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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."
DRM-laden toilets?
v1.0: Uses proprietary toilet paper and won't allow you to flush any TP that doesn't have the manufacturer-specific RFID tag in it.
v2.0: You may only eat and drink foods specified by the manufacturer, which also contain microscopid RFID tags, which are biologically inert and pass harmlessly through your digestive tract and into your feces and urine. Detection of any other waste substances will result in Failure to Flush.
v3.0: All RoboToiliet users must have an RFID tag implanted in their ass; others may not use the toilet. RoboToilet must be connected to AC mains power and a broadband internet connection 24/7/365, or Failure to Flush will not occur because end-user authentication will not be possible. Naturally there is an annual subscription fee, with complimentary membership in the RoboToilet Owners Club.
I'll leave it up to you to decide what the 'owners club' is all about.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
And to think week ago I thought that both Keurig DRM defenders vs hackers were making petty efforts over petty territories.
I'm really tired of having cat litter everything in my home.
There's an obvious solution this... Assuming you don't want a cat or a home...
No? Can we assume this is the only product on the market (and before it was invented, cats littered homes with reckless abandon)...
If in the end, this is your only solution, then make your piece with the DRM, or with bypassing it. Don't forget, you always have a choice..
"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.
Please help metamoderate.
yeah, the summary has the typo, not the project.
...But I am tired of this shit!
The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
Would you take a real Rolls Royce to an unauthorized dealer for repairs?
Seems a bit silly to me to go this expense and suddenly get stingy on the cartridges.
The thing only costs $200, Their cartridges cost $25 for a 120 use cartridge. At 2 uses/day that's 6 cartridges/year -- so you're paying 75% of the cost of the unit in a year just for the cartridges.
I think if Rolls Royce dealers charged $150K each year for required maintenance on a $200K Rolls Royce, there'd be few people getting service at the dealer.
There are other options in this market, not all of which require proprietary consumables. We've been using the LitterRobot which, while more expensive (~$300), requires no further financial commitment to the manufacturer. You just need to buy normal cat litter and periodically replace a normal garbage bag in the base.
...But turned away because not only was the machine expensive, but the hack was another $100. I highly recommend the Litter Robot (~$370). I've had one for a few years, and it works off of standard kitchen trash bags. I have two cats and I tend to it once every 7-10 days- I refill the litter and swap out the bags, and maybe do a thorough cleaning twice a year. No BS consumables.
Another model, Litter Maid (~$120), uses custom plastic trays. It's cheaper, but it doesn't work as well as the Litter Robot. After a few months you'll find yourself tending to it every other day. The cost of the plastic trays added up over the course of a year, but it's a non-DRM receptacle, so you can hack a cheaper 'solution' at home with a small amount of craftiness. If you do go with Litter Maid, go for the cheaper one- it actually works better than the 'Elite' model.
But really, go for the Litter Robot. I've had mine for two or three years and I love it.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
Fat Freddie! Is that you?
https://www.list.co.uk/article/22066-gilbert-shelton-the-fat-freddys-cat-omnibus/
"Lost time is not found again."
The thing only costs $200, Their cartridges cost $25 for a 120 use cartridge. At 2 uses/day that's 6 cartridges/year -- so you're paying 75% of the cost of the unit in a year just for the cartridges.
I think if Rolls Royce dealers charged $150K each year for required maintenance on a $200K Rolls Royce, there'd be few people getting service at the dealer.
I assume you gave up your ink-jet printer for a color lasar?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
How hard is it for people to learn this ultra-simple rule. Sorry to be the grammar nazi, but every time I see this it drives my parser up the wall.
all on it's own.
Aaarrggh!!!!
It's completely automated
Correct. "it's" is a contraction of "it is".
a tiny chip holding up it's little metal finger
Aaaarrrgghh!!!! Doesn't make sense: "...holding up it is little metal finger".
And to address the article itself, who even needs cat litter and all that nastiness in a house? Just let your damn cat out! They will never, ever soil in the house given a choice.
I've had a different brand, less fancy, but whenever the automation kicked in it terrified the cats. Which of course means that they went anywhere BUT the litter box.
Comprehension fail. The machine washes the granules itself, and in the process consumes sanitiser in the DRM laden cartridge.
