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CueCat Seeks Simpsons Endorsement 141

Posted by Hemos from the don't-do-it dept.
smirkleton writes "The San Jose Mercury News has a story about the current struggles of CueCat manufacturer DigitalConvergence. One of several interesting factoids within the article: CueCat is trying to procure product endorsements from Apu Nahasapeemapetilon and Lisa Simpson. Mr. Groening, for the love of Flanders, don't do it! 'The Simpsons' once dissed on Apple's Newton (hilariously)- and it had an actual purpose and loyal following. Endorsing this utterly useless and universally despised advertising toy would constitute a sellout of Dilbertian proportions."
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CueCat Seeks Simpsons endorsement More

CueCat Seeks Simpsons endorsement

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  • you're supposed to run your CueCat over the bar codes in this radioshack catalouge , and it will tell your Web browser where to go online for more information. freakin useless!
  • Hey man, can you fix the formatting? Following this article on the main page, everything else is now in italics

    *not that i have anything against italics; just trying to be (+1; Informative)...    .

  • 1. It's not worthless, it's a perfectly good, free, multi-mode, bar code scanner.

    2. Given away by a company started by a guy whose only apparent other claim to fame is "triple edge wiper blades". [Is J. Jovan Philyaw his REAL name, or is that just his stage name?]

    The problem is not with the device, but with the company and its delusional business plan.
  • All those Bart Simpson "don't have a cow, man" t shirts or the dolls and i've seen stickers and socks and boxers and bubble gum and video games for the Simpsons. So yeah don't sell out ever Matt!!!!


    aztek: the ultimate man

  • Posted to the D:C web site:

    Please don't defile my appreciation of the Simpsons with a marketing campaign based upon your fundamentally immoral and privacy invasive CueCat product.

    If you should proceed against my wishes, at least pick a more appropriate character. I suggest an endorsement from Montgomery Burns would be more in the spirit of your product.

    Toodles.


    "A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --

  • My guess would be that George stopped submitting to this piece of crap called the Simpsons about two years ago. Worst ... episode ... ever, is probably his only contribution.

    Get over it, this show sucks now.

  • you could at least make reference to Red Dwarf when you quote it...
  • I'd do it with Betty, but I'd be thinking of Wilma...
  • So if it is so terrible, why were you even watching it this weekend? Have you been watching it for the last 7 years just in case the show would magically return to what it formerly was?
  • Comic book store guy, "Worst Peripheral, Ever!"
  • Come on, Adams agreed to have Dilbert and Dogbert appear on the package of a product that is as intergral to most nerd diets are reeces pieces, diet dr. pepper, microwave burritos, and cpt. crunch - a product that gives a not insignificant portion of its' profits to charity (or at least they did before the corporate takeover).

    To say the relentlessly commercialized Simpsons only "aspire" to sell out as much is... well just wrong.

    Not to say the Simpson's aren't sometimes very well written, but MG sure knows how to squeeze a buck out of everything.

  • Actually, the NSync (spell it right, dammit!) episode was one of the funnier ones in quite a while. It's still no Futurama, though. Futurama is definitely consistently funnier than Simpsons, although not really approaching the Simpsons' greatness back in the day.

    On a side note, I was The Critic on Comedy Central last night also. That was the funniest cartoon of the night! Whatever happened to *that* show???

  • spin... (Score:3)

    by cetan ( 61150 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @05:52PM (#399931) Journal
    I read an article online somewhere (anyone know the one?) that had a good quote from the president of Digitial Convergence, makers of CueCat...

    He basicly said "We were really suprised how much of a following we have with the geek crowd. We're really happy we've got such an 'underground' following." or some such.

    So, to anyone, reading the article that's not really familure with the CueCat's past, thinks that DC is actually encouraging hackers to find alternative uses for their product.

    Very frustrating.
  • This could be a troll, but tell me, how can opening a cuecat and looking inside of it "tear the business model to pieces"? This, to me, defies logic.

    "Tonight on ABC News: Well-Meaning Hackers Destroy Yet Another Business Model! with Peter Jennings. Right after 'Friends'"

    heh
  • not too seem too off topic but did everyone know that connan o'brien used to write for the simpsons? well, he did , and THOSE were the funniest times the show has ever had...in other words - to see more of that great humor, watch connan o'briens show.
  • Ironically, this whole issue has been covered by The Simpsons already. They just have to tweak the script a bit from the episode where Krusty becomes a standup comedian...

    Krusty: "Some Digital Convergence guys came to my place today wanting me to endorse their product. Know what I did? I sent them right out on their ass! This clown sells out to nobody!"

    Homer: "Don't you hate pants?"

    Krusty: "After they left, I took a bite out of a cripsy, crunchy, mouth watering Butterfinger bar..."

  • Worst business model ever...

