Slashback: Cats, Snaps, Pixels, Diagrams 96
LWCE, from our "compulsive recording" files.
marcmerlin writes: "I have just finished my full report on Linuxworld
expo summer 2000 which features, just like my previous
Linux Event reports
and reports, hundreds of pictures and a virtual visit of the expo, with a full
report of all the keynotes, conferences, tutorials and parties I attended
I'm sure you'll agree the wait was worth it :-)"
Thanks, Marc! Hey, he should charge an admission price for this one. This is perhaps the most comprehensive coverage of LWCE I've see yet, and if you're considering going this is a great way to whet your appetite for the next one.
Don't be alarmed, but we're going to have to give you a cat scan. MP3Car writes "The Dudes over at MP3Car have decoded the protocol used by the CueCat which you can get for free at Radio Shack. they have a Web page where you can scan in any barcode and it will tell you the number. Very neat and hightech space age hack. CueCat HACK"
A free package of Slashdot goodies to the first person who can make my Visor into a CueCat basestation so I can scan random items at the grocery. Note: As of 23:55 GMT, a search for "Radio Shack CueCat" at Google yields a grand total of zero (0) matches. Updated: 3:15 GMT 26th August by timothy: An unnamed correspondent writes:
"This comes straight from linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org:
'Hello all,
I picked up my free CueCat reader at RadioShack the other day, so I
wrote a small driver for it based on Andrew Stellman's perl script. It's
available at :
ftp://oss.lineo.com/drivers/cuecat- 0.0.1.tar.gz
Have fun :)'"
"First, there were the dinosaurs ... " If you enjoyed the visual map of Unix history that CmdrTaco posted the other day, here's your chance to spread a little joy in the world in return. As if Unix weren't enough to cover all by itself ;)
Auckerman writes "It seems someone wants to put all standards and platforms for the entire history of computing on one graph. Pretty ambitious, if you ask me. Though, it would be nice if someone began recording these relationships before they are permanently lost forever."
Heck, I'd like to see this even if it covered only a history of video games!
Q: Will you visit my apartment? A: Yes. Speaking of collaborative knowledge systems, GutterBunny writes: "This week's I Cringley talks about Chris McKinstry's latest project - the Mindpixel Digital Mind Modeling Project. It's a pretty cool idea. Take about 900 million mindpixels (basic nuggets of truth about the human condition), throw them into a neural net, then let the neural net think out the next 100 million mindpixels. The article goes on to talk about how McKinstry's going to make money from it and some of the ideas behind it."
If the therapy was scuccessful, you may recall the fascinating interview that Chris gave to Slashdot a little while ago. Looks like some of the questions that people had then about Mindpixel(s) will be answered by reality.
Re:Mo (Betta?) Cue Cat stuff (Score:1)
Re:barcode scanners (Score:1)
Also, you must keep in mind that it's not the functionality that people seem to be after (what the hell am I going to do with a barcode scanner??); it's taking something that's made to do one thing and converting it through software or some other means to do something different. In other words, it's the hack that's important, not the fact that you can read barcodes with it.
Just look at the whole I-Opener thing. Face it, to hack that thing into something useful you'd have to dump a couple hundred bucks into it, which would instantly negate the novelty of a "$99 computer". You could assemble a faster system for about the same money and some spare parts. But where's the fun in that? The beauty of the I-Opener was the plethora of creative things you could do to it. I don't know that a scanner would offer the same diversity, but wouldn't it be goofy to check it out?
Your idea of buying a canned solution is too practical. There's no fun in that. Taking a Cat thing and plunking away at some code to make it do something other than send remote commands to Netscape is fun. I'll probably throw the damn thing away when its lost its novelty... But it's free, so who cares? There's something to say for disposable fun...
Re:privacy (Score:1)
---
Sweet! (Score:1)
---
privacy (Score:1)
---
License issues... (Score:1)
I ask because according to the license agreement, so much as hooking up the CueCat to your computer and scanning a barcode is enough to bind you to the agreement. Furthermore, supposedly as soon as you hook it up, you can't reverse-engineer it and tell the world. (Oddly enough, you can reverse-engineer it and tell them.)
