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AI photo match reunites Texas woman with lost cat after 103 days
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Holiday gatherings and year-end travel often lead to a spike in missing pets. Doors open more often, routines shift and animals can slip outside in a moment of confusion.
New Year’s Eve creates loud fireworks, and shelters report some of their busiest nights of the entire year. Amid all that, one Texas family just experienced a heartwarming reunion thanks to an AI photo matching on Petco Love Lost.
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FIND A LOST PHONE THAT IS OFF OR DEAD
An AI photo-matching on Petco Love Lost helped reunite a Texas family with their missing cat after 103 days. (ULISES RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images)
How AI photo matching kept the search going
Pam’s 11-year-old indoor cat, Grayson, had never been outside alone. She believes he slipped out while she unloaded groceries at their home in Plano, Texas. The moment she realized he was gone, she acted fast.
She said, “We went up and down the streets day and night. We went online in the neighborhood and on Love Lost. We put up flyers all over the neighborhood. Friends and neighbors were looking for him. I went to the animal shelter, posted him there, and went every day for over a month, hoping to find him.”
Pam uploaded Grayson’s photo to Petco Love Lost right away. She checked her daily match alerts and hoped she would see his familiar face pop up. She told CyberGuy, “I received match alerts almost every day from Lost Love, but never saw Grayson. His profile had been on their site for over 90 days.”
The moment everything changed
Missy, a nearby resident, spotted a thin cat in an alley near her home. She brought him inside, took a picture of him and then turned to Love Lost to see if anyone had reported a missing cat like him.
Missy explained how simple the process felt. “I used Lost Love to reunite them,” she said. “I uploaded a photo of the cat that we found, and it was matched through AI with the photo that the owner uploaded.”
She soon received an AI match alert and learned that the cross street Grayson’s owner, Pam, had listed in her lost post was only a mile from her home. Missy contacted Pam right away.
That message changed everything. “I am sure that if we had not posted his picture and enabled the ability to match the images, we would never have known what happened to Grayson,” Pam said. “And we would not have connected with Missy.”
AI TECH HELPS A SENIOR REUNITE WITH HER CAT AFTER 11 DAYS
Grayson, an indoor cat from Plano, Texas, was finally found thanks to a neighbor who uploaded his photo to an AI search tool. (DANIEL PERRON/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
A long road for an aging cat
Grayson is almost 12 and has never lived outdoors. That made this reunion feel even more emotional, Pam said.
“I am still amazed at Grayson’s journey,” she added. “I look at him and cannot believe he made it through those 103 days. He is almost 12 years old, so he is not a young kitty.”
Pam said she still thinks about what those months were like for him. “[I] guess I will always wonder where he was and how many stops he made before he reached Missy’s loving home,” she said. “He must have known she would take care of him. It takes a special person to take the time to reunite a beloved pet with their family. Missy and her family went above and beyond to reunite us with Grayson.”
Why pet tech matters during the holidays
This season brings joy but also risks for pets. Visitors, travel and loud celebrations create more chances for animals to slip out or feel spooked. Tools like AI photo matching help families act fast when a pet goes missing. Love Lost connects shelters and neighbors in one place so that people like Pam and Missy can find each other.
What to do if your pet goes missing
Losing a pet can feel overwhelming, but taking fast action helps. These steps guide you through what to do right away.
1) Search your home and neighborhood right away
Look in closets, garages and under furniture. Walk your street and ask neighbors to check yards and sheds.
2) Upload your pet’s photo to Petco Love Lost
Take a clear photo and post it on the site. AI photo matching alerts you when a possible match appears. It also helps others contact you fast.
3) Visit your local shelters in person
Shelters update kennels throughout the day. Staff can guide you and help flag your pet’s profile. Go often until you get updates.
4) Post on local community groups
Use neighborhood apps, local Facebook groups and community forums. Include your pet’s photo, last known location and your contact info.
5) Put up flyers right away
Use a large photo and simple details. Place flyers at busy intersections and near schools, parks and businesses.
6) Contact your pet’s microchip registry
If your pet is microchipped, call the registry or log in to your account. Make sure the chip is registered to you, update your contact info and mark your pet as missing so shelters and vets can reach you fast.
7) Stay consistent with your search
Check Love Lost alerts often. Visit shelters and follow up on every lead. Persistence made the difference for Pam and Grayson.
LOST DOGS ON FOURTH OF JULY: HOW TO KEEP YOUR PET SAFE
A pet owner is seen cradling a cat on their lap. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)
How AirTags can help you find a lost pet faster
While tools like AI photo matching are invaluable after a pet goes missing, prevention and real-time tracking can make an enormous difference during the first critical hours. That’s where Apple AirTags come in. An AirTag isn’t a GPS tracker, but it can still be a powerful recovery tool when used correctly. When attached securely to your pet’s collar, an AirTag uses Apple’s vast Find My network. That network consists of hundreds of millions of nearby iPhones, iPads and Macs that can anonymously and securely relay the AirTag’s location back to you.
