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How to fly with your dog when money is no object
Imagine you’re about to zip up your suitcase for a much-awaited vacation, and there’s your four-legged companion gazing up at you with those soulful eyes. The thought of leaving them behind tugs at your heartstrings, especially when the only travel options seem to be less than ideal.
With commercial airlines tightening the leash on pet travel, your furry friend often ends up in a snug carrier or, worse, isolated in the cargo hold. But what if there was a better way?
Enter the world of private jet charter companies like Bark Air and K9 Jets, who are realizing that there’s a segment of dog owners willing to break the bank for a chance to soar the skies with their pets in the lap of luxury. No more cramped spaces or lonely journeys — just you and your pet, flying high with ease and comfort.
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Dog in the cabin of a plane. (BARK Air)
Bark Air’s solution: A mission to make all dogs happy
Bark Air is a game-changer in pet travel, where dogs aren’t just allowed, they’re the priority. With planes and flights designed for dogs, Bark Air sets a new bar for dog travel with no stressful terminals, bypassing TSA, and a first-class experience that rivals human luxury. They’ve thought of everything to keep your pup relaxed in the air, like yummy calming treats, noise-blocking earmuffs, snug jackets, pillows and comfy blankets.
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Dog sleeping with its owner on a plane. (BARK Air)
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Transporting canines coast-to-coast
Bark Air is making cross-continental cuddles a reality, starting with routes from New York to Los Angeles and London. It is teaming up with Argus, a platinum-rated charter company.
However, this pet pampering doesn’t come cheap. Pricing will vary based on routes, time of year, and roundtrip or one-way tickets. For example, flights between New York and Los Angeles cost $12,000 roundtrip per dog (and the human companion flies free). A one-way ticket from New York to Los Angeles costs $6,000, and New York to London costs $8,000.
The company says:
“We plan to add more routes, more infrastructure, more equipment, more staff, and more over-the-top dog-first amenities unlike anything in the market.”
Exterior of Bark Air plane. (Bark Air)
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K9 JETS redefines pet-friendly travel with shared private jet service
K9 JETS is revolutionizing pet travel by offering shared private jet flights, where your furry friends can enjoy the journey right by your side in the cabin, not confined to the cargo hold. This service ensures a relaxed and stress-free experience for both you and your pets. Dogs can roam freely without crates.
As a public charter operator, K9 JETS partners with licensed pet-friendly U.S. air carriers to ensure safety and comfort. With a fixed cost, you can book a seat for yourself and your pet, departing from exclusive private terminals.
The company’s crowdsourced flights confirm once 75% of the passenger and pet quota is met, and they keep you informed every step of the way. Should a flight not meet the threshold, they guarantee a full refund or rebooking 28 days prior to your trip.
Dogs entering a jet with owner. (K9 Jets)
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Air Charter Advisors: Elevating pet travel to new heights with personalized jet charters
Air Charter Advisors is another go-to for a seamless sky-high journey with your beloved pets. Imagine a travel experience where your dogs, cats, birds and even snakes are not just allowed but welcomed aboard with open arms. Their pet-friendly jet charters redefine luxury, offering the safest, most comfortable and convenient way to fly with your animal companions.
Air Charter Advisors caters to a diverse array of pets and breeds, ensuring that every member of your furry family enjoys the journey, from the tiniest teacup pup to the grandest Great Dane. With Air Charter Advisor, your pets are treated as VIPs — Very Important Pets — because they understand they’re family. You’ll enjoy the flexibility to choose your flight times, departure airports and aircraft types, all while skipping the crowded lines and TSA checks.
Plus, there’s no need to worry about breed or size restrictions, seasonal embargoes or the number of pets you can bring. They offer in-flight catering for you and your pets, ensuring everyone’s needs are met with the utmost care. And for those international jaunts, they’ve partnered with PetTravel.com to handle all the necessary paperwork, making global adventures with your pets a breeze.
Dogs inside jet. (Air Charter Advisors)
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Flying with your dog: Luxury in the skies with evoJets
EvoJets is another pet-friendly private jet company that turns your pet travel into a first-class experience. You can bring your pet right into the passenger area with you. Whether it’s your dog, cat or even an exotic bird, they’ll be part of your in-flight journey. Unlike commercial airlines, evoJets doesn’t confine your pets to kennels or cages. Dogs and cats can roam freely in the cabin, while other unique pets like reptiles and rabbits are handled on a case-by-case basis.
There are no size restrictions, but for bigger dogs, a larger aircraft is recommended for their comfort. Best of all, bringing your pet on board doesn’t cost extra. However, keep in mind that cleaning fees may apply for any unexpected accidents or shedding.
