Specimen 011 — CueCat: Millions Given Away, Few People Used Them

CueCat arrived in 2000 as a mouse-sized, cat-shaped barcode scanner that opened webpages from printed codes. Digital Convergence distributed millions through Wired, Forbes, and RadioShack, yet CNET reported extremely weak demand by May 2001. 1

The registered software attached a unique identity to the user and sent that identity with each scanned barcode, which brought immediate privacy concerns. 2

Because the reader itself was useful, hobbyists bypassed the bundled software and treated the giveaway as a general barcode scanner. 3

Digital Convergence entered maintenance mode in June 2001 as financing dried up. By September, Belo had dropped the system and written off its $37.5 million investment. 45