iPet Companion allows Internet users (that would be you) to play with little kitties in animal shelters in real-time. No word yet on an interface to let little kitties play with you in your home in real-time.
Christine Wiersema, Development Director, Idaho Humane Society, says:
"The iPetCompanion has been a great benefit for the public to play with the kittens, see their personalities, and then chat about the experience with other animal lovers from all over the world. It’s a healthy enrichment tool for the kittens and you can’t help but smile every time you walk by and see someone playing via the internet with the kittens."
(Updated 15-Sep-2021)
I can't help but see this as a perfect addition to the world of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? or even to our own future in which we have killed off all of the larger animal species. Live animals would be carefully maintained at a secure facility, and we would wait in a virtual queue to play with them.
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