If your pet wanders into a neighborhood, apartment complex or busy area, the chances are high that another Apple device will pass nearby and update the location automatically. You won’t know who helped, and they won’t know it was them, but the location can show up on your map within minutes. For indoor cats or dogs that don’t usually roam far, this can be especially helpful. Even a rough location can narrow your search area and save precious time.
Important limits to know: AirTags work best in populated areas. They rely on nearby Apple devices, so coverage may be limited in rural or remote locations. They also don’t update continuously like true GPS pet trackers. That’s why AirTags should be seen as a backup layer, not a replacement for microchipping or dedicated pet trackers.
How to use an AirTag safely with pets
- Use a secure, pet-specific AirTag holder that won’t break easily.
- Attach it to a breakaway collar for cats and dogs to reduce injury risk.
- Make sure Find My notifications are turned on so you get alerts quickly.
- Combine it with microchipping and ID tags for the best protection.
Used together, these tools give you multiple ways to reconnect with your pet, whether minutes or months have passed.
For a list of the best pet trackers, go to Cyberguy.com and search “best pet trackers.”
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Grayson’s reunion is a reminder that tech works best when caring people put it to use. AI matched the photos, but Missy took action, and Pam never stopped looking. Their persistence helped a senior cat get home after a long and risky journey.
If your pet went missing today, would you know the first step to bring them home fast? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
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Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
Today’s launch of AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite aboard Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket was a partial success. The New Glenn touched down on its landing pad without incident, making it the second launch and landing for the first stage booster, and officially giving Jeff Bezos a reusable launch vehicle. Unfortunately for AST SpaceMobile, the mission was less successful. Its cell-tower-in-space was delivered to a lower orbit than expected by the second stage of the launch vehicle, rendering it functionally useless.
While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited.
Bezos, for his part, posted a video of the landing on X without comment.
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Most people treat their phone flashlight like a basic on and off switch. You tap it when you drop something under the couch or walk through a dark parking lot. That’s it.
But with the latest software updates, both iPhone and Samsung phones have quietly turned the flashlight into something much more useful. You can control how bright it is. On some devices, you can even change how wide the beam spreads.
Once you know where to look, it feels like you just upgraded your phone without spending a dollar.
10 IOS 26 TRICKS THAT HELP YOU GET MORE OUT OF YOUR IPHONE
Both iPhone and Samsung phones have quietly turned the flashlight into something much more useful. (Silas Stein/picture alliance)
iPhone flashlight features you’re probably missing
Your iPhone flashlight does more than turn on and off, and a few hidden controls can completely change how you use it.
How to adjust iPhone flashlight brightness
On almost all iPhones:
- Swipe down from the top right to open Control Center
- Press and hold the flashlight icon
- Drag the vertical slider up to increase brightness or down to lower it
This has been around for years, but many people still tap instead of holding. That’s where the real control lives.
How to change iPhone flashlight beam width (Pro models)
This is the feature most people have never seen. On newer Pro iPhones running the latest software:
- Swipe down to open Control Center
- Press and hold the flashlight icon
- When the flashlight control appears at the top of the screen, swipe left or right to adjust the beam width
You can go from a narrow, focused beam to a wide flood of light.
That means:
- Narrow beam = better for seeing farther ahead
- Wide beam = better for lighting up a full area
This feature was introduced in iOS 18 and is still available in iOS 26.4, but it only works on iPhone 14 Pro and newer Pro models, including iPhone 15 Pro and later versions. You won’t see it on standard models.
How to turn on iPhone flashlight from the Lock Screen
You don’t even need to unlock your phone:
- Press and hold the flashlight icon on the Lock Screen
It turns on instantly, which is faster than digging through menus.
How to use Siri to control your iPhone flashlight
You can say:
- “Hey Siri, turn on the flashlight.”
- “Set flashlight to 50 percent.”
- “Hey Siri, turn off the flashlight.”
It’s one of the fastest hands-free options when your hands are full.
The flashlight is one of the most used features on your phone, yet most people never go beyond the basics. (Anna Barclay/Getty Images)
Bonus: Use iPhone flashlight for alerts and notifications
Your iPhone can use the flashlight as a visual alert:
- Go to Settings
- Tap Accessibility
- Tap Audio/Visual
- Scroll down and turn on Flash for Alerts
Your flashlight will blink for calls and notifications, which helps if your phone is on silent or in a noisy place.
Samsung flashlight features you should know
Samsung takes a different approach and, in some ways, gives you more flexibility right out of the box.
Note: Settings may vary depending on your Samsung device model and One UI version.