  • Re:Is This to be a Pattern? (Score:3)

    by Lew Pitcher ( 68631 ) on Tuesday February 27, 2001 @04:41AM (#399936) Homepage
    No, nobody has a right to have a particular business model work, but I don't think that we want to destroy the hardware industry just to appease our own curiousity. Sometimes, self control is needed beyond what is required by the law.

    With that in mind, I believe that it is time for all those remaining Buggy Whip manufacturers to begin a class-action lawsuit against Ford, General Motors, et al, with regards to the destruction of the Buggy Whip manufacturing industry that occurred when the automobile manufacturers made the Buggy Whip manufacturers business model irrelevant.

    Of course, if Henry Ford, et al had exercised "self control beyond what is required by law" then we all would probably be living in a much different world: smaller communities, fewer products that are less available, poorer communications (it takes me an hour by car to go visit friends across town; that would likely be a half-day journey one way without a car).

  • ...but I'd rather see Martin or Milhaus playing with a declawed CueCat for scanning UPC codes.
  • It makes more sense than just geographically. The Morning News's parent company, Belo, has a substantial cash investment in Digital Convergence.

    BTW, DC's CEO (http://www.digitalconvergence.com/about/jovan_phi lyaw.html) has brought other questionable things to market (http://www.nettalklive.com/). Also, back when I was in school, the president of the technology group (http://www.digitalconvergence.com/about/doug_davi s.html) was an obnoxious sysadmin (http://www.seas.smu.edu/).
    The more you know about Digital Convergence, the worse it gets.
  • Bashing the Newton was quite the fad when the first model came out, back in '93. Apple finally got it right with the Newton 2000 back in '96-- it was blazing fast and the recognition was good, and it could replace a laptop if all you needed on the road was a little word processing capability and e-mail in addition to the normal PDA tasks. But the damage had been done by the original MessagePad, and the first Palms were beginning to take over.

    I now use a Palm V, but I still have my MP2k, and in a few ways it still kicks the Palm's ass. If the Newton hadn't been killed by Jobs, it would probably be doing speech recognition by now. The text-to-speech was already working well 3 or 4 years ago. I think the main reason it's taken the WinCE so long to really catch on is because Microsoft didn't have a truly successful Apple PDA to copy.

    ~Philly
  • So will the CueCat be appearing on Itchy and Scratchy?
  • More info. Apu has the same number of children as he does syllables in his last name (8).
    BigCat79
  • On the Itchy and Scratchy show! It gets blown to bits as Scratchy scans something at the supermarket with it.

  • I'm with you on that one. I don't think The Simpsons or the X-Files are quite as good on a per season basis as they have been in the past, but all of the characters are so well established that it's not that difficult to write storylines for them. Of course, the X-Files has got some issues right now with regard to character development, but I think the Simpsons does a pretty good job of keeping all the characters true to their past. Some of the jokes have just already been done. (Homer's involvement in this last episode was a little unnecessary). Needless to say, I still love both of them.

  • Can see the episode already (Score:3)

    by zaius ( 147422 ) <jeff&zaius,dyndns,org> on Monday February 26, 2001 @05:22PM (#399944)
    Bart and Lisa get sued for using their CueCat outside of the RadioShack catalog... or is that too unoriginal?


  • two or three weeks ago, when they had the tennis court was hilarious. especially when bart was playing w/ the water and homer "played" a tune.

  • because the next advertisement you see could destroy your home and eat your family!
  • but instead of abu or lisa, it'll be homer...then he'll sneeze and the crayon in his head will fall out...then he'll look at the cuecat and say "what the hell is this crap?" or actually, now that he is a geek, he'll say: "what, might i ask, is this utter nonsense?"
  • ...and now it appears to be fixed...Zounds! I salute your quick response. May you eventually get all the nano stuff you dream of sir!

    thx. Regarding the article itself, I believe that the CueCat (and perhaps, in their own four-fingered way, the Simpsons) would currently appear to have no chance to survive, and should therefore (in light of its predicament at hand) make its time.

  • Uh, somebody should tell DigitalConvergence that the ::():#()*#CueCat is a failed product. Even a SuperBowl commercial won't get this cat out of the bag.

    Were they at the last meeting?

    -Vercingetorix

  • the show was good when it was driven by character exposition, not by one-liners and guest stars. (how many famous people were on the show but not as themselves?) now that it's all about homer being an idiot ... it's not the same. i still watch, though.

    and i think my ten favorite episodes are all pre-1996, and are written by john swartzwelder and conan o'brien.
  • futurama's hillarious! example - the whole futurama gang flies a shipment to this planet inhabitted only by robots who hate humans... as they travel through the city the see a huge billboard that reads " Got milk? -if so you're human and must be killed." HOW FUNNY IS THAT!
  • FYI, Groening has had very little to do with the Simpsons as we know it (sans some influence in the first season or two). The rest of the success was due to Mr.Brooks and company (believe it or not). I'd like to believe that Groening is behind ALL of it though, but thats life..
  • I never realized I "universally despised" this device. It's just a barcode scanner, after all.