Apparently you don't own it either; it's on loan to you.
We've seen issues dealing with click-through licensing agreements before. One issue that comes to mind is the issue of DeCSS, where a commercial player was reverse-engineered to get the CSS decode codes.
The license agreement follows:
Please read the following license agreement carefully before using this software or hardware as you are agreeing to be bound by the following terms and conditions of this license. You agree to the terms and conditions of this license by performing ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS: (1) using the
Not all actions may be available with each copy of this agreement.
Copyright
License
This is a license, not a sales agreement, between you, the end user, and DigitalConvergence.:com Inc. ("Digital:Convergence").
The software, documentation and any fonts accompanying this License whether on disk, in read only memory, on any other media or in any other form (the ":CRQ software") are licensed to you by Digital:Convergence. The
The
Digital:Convergence retains all title to and ownership of the Software and reserves all rights not expressly granted to you. All rights, title, interest, and all copyrights in and to the software, documentation, and any copy made by you remain with Digital:Convergence.
Permitted Uses and Restrictions
This License allows you to install and use the
Disclaimer of Warranty on
YOU ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SELECTION OF THE SOFTWARE TO ACHIEVE YOUR INTENDED RESULTS, AND FOR THE INSTALLATION, USE, AND RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE SOFTWARE. YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE USE OF THE
Disclaimer of Warranty on
YOU ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SELECTION OF THE
Limitation of Liability
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, SHALL DIGITAL:CONVERGENCE BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS LICENSE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES SO THIS LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
Digital:Convergence shall have no liability for any claims you may have relating to any third party act, obligation, assertion or omission or your use of any third party product or service regardless of whether you have used the Digital:Convergence software and/or hardware licensed hereunder to link to any third party web site. Without limiting the foregoing, Digital:Convergence disclaims that there is any endorsement, authorization or other association between parties (or among such parties and Digital:Convergence) related to ISBN, UPC or other codes or materials, on the one hand, and the sites or pages to which they are linked by the
Complete Agreement
This License constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the use of the
Governing Law
This agreement shall be construed, interpreted and the rights of the parties determined in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas (without reference to its choice of law provisions).
Your Signature
____________________
Agreement may be sent via facsimile to Digital:Convergence at (214) 292-6001.
Re: Nooooooo! Noooooooo! (Score:1)
I mean, interesting quickies, too much fluff around them. I've complained before, but why does timothy feel like he has to be some weird unfunny MC for Slashback? If the news is boring, don't publish it, nothing you do will make it interesting. If it's interesting, publish it with as little surrounding junk as possible.
Here's how to convey the same info in just one paragraph, saving many people a click and reading more annoying attempts at humor (I didn't bother putting in the links):
marcmerlin published a detailed Summer LinuxWorld report / MP3car Dudes have decoded the free Radio Shack barcode scanner protocol / someone wants to map not just unix, but all of computing history / GutterBunny informs us of a Cringely article on Chris McKinstry's Mindpixel Digital Mind Modeling Project.
FYI: Wired subscribers will all get one too (Score:1)
Where's the answers? (Score:1)
Re:And, really... (Score:1)
Re:Verio and Slashdot Nerds? (Score:1)
Right?
Re:Regarding #1 about Angelina Jolie (OT) (Score:1)
Nope (as far as I know). I was trying to demonstrate how much I find the idea of getting rewarded to help with an AI project appealed to me. Attractive though Ms. Portman may be, and as widely admired in the eyes of Slashdotters (okay, at least Slashdot trolldom) as she is, Ms. Jolie is still the one for whom I'd crawl ten miles naked and face-down, over broken glass, simply for the opportunity to lick butterscotch pudding off the small of her back. ;)
OK, maybe not that extreme (I'm trying for humour here, not a restraining order) but you get the idea.
OTOH, I hope Billy Bob Thornton gets on his knees every morning and fervently thanks his God for his unbelievable good fortune. I know I would. ;)
-TBHiX-
I've seen run-on sentences, but that one was a five-lane highway pile-up.
