The Dream Cat Venus is coming to Japan this month for $110. Both touch and sound sensitive, the Venus (no relation to the planet or the feminine razor) reacts to your petting and talking with a proper amount of nudging and purring. And like the Sony Aibo, the Dream Cat can actually "see" through its camera-enabled eyes.

But does this poor robot need to look like the product from a My First Taxidermy kit? Drop the realism for a moment, Sega, and let these helpless kittenbots out of your dungeon in the uncanny valley. Such amoral plush tactics may work fine to tease the buffets of Melmac, but no one wants to see Japan become Melmac...any more than it already has. [Sega Toys (pdf) via CrunchGear]

Back in 2002, TakaraTomy released a device called the Bowlingual, which claimed to translate a dog's barking into human dialect you could read from a screen. Now, 7 years later, the company has updated Bowlingual to include vocalization—you know, like a text-to-speech GPS but for an animal discussing the merits of eating one's own feces.

It's a Japan-only toy, so the voice of the American dog movement will continue to go unheard. But do what we do and just assume that your dog is perpetually trying to warn you that the old mill is burning down. Better safe than sorry. [TakaraTomy via technabob via pocket-lint]The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

Steven from Boing Boing Gadgets recently tried the system out with his pug Gus, and I don't quite see the point of it all.

So what does it track? "Average Power Correlate" (APC), which the company claims is a "correlation based on empirical measurement." In other words, a relative measure of the amount of energy that accumulates in the tag's accelerometer. Thus, the charted numbers themselves are rather meaningless, which was a bummer in that I was unable to make any comparison(s) to my own level of fitness, distance traveled, etc.

Yeah I think I'll just keep my $150, thanks very much. [Boing Boing Gadgets]

Despite connecting to your outdoor plumbing lines, the PowerLoo is not a backyard doggie toilet. The PowerLoo is a backyard crap flusher (read: you pick up dog crap then place it in the toilet). And while I'm sure it adds some level of convenience to doodie disposal, the $1000 price is on par with one of those fancy, Japanese toilets that literally air dries the cellulite from your butt. Coming this June. [PowerLoo via Treehugger via DVICE]

On one hand, kittens are organic lifeforms, presumably loyal to other organic lifeforms. On the other, kittens grow into cats. And for thousands of years, cats have refused to follow the human code.

What I postulate is a future in which there is a sort of war trifecta. It will be Man vs. Machine vs. Kittens. And with the feline world showing up as an insane wild card, anything can happen...though in the immortal words of John Connor, the outcome is most likely that, "We are dead!! We are all dead!! Because of kittens!!!" [Cute Overload]

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

Ward is a photographer of pets for Fat Orange Cat Studios. The photos are ok. But she's got some good advice over there:

I also almost always shoot in burst mode, usually in slow burst at 2 to 3 frames per second.

I end up doing a lot of gymnastics during a shoot. I'm crouching, kneeling, on my back, on my side, waking up sore the next morning.

I sort of treat my still camera as a video camera. Even if I'm not actively shooting, and even if the subject is not doing something "capture-worthy," I continue tracking through the viewfinder and recomposing. Because soon enough they will do something capture-worthy, and I'll be ready to press the shutter the second it happens.

Treats, ham, roast beef, squeaky toys, patience. With dogs, I like making meowing sounds. Seems to get their attention every time, and as a bonus, they give the quizzical head tilt. It's a little trickier with cats because if you make an attention-making noise more than even once, they will ignore you thereafter.

Damn cats.

I am reminded, reading all of this, of how insane pet owners are, and how a the professional pet photographer is an unsung hero of portraiture. Their subjects are only somewhat less difficult than what Annie Leibovitz has to deal with when photographing rock and movie stars.