  • Re:worthless would be the perfect description (Score:3)

    by VertigoAce ( 257771 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @06:13PM (#399955)
    I don't personally use the CueCat, but it does have more use than the RadioShack catalogue.

    The Dallas Morning News prints CueCat bar codes with newspaper articles. You can scan them in and see online coverage that is more current than what's printed in the paper. I'm not sure if other newspapers do this (Dallas Morning News was the first).

    -Sean

  • Ok, I'll admit, I felt a bit elated at the thought of seeing this article. I remember the first time I saw the cue cat - I immediately cursed it as evil. It's funny how the predictions failed too - I wonder how many of us could have predicted that (I'm sure about 90% of the people here at /. fell into that category).

    What disturbs me is that no one is listining to the people. Revenue fell when people stopped clicking on ads, so the solution? Bigger ads! [slashdot.org] The rich people don't like using an invasive, obtrusive, feared product? Put it in Radio Shack where people finishing projects out of the Anarchist's Cookbook [everything2.com] can go! B2B not working too well? Ignore the consumer demands! Go B2B! Yeah!

    I slowly see the people who think they control the web, companies like Digital Convergence, slowly moving away from caring about, I dunno, the customer? and moving to what they want. For example, I was involved in a conference call for a $15,000 piece of software for the place where I work. Involved was myself (webmaster), my mangager, and our director. Not for some small company, but the sixth largest County Governemnt in the State of Florida. And right in the middle of the phone call, the guy demoing the product put us on hold with the following statement:

    "I'm sorry, you'll have to hold on for a minute, I am being IRC'd."

    WHAT?! IRC'd in the middle of a $15,000 demo? Yep, we'll be sure to use you! But that is my point, when are companies going to learn that we are not plugs, we are not hardware, we are individual human beings, who care how we are used, who care what we buy, who care who is snooping into out personal lives.

    Ok, breathe in, breathe out, circular, like the merry-go-round, it goes up, and around. Whew. Just my 2 coppers if anyone cares.

  • It failed because, like so many other dotcoms which have also recently failed, their business model sucked. It was an utterly stupid idea that never would have made any money, hackers or no.
  • And that following is wielding torches and pitch forks. I haven't seen a following like that since Frankenstein's Monster...

  • Re:Hemos, you snide prick... (Score:4)

    by double_h ( 21284 ) on Tuesday February 27, 2001 @06:03AM (#399960) Homepage

    so what if Scott Adams "sold out"? What was he rebelling against in the first place? Ice cream? You're not making any sense, moron. I think it's great that Dilbert is featured on Ben & Jerry's ice cream, it's more of an honor than anything. More than you can say about your pathetic life, Hemos, you phoney rebel.

    I read Hemos' comment as implying that it was Ben & Jerry (ice cream co. with a hippy left-wing image) who were selling out by pimping Dilbert -- after all, Scott Adams has come out and said plainly enough that he's in it for the money, and will license his properties to pretty much anybody (I lost most of what little respect I had for Adams when I heard about his licensing Dilbert for use in IBM employee handbooks).

    But personally, at this stage in the game, I have a hard time getting myself worked up over cartoon characters being used to sell shoddy merchandise. After Warner Bros. stores opened every half mile from coast to coast, I just stopped caring.

    All your shameless plugs are belong to us. [prmsystems.com]

  • the whole futurama gang flies a shipment to this planet inhabitted only by robots who hate humans...

    That same episode had one of my all-time favorite Futurama lines. For the robots on that planet, they used the "Get the humanoid, get the intruder" sound clip from Berzerk [klov.com].

  • This was an absurd article, I'm disappointed in Slashdot for this one.

    On the other hand, if the number, size, and quality of the comments produced are any indication, a large portion of the Slashdot readership was more than happy to have an excuse to discuss The Simpsons, regardless of the CueCat issue.

  • "Oh my god! Cartoon character endorsing a CueCat is a sellout of earth-shattering proportions!" What, but the crappy liscenced games, t-shirts, candy bars, action figures and dolls somehow aren't? For crying out loud, I think there are a few tribes in the amazon using some of the "Don't have a cow, man!" t-shirts as penis sheaths.

    First off, Groening doesn't own the characters-- they're property of Fox now, like it or not. Second of all, I hardly see how an endorsement by a cartoon character could somehow rocket the CueCat to popularity.

    Besides, if they did their homework, they would know that Groening's on record as saying that Abkar and Jeff would be willing to shill for anything. ^_~

  • Boy! After endorsing something as useful as Butterfingers endorsing a CueCat would certainly be a step down, wouldn't it? Tasty candy vs. blatant marketing tool... Hmmmmmmmmm. Let me think.

    Fuck that. The Simpsons sold out a long time ago. I happen to agree with Bill Hicks on this one: Once you've sold out once you've sold out forever, and every word that comes out of your mouth is suspect.