How to adjust Samsung flashlight brightness
On most Samsung Galaxy phones:
- Swipe down to open Quick Settings
- Press and hold the flashlight icon
- Use the brightness slider (labeled “Brightness”) to adjust the light level
Many people miss this because a quick tap only turns the flashlight on or off. The brightness controls appear after you press and hold, giving you more control depending on your situation.
How to turn on the Samsung flashlight with your voice
If you use Google Assistant:
- “Hey Google, turn on the flashlight.”
- “Hey Google, turn off the flashlight.”
It works well when your hands are full or when you need quick access.
10 INCREDIBLY USEFUL IPHONE AND ANDROID TRICKS THAT MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER
How to customize Samsung flashlight access
Samsung gives you a few ways to keep the flashlight within easy reach. To keep it in your main Quick Settings panel:
- Swipe down from the top of the screen to open Quick Settings
- If you do not see the flashlight icon in the main panel, tap the pencil icon to edit
- Tap Edit
- Find Flashlight in the available buttons
- Hold and drag the flashlight icon into the main Quick Settings area
- Tap Done or Save if prompted
Bonus: Use the Samsung flashlight for alerts and notifications
Samsung phones can also use the flashlight for visual alerts:
- Go to Settings
- Tap Accessibility
- Tap Advanced settings
- Tap Flash notifications
- Turn on Camera flash notification
You can also turn on Screen flash notification if you want your display to light up instead.
When iPhone and Samsung flashlight features actually matter
This is where it becomes practical:
- Walking at night: a narrow beam helps you see farther ahead
- Power outage: a wide beam lights up more of the room
- Looking for something nearby: lower brightness avoids harsh glare
- Emergency situations: faster access can save time
Once you start adjusting the light instead of just turning it on, it becomes far more useful.
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Apple improved control with hardware and software, while Samsung focused on flexibility and customization. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Kurt’s key takeaways
The flashlight is one of the most used features on your phone, yet most people never go beyond the basics. Apple improved control with hardware and software, while Samsung focused on flexibility and customization. Both approaches make a simple tool far more capable.
Have you ever discovered a hidden feature on your phone that made you wonder what else you’ve been missing? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com
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Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
A long time ago, in 2004, the Federal Communications Commission laid down a rule designed to prevent a monopoly: No one company could broadcast to more than 39 percent of all the TV households in the United States. But then Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025. Brendan Carr became FCC chairman and immediately kicked off a deregulatory initiative called “Delete, Delete, Delete,” in which Carr vowed to get rid of “every rule, regulation, or guidance document” that placed “unnecessary regulatory burdens” on companies. And within months, Nexstar, which already owned over 200 stations nationwide and had hit its ownership cap, announced that it had entered an agreement to purchase its rival, Tegna, for an estimated $6.2 billion — something that could only happen, however, if Carr agreed to change the FCC’s rules.
If you ask Nexstar why it’s pursuing a merger that would give it control of over 80 percent of the market, it’d point to Big Tech as the culprit. As advertisers take their money to Netflix, YouTube, and other digital streamers, linear television — the local television news, the broadcast affiliates, the basic cable networks — has suffered, forcing them to consolidate and shut down newsrooms. In that sense, Nexstar argued, the merger would help it compete for ad revenue with the streaming services, thereby building more robust local journalism. However, the merger’s opponents believe that this is a basic violation of antitrust laws and principles — not to mention the danger of letting one company have editorial control over the vast majority of America’s local television newsrooms.
But the second Trump administration handles regulatory hurdles a little differently than others, and companies have found that it’s faster to get what they want if they bypass the agencies and talk (read: suck up) to Trump directly. And when Nexstar did so publicly, it confirmed its opponents’ fears about political influence. Last September, in the fraught weeks after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, Nexstar announced it would no longer broadcast Jimmy Kimmel Live! — a response to Carr’s claim that the FCC could revoke the broadcast licenses of TV stations that aired the comedian’s comments related to Kirk. It briefly led to ABC suspending Kimmel’s show, though ABC and Nexstar soon reversed their decision after a massive nationwide backlash and an ABC boycott.
However, Nexstar’s loyalty to Trump himself was not enough to win over his most powerful MAGA supporters. Newsmax, a cable news network with a deeply pro-Trump bent, and its CEO, longtime Trump donor and outside adviser Chris Ruddy, filed a lawsuit objecting to the merger, claiming that Nexstar’s anticompetitive behavior would force channels like his off the air with steeper carriage fees. He specifically accused Nexstar of jacking up the fees for stations to carry Newsmax, while offering its similar network, NewsNation, for much cheaper.
