The CueCat, styled :CueCat with a leading colon, is a cat-shaped handheld barcode reader that was given away free to Internet users starting in 2000 by the now-defunct Digital Convergence Corporation (which often styled its own name as Digital:Convergence Corporation).
By year-end 2001, barcodes were no longer distributed for the device, and scanning with the device using its original software no longer yielded results. 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 which had been promoted by Digital Convergence.
Description
The CueCat was named CUE for the unique bar code which the device scanned and CAT as a wordplay on "Keystroke Automation Technology". 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...