    But hey, greed is good, right? That's what Ayn Rand says!

    - Rev.
  • i would personally like to mod Hemos down as Flamebait posting this story only because he wanted to see fights about the quality of the Simpsons in recent years.
  • > Actually, the NSync (spell it right, dammit!)

    Er, it's *NSync, actually... even though I'd never correct someone on the spelling of probably the worst band right now... wait, I just correct you... nooooooooooooo.......

  • CueCat: Tool of the Antichrist? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Can anyone get a copy of the DigitalConvergence business plan or placement memorandum?

    I'd love to see if it includes any references to any or all of the following items:

    1)
    Revelation Chapter 13 [audio-bible.com] - which details the Antichrist's plan to force all mankind to receive a mark in their right hand or forehead in order to buy or sell goods.

    2) The Islamic Hadith's Final Signs of Qiyaamah [tripod.com] - which predicts the arrival of a monstrous 'beast from the earth' which will mark the foreheads of believers.

    3) Patent 5,878,155 [164.195.100.11] - defined as "Method for verifying human identity during electronic sale transactions...A bar code or a design is tattooed on an individual. Before the sales transaction can be consummated, the tattoo is scanned with a scanner. Characteristics about the scanned tattoo are compared to characteristics about other tattoos stored on a computer database in order to verify the identity of the buyer. Once verified, the seller may be authorized to debit the buyer's electronic bank account in order to consummate the transaction. The seller's electronic bank account may be similarly updated."

    Maybe their *real* plan has less to do with online advertising gimmickry and more to do with creating the de facto standard for a cheap, portable bar-code reader for the antichrist's future economic system [av1611.org].

  • If the business model's THAT fragile... (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26, 2001 @06:25PM (#399968)
    ...it would have fell through on something else as well. People tinker with stuff all the time. Hell, that's how some of the stuff we have today came about.

    A long time ago, some nutcase put heavy nylon monofiliment on a tin can and attached it to a drill attached to a stick. Now we have spin trimmers. The makers of monofiliment didn't have it in their business plan to have it used that way. Neither did the people that made the stick and the drill. They should have expected people to tear them apart/reverse engineer them and produce at least drivers that didn't use their service.

    It's the same things that the dot-coms are going through right now. The ones with fragile/bad business models are failing for varying reasons, not including people "cracking" thier system.

    Give me one good reason (what you've given isn't very good, really...) to NOT play with this stuff- the busniess wouldn't care too much if I went broke, why should I care if they're stupid?
  • Burns' inability to remember Homer's name is a long running gag. Don't get me started...
  • She vegetarian, not vegan. Still it seemed weird when she was part of those MILK ads. So maybe she's got a little bit of the Crusty shill in her. Little Lisa slurry indeed!
  • Heathen. All true men know that Betty was the real hottie.
  • Absolutely. In fact neither Matt Groenig or Scott Adams have ever claimed to be a pure artist, above such defilement as marketing. Both are perfectly happy with the idea. The Simpsons has been paid to mention numerous products over the years, but there's always been the understanding that Matt gets to write the product in the way _he_ feels like.

    IF this happens, then expect it to be wickedly funny, and possibly merciless.

    Also, as someone else pointed out, there was one tiny little line in the article about the Simpsons, and that was apparently enough for /. to start screaming "SELLOUT!!!!"

  • If DC Sold un-encrypted scanners for say $15.00 and told people they could use them for anything, they might have gotten a user base of them installed and in constant use (like Napster). Then they could have sold Special Barcodes to advertisers that would turn on the tracking stuff and trigger their web link feature (or trigger it manually by pressing a button for your soup can). This way they could sell it to advertisers as having an active installed base of XXXXX users to target. Giving the scanners away put them in the hands of hackers of free stuff, not people who would use a bar code reader on a regular basis.

    The marketing goof was requiring everything scanned to check into DC to be redirected to a webpage of the advertiser. This meant it could not be used (without hacking) for inventory of CD's and other non web applications. If a free mouse could only be used in a browser and noplace else, you would be much less likely to use the mouse for anything. But a free mouse that worked all your applications and tracked you on the web in a free browser & internet access (Juno, Freenet Etc.) then it might get a user base.

    Think, How much does a banner ad cost CD-now to be on the Napster Client? They can charge for the space because of the installed user base.

  • Err, I hope nobody interprets this as me wanting to have sex with Marge Simpson, because she's NOTHING compared to Wilma Flintstone.

    Lister: This is crazy. Why are we talking about going to bed with Wilma Flintstone?
    CAT: You're right. We're nuts. This is an insane conversation.
    LISTER: She'll never leave Fred, and we know it.
  • I saw a cartoon of the cuecat comparing it to a common device used in a doctors office for ...uh... certain ...uh... examinations.
    So maybe Bender would be a more appropriate choice.
  • It is my understanding that season 1 will be avaliable by xmas ... however, it better be cheap because season 1 was really bad ... do the bart man!
  • Mmm.... sacrilicious.

