour by car to go visit friends across town; that would likely be a half-day journey one way without a car).
"values of beta will give rise to dom!"
check the screenshots.
but instead of abu or lisa, it'll be homer...then he'll sneeze and the crayon in his head will fall out...then he'll look at the cuecat and say "what the hell is this crap?" or actually, now that he is a geek, he'll say: "what, might i ask, is this utter nonsense?"
I never realized I "universally despised" this device. It's just a barcode scanner, after all.
"And like that
The Dallas Morning News prints CueCat bar codes with newspaper articles. You can scan them in and see online coverage that is more current than what's printed in the paper. I'm not sure if other newspapers do this (Dallas Morning News was the first).
-Sean
It failed because, like so many other dotcoms which have also recently failed, their business model sucked. It was an utterly stupid idea that never would have made any money, hackers or no.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
And that following is wielding torches and pitch forks. I haven't seen a following like that since Frankenstein's Monster...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
so what if Scott Adams "sold out"? What was he rebelling against in the first place? Ice cream? You're not making any sense, moron. I think it's great that Dilbert is featured on Ben & Jerry's ice cream, it's more of an honor than anything. More than you can say about your pathetic life, Hemos, you phoney rebel.
I read Hemos' comment as implying that it was Ben & Jerry (ice cream co. with a hippy left-wing image) who were selling out by pimping Dilbert -- after all, Scott Adams has come out and said plainly enough that he's in it for the money, and will license his properties to pretty much anybody (I lost most of what little respect I had for Adams when I heard about his licensing Dilbert for use in IBM employee handbooks).
But personally, at this stage in the game, I have a hard time getting myself worked up over cartoon characters being used to sell shoddy merchandise. After Warner Bros. stores opened every half mile from coast to coast, I just stopped caring.
All your shameless plugs are belong to us.
That same episode had one of my all-time favorite Futurama lines. For the robots on that planet, they used the "Get the humanoid, get the intruder" sound clip from Berzerk.
On the other hand, if the number, size, and quality of the comments produced are any indication, a large portion of the Slashdot readership was more than happy to have an excuse to discuss The Simpsons, regardless of the CueCat issue.
> Actually, the NSync (spell it right, dammit!)
Er, it's *NSync, actually... even though I'd never correct someone on the spelling of probably the worst band right now... wait, I just correct you... nooooooooooooo.......
...it would have fell through on something else as well. People tinker with stuff all the time. Hell, that's how some of the stuff we have today came about.
A long time ago, some nutcase put heavy nylon monofiliment on a tin can and attached it to a drill attached to a stick. Now we have spin trimmers. The makers of monofiliment didn't have it in their business plan to have it used that way. Neither did the people that made the stick and the drill. They should have expected people to tear them apart/reverse engineer them and produce at least drivers that didn't use their service.
It's the same things that the dot-coms are going through right now. The ones with fragile/bad business models are failing for varying reasons, not including people "cracking" thier system.
Give me one good reason (what you've given isn't very good, really...) to NOT play with this stuff- the busniess wouldn't care too much if I went broke, why should I care if they're stupid?
Absolutely. In fact neither Matt Groenig or Scott Adams have ever claimed to be a pure artist, above such defilement as marketing. Both are perfectly happy with the idea. The Simpsons has been paid to mention numerous products over the years, but there's always been the understanding that Matt gets to write the product in the way _he_ feels like.
/. to start screaming "SELLOUT!!!!"
IF this happens, then expect it to be wickedly funny, and possibly merciless.
Also, as someone else pointed out, there was one tiny little line in the article about the Simpsons, and that was apparently enough for
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
The marketing goof was requiring everything scanned to check into DC to be redirected to a webpage of the advertiser. This meant it could not be used (without hacking) for inventory of CD's and other non web applications. If a free mouse could only be used in a browser and noplace else, you would be much less likely to use the mouse for anything. But a free mouse that worked all your applications and tracked you on the web in a free browser & internet access (Juno, Freenet Etc.) then it might get a user base.
Think, How much does a banner ad cost CD-now to be on the Napster Client? They can charge for the space because of the installed user base.
The truth shall set you free!
It is my understanding that season 1 will be avaliable by xmas ... however, it better be cheap because season 1 was really bad ... do the bart man!
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
However, who do you think you are trying to influence the makers of some fantastic media? What gives you the right to beg, cajole, and threaten them to make a decision not to do something you don't like, with their very own creation? If they don't do what you want they'll face the consequences of thousands of techies worldwide that are mental victims of the slashdot effect. How about after telling who they can and cannot promote, and then start telling them what sort of scripts and shows you want to see as well? Sounds like a great idea; it would be even better than it is now! The scripts could be made right here! Nevermind that the Simpsons is the LONGEST RUNNING TELEVISION SERIES EVER iirc, nor the fact that it's funny on so many levels that it draws a wide audience both in the USA and in foreign countries and has managed to perpetuate the layered comedy and american cultural insight for just as long.