Beyond luxury travel, evoJets is committed to animal welfare. They collaborate with charities, championing animal rights and rescue missions. So when you fly with evoJets, you’re not just pampering your pet — you’re also making a difference in the lives of animals worldwide.
Tail-wagging luxury with VistaPet
When it comes to traveling in style, VistaPet ensures that your furry friend is pampered from the moment they step paw on board. VistaPet has a dedicated team to cater to every whimper and bark. Your canine companion will experience the pinnacle of pet travel. Whether it’s savoring gourmet meals or enjoying soothing massages, VistaPet’s offerings redefine pet pampering.
Flight attendant petting a dog. (VistaPet)
NetJets takes pet travel to new heights
NetJets has set a new standard for stress-free pet travel in a world where pets are cherished family members. With over 25,000 pet-friendly flights last year, their experienced teams ensure furry companions have a comfortable and well-cared-for journey. From special treats to cozy blankets, NetJets goes the extra mile to provide seamless pet travel.
Flying with pets can be a concern, but at NetJets, you can rest assured that your furry family members are in capable hands. Pets are welcome aboard all their jets, and most of their aircraft types are authorized to transport pets — even when all seats are occupied. Their expertly trained crewmembers are well-versed in FAA safety regulations, ensuring a secure and comfortable journey.
Dog on seat of a jet. (NetJet)
Your dog should never leave home without this one tech essential
As the CyberGuy, the one travel tech I would never leave home without is a pet tracker like an Apple AirTag attached to its collar. This compact device ensures that your canine companion is always within reach, providing peace of mind for those flying with their dogs. With an AirTag attached, you can enjoy your trip knowing that your pet’s location is just a tap away on your device.
Dog with AirTag attached to its collar. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Kurt’s key takeaways
Private jet charter companies are revolutionizing pet travel, allowing you to bring your furry companions along for the ride in the lap of luxury. Services like Bark Air, K9 Jets and Air Charter Advisors cater to your pets’ every need, from gourmet meals to soothing massages, ensuring a stress-free and comfortable journey. No more cramped carriers or lonely cargo holds — your beloved pets can now join you in the cabin, making your travels all the more enjoyable and memorable.
Would you shell out this kind of money to travel with your pet? Why or why not? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact
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Copyright 2024 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
As first reported by Bloomberg, the Meta CEO has been personally asking top AI talent to join his new “superintelligence” AI lab and reboot Llama. His recruiting process typically goes like this: a cold outreach via email or WhatsApp that cites the recruit’s work history and requests a 15-minute chat. Dozens of researchers have gotten these kinds of messages at Google alone.
For those who do agree to hear his pitch (amazingly, not all of them do), Zuckerberg highlights the latitude they’ll have to make risky bets, the scale of Meta’s products, and the money he’s prepared to invest in the infrastructure to support them. He makes clear that this new team will be empowered and sit with him at Meta’s headquarters, where I’m told the desks have already been rearranged for the incoming team.
Most of the headlines so far have focused on the eye-popping compensation packages Zuckerberg is offering, some of which are well into the eight-figure range. As I’ve covered before, hiring the best AI researcher is like hiring a star basketball player: there are very few of them, and you have to pay up. Case in point: Zuckerberg basically just paid 14 Instagrams to hire away Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang.
It’s easily the most expensive hire of all time, dwarfing the billions that Google spent to rehire Noam Shazeer and his core team from Character.AI (a deal Zuckerberg passed on). “Opportunities of this magnitude often come at a cost,” Wang wrote in his note to employees this week. “In this instance, that cost is my departure.”
Zuckerberg’s recruiting spree is already starting to rattle his competitors. The day before his offer deadline for some senior OpenAI employees, Sam Altman dropped an essay proclaiming that “before anything else, we are a superintelligence research company.” And after Zuckerberg tried to hire DeepMind CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu, he was given a larger SVP title and now reports directly to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
I expect Wang to have the title of “chief AI officer” at Meta when the new lab is announced. Jack Rae, a principal researcher from DeepMind who has signed on, will lead pre-training. Meta certainly needs a reset. According to my sources, Llama has fallen so far behind that Meta’s product teams have recently discussed using AI models from other companies (although that is highly unlikely to happen). Meta’s internal coding tool for engineers, however, is already using Claude.
While Meta’s existing AI researchers have good reason to be looking over their shoulders, Zuckerberg’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale is making many longtime employees, or Scaliens, quite wealthy. They were popping champagne in the office this morning.
Then, Wang held his last all-hands meeting to say goodbye and cried. He didn’t mention what he would be doing at Meta. I expect his new team will be unveiled within the next few weeks after Zuckerberg gets a critical number of members to officially sign on.
