Humans have been forced to temporarily interact with their dogs or cats -- perhaps both -- after PetNet's internet-controlled smart feeder system suffered a blackout.
For $149, the company provides a web-enabled dog/cat feeder that is pre-programmed to dispense food stuffs at certain time and portion sizes.
But PetNet warned customers [...] that all was not well in its virtual animal kingdom as it was "experiencing some minor difficulties with a third party server. This is being investigated."
[...] "You may experience a loss of scheduled feeds and failed remote feedings. Please ensure that your pets have been fed manually until we have resolved this issue."
Source: The Register .
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Saturday July 30 2016, @09:44PM
Does this mean the little old lady who eats cat food is going to starve to death ? If you can't handle the simple duty of feeding and watering your pet, you don't deserve to have one.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2016, @09:56PM
"watering your pet"
That's silly, you don't water your pet. You water your pot.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Sunday July 31 2016, @02:10AM
Water your pot? People around here usually just smoke it. People have weird habits where you're from.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2016, @05:36AM
You need to water it and install a light or it'll die, silly.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday July 30 2016, @10:04PM
It allows people to go away for the weekend and leave their pet at home. The only thing worse than traveling with a pet is finding someone to feed it when you are gone.
This is why once the kids are out of the house we no longer have pets.
Its not like you would forget a hungry dog or cat if you were in the same house with it.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2016, @10:59PM
The problem is that it uses proprietary software and relies on companies to continue working, which makes it worthless.
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Sunday July 31 2016, @01:17AM
Dog Walker and House sitter for hire in the Yuma AZ area here. I have 4 going now but room for quite a few more. I also house watch, water the plants, make sure the pool guy and/or gardeners have been doing their jobs. I can be reached at Treboreel@live.com for initial contact. I am currently house sitting and working part time as a PC hack for a local shop, but in the Summertime Yuma is very thin on people as the Winter crowd is somewhere that isn't 110 F on a daily basis.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday July 31 2016, @02:46AM
El Centro native here. High-five, Yuma scum!
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Sunday July 31 2016, @03:34AM
I should have known. Being from El Centro is one of the only things that could drive such a net rage :) It is indeed a small world.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 3, Touché) by frojack on Monday August 01 2016, @06:58PM
How do I mod you Both Interesting and Spam at the same time?
Kudos for braving the heat.
I spend a lot of time walking for exercise and boredom prevention. Someone said I should take up dog walking for small money. Problems: Not particularly fond of dogs. Most are too chubby to keep up. And then I'd have to pick up after them, and carry bags of shit around.
Nope. Not going to turn recreation into a job.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Saturday July 30 2016, @10:55PM
More to the point, does this mean that various little old ladies are going to get eaten by their underfed cockerpoos? Seriously, what the chuck is wrong with the world when you have to connect to the fecking internet to run a goddamned from job?
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Saturday July 30 2016, @10:59PM
And even worse, I can't write words like fucking or cron without this stupid fucking phone 'correcting' them?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2016, @11:39PM
Phones are for phoning. Get a typewriter. [observer.com]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2016, @11:18PM
In the good old days the 1%'ers hired a dog walker who also had a key to your house to get the dog out while you were at work. For a little extra they would also be a dog sitter and feed the dog (food and human contact) while you were away. Somewhere (maybe after Y2K?) many of the dog walkers hooked up with a franchise for better marketing, website for booking, and etc.
Now this internet pet feeder has put all the dog sitters out of work--just another category of low income job that has been automated out of existence...