To make an improbable but conceptually similar analogy, suppose you've put a lot of work into a project for the last 12 years. Your project has touched thousands and thousands of people globally and a huge portion of them are made happy by it. Now suppose that a company that has a herd of slashdot-addled antagonists wants to give you a nice bonus for your hard work. An article makes it on slashdot about this, heavily biased towards making you look like a sellout. If you take the bonus, you may piss off a few thousand people that won't bother thinking for themselves. Sure they're vocal. They may write you nasty emails. Some of them *may* even try to violate your computer system's security or otherwise annoy you by violating your personal rights because they think they have rights to determine if you gain some sort of reward for your efforts.
This is how our favorites should be rewarded?
Furthermore, assuming that simpsons does do some cuecat advertising(and it's not mockingly hilarious) and it faces the full on ridicule of the slashdot brain-in-box subculture, the most the numbers would go down is some small fractional amount of one percent of the viewers and lovers of the simpsons worldwide.
Actually, I rather enjoy the idea that my curiosity can destroy a hardware industry.
ALL YOUR INDUSTRY ARE BELONG TO... oh, sorry.
--
314-15-9265
There was ONE line about the Simpsons. One line. The Slashdot summary had more text about the Simpsons than the article it was on.
The article covered their problems with market penetration and getting the advertisements in magazines.
There was as much on the Simpsons as the MUCH more interesting one-liner about how the magazines don't need to cater to advertisers as much because of the collapse of online advertisement as a competitor.
This was an absurd article, I'm disappointed in Slashdot for this one.
Rest assured I was on the internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world.
--
+&x
Anyway, Digital Convergence tried suing people who ran websites hosting drivers and software for the CueCat claiming IP violations, which led to a great deal of ill will toward them. On top of it all, their site was cracked, and customer information was leaked.
About.Com covers both here: http://it.about.com/compute/it/library/weekly/aa09 2300a.htm
"FYI", Groenig is also the person who gave us "Life in Hell".
Not to say he's The Funniest Person In The Universe, but I think you are selling him short.
Fox is currently taking a poll on what you'd like to see for the Simpsons Video releases. Make sure you vote (I'm probably too late for this already, though)
Doh!
I say vaguely pro N'sync because it *was* advertising but there were a few rips on them as well.
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
Because Simpsons is like sex: even when it's bad, it's good.
Err, I hope nobody interprets this as me wanting to have sex with Marge Simpson, because she's NOTHING compared to Wilma Flintstone.
Wasn't that Tracey Ullman's show that they were on? Did Mary Tyler Moore do a variety show?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Was that your Ed Sullivan impression?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Speaking of Cue Cats and Fox shows though, can you use the Cue Cat on the bar code on the back of Jessica Alba's neck? That particluar tie-in might make the CC more popular.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
In any case, I heard from someone who lives in Dallas that the Morning News has taken to shortening the part of the articles that actually appears in print and just sticking a "scan here for more info" tag at the end. Continued on our website -- where we don't have to pay printing costs!
The Dallas Morning News was a lot better before the Dallas Times Herald closed down. (I was living in Dallas when that happened.) Bad as it was, at least the Times Herald gave them some competition. Ain't nothing like a one-newspaper town! (Except maybe a two-newspaper town that's really just a one newspaper town in disguise, like San Francisco.)
Free Hans!
Quoteth CBG on the latest episode: "Worst Episode,....EVER!"
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Lisa Simpson, the precocious ethical-to-a-fault vegan? This is the girl who is supposed to sponsor a device marred in IP rights battles?
Vidi, Vici, Veni
- A.P. (i mean, Christ, did you SEE last weekend's episode?!)
--
* CmdrTaco is an idiot.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
I can't see the page to the Newton dissing, but...
I own an Apple Newton MP120 and I saw the first Newton in action. The simple fact is, that Apple showed this to the World and brought it to market before it was ready, and then, it was too expensive.
However, my MP120 is FAR easier to use than any other stylus input PDA I've ever used, and with the handwriting recognition set to printing (with cursive off), and with a little initial setting up to my style and then a little effort to actually write properly versus my usual chicken scrawl, it gives me 95% acuracy plus.
And, I can write anywhere! Not just some silly little box and char at a time with alien characters.
From my point of view, the Palm is a phenomenon, perhaps the public never got beyond the first bad press of the Newton. I only wish the 120 had a backlight.
War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
I agree that Adams hasn't completely sold out -- but the beauty of it is if he does, it is totally appropriate as something his alter-ego Dogbert would do. I still love Adams (writing as Dogbert) answering a complaint about banner ads on the Dilbert site (then unofficial, I believe): "Yes, banner ads are evil. Because every click on them costs the advertiser money, I recommend showing your disapproval by repeatedly reloading the page and clicking on the ads"
The CueCat's business model is so fragile that it had no hope. You can't blame "hackers", because no matter how many people refrained from poking holes in it, there would always be more people who could do so with little or no effort.
