Curse of the Cat
2005-06-13 19:33:17.03076+00 by
petronius
7 comments
Old, bad computer ideas never die....they just await their rebirth. According to Gizmodo, a computer liquidator has on offer 2 million CueCats, the pathetic barcode scanners that were sent out to all the Wired subscribers back in the 90s. Those ridiculous barcodes defaced magazines as disparate as Wired and Parade for a year or so, until somebody realized that people rarely read ads for Princess Di commemorative plates while sitting near their computer. At 30 cents each, maybe we could sell them as keychains.
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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: [Entry #7987] Curse of the Cat made: 2005-06-13 19:46:02.485589+00 by:
John Anderson
petronius <prefersanonymity_84@flutterby.com> writes:
> CueCats, the pathetic barcode scanners
They actually work pretty well, once you perform the minor surgery on
them that causes them to emit unencrypted data. Lots and lots of DIY
stuff you can do with a bar code reader and a laptop.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-06-13 21:32:08.170276+00 by:
mvandewettering
They actually are somewhat useful to hack, simple modifications turn them into ordinary bar code readers. I was thinking of using one to inventory my vast book collection.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-06-14 11:50:54.94243+00 by:
debrahyde
I find them good for scanning barcodes on books for building a home library data base.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-06-14 13:35:59.133666+00 by:
petronius
Perhaps I spoke too hastily, but I note that all the current uses for CueCats are based on hacks of one degree or another. The original business plan, a way to bridge the gap between magazines and print advertising and the Net, seems to have been a failure. I think it fundementally misread the audience's habits. The ability to scan a code at the bottom of a magazine article to find the related site strikes me as an impulse action, only who reads a Sunday supplement like Parade while sitting at their computer? or am I projecting my habits onto the rest of the world.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-06-14 13:57:59.375761+00 by:
other_todd
There's a used bookstore near me that uses one as a bar code reader, probably because it's the only sort of bar code reader they can afford. I have no idea if it's a hacked one. Probably is.
However, the last comment is one I agree with - I always wondered why they were not designed as a cordless/portable device. Strikes me that the sensible thing to have done would have been to provide the ability to scan the magazines etc from your living room sofa, store up a bunch of them, and THEN take the gadget upstairs to the computer and download them all.
#Comment Re: [Entry #7987] Re: made: 2005-06-14 14:06:02.660865+00 by:
John Anderson
petronius <prefersanonymity_84@flutterby.com> writes:
> Perhaps I spoke too hastily, but I note that all the current uses
> for CueCats are based on hacks of one degree or another. The
> original business plan, a way to bridge the gap between magazines
> and print advertising and the Net, seems to have been a failure.
Oh, no doubt, the original business model was the product of
way too much dot-com crack.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-06-14 14:24:24.503869+00 by:
Dan Lyke
I'm kind of impressed that they think they can get $.30 each. I haven't tried to price parts in quantity 10M, and I'm not sure what the plastic costs, but I think you could build them for under $2 in the low thousands, and that'd let you brand them your own way.
I wonder if buying the whole lot gives you the domain name and trademark too?