    --
    Bush's assertion: there ought to be limits to freedom
  • "Nobody better lay a finger on my CueCat!"

    --
  • Vegetarian, not vegan. She was only *considering* becoming a vegan. Totally outclassed by that blonde guy she met who was vegan level 5.

  • Look how mighty we are! (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm a huge Simpsons fan. I don't really like DigitalConvergence, though I don't hate them, their business model was seriously flawed. They could stil do something to get themselves out of the slashdot-filter's "hot water" in a fashion that could make most everybody happy. I'd rather not see Simpsons promoting their product.

    However, who do you think you are trying to influence the makers of some fantastic media? What gives you the right to beg, cajole, and threaten them to make a decision not to do something you don't like, with their very own creation? If they don't do what you want they'll face the consequences of thousands of techies worldwide that are mental victims of the slashdot effect. How about after telling who they can and cannot promote, and then start telling them what sort of scripts and shows you want to see as well? Sounds like a great idea; it would be even better than it is now! The scripts could be made right here! Nevermind that the Simpsons is the LONGEST RUNNING TELEVISION SERIES EVER iirc, nor the fact that it's funny on so many levels that it draws a wide audience both in the USA and in foreign countries and has managed to perpetuate the layered comedy and american cultural insight for just as long.

    To make an improbable but conceptually similar analogy, suppose you've put a lot of work into a project for the last 12 years. Your project has touched thousands and thousands of people globally and a huge portion of them are made happy by it. Now suppose that a company that has a herd of slashdot-addled antagonists wants to give you a nice bonus for your hard work. An article makes it on slashdot about this, heavily biased towards making you look like a sellout. If you take the bonus, you may piss off a few thousand people that won't bother thinking for themselves. Sure they're vocal. They may write you nasty emails. Some of them *may* even try to violate your computer system's security or otherwise annoy you by violating your personal rights because they think they have rights to determine if you gain some sort of reward for your efforts.

    This is how our favorites should be rewarded?

    Furthermore, assuming that simpsons does do some cuecat advertising(and it's not mockingly hilarious) and it faces the full on ridicule of the slashdot brain-in-box subculture, the most the numbers would go down is some small fractional amount of one percent of the viewers and lovers of the simpsons worldwide.

  • Re:Is This to be a Pattern? (Score:4)

    by Eric Seppanen ( 79060 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @08:24PM (#399981)
    No, nobody has a right to have a particular business model work, but I don't think that we want to destroy the hardware industry just to appease our own curiousity

    Actually, I rather enjoy the idea that my curiosity can destroy a hardware industry.

    ALL YOUR INDUSTRY ARE BELONG TO... oh, sorry.
    --

  • A new low for Slashdot Reporting (Score:4)

    by alexhmit01 ( 104757 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @06:54PM (#399982)
    There was ONE line about the Simpsons. One line. The Slashdot summary had more text about the Simpsons than the article it was on.

    The article covered their problems with market penetration and getting the advertisements in magazines.

    There was as much on the Simpsons as the MUCH more interesting one-liner about how the magazines don't need to cater to advertisers as much because of the collapse of online advertisement as a competitor.

    This was an absurd article, I'm disappointed in Slashdot for this one.

  • A Simpson endorsing the Cuecat?! (Score:5)

    by Wah ( 30840 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @06:54PM (#399983) Homepage Journal
    Rest assured I was on the internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world.

    --
  • For the way the treated me at least.

    I even went as far to tie the cord up in a hangmen noose and mailed it back to the bastards.



  • For a while, lots of people were getting cease and decist letters from the CueCat people. Then they stopped. Hmmm, maybe they ran out of money to pay the lawyers! Does anyone know what happened?

    I never got the letter, and I wrote these Java drivers for CueCat (Take them if you want. They're GPL'd):


    http://www.popbeads.org/Software/CCScan [popbeads.org]

  • I'm with the AC above. The fact that this isn't a +5 funny shows that all moderators should have to undergo 3 months of Simpsons quote training.

    She'll want socks too, I-I'll get socks.

  • Re:Is This to be a Pattern? (Score:3)

    by ninjaz ( 1202 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @08:52PM (#399987)
    Apparently you missed the first half of the show. ;) The CueCat scanners were reverse engineered which means they can be used for personal barcode scanning uses (not involving Digital Convergence). The business model was: give "free" barcode scanning hardware to radio shack customers and magazine buyers, and make the money back from advertisers with the on-line service. With the hardware reverse-engineered, this turned what they were doing into: Give out lots of free hardware to use as you will.

    Anyway, Digital Convergence tried suing people who ran websites hosting drivers and software for the CueCat claiming IP violations, which led to a great deal of ill will toward them. On top of it all, their site was cracked, and customer information was leaked.

