“CueJack is a software application that lets you scan a product with a :CueCat scanner, then displays a web page with “alternative information” about the product’s company. It’s a software parody, or “parodyware.”
What does CueJack actually do?
Here’s what it does: You scan a product with :CueCat. CueJack reads your scan, and checks Digital Convergence’s database to see what URL you would have been sent to had you been using the normal :CueCat software. From this URL, it determines the domain name, usually somecompany.com. Then it does a Lycos web search for somecompany and a randomly chosen topic of potential interest – currently terms like “boycott,” “corporate abuse,” “profits,” etc. It looks at the top 5 search results, and, starting from #1, starts checking them for relevance. “Relevance” in this case is loosely defined as “the first five letters of the domain name are actually mentioned somewhere in the upper part of the page.” As soon as CueJack finds a page that’s relevant, it displays the page. While you’re waiting for CueJack to select an appropriate page, it also displays the page that Digital Convergence’s database would have sent you to had you used the software packaged with :CueCat. This allows you, the consumer, to contrast the page you “should” have seen with the page that CueJack selects.”
