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Petcube 2 lets you use Alexa to fling treats at your pets

Petcube 2 lets you use Alexa to fling treats at your pets

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Did I mention the lasers?

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Petcube announced the second generation of its Petcube Bites and Play cameras today, which keep your pets entertained at home via flinging treats and laser pointers while you’re away at work. The new models bring two extended wide-angle lenses that allow for 180-degree full-room views, improved connectivity with 5GHz Wi-Fi support, a 4-microphone array, and Alexa built-in.

Both cameras in the Bites and Play have 1080p HD video, 4x digital zoom, and night vision. Pets can also initiate two-way “video calls,” which are triggered when a pet sits in front of the camera. Owners will then receive a push notification asking if they want to accept a video call from their pet (always, of course). Clips can then be saved to the phone, shared online, or stored on the Petcube App for iOS or Android. The company offers an optional Petcube Care cloud storage service that users can pay from $3 to $10 a month for up to 10 days of video history. The $10 plan comes with Smart alerts, which uses AI to distinguish between cats, dogs, and people, and offers audio recognition of barking and meowing to notify owners of potentially dangerous events.

The Petcube Bites 2.

Senior reporter Adi Robertson tried out the original Petcube at CES in 2015, and she described it as like playing in “a virtual cat cafe.” It’s a genuinely fun concept that lets owners interact with their pets while they’re away, so it’s not really clear why the Petcube needs an Alexa integration as most people don’t use Alexa outside their homes. It’ll most likely be useful for people who don’t already own an Alexa device, or just want to delegate pet-entertaining duties to a voice assistant.

The Petcube Bites 2 is set to go on sale for $249, and the Petcube Play 2 will retail for $199 when they both launch sometime in spring 2019.

The Petcube Play 2.
The Petcube Play 2.