An Automated Cat Litter Box With DRM

HughPickens.com writes: Jorge Lopez had 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."

Comments

sigh

[SuperBanana]

"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."

So exercise your rights as a consumer to research beforehand and not buy it. Or return it. Or modify it, as you have. Or, for god sakes, ask your vet or friends with cats or reddit for advice on having cat litter everywhere (I believe the most common solution is a covered box with fairly high side.) You can also teach your cat to pee/crap in the toilet, believe it or not. There are little "litter box" inserts that reportedly make it pretty easy; the cat goes "oh, another litter box" and uses it for a week or two, and then you remove the insert, and if the cat notices, they go *shrug* and still use it. No more litter, no more stink.

But for god sakes....I was around on Slashdot when the fist inkjet printer companies started chipping their cartridges. I also learned about Gillette in...either middle school or high school. That was a century ago, if not more. The "handle is free, the blades are disposable and we have a very healthy profit margin on them" model is quite, quite old. Why are people surprised? Especially if you read Slashdot, why didn't you do research on it?

Your robotic, do-everything catbox would've cost substantially more if the company were not figuring on a continuing revenue stream. In fact, it might have cost so much that nobody would've bought it.

Re:sigh

[Darinbob]

You need to know before hand what the hidden features are though. Trouble is that you can't easily find it out. If you check customer reviews you will almost always find glowing positive reviews for things just dripping with DRM. Though to be fair, when I see a glowing review I almost always think that there must be something suspicious, because no one can get that excited about a mere consumer product. Plus these reviews usually get written long before the problems are discovered, which means you have to wait a year maybe before some more honest and objective reviews show up.

People LOVE the Blu-Ray despite the horrendous DRM it has. People still buy Origin games. People somehow are quivering with delight at Keurig despite the alternatives that don't have DRM.

The problem here is not the high margin on replacement parts, but on the DRM itself. I can make an adapter for a Gillette razor if I wanted to without breaking any DMCA laws. Inkjet cartridges did not originally have DRM but instead just some ominous "for best results please only official parts" warnings. And of course people figure out the do-it-yourself solutions pretty quickly, until the manufacturers figure out how to change software to prevent the DIY.

As well, with the razors, the blade is the real product and the handle is merely a free accessory. The ink cartridges require a really specialized formula (easy to replicate from a third party of course). But for a cat box cartridge it's just a plastic container full of soap and water, there's nothing special going on there except the dimensions and interfaces of the container.

For the profits, this may work out well at first. But after awhile people will stop buying them. Negative word of mouth gets around. Maybe they make less money overall than if they just raised the base price at the start. After all, there are a lot of people out there who are perfectly willing to buy the "official" replacement cartridges.

Re:Barely scratches the surface

[OhPlz]

It may seem petty now, but if every device we use in our daily lives started doing this, it wouldn't so good. Keurig is a good example. You can still make coffee with a simple french press. Trouble is, the k-cups have taken over the coffee selection in a lot of groceries. Expand that into devices of all types and shopping for consumables becomes a total PITA.

Re:Barely scratches the surface

[hawguy]

It may seem petty now, but if every device we use in our daily lives started doing this, it wouldn't so good. Keurig is a good example. You can still make coffee with a simple french press. Trouble is, the k-cups have taken over the coffee selection in a lot of groceries. Expand that into devices of all types and shopping for consumables becomes a total PITA.

That's ok, the grocery store is the worst place to buy coffee anyway, buy it at a local coffee shop that roasts their own so you know it hasn't been sitting on a shelf (or worse, non air climate controlled warehouse) for weeks or months before you buy it.

Re:Your cat thinks you're a moron

[Anonymous Coward]

My a moron?

Re:Rolls Royce of cat litter boxes

[infolation]

Well the article includes a car analogy...

"CatGenie can't run without SaniSolution, like a car can't run without petrol." is often heard. But that's a flawed analogy and an insult to most people's intellect because it's the laws of physics that prevent a car from running without petrol, but it's a flaky business model that prevents CatGenie from running without SaniSolution.

But a better car analogy would be: "CatGenie can't run without SaniSolution, like a car can't run without Esso."

So if you want to use BP, Shell, or Total in your car - no can do.

I've seen similar.

[SuricouRaven]

I own a product called a Flash Powermop. Here in the UK, Flash is a manufacturer of cleaning products. It's just a mop with replacable heads and a squirter in the handle that can deposit cleaning fluid when a button is pressed.

It doesn't have DRM - it has old-fashioned mechanical limitations. The cleaning fluid comes in an official Flash powermop cartridge. Much old an ancient inkjet printer, the cartridge has only one port, and it's mechanically designed to only dock with the corresponding port on the mop. They really made it solid too, so you can't force it open to refill an empty cartridge. It's basically a rubbery window - the mop has two hollow needles that pierce it. One to let air in, one to get fluid out.

So I cut a hole in the top of the bottle and silicone-sealed the screwtop from a soft drink bottle over it. Now I have a refill board, and an everlasting cartridge. I enough people do this, I'll expect the Powermop 2 to come with a chip in the bottle that records how much has been dispensed.

Ewww...train your cats...

[bradley13]

On a related note, he notes that the cat litter sticks to his cats paws, and he really dislikes finding cat litter particles on his kitchen counters, tables, chopping boards, etc.

Ewww... Why don't people train their cats properly. It's not hard. My cats do not enter the kitchen, and all tables are also off limits. Teach them the rules when they are kittens. Afterwards, maybe once every year or two, you'll need to remind them that the rules haven't changed.

How to train? You just let them understand that there is a really odd law of nature: going in the kitchen or hopping on a table causes them to get wet. Squirt gun, pans of water set back from the table edge, whatever. Don't yell or anything - you don't want them to associate the water with you, but with the location they tried to go. Easy, and well worth it...