Acer Pawbo+ helps you play with your pets and even feed them from your phone
The new Pawbo+ video calls your pets and dispenses treats even when you're out of the house.
Acer wants to help you play with your pets wherever you are. The Taiwanese company has acquired crowdfunded startup Pawbo and announced new connected gadgets to keep man's best friend amused while you're away.
The Pawbo is a smart home device that basically sits in your house and lets you video call your pets. Through your phone, you can see your pets at home, chat to them through a speaker, and listen to their cute mewls and woofs through a microphone. Unlike other smart home monitoring cameras, the camera points down to better see your pet, and pet-focused extras include a red dot you can move around to amuse your pet. You can even hit a button on your phone to dispense a treat from the mouth of the white plastic device.
The new Pawbo+ announced today at trade show IFA in Berlin improves on these features with a wider, 130-degree viewing angle to see more of your pets at play. Eight people can now connect to the device and remotely play with your pets through their phone.
It's up for preorder on 1 September in the US and selected countries for $169, which converts to about £130 or AU$225.
The Pawbo+ is also a hub for multiple new pet-friendly accessories that pair with the main device. Highlights include the Flash, which is an infrared light that allows the main camera to record in the dark. It gets rid of the spooky green glow often seen in animals' eyes when filmed in the dark, which will make your cat look a bit less demonic when you share night-time photos or videos on Facebook or Twitter.
The Munch is a larger treat dispenser than the main Pawbo, while the Catch is a remote controlled cat teaser. And the Punch is a cute rodent toy that pops its head up so your pet can bat it down again.
Acer also announced a new heart rate tracker belt that works with the Xplova sports cam. Cleverly, the camera starts filming when your heart hits a certain rate, capturing footage of the hard bits of your cycle ride without you having to remember to hit record.
In more traditional devices, Acer unveiled the super-slim Swift 7 laptop and gargantuan 21-inch Predator curved gaming laptop.
Two new Android phones and an Android tablet also took a bow. The Acer Liquid Z6 and Z6 Plus phones and the Iconia Talk S tablet are on sale outside the US.
Click here for the rest of our IFA 2016 coverage.
