- The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. The correct title is :CueCat.
The :CueCat is a cat-shaped handheld barcode reader, manufactured by the now-defunct and intended for printed catalogs and newspapers. With these, readers could scan a barcode printed on the page and then be taken to a web page with related information. Advertisers would print :CueCat barcodes with their advertisements, directing readers to the company's site. For a time, Radio Shack published catalogs with these barcodes, and even distributed :CueCat devices at no charge. :CueCats were also bulk mailed (unsolicited) to certain mailing lists, such as subscribers of technology magazines.
A USB version was also available in limited quantities. The data format is proprietary, being scrambled so as not to be usable as plain text however the barcode itself is closely related to Code 128, and the scanner was also capable of reading EAN/UPC and some other symbologies as well.
The :CueCat device was controversial, initially due to privacy concerns. Each :CueCat has a unique serial number, and users suspected that Digital:Convergence could compile a database of all barcodes scanned by a given user and connect it to the user's name and address. For this reason, and because the demographic market targeted by Digital:Convergence was unusually tech-savvy, numerous web sites arose detailing instructions for "declawing" the :CueCat — blocking or encrypting the data it sent to Digital:Convergence. The company's reponse to these hacks — asserting that users had no right to modify or reverse engineer the device, and threatening legal action against the hackers — swiftly brought on more controversy and criticism.
The :CueCat's failure to catch on in the early adopter market to which it was marketed prevented any chance of wider acceptance.
Although Digital Convergence and the :CueCat are generally assumed to be defunct, the Digital Convergence website remains as a "ghost site." Since September 21st, 2002 the home page has said the same thing:
- The dream was to connect items in the physical world to the Internet, automatically. In January that dream hit a bump in the road and the servers were taken offline. They will scan again... If you have a Cue Cat, save it. The patents and technology created by DigitalConvergence will again be available for business and consumer use.
Images and product details can still be viewed.
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