The Nexstar-Tegna MAGA makeover then took a more subtle turn. NewsNation hired the pro-Trump Fox News commentator Katie Pavlich and gave her her own primetime show. (The network had already hired a slew of former Fox journalists as well.) Around this time, a political group called Keep News Local began airing ads in DC that seemed to directly address Trump, praising him for having “defeated the fake news monopolies before through independent voices and local news” and claiming that the Nexstar-Tegna merger was “crucial for MAGA to survive.” (A little self-contradictory and mildly illogical, but it’s the kind of stuff that Trump likes to hear.) When I last spoke to Ruddy in February, I asked if he’d worried that the dark money going into Keep News Local would sway Trump, and he chose his words carefully: “I think at the end of the day, Trump makes up his own mind. I’m not sure he’s going to be influenced by an ad campaign.”
For months, no one could accurately predict if Trump would override Carr’s wishes and bless the deal, as he’s often done for other companies facing regulatory scrutiny. Trump’s Truth Social posts about the merger have been a good indicator of how precarious the merger has been and who’s been able to influence him at any given moment: Last November, he blasted the deal as an “EXPANSION OF THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS,” but by February, he posted that the deal would “help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition.”
Several current and former NewsNation employees told Status at the time that they feared that the parent company was steering NewsNation away from the centrist, “unbiased” reputation they’d long cultivated. “A lot of people within the network believe that the network has gone hard right to appeal to Trump and Brendan Carr,” one former employee told Status. Coincidentally, days before the deal was finalized, NewsNation began ramping up its explicitly pro-Trump content, tweeting a clip of CNN’s Kaitlan Collins being berated by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, along with the comment “Just going to leave this here.”
When Trump greenlit the merger in mid-March, but before the FCC’s three commissioners could vote on whether to waive the ownership cap, Nexstar and Tegna immediately announced a new complication: Tegna and Nexstar had already started merging. Tegna was no more and CEO Mike Steib had already sold $22.6 million of his company stock.
In response, eight state attorneys general and satellite TV operator DirectTV, which had already been planning to file separate federal antitrust suits against the merger, asked US District Judge Troy Nunley in Sacramento for an emergency restraining order that would prevent Nexstar from taking over Tegna’s assets. The order was granted on March 27th and on April 17, Nunley issued a formal injunction, ruling that Tegna must be operated as an independent financial entity, and Nexstar must take steps to ensure it remains separate from Tegna before further legal proceedings.
For now, Nunley has allowed the states and DirecTV to combine their cases, in which both argue that the merger was a clear violation of antitrust laws and would crush news competition.
Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats in Congress are furious at Carr. On March 30th, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) sent the chairman a joint letter admonishing him for allowing his staff to waive the regulations to let the merger pass, instead of having the full commission of political appointees — one from the Biden administration — vote on it. “Under these circumstances,” they wrote, “any subsequent vote risks being largely procedural rather than a genuine exercise of commission responsibility.” They also pointed out that their hasty approval without the commission’s approval would now complicate the merger financially: “In a transaction of this scale, where integration proceeds quickly and unwinding becomes impractical, delay in judicial review can insulate the decision from meaningful challenge.” Notably, though they share similar ideological views on the media and deregulation, Cruz and Carr have frequently clashed over how to achieve their objectives. Cruz previously slammed Carr as a “mafioso,” for instance, for the way he’d used the FCC to silence Kimmel.
But even if it’s legally paused, the journalistic merger’s fallout has started to hit local news. NPR’s David Folkenfirk reported on Tuesday that Tegna journalists had already started receiving orders to stop broadcasting content from major broadcasters like ABC, CBS, and NBC — media outlets being targeted by Carr — and instead begin airing content from Nexstar’s NewsNation.
- Brendan Carr’s views on using the FCC to punish major broadcasters was outlined pretty extensively in the chapter he authored in Project 2025, an initiative led by the conservative Heritage Foundation on how to reform the federal bureaucracy to be more favorable to the American right.
- Exactly how much is local television losing to digital? According to industry publication NewscastStudio, in an investor call defending the purchase, Nexstar chairman Perry Sook cited a market research study from Borrell Associates, which found that “digital advertising in local markets exceeds $100 billion, compared to just $25 billion for local linear television advertising, with nearly two-thirds of digital ad dollars flowing to five major technology companies.”
- If you want to see exactly how much Keep Local News was trying to suck up to Trump, the ads are archived here.
- The Vergecast has a long-running segment called “Brendan Carr is a dummy.”
- The LA Times reported on last week’s preliminary hearings in front of Nunley, and how lawyers for Nexstar, the states, and DirecTV plan to argue their case.
- The Desk has insights from Kirk Varner, a former TV newsroom director, on how the case could go.
- Andrew Liptak covered Nexstar’s previous acquisition sprees for The Verge in 2018.
- Adi Robertson walks through exactly how the Kimmel suspension was an attack on free speech.
- Brendan Carr keeps trying to convince people that he’s not threatening to suspend broadcast licenses for reporting on unfavorable things like the Iran war, reports Lauren Feiner.
- The Vergecast has a long-running segment called “Brendan Carr is a dummy.”
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