Cue Cat article : The Dumbest Invention in the History of Computers

[Tony Hammitt]

Nifty article, I agree, but where was the mention of them suing the pants
off of anyone whom they considered a competitor?  What about all of the
bullshit about making websites take down any decoder software?

This is where they really lost a lot of money.  They spent millions on
legal fees, only to piss people off enough to go out of their way to
collect as many of the idiotic gizmos as they could.  At last count, how
many of the glow-in-the-dark dildos did we collect last year?  I think
Randy had about 25.  It's not a good idea to piss a bunch of people off
who can voluntarily cost your company $3 every time they drive past a
RatShak.

<rantmode>

Oh well, so their business failed, big freakin' surprise.  The only real
problem with the stupid idea related dotcoms is that they defrauded a
bunch of small time investors.  Someone should really set up an incredibly
huge class-action lawsuit against every venture capitalist whose only
business plan was to go public then drive the company into bankruptcy.
You should have to show a consistent profit in order to have an IPO.
Investors with brains will know this, now at least.

Anyway, I guess I'm just pissed that we've legalized fraud with the VC
firms.  We shouldn't make it possible to have a business of running
other businesses into the ground as soon as you can get other people's
money in hand.  What the VCs did in the dotcom era is fraud and it's
morally wrong.  They ought to be ashamed, but they're not.  It's too
bad that we don't allow the citizens to tar and feather con artists
anymore.  There's a whole group that deserves that and much worse.

</rantmode>

Hope everyone has a nice day.

	Tony

Brian Kelsay wrote:
> 
> http://www.dmagazine.com/october01/featured1001.shtml
> >From the article:
> 
> Philyaw is a self-proclaimed "luminary figure in the world of direct
> marketing."
> 
> An executive of Coca-Cola said listening to Philyaw made him feel like
> his hair was on fire. -June 27, 2001, Wall Street Journal
> "It fails to solve a problem which never existed." -Debbie Barham, The
> Evening Standard
> "Are these folks kidding?" -Sandra Brown Kelly, Roanoke Times & World
> News
> "You have to wonder about a business plan based on the notion that
> people want to interact with a soda can." -Jeff Salkowski, Chicago
> Tribune
> 
> >From Slashdot.org
> Was this the "Edsel" of the Internet age or what!
> 
> The cue cat has to be one of the top five symbols of the dot-com era
> (or, atleast up there with razor scooters). you have to wonder who
> thought this gizmo up though ... who reads magazines in-front of the
> computer?
> Now - if there was a wireless version that worked in the bathroom,
> they'd be millionaires right now.
> 
> I, personally, am happy to have had the chance to see one of my _life's
> ambitions_ filled... Thanks to Mr. Philyaw, I now own a bar code scanner
> to catalog my music with.
> 
> I spent months trying to find a reasonably priced scanner, and
> eventually I gave up. But shortly there after, a trip to the local Radio
> Shack fixed that problem. I consider it a fair deal after all the times
> I've overpaid for items at that place, that I get a little something
> back.
> 
> The CueCat isn't THAT bad...Using CatNip [goldsteinsoftware.com], my
> business now has free barcode scanners. Thanks Digital Convergence :)
> http://www.goldsteinsoftware.com/catnip.htm
> 
> I have one but never hooked it up. I'm waiting on the death of
> Digital:Convergence to be able to use it without fear of a lawsuit.
> 
> I use mine constantly to catalog new DVDS (With DVD Profiler
> [dvdprofiler.com]... just scan, and it downloads info and cover images
> from online... took about 15min to catalog about 140 DVDs) and books
> (With ReaderWare [readerware.com], which uses the ISBN number on the
> book to pull info from various online retailers.)
> http://www.dvdprofiler.com/dvdpro/index.html  http://www.readerware.com/
> 
> http://opensource.lineo.com/cuecat/
> 
> Brian Kelsay
>