HOW-TO: Upgrade your organic dog
This week's How-To is something more of a glimpse in to the future, a future where your dog has a cell phone, webcam and electronic tag, and maybe even talks to you. Maybe. Some of this dog-tech isn't available yet, and some of it is (oh, you Japanese...); our overview includes some interesting iterations of pet technology, and we even made our own version of a dog webcam along with the first ever canine photographer's photo gallery.
AIBO or organic?
Before we get started, we should say that we have high hopes for the future of organic dog ownership. Come on, AIBOs
have WiFi, a camera and can be programmed to do a wide variety of tasks, and speak in many voices and languages.
There's no reason (besides nature, of course) that our organic dogs shouldn't at least stay competitive with their
robot counterparts.
Communicating with your dog
In early 2003, the Takara Company in Japan released the
Bow-Lingual Bark translator. The way it works (and we do use
the word "work" loosely) is, your dog wears a small transmitter on its collar, and when poochie barks it transmits to
the receiver, and then translates to one of 200 phrases.
You can also review all the sounds throughout the day for an overall view of your dog's mood. Thousands of dog barks were recorded and analyzed from most dog breeds (a Chihauhua will have a different voice print than an Irish Wolfhound).
Does it work? In our tests, we're pretty sure our dog only says, "Hey," "Hey," "Hey," and, "Hey".
Calling your dog
Next up, is the dog cell phone from PetsCell
we covered before. This phone can be used to either call
your dog, or with the press of a button call you (say, if your dog gets lost). It's also got GPS tracking, so your dog
could be located if needed. (Don't worry though, Rover's probably just out sniffing something's butt.) On the website,
the scenario presented is a woman calling her dog telling him he should be home soon. While we don't think that's a
likely use, the GPS location feature could come in handy provided the unit was small enough and it could be powered for
weeks to months at a time on a single charge.
E-Tags for dogs
New on the scene is the Dog-e-Tag (also one we
covered). The tag is a small device which displays up to 10 lines of 40 characters, such as your dog's name, phone
number, license, and RSS feed—you know, all the things normally found on a dog collar (what, your dog doesn't have a
blog yet?).
When pressed it also glows in the dark. You can almost fit all of the
DeCSS code on it, not that we tried or
anything.
Dog cams
TOMY of Japan are also introducing a doggie 3.5 megapixel
digital camera (below) that can be worn around its neck,
along with a remote control to trigger the camera. Photos can later be downloaded to a Mac or PC via USB. It's unclear
if it offers a timer function, but regardless that gave us an idea and we made our own version.
Last week we showed you how to make your own
digital camera that automatically took photos from a
digital camera by using a timer chip.
We started to look around and see if there were any small cameras which could be used with our dog's collar; we came
across one not only diminutive enough, but that could also take photos automatically every minute!
The James Bond Stealth Camera from ThinkGeek.
Obviously, since the timer feature was built in we didn't need to hack apart the camera. You can imagine our
disappointment.
Using some fishing wire and the dog's collar we had a pretty good way to attach it.
We looped the string through the battery door and then closed it (and taped it).
Then we tied the string to the dogs collar and it set the camera to take a photo every minute.
Over the course of a day or so, we had the dog take photos. Most of them were pretty good, for a dog.
Gallery of photos taken by a dog
That's just about all we got for now. We know the tech world isn't done outfitting our animals with all sorts of gear, but it's a good start, right? Translator, wearable tracker/cellphone, electronic ID, and moblogging gear isn't too bad for a mean little beast without opposable thumbs if you ask us. So next time someone tries to show off their AIBO, challenge them to a face-off with your cyborg dog, and see who comes out on top. Somehow we have a feeling it'll be the one who understands sic 'em, boy!
Phillip Torrone can be reached via his personal site: http://www.flashenabled.com
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Dan Wu @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
Great job PT, your dog takes a mean photo! But uhh, he's the feature of the article, and he doesn't even get his NAME in print? :P
And what's your Aibo's name too?
Kurt @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
This is the funniest thing I've seen all day. Bravo!
Sparky @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
Of course my dog has a blog! http://blog.sirskype.com :) Now the question is what is what is your pup's URL? Or does this constitute as a dog blog of sorts now?
KMc @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
I'm embarrassed by how cool I think the doggie cam idea is. Can anyone suggest a cheaper alternative to the ThinkGeek 007 camera?
Roy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
I got a good laugh from this article ... and I must ask, what type of dog do you have, Phillip? He/She is absolutely ADORABLE.
Scott @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
The TOMY doggie camera can take photos automatically with a shot interval of anywhere between 1 and 60 mins.
pt @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
king charles cavalier spaniel
GotD0t @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
Well your dog MIGHT be able to understand "sic em, boy!" But somehow I doubt a dog that small will attack anything if hes got a translator, an electronic tag, AND a digi cam hanging from its poor neck.
Ajas @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
Is that Essential Baking in the pic? What a life! The first Dogital Cam, AND the best quiches in the world :)
JMS @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
Doggy gadgets -- the best thing since people gadgets!
King Charles Spaniels are not only adorable, they have some of the biggest personalities I've ever seen in a dog. They're really great... Get to know one if you get the chance.
Georg Petschnigg @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
I did a product design for a video cam for dogs some time ago. See some of the videos the dogs took here: http://graphics.stanford.edu/~georgp/Productdesign/Movies/
(Windows Media Required)
teddlesruss @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
hehehe
Boyle M. Owl @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
"Come any closer, you stupid, smelly dog, and I'll show you what pain is"
chadvavra @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
RFID identifier chips for pets are all the rage.
I've even been contemplating sticking one in myself. I even have one on the ready.
See
http://www.chadvavra.com/images/o8/RFID.jpg
Belinda Bohlken @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
Hi Phillip,
You might be interested in having a look at an animation that I did on a fictional advertisement for PET VR - an in house entertainment device for dogs.
You can watch the animation here:
http://www.pugmation.com/showcase/petvr/
Strawp @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
With that japanese bark translator and a digi cam, you could get your dog to take a snap of every intruder he barks at :)
Salik Games @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
My neighbor's dog (I swear it's not me) has depression. Are you planning to develop some device or medicine to combat those horrible diseases which are plaguing dogkind?
Joshua Salik
Salik Games
http://salikgames.home.att.net/wsb/humor/ColaSalikGames.html
"The empty half of the glass is always at the top"
Salik Games @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
My neighbor's dog (I swear it's not me) has depression. Are you planning to develop some device or medicine to combat those horrible diseases which are plaguing dogkind?
Joshua Salik
Salik Games
http://salikgames.home.att.net/wsb/humor/ColaSalikGames.html
"The empty half of the glass is always at the top"
dfd @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
That's one heckuva setup you've got there in:
http://www.weblogsinc.com/common/images/4337913812489879.JPG?0.3883855994807218
What exactly have you got there?
Scorpio @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
Well the reason why you only got "hey" from your Cav is obvious, they always want your attention and to play. Mine is 4 and that's always the way he has been. Cavs are useless as gaurd dogs, unless you are attacked by leaves or stuffed animals. They don't have a mean bone in their body.
huwr @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
I'm doing that now...
Donna Gallagher @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
Are you kidding? You must be kidding. These are the kind of gadgets that are bought by people who have accessory dogs. Instead of spending time training and really getting to know their dog they buy gadgets and send their dogs to training schools. At least 80 percent of all dog training is for the owner. I don't need a machine to tell me when my dog is happy or sad. We communicate. Dogs are really good at this - better than us. I live in a place where there are, from time to time, a lot of bears. I walk my dog up in the mountains with no fear because my dog tells me when there is a bear around and we go a different way. She just balks, refuses to go in a certain direction. Even when my back is turned to her, there is a quality to her stillness that I can sense. I turn toward her and she is staring at me. I let her lead me to safety. The last time I saw a bear on the trail was when I overruled her. So what I am saying here is that I don't believe that there is a better substitute for just plain getting close to your dog, talking to it, loving it. Cost's nothing but your time. There is nothing common about common sense. D.
Donna Gallagher @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
Are you kidding? You must be kidding. These are the kind of gadgets that are bought by people who have accessory dogs. Instead of spending time training and really getting to know their dog they buy gadgets and send their dogs to training schools. At least 80 percent of all dog training is for the owner. I don't need a machine to tell me when my dog is happy or sad. We communicate. Dogs are really good at this - better than us. I live in a place where there are, from time to time, a lot of bears. I walk my dog up in the mountains with no fear because my dog tells me when there is a bear around and we go a different way. She just balks, refuses to go in a certain direction. Even when my back is turned to her, there is a quality to her stillness that I can sense. I turn toward her and she is staring at me. I let her lead me to safety. The last time I saw a bear on the trail was when I overruled her. So what I am saying here is that I don't believe that there is a better substitute for just plain getting close to your dog, talking to it, loving it. Cost's nothing but your time. There is nothing common about common sense. D.
Small Paul @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
Billy's got a blog. He's not my dog, but his blog is cute.
http://www.flipflopflyin.com/billy/index.html
fred adam @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
hello, some people designed a special website for dogs using a special pad on the floor for the dog to interact.
The bad aspect is that it is a commercial web site dedicated to sell food for dogs. The dogs uses a special bluetooth creditcard recorded in the leather of their collar. have a look.
http://magnetic.free.fr/lovepets/float.html
greg @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
this is better... http://www.FreeFlatScreens.com/default.aspx?referer=7425489
Darin Smith "Dark Lord of the Smith" @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
Being a dog-owner, I find the content of the photos an interesting documentary of what your dog's typical day is probably like:
1) Explore a little
2) Check for food in food dish
3) See what that cat is up to, try to interest in playing.
4) See what my master is up to, follow him around for a while, try to interest him in playing.
Google Advisor @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
It appears that some people have just gone overboard with mobile technology. Personally, I don't even have a cell phone, and don't want one. I can't imagine giving my dog (or any pet) something like that to wear. Oh well. If anyone is interested in working Google to your advantage, I just have to plug a great site:
GoogleAdvisor.org - Improve your pagerank, adsense and adwords earnings.
Google Advisor @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
It appears that some people have just gone overboard with mobile technology. Personally, I don't even have a cell phone, and don't want one. I can't imagine giving my dog (or any pet) something like that to wear. Oh well. If anyone is interested in working Google to your advantage, I just have to plug a great site:
GoogleAdvisor.org - Improve your pagerank, adsense and adwords earnings.
anexus @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
This is all a little much, don't you all think? Too much technology, so little of it we actually need.. or even more, want? I think my dog is going to remain tech free for quite some time, if I can help it!
Scott @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
What a cool gadget!
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