    About.Com covers both here: http://it.about.com/compute/it/library/weekly/aa09 2300a.htm [about.com]

  • Re:A new low for Slashdot Reporting (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Well then why don't you stop reading slashdot and the rest of us won't have to read your dreary, whining posts?

  • The same thing seems to have happened to the Sega Dreamcast. Believe me, I'm not losing any sleep over it.

    The fact is that DC made the elementary error of giving out a device designed for sheep (i.e. braindead Joe Consumer) through a venue frequented by coyotes (i.e. your average opportunistic RadioShack-frequenting hacker). What you're saying is to shut up, stop being curious, and let idiots have their way.

    There is no point in respecting these guys; if your business model sucks you deserve to have it torn apart.

    /Brian
  • "FYI", Groenig is also the person who gave us "Life in Hell".

    Not to say he's The Funniest Person In The Universe, but I think you are selling him short.
  • Fox is currently taking a poll [epoll.com] on what you'd like to see for the Simpsons Video releases. Make sure you vote (I'm probably too late for this already, though)
  • I'm gonna be the disenting oponion here -- that show while vaguely pro N'sync was an indictment of the music industry. I'm afraid you've missed the point of that episode entirely.

    I say vaguely pro N'sync because it *was* advertising but there were a few rips on them as well.

  • Re:Um, it's too late for the Simpsons... (Score:3)

    by nathanh ( 1214 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @07:06PM (#399993) Homepage
    So if it is so terrible, why were you even watching it this weekend?

    Because Simpsons is like sex: even when it's bad, it's good.

    Err, I hope nobody interprets this as me wanting to have sex with Marge Simpson, because she's NOTHING compared to Wilma Flintstone.

  • Wasn't that Tracey Ullman's show that they were on? Did Mary Tyler Moore do a variety show?
  • Oops. You are totally right, my bad. I don't know why I always switch those two....

    -Moondog
  • "...so statistically speaking large show size does equal greater tendency..."

    Was that your Ed Sullivan impression?

  • According to the article they're trying to get the rights to use Lisa and Apu in their ads, not get the product placed into a Simpsons episode. How is this particularly different from the Butterfinger spots or the Intel ad?

    Speaking of Cue Cats and Fox shows though, can you use the Cue Cat on the bar code on the back of Jessica Alba's neck? That particluar tie-in might make the CC more popular.

  • That makes sense ... DigitalConvergence is a Dallas-based company, right?

    In any case, I heard from someone who lives in Dallas that the Morning News has taken to shortening the part of the articles that actually appears in print and just sticking a "scan here for more info" tag at the end. Continued on our website -- where we don't have to pay printing costs!

    The Dallas Morning News was a lot better before the Dallas Times Herald closed down. (I was living in Dallas when that happened.) Bad as it was, at least the Times Herald gave them some competition. Ain't nothing like a one-newspaper town! (Except maybe a two-newspaper town that's really just a one newspaper town in disguise, like San Francisco.)

  • Um, it's too late for the Simpsons... (Score:3)

    by Masem ( 1171 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @05:25PM (#400003)
    They sold out long ago. The last episode with N-Sync proves how much the show has suck from the hey-day of the first 5 or 6 seasons. (We're on season 12, FYI). Groenig hardly plays a major role on the show, and spends much more of his time on Futurama (and it shows).

    Quoteth CBG on the latest episode: "Worst Episode,....EVER!"

  • Lisa Simpson???? (Score:3)

    by grappler ( 14976 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @05:25PM (#400005) Homepage
    Lisa Simpson, the precocious ethical-to-a-fault vegan? This is the girl who is supposed to sponsor a device marred in IP rights battles?
  • The Simpsons has sucked since at least 1995. I wouldn't buy a thing advertised on it. Maybe this would be good afterall for those Cut-Cat haters in the audience.

    - A.P. (i mean, Christ, did you SEE last weekend's episode?!)

    --
    * CmdrTaco is an idiot.

  • Re:Um, it's too late for the Simpsons... (Score:5)

    by grappler ( 14976 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @05:31PM (#400012) Homepage
    FYI, Groenig is the guy who gave us the first couple seasons of "don't have a cow, man" and heads that throb when choked.

    The genius behind the simpsons is George Meyer [snpp.com], a writer who was considered so good they kept him in the editing room practically full time so that he very rarely got actual writing credit for a show. Most of the good, unexpected gags are his.

    Meyer and some of the other good comedy writers that made it good are no longer there.
  • It's not the longest running series ever. It is, however, the longest running sitcom currently on in prime time.

    Remember, some soaps have been going for 30-40 years. "The Tonight Show" is at least 40, etc...
  • Because, unfortunately, there's a 1/2hr block of dead television time between the first hour of FOX TV (Futurama and King of the Hill), and the following 1.5 hrs (Malcolm in the Middle and X-Files). There's nothing much on the other networks that's neither good, nor only a 1/2hr long show.