The thing only costs $200, Their cartridges cost $25 for a 120 use cartridge. At 2 uses/day that's 6 cartridges/year -- so you're paying 75% of the cost of the unit in a year just for the cartridges.
I think if Rolls Royce dealers charged $150K each year for required maintenance on a $200K Rolls Royce, there'd be few people getting service at the dealer.
I assume you gave up your ink-jet printer for a color lasar?
I gave up the inkjet printer years ago - I used to use an inkjet printer for photo prints until I realized that Walgreens makes better prints than my inkjet printer can at less cost. So for at least the last 5 years, I've had a black and white laser printer. I have no real need for a color printer at home, though if I did, I'd get a color laser.
Give it a couple of years and if the market is big enough somebody will come up with a refill method, just like printer cartridges. I just hope they don't confuse ink with sanitizer though.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
We used to have an automated litter box. We called it "The Scatapult". Every so often it would launch the shit into the air rather than into the bag. Not recommended,
The thing only costs $200, Their cartridges cost $25 for a 120 use cartridge. At 2 uses/day that's 6 cartridges/year -- so you're paying 75% of the cost of the unit in a year just for the cartridges.
I think if Rolls Royce dealers charged $150K each year for required maintenance on a $200K Rolls Royce, there'd be few people getting service at the dealer.
I assume you gave up your ink-jet printer for a color lasar?
I can't speak for him, but *I* did. And when I need prints on real photo paper, I take it to one 'a' them there Kodak kiosks. Dye based printers are scams, pure and simple.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I assume you gave up your ink-jet printer for a color lasar?
Damn fucking right! Several years ago, and I have only replaced toner once. There is a limit to what I will spend on "rented" product...
We used to have an automated litter box. We called it "The Scatapult". Every so often it would launch the shit into the air rather than into the bag. Not recommended,
If Douglas Adams were alive, he'd put that in a book. That is so Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
damn it
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
My 10 month old Irish setter does the same exact thing. The only downside is that her breath is not really kissably-sweet afterwards.
You are welcome on my lawn.
He bought it, he has an expectation that it won't come loaded with traps and catches. He's warning consumers that this product comes with traps and catches. Your teacher warned you that gillette blades come with traps and catches. So how is he any different than your teacher?
Why do you think he should be complaining about it on Slashdot?
It's a technical lock in on a new product and so this is Slashdot stuff. We want to know to avoid this crappy product,unless we're prepared to flash it.
"Your robotic, do-everything catbox would've cost substantially more if the company were not figuring on a continuing revenue stream."
Model A: He pays a price up front and is aware of the full price
Model B: He pays a lower price up front, and SURPRISE we're gonna sting you for the rest later
So don't try to tell me this is somehow in his interests! Either way he's paying.
"Would you take a real Rolls Royce to an unauthorized dealer for repairs?"
you bet your ass I would. I take my BMW to a non BMW mechanic. in fact I refuse to let the thieves at the BMW dealership TOUCH my BMW as they are no talent hacks.
Only a complete and utter fool believes that authorized means anything other than scam.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Great, you just made the automated cat litter box sad.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
It's a good thing you're reading slashdot and not dotslash then.
Not even your body... Just try to take your amputated leg home and mount it on the wall.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
My a moron?
...I realized that Walgreens makes better prints than my inkjet printer can at less cost.
Yeah, just be careful with the baby pics
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
This is all courtesy of US' DMCA law.
DRM Ink and toner cartridges
DRM Keurig 2.0 coffee makers
It's only going to get worse without push back.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
...what kind of coffee does it make?
Chaos maximizes locally around me.
I assume you gave up your ink-jet printer for a color lasar?
No I drilled a hole in the top of the cartridges and refill them with after market bulk purchased ink. Once I had to replace a print head due to it getting clogged, but otherwise I have used the original cartridge with its 800% markup for most of its printing life.
Yes, your.
Requiem for the American Dream
Spelling matters.
It depends on who's paying.
BMWs come with one hell of a service plan. If it's under warranty, then it goes to the stealership where BMW USA can pay for whatever, and you get a nice loaner to drive around until they're done. If it's off warranty, yeah - take it to someone who charges reasonably, does quality work, and does it quickly.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
wow.. you didn't just say that word.. I think it's time we had a conversation.
