Was connecting the physical world to the Net a dumb idea, or the CueCat device?
When barcodes can be scanned using a camera phone (Physical World Connection), billions of URLS get added to the Internet
database, hundreds of billions of physical objects become become "physical websites".Pay per click morphs into "pay per scan" and brands are able to interact with a consumer anywhere and anytime via mobile phone.
Kelson has an interesting story about barcodes, the CueCat and Physical World Connection called Linking The Real And Virtual.
Was the CueCat ahead of its time?
CueCat was a single-purpose device that scanned barcodes and was tied to the desktop.
There has been plenty of discussion of the CueCat being a dumb idea. The device might be considered dumb, but the idea of linking any physical object to the Internet could be a multi-billion dollar opportunity....not so dumb.