Re:Mindpixel madness (Score:1)
Admittedly, they are going to be feeding it what they consider to be atomic facts. I highly suspect they will be filtering for opinion on the side of caution, i.e. an attempt to introduce the mindpixel of "Natalie Portman is hot" by one or more of our, shall we say, more fervent congregation would be altered to "Some people who write comments on Slashdot say that Natalie Portman is hot". The latter version, of course, is indisputable fact in the truest sense and therefore qualifies as a mindpixel.
-TBHiX-
Re:this might be my chance!!!!! (Score:1)
thank god for valium otherwise i wouldve cried.
Re:And, really... (Score:1)
Sorry, it had to be done...
Fawking Trolls! [slashdot.org]
Re:privacy (Score:1)
Fawking Trolls! [slashdot.org]
Re:privacy (Score:1)
Fawking Trolls! [slashdot.org]
OT: Hmm... (Score:1)
Hey, sorry to be off-topic, but if you are who I think you might be, I just wanted to let you know that it was cool meeting you @ Anime Expo '92. (I was a gopher there.) The game show that year was great!
Peace! And if I'm not making any sense, peace anyway. O_o
BTW, there will be a Mac-compatible USB version of the scanner soon. I snagged my PS/2 version a couple of days ago.
< tofuhead >
That silly cat... (Score:1)
As for google not coming up with anything, bah.
By the way, the cat is also being distributed to all subscribers of Forbes [forbes.com] magazine; the FAQ is here. [forbes.com].
The 'official' site is www.getcat.com [getcat.com].
Re:Another idea (Score:1)
Another cuecat project (Score:1)
Mark Duell
Re:Bad idea. (Score:1)
Physical brute force is less appealing..
Mindpixel and copyright (Score:1)
I doubt anyone will make much money using Mindpixel in this way. All of the good ideas have already been thought up by the Megamonkey project.
--
LWCE .org pavilion (Score:1)
This year they had a row to themselves at one end of the floor, and each .org got a little tiny cubicle all to itself. Not the same at all, and nowhere near as rewarding to hang around even that didn't mean you were standing in the aisle.
One more thing that sucks is that I missed seeing Nitrozac while I was there. You can't have everything, I suppose.
That Beautiful, wonderful cable! (Score:1)
Nipok Nek
Re:Cue Cat - what a waste (Score:1)
Get one shipped! (Score:1)
Re:privacy (Score:1)
Deo
Mindpixel = Auto-Patent-Generator?? (Score:1)
Is anyone else bothered by this quote?
Given the recent behavior of the US Patent Office, the DeCSS case, MPAA/RIAA & Napster... the general trends in IP law these last few years... this sounds positiviely scary to me!
--jrd
Re:I bet... (Score:1)
Re:CueCat (Score:1)
Cue Cat - what a waste (Score:1)
Haven't those Dilberts ever heard of USB? Sheesh!
Now, what would be cool is a hack that upgrades my Mac Optical Pro Mouse (or Microsoft Intellimouse) so that it can use the little camera as a barcode scanner as well. More convenient, too, because it would mean one less thing hanging off the laptop.
In the meantime, I think I'll fish the cat out of the trash -- and feed it to my AIBO.
Robert "Grumpy? Damn right!" Woodhead
Re:I bet... (Score:1)
Re:Full decoder (Score:1)
Most of the decoders people have posted use a lookup table, which only works for numeric valued barcodes. This one decodes all barcodes correctly - for example, UPS tracking codes (which have letters in them), and the type field, which actually says UPA for UPC A codes.
Re:CueCat (Score:1)
I was the first at my local RadioShack. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, really, but it will decode the big, long barcode on Netflix address labels. From the number of 0's, I'd say they are planning on being around a while. :)
Of course, since I'm in Windows and didn't want to reboot or spend the time to track down a Windows decoder, I made my own. I just wonder what all the other information it send back is... guess I'll have to search after all.
Re:Missing part of UNIX history? (Score:1)
odd.
You should never, never doubt what nobody is sure about.