Apple is accustomed to being on top of the tech industry, and for good reason: the company has enjoyed a nearly unrivaled run of dominance.
After spending time at Apple HQ this week for WWDC, I’m not sure that its leaders appreciate the meteorite that is heading their way. The hubris they display suggests they don’t understand how AI is fundamentally changing how people use and build software.
Heading into the keynote on Monday, everyone knew not to expect the revamped Siri that had been promised the previous year. Apple, to its credit, acknowledged that it dropped the ball there, and it sounds like a large language model rebuild of Siri is very much underway and coming in 2026.
The AI industry moves much faster than Apple’s release schedule, though. By the time Siri is perhaps good enough to keep pace, it will have to contend with the lock-in that OpenAI and others are building through their memory features. Apple and OpenAI are currently partners, but both companies want to ultimately control the interface for interacting with AI, which puts them on a collision course.
Apple’s decision to let developers use its own, on-device foundational models for free in their apps sounds strategically smart, but unfortunately, the models look far from leading. Apple ran its own benchmarks, which aren’t impressive, and has confirmed a measly context window of 4,096 tokens. It’s also saying that the models will be updated alongside its operating systems — a snail’s pace compared to how quickly AI companies move.
I’d be surprised if any serious developers use these Apple models, although I can see them being helpful to indie devs who are just getting started and don’t want to spend on the leading cloud models. I don’t think most people care about the privacy angle that Apple is claiming as a differentiator; they are already sharing their darkest secrets with ChatGPT and other assistants.
Some of the new Apple Intelligence features I demoed this week were impressive, such as live language translation for calls. Mostly, I came away with the impression that the company is heavily leaning on its ChatGPT partnership as a stopgap until Apple Intelligence and Siri are both where they need to be.
AI probably isn’t a near-term risk to Apple’s business. No one has shipped anything close to the contextually aware Siri that was demoed at last year’s WWDC. People will continue to buy Apple hardware for a long time, even after Sam Altman and Jony Ive announce their first AI device for ChatGPT next year. AR glasses aren’t going mainstream anytime soon either, although we can expect to see more eyewear from Meta, Google, and Snap over the coming year.
In aggregate, these AI-powered devices could begin to siphon away engagement from the iPhone, but I don’t see people fully replacing their smartphones for a long time. The bigger question after this week is whether Apple has what it takes to rise to the occasion and culturally reset itself for the AI era.
I would have loved to hear Tim Cook address this issue directly, but the only interview he did for WWDC was a cover story in Variety about the company’s new F1 movie.
- AI agents are coming. I recently caught up with Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi ahead of his company’s annual developer conference this week in San Francisco. Given Databricks’ position, he has a unique, bird’s-eye view of where things are headed for AI. He doesn’t envision a near-term future where AI agents completely automate real-world tasks, but he does predict a wave of startups over the next year that will come close to completing actions in areas such as travel booking. He thinks humans will need (and want) to approve what an agent does before it goes off and completes a task. “We have most of the airplanes flying automated, and we still want pilots in there.”
- Buyouts are the new normal at Google. That much is clear after this week’s rollout of the “voluntary exit program” in core engineering, the Search organization, and some other divisions. In his internal memo, Search SVP Nick Fox was clear that management thinks buyouts have been successful in other parts of the company that have tried them. In a separate memo I saw, engineering exec Jen Fitzpatrick called the buyouts an “opportunity to create internal mobility and fresh growth opportunities.” Google appears to be attempting a cultural reset, which will be a challenging task for a company of its size. We’ll see if it can pull it off.
- Evan Spiegel wants help with AR glasses. I doubt that his announcement that consumer glasses are coming next year was solely aimed at AR developers. Telegraphing the plan and announcing that Snap has spent $3 billion on hardware to date feels more aimed at potential partners that want to make a bigger glasses play, such as Google. A strategic investment could help insulate Snap from the pain of the stock market. A full acquisition may not be off the table, either. When he was recently asked if he’d be open to a sale, Spiegel didn’t shut it down like he always has, but instead said he’d “consider anything” that helps the company “create the next computing platform.”
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Finding a reliable tennis partner who matches your energy and skill level can be a challenge.
Now, with Tenniix, an artificial intelligence-powered tennis robot from T-Apex, players of all abilities have a new way to practice and improve.
Tenniix brings smart technology and adaptability to your training sessions, making it easier to get the most out of your time on the court.
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Tenniix, the AI-powered tennis robot (T-Apex)
What is Tenniix? Meet the AI tennis robot transforming practice sessions
Tenniix is an AI-powered tennis robot that is compact and weighs only 15 pounds, which is much lighter than traditional ball machines. Despite its small size, it serves balls at speeds of up to 75 mph, with spins reaching 5,000 RPM, and holds up to 100 balls at a time. The robot’s movable base allows it to deliver shots from different angles, keeping practice sessions dynamic and engaging.
