[massysett]

I have an automatic cat feeder. You program it by connecting to it through the Internet. Using a Web browser to program it certainly beats punching some minuscule buttons on a device and deciphering blinking lights or a small LCD display. Unfortunately you have to go through the company's WWW site. If they go out of business I am bricked. At least they could have baked the interface directly into the device itself so that I could connect to the device rather than to a company Web site.

It's from a small company and right now there's no other device that comes close to solving the problem I have, so I just grimaced and bought the thing.