MindPixel and CYC (Score:1)
Re:Missing part of UNIX history? (Score:1)
if you prefer), but B'nai Cthulhu (Hebrew for the Cthulhu covenant, wherein
He promised, with the sign of the beached squids, that He would never again
destroy the Alpha-Centauri system with a deluge of Jell-o). Besides, everybody
knows that OOG isn't that old (:
p.s. Yes, you're right...I got them backwards because I was in-between VTs (:
Re:Another idea (Score:1)
Since there are serial to PS/2 adapters, the hardware for this thing might work with a Palm Pilot by just chaining adapters together.
The harder part is creating a driver on the Palm, though with the speed that people have created filters, that shouldn't be to long!
Re:Mindpixel madness (Score:1)
Also, what on earth is going to generate all the questions, and make sure they are a useful sample? The initial question set could strongly affect the direction the system goes in.
Re:DVD and CD lookups (Score:1)
Re:ALSO HERE (Score:1)
Another idea (Score:1)
In theory, such a device could be about the size of a calculator.
Any smart hardware hackers out there? I'm sure there are
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Barcode information DB (Score:1)
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Re:Cat Scan idea (Score:1)
It would work, but anyone who sees the card knows the password. In your system, it wouldn't be possible for a human to see and interpret the barcode, but all they'd need is a camera, scanner, barcode reader, anything to capture the data on the card, and they'd have access to your system.
--
Re:My considered response to this is (Score:1)
Where are we going?
Planet Ten!
When?
Real soon!
Re:And, really... (Score:1)
CueCat (Score:1)
As for the hack I would love to play with one but my local radioshack says they don't have them yet. Anyone else having problems getting them from their local store?
I guess I'll have to get it online at cuecat.com [cuecat.com]
Another use for CueCat: Handy flashlight (Score:1)
It's good to know that when it dies I should be able to get a new one...
Re:And, really... (Score:1)
--
Strange cuecat behavior (Score:1)
Re:Strange cuecat behavior (Score:1)
Thanks, Chef. (Score:1)
My considered response to this is (Score:1)
Public Key via Barcode (Score:1)
--
Not-unexpected? (Score:1)
There is another more obscure word for saying "not-unexpected". It's "expected".
Privacy issues with the "Convergence cable"? (Score:1)
After hooking up a cable from your TV/VCR audio out to your sound card line-in jack, you will be instantly "whisked away" to the web site corresponding to the commercial you have just seen. With the use of cookies, marketers could be able to track which commercials you have seen, and which television shows you have been watching, perhaps even in real-time. (Wouldn't that be great for Nielsen ratings to have a hugely expanded poll set, in real time, without anyone's knowledge?) The web site also mentions encoding DVD and other movies, so it would be possible to track which movies you rented as well. So you like to rent horror movies? Pretty soon, you could be getting offers in the mail for Stephen King's book club.
The danger lies not only in the convergence cable, however. The bar code software itself seems geared to using a central web site for lookups. This also presents another chance to gather valuable marketing data. In theory, you'll be scanning items that you at least have some interest in. In time, a valuable set of information will build regarding your lifestyle and personal tastes.
Am I paranoid? I prefer to call it "progressively realistic". On the whole, few would really care if the world found out their shopping list, or if they watched Seinfeld re-runs; however, it seems that we are more often trading in privacy and personal freedom for the sake of convenience, one small step at a time. Once we become slaves to convenience, it's only a hair's breadth away from becoming slaves to those who provide it.
All that having been said, I ran right out to Radio Shack and got one. I'll be watching the watchers, however.
Could it be the last... (Score:1)
Re:Mindpixel madness (Score:2)
Donating some mindpixels (Score:2)
Mindspixel: Damned Useful Service ;) (Score:2)
I think the answer to: Are the craters on the moon really made of goat cheese? is:
TRUE
Must be in its infancy, and therefore a litle gullible. Anyone want to break it to this AI that there's no Santa Claus?
Re:License issues... (Score:2)
You have got to be fscking kidding me! This one goes in the Hall of Shame...
Why am I not surprised that Radio Shaft would be pushing this? "You have questions, we have batteries."
Schwab
Yes: (Score:2)
JavaScript :CueCat Decoder (Score:2)
Re:Barcode information DB (Score:2)
http://grover.mta.ca/upc/
Re:And, really... (Score:2)
I'm not 100% sure on the privacy policy, but I don't believe that your name will ever be released to the third party advertiser. Not unless you sign up for a contest/explicitly give them your data.
