barcode scanners, anyone?

From: Kevin Handy <kth_at_srv.net>
Date: Mon Sep 1 16:05:00 2003

J.C. Wren wrote:

> Yea, that's the basic summary. The bitch was each CueCat had a unique ID, so
>when you scanned a product, they'd note that. If the UPC of the product
>wasn't one they knew about, you could enter the information. The whole
>"payback" of the CueCat was that they'd build this database of customers and
>products they were interested in, and do targetted marketing. And the whole
>point of their baseless lawsuit was that people who were using the CueCat for
>other than they intended were "depriving them of revenue". Of course, since
>they *gave* the thing away, that case was uninforceable. Particularly since
>they were sent unsolicted through the mail.
>
> They were kind of slick engineering in some respects. Wel built, very low
>cost, and as I recall, they had a pretty good scan rate of success. The mods
>in the 'net show how to read the scanned codes out (I think you had to XOR
>everything with the unit ID, and delete some headers and trailers), and how
>to defeat the ID part in the unit. But they're still pretty goofy looking.
>
>
There is a mod available for many version of the cuecat that causes it
to output decoded barcode information (no serial number, no encryption).
It involves adding one jumper.

> I had about 50 that I had acquired by asking for several ("me and my friends
>need one") everytime I went to Tech America or Radio Shack. I eventually did
>nothing with them, and gave them all to a friend of mine.
Received on Mon Sep 01 2003 - 16:05:00 BST