Cuecat Driver
Cuecat Driver
Cuecat Scanner Driver

CueCat driver for the Linux kernel The CueCat driver is a driver for the Linux kernel. It provides a standard /dev interface to read barcodes from one or more:Cue:C.A.T.tm devices connected to your computer. This driver has been created and is. The CueCat driver is a driver for the Linux kernel. It provides a standard /dev interface to read barcodes from one or more CueCat devices connected to your computer. It was built for the 2.2.16 kernel or the linux-2.4.0-test7 kernel and requires recompiling the kernel because it is a real device driver.

CueCat barcode scanner

The CueCat, styled :CueCat with a leading colon, is a cat-shaped handheld barcode reader that was given away free^[1] to Internet users starting in 2000 by the now-defunct Digital Convergence Corporation. The CueCat was named CUE^[2] for the unique bar code which the device scanned and CAT^[3] as a play on 'Keystroke Automation Technology'^[4] and it enabled a user to open a link to an Internet URL by scanning a barcode — called a 'cue' by Digital Convergence — appearing in an article or catalog or on some other printed matter. In this way, a user could be directed to a web page containing related information without having to enter a URL. The company asserted that the ability of the device to direct users to a specific URL, rather than a domain name, was valuable.^[5] In addition, television broadcasters could use an audio tone in programs or commercials that, if a TV was connected to a computer via an audio cable, acted as a web address shortcut.^[6]

The:CueCat was a barcode scanner manufactured by vendors of RadioShack Corporation in the early 2000's. The product and associated intellectual property would instantly and directly link product UPC, EAN, ISBN as well as the unique:CRQ Cue codes to their appropriate web sites. An excellent source of cuecat-related info is the CueCat project page at OpenSource.lineo.com; this is the host site for Pierre-Philippe Coupard's driver and related items. They've got a nice list of barcode-related links as well.

The CueCat connected to computers using the PS/2 keyboard port and USB, and communicated to desktop 'CRQ' software running on Windows 32-bit and Mac OS 9 operating systems. Users of this software were required to register with their ZIP code, gender, and email address. This registration process enabled the device to deliver relevant content to a single or multiple users in a household.

By year-end 2001, Codes could no longer be generated for the device or scanned with the device. However, third-party software can decode the lightweight encryption in the device, allowing it to be used as a general-purpose wand-type barcode reader. The CueCat can read several common barcode types, in addition to the proprietary CUE barcodes promoted by Digital Convergence.

Introduction[edit]

Cuecat Driver

A CueCat 'cue'. The bars are tilted 22.5° to the left, both for aesthetic reasons and to avoid Lemelson parallel barcode patent concerns.

The CueCat was invented by J. Jovan Philyaw,^[7] who changed his name to Jovan Hutton Pulitzer.^[8]^[9]Belo Corporation, parent company of the Dallas Morning News and owner of many TV stations, invested US$37.5 million in Digital Convergence, Radio Shack $30 million, Young & Rubicam $28 million and Coca-Cola $10 million.^[10] The total amount invested was $185 million.^[11]

Starting in late 2000 and continuing for over a year, advertisements, special web editions and editorial content containing CueCat barcodes appeared in many U.S. periodicals, including Parade magazine, Forbes magazine and Wired magazine. The Dallas Morning News and other Belo-owned newspapers added the barcodes next to major articles and regular features like stocks and weather. Commercial publications such as AdWeek, BrandWeek and MediaWeek also employed the technology.^[12] The CueCat bar codes also appeared in select Verizon Yellow Pages,^[13] providing advertisers with a link to additional information. For a time, RadioShack included these barcodes in its product catalogs and distributed CueCat devices through its retail chain to customers at no charge. Forbes Magazine mailed out the first 830,000 CueCats as gifts to their subscribers since Forbes was starting to use CRQ (See Our Q Codes) in their magazine.^[14] Wired Magazine mailed over 500,000 of the free devices as gifts to their subscribers. Each subscriber private labeled the CueCat they sent to their mailing list.^[15]^[16]

In The Wall Street Journal, Walter Mossberg criticized CueCat: 'In order to scan in codes from magazines and newspapers, you have to be reading them in front of your PC. That's unnatural and ridiculous.' Mossberg wrote that the device 'fails miserably. Using it is just unnatural.' He concluded that the CueCat 'isn't worth installing and using, even though it's available free of charge'.^[17]Joel Spolsky, a computer technology reviewer, also criticized the device as 'not solving a problem' and characterized the venture as a 'feeble business idea'.^[18]

The data format^[7] was proprietary, and was scrambled so the barcode data could not be read as plain text. However, the barcode itself is closely related to Code 128, and the scanner was also capable of reading EAN/UPC and other symbologies. Because of the weak obfuscation of the data, meant only to protect the company under DMCA guidelines (like the DVD protection Content Scramble System), the software for decoding the CueCat's output quickly appeared on the Internet, followed by a plethora of unofficial applications.^[19]

Reception[edit]

The CueCat is widely described as a commercial failure. It was listed as one of 'The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time' by PC World magazine.^[20] The CueCat's critics said the device was ultimately of little use. Joe Salkowski of the Chicago Tribune wrote, 'You have to wonder about a business plan based on the notion that people want to interact with a soda can',^[21] while Debbie Barham of the Evening Standard quipped that the CueCat 'fails to solve a problem which never existed'.^[22]^{[better source needed]} In December 2009, the popular gadget blog Gizmodo voted the CueCat the #1 worst invention of the '2000s' decade. In 2010, TIME magazine listed it as #5 in a list of 'The 50 worst Inventions',^[23] adding that people didn't accept 'the idea of reading their magazines next to a wired cat-shaped scanner'.

The CueCat device was controversial, initially because of privacy concerns of its collecting of aggregate user data.^[24]^[25] 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 websites arose detailing instructions for 'declawing' the CueCat — blocking or encrypting the data it sent to Digital Convergence. Digital Convergence registered the domain 'digitaldemographics.com', giving additional credence to privacy concerns about the use of data.

The company's response to these hacks was to assert that users did not own the devices and had no right to modify or reverse engineer them. Threats of legal action against the hackers swiftly brought on more controversy and criticism.^[26] The company changed the licensing agreement several times, adding explicit restrictions, apparently in response to hacker activity. Hackers argued that the changes did not apply retroactively to devices that had been purchased under older versions of the license, and that the thousands of users who received unsolicited CueCats in the mail had neither agreed to nor were legally bound by the license.

No lawsuit was ever brought against 'hackers', as this tactic was not employed to go after specific users or the hacker community, but to show 'reasonable assertion' that would prevent a corporation from developing integrated software within an operating system or browser which could take over the device and circumvent the CRQ watchdog software and therefore revenue model that Digital Convergence employed.^[27]

Investors in CueCat lost their $185 million. Technology journalist Scott Rosenberg called the CueCat a 'Ru