A smart pet feeder is a great idea in theory: It can be controlled from your phone, making it simple to schedule feedings and giving you the ability to feed your cat or dog from anywhere in the world.

Except, it turns out, if the device manufacturer’s servers aren’t online. My own smart pet feeder’s maker, Petnet, has struggled with reliability for years — leaving my cat, Mika, hungry on a number of occasions — and if the company were to go out of business, my cat feeder would turn into a very expensive paperweight.

Over a long weekend in…
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