Petnet, the smart pet feeder backed by investors including Petco, recently experienced a week-long system outage affecting its second-generation SmartFeeders. While the startup's customer service tweeted over the weekend that its SmartFeeders and app's functionality have been restored, Petnet's lack of responsiveness continues to leave many customers frustrated and confused.
Petnet first announced on Feb. 14 that it was investigating a system outage affecting its second-generation SmartFeeders that made the feeders appear to be offline. The company said in a tweet that the SmartFeeders were still able to dispense on schedule, but several customers replied that their devices had also stopped dispensing food or weren't dispensing it on schedule.
But all is not lost. A system update announcement reports:
System Update: SmartFeeders are returning online. There will be a system reset to help stabilize your SmartFeeder's app functionality. We will promptly update you once this has been completed. Scheduled automatic feeds should still dispense on time.
Those darn customers, so impatient, unwilling to wait for their next fix to download. Please check back in one quarter of a galactic rotation. Thank you.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 28 2020, @09:01PM (5 children)
Or design the feeder with a backup battery. How much can it take to run a small motor for several seconds, a few times a day?
I've got a motorized kitchen trash can lid that takes 2 AA batteries which haven't been replaced in years. You can imagine that a kitchen trash can has items put into it multiple times per day.
I would estimate the effort to dish out a serving of pet food to be comparable to opening, then shortly later, closing, a trash can lid. Remember the leverage issue here. The can lid is open-closed from the hinge, so it has to work against the weight of the lid.
Oh, and this trash can lid thing IS NOT connected to the clod. I don't need to remotely open/close my kitchen trash can lid.
The entire thing is a large enclosure which contains an ordinary kitchen trash can with plastic liner, within the larger outer enclosure. When the lid is closed, it also has something in it (not battery operated) which slightly deodorizes. Don't ask me, I didn't buy it, but I enjoy having it.
Santa maintains a database and does double verification of it.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Saturday February 29 2020, @02:04AM (4 children)
After all, if you bought one of these feeders it's debatable that your mind isn't gone already.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Saturday February 29 2020, @10:58AM
My cat is OK if I put the weekly amount of dry food and a pot of water and leave for a week. When I am home, no automation is needed - the cat meows at exact times to remind me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 01 2020, @05:41PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday March 01 2020, @06:13PM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 02 2020, @03:19PM
I would agree that people should take care of pets. If you have to travel for a short time, have someone who will house sit, or at least take care of pets a few times each day. If longer absence, then find a good kennel that will board them.
That said, some people are going to use automation and leave their pets on their own connected to the cloud. In that case, at least a battery backup and non-cloud device, please.
Santa maintains a database and does double verification of it.