It's not total big brother. There should be a privacy option, as well.
damn it. i have to bitch (Score:2)
GARH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Strong Authentication (Score:2)
Authentication should be based on 2 of the 3 following concepts:
Having said that, one could do something like a barcode as a poor man's smart card. A user would scan and then enter a PIN. The trouble is, unlike a smart card, the barcode is likely to represent a very simple key. And it would be fairly easy to copy.
A fun idea... but not very practical.
Re:Decoder software UPDATED (Score:2)
---- ----
Decoder software (Score:2)
http://www.flyingbuttmonkeys.com/~rothwell/ [flyingbuttmonkeys.com]
... it understands ISBN, UPC, EAN, Code128 and parts of other barcode formats. I do not know what the actual protocol is, but I reverse-engineered a rather large lookup table. Digital Convergence replied to my request for documentation on its output format with "over our dead corporate body," more or less. So, lookup table it is, until I discover the true pattern, if one exists.
---- ----
Re:Decoder software UPDATED (Score:2)
---- ----
Re:Cat Scan idea (Score:2)
It looks like it's just a matter of hacking a PIC and putting it between the :CueCat's receiver and the output lines for keyboard clock and data.
Anyone got timing diagrams for a PS/2 keyboard (and/or something like a Sejin 8630 as a generic example of an IR keyboard [sejin.com]) IR frequency is 38.4 KHz / 56 KHz depending on model.
CueCat: what about the Convergence cable? (Score:2)
Convergence cable is the system component that links your computer to your television, allowing special broadcast cues to automatically direct your browser directly to where you need to go! Connecting to the audio-out on your TV, the cable carries the cues to your computer via the audio-in.
So does anyone here any any idea what the heck they are doing with the audio to "interpret these special codes"?
ConsumerCat (Score:2)
The most interesting thing about that :CueCat page is the way it repeatedly seems to assume that the only thing you use the web (or indeed, your computer) for is to look up product information. "You'll probably find you barely need your mouse" or "your keyboard and mouse will still work, but you'll probably find yourself using them a lot less 'cause this way is just so much more mindnumbingly easy".
The sentiment is even more pronounced in the idea of the :CRQ software that listens to TV broadcasts and sends your web browser on some merry (and no doubt Javascript + Flash infested) chase everytime a commercial or product placement spot goes by, presumably in case swiping a UPC code still required too much mental effort. It frankly worries me a bit that there might be people out there who would actually want that to happen on a regular basis. Hopefully there aren't, and it'll turn out that this company's economic theory makes no sense.
Re:privacy (Score:2)
Yeah, check out <a href="http://www.barpoint.com">Barpoint Systems</a>. Right now you can type in a UPC code and it will give you a product name, and with CD's you are a click away from the song list.
Re:Strange cuecat behavior (Score:2)
How did i discover this? Im doign a similar project at http://www.fleacircus.org/~mdu ell/cuecat/cuecat.html [fleacircus.org]
Mark Duell
I wonder.... (Score:2)
Or to put it another way:
Will his 'poodle' sketch be as ironically funny to an AI with only 899 million other bits of pop culture trash?
Library (Score:2)
Most books published in the last, oh, about 20 years, have one of two types of barcodes:
Of course... (Score:2)
http://www.davecentral.com/12666.html
and download the VB program (source code incl.) to decypher the data.
-- Anubis
Re:Mindpixel madness (Score:2)
(anyone know the URL?)
Give this URL a try: http://www.mindpixel.com [mindpixel.com]
the WRONG hack (Score:2)
Now can someone figure out a way to make it so that CueCat [cuecat.com] isn't so god damn fugly?
Cat Scan idea (Score:2)
Re:Yes: (Score:3)
It was too tempting not to do it... so I registered and added my mindpixel: "Is registration is the first step towards confiscation?" Tee hee! :-)
Re:Yes: (Score:3)
Re:privacy (Score:3)
:-)
---
Re:Bad idea. (Score:3)
password protected systems can include things like panic passwords - special password you give out when someone has a gun to your head, that works, but sets off alarms, destroys or encrypts sensitive data, etc.