    And, just like Survivor or many of the other TV shows on now, it's a train wreck - it's horrible, disjusting, and yet you can't look away from it. And everyone once in a rare while there's a scene that is brillence from the original seasons that makes me laugh, but much fewer and far between now.

  • Apple Newton (Score:3)

    by Shanep ( 68243 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @07:51PM (#400023) Homepage
    I can't see the page to the Newton dissing, but...

    I own an Apple Newton MP120 and I saw the first Newton in action. The simple fact is, that Apple showed this to the World and brought it to market before it was ready, and then, it was too expensive.

    However, my MP120 is FAR easier to use than any other stylus input PDA I've ever used, and with the handwriting recognition set to printing (with cursive off), and with a little initial setting up to my style and then a little effort to actually write properly versus my usual chicken scrawl, it gives me 95% acuracy plus.

    And, I can write anywhere! Not just some silly little box and char at a time with alien characters.

    From my point of view, the Palm is a phenomenon, perhaps the public never got beyond the first bad press of the Newton. I only wish the 120 had a backlight.

  • Re:A Sellout of Dilbertian proportions?!?!? (Score:3)

    by Jonathan ( 5011 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @07:52PM (#400025) Homepage
    I agree that Adams hasn't completely sold out -- but the beauty of it is if he does, it is totally appropriate as something his alter-ego Dogbert would do. I still love Adams (writing as Dogbert) answering a complaint about banner ads on the Dilbert site (then unofficial, I believe): "Yes, banner ads are evil. Because every click on them costs the advertiser money, I recommend showing your disapproval by repeatedly reloading the page and clicking on the ads"
  • It's perfectly fine if they want to parody the music industry. They've done it before (and much better, IMO) with the one where Homer manages a country western star, or with Homer in his barbershop quartet. What separates this last episode from those examples is how much the family itself was significantly involved with the plot -- remember, this is called 'THE SIMPSONS' and not 'THE SPRINGFIELDITES' -- in this last episode, Bart, Lisa, and Homer were only asides to *NSync's appearence and the L.T.Jammer persona; in the episodes I quoted, Homer amoung the other family members are a strong quotient in the overall plot.

    That's one of the bigger problems of the latter seasons: guest stars or incidental characters. Good uses of guest stars included Leonard Nimoy in the Monorail episode, or Linda Ronstadt as a jingle singer in the Mr. Plow episode -- significant characters, but certainly not drawing the plot away from the Simpsons. On the otherhand, more recent examples of the Ron Howard episode (Homer crashing into his house), this *NSync episode, the Mel Gibson episode -- the use of the guest characters drove the episode forward and away from the family. Then we have the case of focusing way too much on incidental characters, like the numerous Apu episodes, the introduction of the hapless Gill character (the salesman that can't keep a job), or the Grimes character in 'Homer's Enemy' (the hard working employee that hated Homer for getting off easy, then died at the end...). The family has become nearly secondary characters, or if they are in the forefront, they are completely written stupidly for comedic effect.

    I'll just point out that the main point for most long-time fans of the show when they knew the tone had changed was the Itchy Scratchy and Poochie episode, where there were comments made by the animation people to the fans that basically said "we make this entertainment, you'll just have to take it as is." Those sentiments mirrors recent comments of the new production crew (some whom had not seen a single episode of the Simpsons until they started working for it) to internet fan bases that were commenting on the lack of direction of the latest episodes. The way that the production crew vented such comments turned off a lot of long-time fans, and since that point, the show's gone downhill.

  • Re:Um, it's too late for the Simpsons... (Score:3)

    by dimator ( 71399 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @11:24PM (#400032) Homepage Journal
    I may be absolutely insane, but I can swear to remembering an episode where we saw Marge's ass. She was naked in the bed, as I recall, and her back and ass were showing. I only saw that episode once, though...

    Do I need to call a shrink, or did this happen?


    --
  • Is this going to be a model, though, for future hardware releases? Will well-meaning hackers destroy business model after business model until nobody bothers to innovate in hardware manufacture?

    The CueCat's business model is so fragile that it had no hope. You can't blame "hackers", because no matter how many people refrained from poking holes in it, there would always be more people who could do so with little or no effort.

    The only party to blame here is Digital Convergence. They failed to think things through, and they made foolish assumptions (One, that 50 cents worth of "encryption" would keep them in business; Two, that anyone would want to scan ads from a magazine, only to get more ads).

    What's happening here is the market discouraging idiocy. This is actually a good thing, since it reduces the amount of idiocy in the world, leaving more money and resources for cleverer things. Celebrate it.

  • Man, I learn more and more every day...

  • Is This to be a Pattern? (Score:3)

    by qpt ( 319020 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @05:41PM (#400039)
    I admit, the CueCat was a piece of crap, but it didn't fail because it was a piece of crap.

    No, the CueCat failed because well-meaning and curious individuals tore it, and with it DC's business model, to pieces. I am not saying that the hackers were in the wrong, but aside from any statement of blame, the CueCat is dead.