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A player lifting the Tenniix, an AI-powered tennis robot, out of the vehicle. (T-Apex)
NO TENNIS PARTNER? NO WORRIES WITH THIS AI ROBOT
AI tennis coaching: How Tenniix delivers realistic, pro-level practice
One of the standout features of Tenniix is its AI-driven coaching. The robot has been trained on over 8,000 hours of professional tennis data, allowing it to adjust its shots based on your position and playing style. This gives you a realistic and challenging experience every time you step on the court. Tenniix offers a wide variety of training modes, with more than 1,000 drills and three skill levels, so you can focus on everything from timing and footwork to shot accuracy.
Tenniix, the AI-powered tennis robot being carried (T-Apex)
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Smart and simple: How to control Tenniix with voice, gestures or your phone
Controlling Tenniix is simple and intuitive. You can use voice commands or gestures to change spin, speed or shot type without interrupting your practice. Tenniix also features convenient app controls, letting you select training modes, adjust settings and review session data right from your smartphone for a fully customized and trackable experience. The robot’s modular design means you can start with the model that fits your needs and upgrade as your skills improve. With a built-in camera and AI chip, Tenniix analyzes your shots and provides instant feedback, helping you track your progress over time.
Tenniix, the AI-powered tennis robot (T-Apex)
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Advanced tracking and movement: How Tenniix adapts to your game in real time
Tenniix uses a combination of visual tracking and ultra-wideband sensors to know exactly where you and the ball are on the court. Its motorized base moves smoothly to deliver a wide range of shots, from high lobs to fast groundstrokes, at different speeds and spins. The battery lasts up to four hours, which is enough for a solid training session.
Tenniix, the AI-powered tennis robot (T-Apex)
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Practice like the pros: Train against Nadal-style shots with Tenniix
Another feature that sets Tenniix apart is its ability to mimic the playing styles of tennis greats like Nadal and Federer. This helps you prepare for matches by practicing against shots and spins similar to those you’ll face in real competition. Coaches and players have noted how Tenniix creates realistic rallies and adapts to different skill levels, making training both efficient and enjoyable.
Tenniix, the AI-powered tennis robot (T-Apex)
Portable, smart and backed by support: Why tennis players love Tenniix
Tenniix is easy to carry and set up, making it convenient for players who want to practice anywhere. With thousands of shot combinations and drills, your workouts stay fresh and challenging. The smart technology, real-time tracking and instant feedback help make every session productive. Each robot comes with a one-year warranty and reliable customer service.
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Tenniix, the AI-powered tennis robot (T-Apex)
Tenniix models and pricing: Which AI tennis robot is right for you?
There are three Tenniix models to choose from. The Basic model is priced at $699, the Pro at $999 and the Ultra at $1,499. Each model offers a different set of features, with the Ultra version including advanced options like the movable base and enhanced vision system. Tenniix was launched through a Kickstarter campaign, giving early supporters a chance to back the project and receive the robot at a special price.
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Tenniix, the AI-powered tennis robot (T-Apex)
Kurt’s key takeaways
Tenniix feels less like a machine and more like a smart tennis partner who’s always ready to help you improve. Whether you want to polish your technique or get serious about your game, it offers a flexible and engaging way to train. If you’re looking for a training partner that adapts to you, Tenniix is worth checking out.
Would you rather challenge yourself playing against a robot like Tenniix, or do you prefer training with a human opponent? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.
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Google has confirmed that it plans to shut down Android’s Instant Apps later this year, attributing the decision to “low” usage of the functionality.
Instant Apps were introduced in 2017, and allow developers to create mini versions of Android apps that load, well, instantly. Users can try apps and demo games from the click of a link, without having to fully install them. That makes the experience easier for users to navigate and provides developers with more ways to find new audiences.
Android Authority first reported that Google is moving on from the feature, which came to light after developer Leon Omelan spotted a warning about the change in Android Studio:
“Instant Apps support will be removed by Google Play in December 2025. Publishing and all Google Play Instant APIs will no longer work. Tooling support will be removed in Android Studio Otter Feature Drop.”
Google spokesperson Nia Carter confirmed the decision to The Verge, explaining that Instant Apps simply haven’t been popular enough to continue supporting.
“Usage and engagement of Instant Apps have been low, and developers are leveraging other tools for app discovery such as AI-powered app highlights and simultaneous app installs,” Carter says. “This change allows us to invest more in the tools that are working well for developers, and help direct users to full app downloads to foster deeper engagement.”
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