CueCat
2001-2002
Marketed as a revolutionary technology, the CueCat was a cat-shaped handheld scanner that plugs into your computer. It scanned special barcodes in magazine ads, taking users to the advertiser’s website. Millions of these plastic cats were produced and shipped to subscribers of Forbes, Wired, and other popular magazines.
The CueCat was marketed as an easier alternative to the “very difficult work” of typing in long web addresses. But typing in a link is easy, there was no need for a cumbersome gadget. Gizmodo listed it as the “1 worst invention of the decade” and investors lost $185 million.
Additional info:
Businessinsider - "In order to scan in codes from magazines and newspapers, you have to be reading them in front of your PC. That’s unnatural and ridiculous”
Cnet.com - article from 2002, "Consumers fail to make CueCat purr"
The CueCat makes it so easy to get ads from TV and magazines on your computer: