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Uber Offers On-Demand Kittens (Seriously)

 & Jordan Minor Principal Writer, Software

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Uber, best known for its taxi-hailing app and other mobile transportation services, is spending today applying its talents to a decidedly furrier cause. In celebration of National Cat Day, Uber is teaming up with meme media juggernaut Cheezburger to deliver on-demand kittens. The Internet truly is leaking.

For $20, cat lovers in New York, San Francisco, and Seattle can request 15 minutes of quality snuggling time with a kitten from their local animal shelter through the Uber app. All they have to do is press "Kittens!" Uber accounts are charged, and the money is then donated to the shelter. Smitten users can even follow up with the shelter to discuss adoption. Uber's partners include the Seattle Humane Society, ASPCA, and SF SPCA.

Uber expects high demand during event, lasting from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 29, so they urge anxious kitten-seekers to be patient as well as mindful of roommates and co-workers with allergies. Kittens also come with cupcakes from the famous Ace of Cakes. To see some very satisfied customers, check out the hashtag #ICanHasUberKittens on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

This is not the first time Uber has strayed from its car service roots. Over the summer, it celebrated its Hamptons launch with a limited-time UberChopper service, but it has also branched out into boating and on-demand ice cream delivery.

In other bizarre animals on the Internet news, a new craze on Facebook has users inexplicably replacing their profile pictures with giraffes, according to ABC News. Described as an online fairy tale, "The Great Giraffe Challenge" tasks users with solving a riddle. If they fail, they must "transform" into a giraffe for three days.

More information can be found on The Great Giraffe Challenge website and on Know Your Meme which, to bring things full circle, is owned by Uber's on-demand kitten co-conspirator Cheezburger.

About Our Expert

Jordan Minor

Jordan Minor

Principal Writer, Software

My PCMag career began in 2013 as an intern. Now, I'm a senior writer, using the skills I acquired at Northwestern University to write about dating apps, meal kits, programming software, website builders, video streaming services, and video games. I was previously a senior editor at Geek.com and have written for The A.V. Club, Kotaku, and Paste Magazine. I'm the author of the gaming history book Video Game of the Year: A Year-by-Year Guide to the Best, Boldest, and Most Bizarre Games from Every Year Since 1977, and the reason everything you know about Street Sharks is a lie.

The Technology I Use

I use the newest Android and iOS smartphones for testing, but I currently use an iPhone 14 as my personal phone. I just hate that we gave up headphone jacks.

I've always favored gaming laptops over desktops. On that note, I have a 16-inch HP Envy with an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. No matter what machine I’m working on, an alarming amount of my personal and professional life revolves around cloud-synced Google Drive files.

For food subscriptions, my household sticks with CookUnity and HelloFresh for meals. Video streaming is a bit more complicated. While there are too many services to list, we're subscribed to most of the major ones. These days, I find myself drawn to HBO Max's movies and shows, as well as Peacock's reality trash.

I've been a lifelong Nintendo fan, and I sincerely believe the Nintendo Switch will go down as one of the best gaming consoles of all time. It has an unbelievable library of new and old games from Nintendo and third-party companies. The handheld/console hybrid approach makes playing games so much more flexible, a legacy that continues with the Nintendo Switch 2 and Valve’s Steam Deck.

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