    True, the CueCat doesn't matter. It was fairly stupid anyway. Is this going to be a model, though, for future hardware releases? Will well-meaning hackers destroy business model after business model until nobody bothers to innovate in hardware manufacture?

    No, nobody has a right to have a particular business model work, but I don't think that we want to destroy the hardware industry just to appease our own curiousity. Sometimes, self control is needed beyond what is required by the law. Do the right thing, not because the law forces you, but for yourself.

    - qpt
  • "
    Err, I hope nobody interprets this as me wanting to have sex with Marge Simpson, because she's NOTHING compared to Wilma Flintstone.
    "

    I'd sleep with Betty Rubble - but I'd be thinking of Wilma.

  • DC had this interesting idea.
    Hey! Perhaps one can connect the barcodes with ads and make a buck?
    But regular people can't scan barcodes, they lack the hardware!
    Oh bummer, lets give away barcode scanners for free! Then people can scan away at the barcodes and we can sell all the ads we want.

    Now, the problem was that noone was very interested in scanning barcodes and get to the ads. We get ads enough as is without scanning any badcodes for it.
    On top of that someone cracked their coding.
    That *would* threat their source of income *if* someone else started to sell barcode-ads. Guess what? Nobody did. There was not enough market for barcode ads to support DC.
    A CueCat scanner used to play aroun with is no more threat to DC than a CC not used at all.

  • Upcoming Episode (Score:5)

    by augustz ( 18082 ) on Monday February 26, 2001 @05:43PM (#400053)
    blackboard: "What they don't know can't hurt them is not an excuse"

    Open: Pan to Principle Skinner with Marge at school, parent/teacher conference is under way.

    Skinner: I'm afraid we're going to have to ask Bart to take a semester off school. You see, we've caught him doing so many bad things already, and statistics tell us that means he's doing 10 times as many bad things that we don't catch.

    Marge: But that doesn't seem fair, to kick a kid out of school because statistics show he's more likely to do bad things. He may not have done them.

    Skinner: Marge, I'm afraid we've got these statistics down to a fine art. Did you know that people with larger shoe sizes tend to do better at math and complex calculous. Statistics can tell you the most amazing things.

    Marge: That IS amazing. I just can't bear the that Bart would have to leave school. Tell me, if we could know EVERYTHING that Bart did, then might he stay in school?

    Skinner: Sure, that'd be fine, but we have no way of doing that.

    Scene Two: Mr. Burns and Homer, nuclear factory.

    Homer: Awww Mr Burns, can't you see? Bart won't be able to stay in school unless you threaten to blow up the entire town?

    Mr. Burns. Now Homer, that not necessary at all. You see, I know EXACTLY what that little bart simpson is doing at all times.

    Homer: You dooo? Hows that?

    Mr. Burns: You know that little white cat he's always running around an scanning things with?

    Homer: I do!!!

    Mr. Burns: We'll look here, we can watch what he's scanning right here.

    Computer Screen:
    Dynamite
    Dynamite
    TNT
    C4
    More Dynamite
    15 Year of FBI secrets left in a park.

    Homer: That's amazing, thank you so much Mr. Burns. Bart'll be so happy to be back in school.

    Computer:
    Violent Comics
    Nuclear Reactor Meltdown Code

    Meltdown initiated...

    Babies are not good at solving complex calculus problems, so statistically speaking large show size does equal greater tendency to be able to solve math problems.

  • According to the Mercury News, "CueCat scanner is not catching on with consumers as quickly as predicted". Not as quickly? Their scans are down by a factor of 5, their registered users use it less than once a months on average, for crying out loud!!!
    I don't even know why this ends up on /., except for showing the death throngs of the most pathetic business plan that even came out of the .com bubble. I somehow have the feeling that cue(less)cat will stand tall as business school material for decades to come.
    "we give away millions of dollars in free, easily hackable hardware that requires you to schlepp your magazine to your TV or computer so we can send you spam" is not a business plan,it's sheer lunacy. On top of that, they made utter fools out of themselves with their cease and desist compaign.
    I just hope everyone who invested in this looses their shirt. The person to endorse this product is not Lisa, it's Homer: "DUH"
  • like they do at the store during the opening credits-
    suddenly their hard drive collapses under the weight of spam.

    advertising = convenience [ridiculopathy.com]

  • Agreed. The Simpson's pretty much sold out as much as they could with "Songs in the Key of Springfield".

    The N'Sync ep Sunday was I thought one of the better one's the past couple seasons, which is a little like saying Win98se is one of the better Microsoft OS's I guess. Simpson's is defninitely past it's prime, but it's still better than 90% of the crap the networks throw up.

    OT: When they hell are we gonna get Simpsons DVD's? Man, what I wouldn't give for Season's 1-5, each on 6 disk sets like the XFiles are currently doing.

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