Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 4

Has anyone hacked the :Cue C.A.T. for use as a cheap text reader (could be useful for entering text from business cards or documents)?

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

There's a lot out there on the net about hacking CueCat, but most of it centers around:

1. removing the unique serial number to make your use of CueCat anonymous

2. converting CueCat to a plain-text barcode scanner for personal use

3. using barcodes to get data from places like Amazon to automatically catalog book or music collections

I have not seen anything about text scanning.

I suggest you start with your favorite search engine or start at http://www.slashdot.com where there are articles about it.


ObLegal: By discussing this subject, I am not necessarily advocating any of it.

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Jeff

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

I think the cue cat is just a bar-code scanner. That's not really something capable of actual optical scanning or OCR.

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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: bright side of the moon.
Posts: 996

i just got back from vacation and was reading some magazines on the plane that used the Cue Cat barcode scanners. From what i gather the barcode just links you to the website of the product. i wonder if it would be possible to gut the CueCat and fit it into a larger (battery) type module so that i could scan these ads and automatically list the websites in my memopad? (i currently have a catagory in my memopad called (Web-Check) where i write in websites i see on TV or in magazines, etc. and whenever i have some spare time i surf these sites and either delete (if they're not worth re-visiting) or change to a different catagory in my memopad. With a makeshift CueCat module i could scan these ads and have the site address write directly to my visor!

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Ever feel like the train left while you were busy reading the paper?

Stealth-Mod.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

quote:

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Originally posted by Hoser_in_USA
i just got back from vacation

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Welcome back! We missed you!

quote:

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Originally posted by Hoser_in_USA
i wonder if it would be possible to gut the CueCat and fit it into a larger (battery) type module so that i could scan these ads and automatically list the websites in my memopad?

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I doubt it, Hoser. The CueCat simply reads the numeric code which is transmitted to their site where it gets converted into a URL for the browser. As stated above, it's a bar-code reader, not an OCR reader. Now, if the bar-code itself was the actual URL, that would be a different story...

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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

quote:

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Originally posted by Hoser_in_USA
i wonder if it would be possible to gut the CueCat and fit it into a larger (battery) type module ...

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Not to mention the circuit boards inside the cuecat are shaped like it is. Unless the barcoding module you're imagining stuck out the top of the Visor quite a ways, there'd be no way to make it fit! Say...

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Jeff

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: bright side of the moon.
Posts: 996

quote:

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Originally posted by PDAENVY
[QUOTE]
Not to mention the circuit boards inside the cuecat are shaped like it is. Unless the barcoding module you're imagining stuck out the top of the Visor quite a ways, there'd be no way to make it fit! Say...

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i don't mind it sticking out of the visor, i'd keep the module on my desk or where i read, and when i saw an add with the barcode that i was interested in, i'd plug in the module, scan, and then remove the module.

it would just save me having to write down the URL from the ad....i guess it's just being lazy

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Stealth-Mod.

Registered: May 2000
Location:
Posts: 321

It might be possible to create a program that would get the code inputs (they look like .C3nZC3nZC3nZCxf2C3P2C3nX.fHmc.C3f2Cxj2DxfWDNn6.) and once the visor synchs put links to the correct site in an HTML document.

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