Jorge Lopez writes that as a cat lover he's always wanted an automatic cat litter box and finally found one called the CatGenie, a fully automated self-washing litter box connected to water, electricity and the sewer that cleans itself with water and soap. "It’s the Rolls Royce of cat litter boxes, a hefty device that scoops, cleans, and disposes of the waste all on it’s own. It’s completely automated, even senses when a cat poops and cleans up afterwards." But there's trouble in paradise. "Life with the CatGenie was great, but not quite perfect," writes Lopez after discovering that CatGenie uses a smart cartridge that is only available from the manufacturer. "I found that the “Smart” in SmartCartridge is that it has an RFID chip inside of it to keep track of how much solution it has, and once it runs out, well, you can't refill. I honestly did not believe this and tore one of the cartridges apart, and there it was, looking back at me, a tiny chip holding up it’s little metal finger." Fortunately there are some amazing people helping the CatGenie community who have released products like the custom firmware CatGenious and CartridgeGenius which allows you to use whatever solution you want. "The cost savings is great, but isn't the biggest driver for me, it’s mainly the principle that I don't own the device I paid for, and I'm really tired of having cat litter everything in my home."
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @06:37PM
cradling a cat while standing on the podium lecturing about the free software
(Score: 3, Funny) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Thursday December 25 2014, @08:29PM
I started to read this story, just as I was biting into my 3rd piece of Christmas Almond Roca... Thanks for the image, SoylentNews!
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @10:19PM
It is widely known that Stallman eats cats.
(Score: 5, Funny) by zocalo on Thursday December 25 2014, @10:32PM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @07:07PM
Cat people are used to abusive relationships. This product is a good fit.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Covalent on Thursday December 25 2014, @07:16PM
As usual, a company tries to lock you in to a proprietary mess, and the nerd community comes to the rescue with a work around.
Will they never learn?
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @07:23PM
That works great until the lawsuits start.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @11:36PM
...as the recent developments with The Pirate Bay demonstrate.
The future is distributed. Embrace that meme.
Those trying to fight it will look foolish and be forever branded as such.
-- gewg_
(Score: -1) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @07:20PM
Everywhere
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @07:26PM
The true laziness is accepting the DRM, and not doing a damned thing about it.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Snotnose on Friday December 26 2014, @03:13AM
How many people realize the DRM is there before the warranty exipires? Which lasts longer, the warranty or the DRM'd component?
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by tibman on Thursday December 25 2014, @09:08PM
Just remember that thought the next time you reach for the tv remote : )
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by danomac on Friday December 26 2014, @05:03PM
(Score: 4, Interesting) by zocalo on Thursday December 25 2014, @10:41PM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 25 2014, @11:49PM
Chipped printer ink cartridges might be a better analogy.
The things would record (poorly) what flowed out.
One trick, apparently, was to continually swap out partially-used cartridges.
Perhaps someone will discover a similar "hack" for the DRM'd litter box.
(I never bought into the inkjet scam, so any insight I have there is second-hand.)
-- gewg_
(Score: 4, Funny) by novak on Friday December 26 2014, @01:28AM
I've said it once, and I'll say it again: Douglas Adams, STOP WRITING THE NEWS! It's like everything that happens in technology could be considered a bad joke if said in the right tone of voice.
novak
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kaszz on Friday December 26 2014, @01:50AM
Anyone has a description of how the CatGenie works internally?
Regarding to workaround the inkjet-alike scam. Why not simple replace the firmware? then it won't check for any RFID junk.
Btw, cat-b - The Cathedral and the Bazaar [wikipedia.org] ;-)
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 26 2014, @01:24PM
Problem solved.