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I had a PS/2 CueCat which IIRC required some hardware modification to use unlocked, at least early on. I stuck in it a drawer and never bothered with it again.

I had a PS/2 CueCat which IIRC required some hardware modification to use unlocked, at least early on. I stuck in it a drawer and never bothered with it again. The default functionality was useless. The thing I miss however is things like that old Amazon web service that. Icould look up book information for free. For a few years there were some really interesting free XML-RPC and SOAP web services that were relatively easy to plug into and access interesting services. I really miss those services and composability for mash-ups.

MBCook 3y ago
I don’t think it required a hack, I don’t remember that. However they did have a serial number built-in that the software would send to the retailer when you scanned things for tracking purposes. I think the hack was to disable that, it might’ve been as simple as cutting a single trace. (From the fog of my memory)
- breput 3y ago
  Yeah, no hack required. The CueCat just outputted keyboard data via the PS/2 interface, which was the most common keyboard connection at the time, and with the correct 3rd party software it could be used to decode any UPC barcode without having to install the official spyware software.
  - ggdm 3y ago
    It was a ROT encoder. Google that. So software “decode” vs hardware “hack.”
    - MBCook 3y ago
      Ooooh that’s right. I’d forgotten that.
- giantrobot 3y ago
  That is likely what I am thinking of, it's been a long time and I was not super interested in it at the time. I got mine free from Radio Shack with that year's catalog (which was filled with CueCat barcodes).