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Cats, Dogs Go Hungry as Internet-Connected PetNet Plays Dead

posted by n1 on Saturday July 30 2016, @08:55PM   
from the in-the-dog-house dept.

"exec" writes:

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

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Original Submission

• What if you have more than one dog What if you have more than one dog (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @12:12AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @12:12AM (#382411)

  I know a couple that have more than one dog and they always need to go home to feed their dogs. Is there an automatic dog feeder that can somehow ensure that each dog only eats what they're supposed to eat and that they don't try to fight over each others' food?

  I was thinking of two possible solutions. One - a wrist band with a proximity key. If a dog is in his small container by himself he can wave the wrist band at a reader and, if it's time for him to eat, a door will then close protecting him from the other dogs and the food door will open and he can eat. This will protect him from being attacked by other dogs while eating and having his food stolen or having to fight for his food. Then he can wave his wrist band when he's done to get the outside door open and he can run out. This would require some intelligence on the part of the dog and assumes the other dogs won't try to find a clever way to subvert the process.

  Another solution - cameras. You train the dogs to only eat their own food and the camera records them during meal time. If one dog cheats you catch them on camera and you punish that dog by ... not feeding it the next meal? This assumes the dogs are clever enough and willing to be trained.

  Or perhaps the dogs can just be trained to be well behaved and only eat their own food out of their mere love for each other ....

  Also how would a device like this work during a power outage? Would it still be able to administer food and function normally?

• Re:What if you have more than one dog Re:What if you have more than one dog (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @04:49AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @04:49AM (#382478)

  We use cages.

  Parent

  • Re:What if you have more than one dog (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 02 2016, @02:29AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 02 2016, @02:29AM (#382953)

    but that requires you to keep the dogs in their cages during the entire time you are out.

    Parent