Dogs come with all kinds of other issues though. That cat turd will just end up back out on your rug, or stuck between the treads of your lawn mower..
As far as I can tell the "washing" of the granules is part of the automatic cycle.
Man, what a ripoff. There were ZERO baby pics at the link.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
"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 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.
And the Schrodinger's version?
Table-ized A.I.
Yeah, just be careful with the baby pics
Sheesh... The US gets crazier by the year...
Hi, I'm a moron who not only enjoys bumping into trees because I don't want to know that I'm in a forest, I like to brag about it on Slashdot, too.
TFTFY.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
dye sublimation printers make beautiful prints.
You mean ink based printers.
It took our cat 3 weeks to learn to use the normal toilet. Do a search for "toilet training cat" and you come up with training instructions. If you want to spend money you can buy some training kit.
You can FTP your picture files to AdoramaPix and they'll send you the prints via mail (the whole cycle takes couple days). You can choose from several paper types, upload your own color profiles (if you don't want their technicians, who are excellent, to correct color balance), etc. Excellent quality, and no, I have no affiliation with them whatsoever.
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...
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
All on it is own?
I really wish that posts get automatically grammar checked. People who communicate with adults need to learn third grade English.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Spoken by someone who has never experienced driven one. Having a driver is very last century.
It's coming. The company would crash, obviously, if you could let your cat shit in just any old brand of litter. They have to protect their market share against interlopers!
There are few people driving Rollers to begin with, and any horrific expense in their upkeep only adds to the allure of exclusivity. In other words, don't give them any ideas - RR owners are already sufficiently clubby.
You're looking for quotes? See my journal.
It's been out for a few years already. This is old dusty, crufty news.
It was news 2 or 3 years ago.
"Share and enjoy!" *sproing*
When someone says, "Any fool can see
... to crowd source an alternative.
Dude, its a car, not a magical carriage. Any qualified and competent mechanic could fix one. Also, BY LAW, there is no such thing as an 'unauthorized dealer' for repairs. All certified mechanics are 'authorized' to repair any car without affecting the warranty of the car.
Good-bye
The thing is, not everyone wants to keep all that information on their pocket computer that gets rifled through by every app you put on it. I'll keep printing out my boarding passes and using cash, thank you very much.
Good-bye
Honestly, I don't play a lot of Origin games (mostly steam, though they're similar in concept), but it's still a vast improvement over what I had previously in many cases. Multiple discs, serial keys, etc. My biggest complaint is the lack of multiplayer servers. At least with previous games of Battlefield etc you could host your own - on a Linux server even - but now you pretty much have to buy hosting and older games pretty much die out. That's more designed obsolescence than DRM though.
I meant what I said, although I understand it can easily be misunderstood. Inkjet printers generally use dye based inks. There are a few consumer models that use pigment based inks. The pigment based inks tend to have a longer life both as a photo and in the cartridge. But that runs contrary to most manufacturer's business model, where a "head cleaning" is required often which uses up to 25% of the cartridge, and the most expensive per-page use case is casual use, which is the category most consumers fall under.
Epson used to make printers that used pigment based inks, but I think they're all dye based now. It's possible the only manufacturer left that uses pigment inks is Kodak.
I sidestep the issue by not printing my photos at home.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Used to?
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/S...
For the home market, they might not use their new UltraChrome HDR inks, but for the semi-pro and pro markets, they do. We have a 4900 here in the lab; amazing is a fair word to describe the output.
Chris Knight is my hero.
I bought a good inkjet printer years ago that wasn't cheap, but had cheap ink. I bought it at the height of Hewlett-Packard's "liquid gold ink - cheap printer" strategy.
I still use it frequently. Individual cartridges are â3.50, a full set of four CMYB is â11.00.
It's the Canon Pixma IP3000. It prints at 4800 x 1200 dpi. It prints double sided from its 150 page paper tray. It does photo prints well when using the correct paper. It can handle envelopes, cardboard, CDs and other materials that can't be bent or folded from it's manual feed. I think it's from 2003 and I still find it a great printer.
RogerWilco the Adventurous Janitor
There used to be a similar product in Canada. At that time they named it 'Catch-It'. (Worth saying out loud...) As Jack Paar used to say, "I kid you not".