Carrying around the code to get into something is just silly.
Full decoder (Score:3)
For those who are interested, it appears that the :Cat uses a modified base-64 encoding (not the MIME one!) and a little bit of XOR too. Check the decode() routine for details.
Mindpixel madness (Score:3)
1. Shares in Mindpixel for helping define an artificial intelligence? To me, that's like saying, "I'll pay you $1000 to sexually satisfy Angelina Jolie on an ongoing basis. Is that enough?"
2. He's coming out with a book, "Hacking Consciousness". The other day I claimed money was being hauled violently out of my wallet by the book then reccomended. With this edition, I forsee only one way of paying my bills next month: there is now enough of a vaccuum generated within my wallet by the outflow that I might be able to harness some zero-point energy via the Casimir effect.
3. I'm going to be very interested to see if the thing develops a sense of humour, and whether it is conventional or not. I mean, some of those mindpixels have to be things like "Denis Leary makes a lot of people laugh", plus "Denis Leary said X". (Not necessarily those pixels, but some similar stream of pixels surely exists.) Can you imagine it being fed random pieces of data, and suddenly spouting back, "It would be funny if a strong wind pushed Bill Clinton over a cliff. He would have been blown to his death."
How much intelligence would it need? Jerry Seinfeld manages it, after all. ;)
-TBHiX-
Re:And, really... (Score:3)
You mean where it says "Custom Manufacturered for DigitalConvergence.com in China by RadioShack A Division of Tandy Corporation, Fort Worth TX 76102" on the back of mine, that's just a typo? weird.
Why "Radio Shack" has 0 matches (Score:3)
of 23:55GMT, a search for "Radio Shack CueCat" at google yields a grand total of zero (0) matches.
Ever since the initial "You've got questions we've got answers" ad campaign, RadioShack [radioshack.com] has been all one word. And it takes Google [google.com] a month to update its indexes anyway.
<O
( \
XGNOME vs. KDE: the game! [8m.com]
Re:Cat Scan idea (Score:3)
Although, it would be useful as a secondary means of identification. Say you go up to a terminal, type in your username, scan in your id card, and enter your password.
Or what would be really cool, if you had a linux box set up somewhere with some custom written software, and two scanners outside and inside your front door. When someone wants to get in, they hafta use a standard lock and key PLUS they swipe their card (which unlocks an electronic lock). Thus you can keep logs of who goes in/out of your house.
I've always wanted to do that, ever since a few years ago when I went to work at an IT company that had ALL it's rooms locked with keycard security. I visited the admins one day and they had a nifty map of everyone's daily activities. Muhahaha.
Missing part of UNIX history? (Score:3)
in about 120,000,000 bc. Evidence of this is the primatively structured attempts
at natural language through such grunts and gutteral sounds as "grep", "awk",
and "sed". "ls" and friends, while having theoretically unpronouncable natures,
seem to stem from the language of Cthulhu himself, after He and His Spawn
filtered down from deep space in 119,999,998 bc to create the Human race as a
joke.
In regards to a previous topic, research has shown that the first operating
system was, in fact, OOG_THE_CAVEMAN; they beat the hell out of him with large,
blunt objects until he became the hardware abstraction layer between the rock
(the "processor") and the neanderthal ("user"). Thusly, the abacus was born in
119,999,999 bc.
DVD and CD lookups (Score:3)
Re:Barcode information DB (Score:4)
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Re:Mo (Betta?) Cue Cat stuff (Score:4)
This is a good thing(tm) because the escape sequence is alt-F10, which makes it a real pain to try and use the cuecat from a linux console (unless you have a useable vt on tty9)
It's early code, so there's obviously work to be done, but I've tried it and it does work pretty well for v.0.0.1
See the freshmeat appindex record at http://freshmeat.net/projects/cuecat/ [freshmeat.net]
Mo (Betta?) Cue Cat stuff (Score:5)
http://www.new-sharon.me.us/upc.html [new-sharon.me.us]
http://docwhat.gerf.org/software/per l/catscan/ [gerf.org]
Other ideas... tie it into CDDB and/or Amazon to catalog all your CDs and books based on UPC/ISBN numbers?
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