Keep your dogs close but your kitties closer, is I think the expression. Maybe. Whatever it is, pets are important to people. And keeping a close watch on them even when you’re not located in the same place has become increasingly possible thanks to the broad proliferation of tech like Wi-Fi connected cameras. Petcube Bites[1] is one of those cameras, but it’s also a treat dispenser, which lets you fire nibblets for your pet back at home from wherever you happen to be, provided you have an active internet connection.
Fair warning: This is a much larger unit than your average Nest or Logitech smart home camera. It’s roughly the size of a big encyclopedia, or a couple of Mac minis standing on their thin edge and stacked. The size is functional, however, since it houses a decent-sized reservoir for your stock of treats, as well as an HD camera, a Wi-Fi radio, and a mechanism for actually firing off those treats, with a user-selectable range of up to around 6 feet.
Petcube Bites ships with a selection of all-natural treats included, so you can get started using it right away. My dog isn’t exactly discerning when it comes to what she eats (she ate half a pizza box the other day), but I can say that she happily scarfed these down.
Setup of the Pectcube Bites is easy if you’ve ever installed any kind of Wi-Fi camera or connected home device before – and it should pose no problem even if you haven’t. It basically involves getting the unit connected to your Wi-Fi network using an app you download for your iOS or Android smartphone.
Once connected, the Bites will show up in the app, and you...