As you have probably heard, the so-called “King of Pop” Michael Jackson passed away yesterday afternoon. No matter what you might have thought of his personal life, it’s hard to deny the man’s talent. So in honor his legendary career, we here at the Free Line present you with an “innovation” that was truly bad: the CueCat. Although designed to be a full-on technological thriller, the device so off the wall and dangerous that it made users want scream. So sit back and relax as we describe the history of the CueCat, all in glorious black and white.

CueCat

Type: Peripheral
General Idea: The CueCat was based upon the idea of turning the average, run of the mill bar code into sort of an “offline URL.” When scanned by the provided PS/2 (or in some cases, USB) reader, these “links” would take users to a website dedicated to the product, service, or idea in question. An “audio” version of the CueCat was also laced into various NBC sitcoms. When played near a supported computer, these supposed “random sounds” would activate a website that pertained to the television program.
…What was the problem, then?: In an effort to make the device as commonplace as humanly possible, manufacturers Digital Convergence simply gave CueCats away to user with experience in various tech related field. While giving these little devices to the likes of Radio Shack customers and Wired subscribers might have seemed like a good idea at the time, it ultimately proved to be fatal. As they played around with their new toy, many users began to notice that the CueCat software was actually a highly sophisticated piece of spyware design to collect personal data from the user. Seeing this as an opportunity to “right a wrong,” the merry band of mega-geeks made it their mission to “declaw” the CueCat by removing the nastiness that was lying just underneath the surface. Digital Convergence, of course, did the only thing that sane, reasonable company could do: they threatened to sue the hackers who figured out how to delete the spyware. See, Digital Convergence claimed that users were essentially “renting” the CueCats from the company. By modifying both the device and its software, these hackers were breaking the terms of the lease and were thus subject to court action. The company started to “fade away” shortly thereafter.
Is it still in use?: Yes and no. Although the “official” purposes of the service — that is, scanning bar codes and spying on consumers — have been disabled, there are a few cataloging services that still support the device. There are also a select few who believe that the core technology and the principles behind it might appear again, albeit in a different, safer form. As for now, the CueCat remains the poster boy for “shortsighted thinking;” the kind of thing that only a hardcore marketer would love. And it is that very attitude that makes CueCat so very, very bad.