The only party to blame here is Digital Convergence. They failed to think things through, and they made foolish assumptions (One, that 50 cents worth of "encryption" would keep them in business; Two, that anyone would want to scan ads from a magazine, only to get more ads).
What's happening here is the market discouraging idiocy. This is actually a good thing, since it reduces the amount of idiocy in the world, leaving more money and resources for cleverer things. Celebrate it.
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
Man, I learn more and more every day...
-- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
I admit, the CueCat was a piece of crap, but it didn't fail because it was a piece of crap.
No, the CueCat failed because well-meaning and curious individuals tore it, and with it DC's business model, to pieces. I am not saying that the hackers were in the wrong, but aside from any statement of blame, the CueCat is dead.
True, the CueCat doesn't matter. It was fairly stupid anyway. Is this going to be a model, though, for future hardware releases? Will well-meaning hackers destroy business model after business model until nobody bothers to innovate in hardware manufacture?
No, nobody has a right to have a particular business model work, but I don't think that we want to destroy the hardware industry just to appease our own curiousity. Sometimes, self control is needed beyond what is required by the law. Do the right thing, not because the law forces you, but for yourself.
- qpt
--
Domine Deus, creator coeli et terrae respice humilitatem nostram.
Hey! Perhaps one can connect the barcodes with ads and make a buck?
But regular people can't scan barcodes, they lack the hardware!
Oh bummer, lets give away barcode scanners for free! Then people can scan away at the barcodes and we can sell all the ads we want.
Now, the problem was that noone was very interested in scanning barcodes and get to the ads. We get ads enough as is without scanning any badcodes for it.
On top of that someone cracked their coding.
That *would* threat their source of income *if* someone else started to sell barcode-ads. Guess what? Nobody did. There was not enough market for barcode ads to support DC.
A CueCat scanner used to play aroun with is no more threat to DC than a CC not used at all.
All opinions are my own - until criticized
blackboard: "What they don't know can't hurt them is not an excuse"
Open: Pan to Principle Skinner with Marge at school, parent/teacher conference is under way.
Skinner: I'm afraid we're going to have to ask Bart to take a semester off school. You see, we've caught him doing so many bad things already, and statistics tell us that means he's doing 10 times as many bad things that we don't catch.
Marge: But that doesn't seem fair, to kick a kid out of school because statistics show he's more likely to do bad things. He may not have done them.
Skinner: Marge, I'm afraid we've got these statistics down to a fine art. Did you know that people with larger shoe sizes tend to do better at math and complex calculous. Statistics can tell you the most amazing things.
Marge: That IS amazing. I just can't bear the that Bart would have to leave school. Tell me, if we could know EVERYTHING that Bart did, then might he stay in school?
Skinner: Sure, that'd be fine, but we have no way of doing that.
Scene Two: Mr. Burns and Homer, nuclear factory.
Homer: Awww Mr Burns, can't you see? Bart won't be able to stay in school unless you threaten to blow up the entire town?
Mr. Burns. Now Homer, that not necessary at all. You see, I know EXACTLY what that little bart simpson is doing at all times.
Homer: You dooo? Hows that?
Mr. Burns: You know that little white cat he's always running around an scanning things with?
Homer: I do!!!
Mr. Burns: We'll look here, we can watch what he's scanning right here.
Computer Screen:
Dynamite
Dynamite
TNT
C4
More Dynamite
15 Year of FBI secrets left in a park.
Homer: That's amazing, thank you so much Mr. Burns. Bart'll be so happy to be back in school.
Computer:
Violent Comics
Nuclear Reactor Meltdown Code
Meltdown initiated...
Babies are not good at solving complex calculus problems, so statistically speaking large show size does equal greater tendency to be able to solve math problems.
According to the Mercury News, "CueCat scanner is not catching on with consumers as quickly as predicted". Not as quickly? Their scans are down by a factor of 5, their registered users use it less than once a months on average, for crying out loud!!! /., except for showing the death throngs of the most pathetic business plan that even came out of the .com bubble. I somehow have the feeling that cue(less)cat will stand tall as business school material for decades to come.
I don't even know why this ends up on
"we give away millions of dollars in free, easily hackable hardware that requires you to schlepp your magazine to your TV or computer so we can send you spam" is not a business plan,it's sheer lunacy. On top of that, they made utter fools out of themselves with their cease and desist compaign.
I just hope everyone who invested in this looses their shirt. The person to endorse this product is not Lisa, it's Homer: "DUH"
suddenly their hard drive collapses under the weight of spam.
advertising = convenience