There is the greater question of why people don't just buy nice DSLRs and take photos of their own pets. But I suppose all the tricks and tips in here—far greater in number and substance than you'd assume a list could be for mere humans—are the answer. [NYT]

Only Japan would come up with the Sum, a robotic trash can designed by Tohoku Kankyo. Simply open the poor dog's mouth, put in pet poop and old food, and using some "fancy bio substance" it'll break it down and make it not stinky. It can handle about 600 grams of poop or food per day, which is more poop than I'd want put in my mouth per day, but I'm no robotic trash can.

The Sum can be yours for the perfectly reasonable price of $900. [Sum via Japan Probe]

Because no humans besides the flight crew are allowed—and because there aren't exactly effective seat-belts that'll keep your pets from wrecking havoc on the plane—your dogs and cats will still have to travel locked up in a carrier. But at least they'll be seated in the main cabin with temperatures that are "just right," with fresh circulating airways away from the cargo hold. After all, says the cheesy announcer, "Our pets are not luggage... They're paw-sengers!" Get it?

Pet Airways will begin service this coming July, in limited runs from LA, Chicago and NYC, starting at $150 for a one-way ticket—actually not a lot more than what the airlines charge to stick your cat in the cargo hold. [Pet Airways via Laughing Squid]

It's pretty cool, I guess. I mean, it's more convenient than having your phone get a text every time the cat goes in or out. Even easier, however, would be just not giving a shit whether or not your cat was going in or out and just focusing on your job instead of allowing yourself to be distracted by this crap.

If only the guy made Twitter a viable business plan. That would be impressive. Speaking of which, don't forget to follow us on Twitter—we want to be your friends![Switched via UberGizmo]

Malcolm always seems to do it when I'm writing some important email or have a lot of windows open. And then he steps on it and everything goes BASDFASDGASDBASDGASd or BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP and all the keys go CLAAAAACCCCCCCCKKK as his nails scrape against the plastic. And then he wants to play and looks at me with a look on his face like, "LETS GO OUTSIDE BUT FIRST FEED ME AGAIN!"

Other writers here think its because geek owners stare at their screens all day, and the pets eventually need some attention, food, or a poo break. What do you think it is that makes pets want to walk on keyboards?

WalkyDog essentially places your dog on a treadmill it can't get off of without breaking it's neck. And check out the picture—i don't even think that dalmatian is real, but it still looks like the saddest thing ever. Not cool. [Craziest Gadgets]

I mean, what cat doesn't deserve all the best human toys—Rock Band controllers, Wiimotes, Gameboys, Rubik's Cubes and even cans of Slurm? It's as if one Etsy store has distilled everything good about life and reconstituted that substance as a collection of sub-$10 plush toys safe for pets.

These people deserve to be rich, famous and maybe even have a cat scratcher or two erected in their honor.

[Etsy via GeekSugar]

For instance, no matter how hard I push "use litter tray," Wynona still prefers to use the linoleum floor just in front of the litter tray. Is this a calibration issue?

And when I aim the thing straight at Wade and press "Get Off—Shelf," he just looks at me. And that's the other problem: Even when I'm not pressing certain buttons such as "Remain Aloof" "Cat Nap" and "Eject Fur Ball," the cats seem to be performing those tasks anyway. It's as if they have minds of their own! Maybe there's a good reason you don't print a toll-free tech support number on the package.

Sincerely,

Wilson, Frustrated Cat Owner

[Amazon via Book of Joe and Apartment Therapy]

Naturally, crazy Chinese products like this need to be approached with caution—because it could very well kill Fido with extreme prejudice. I'll bet this thing will be repackaged in a few years as a way to stimulate hair growth in humans. Just wait and see. [Alibaba via BaxterBoo via CNET]

The Hamster Rocket Ship Funhouse allows your furry little rodent to pretend he has all the opportunity of a NASA astronaut, while simultaneously making your hamster into a viable "pew pewing" device. As Captain Cricetinae takes to the skies, he will encounter all sorts of odd beasts (cats, dogs, scary children with firecrackers), strange new worlds (bedrooms, bathrooms, and various orifices) and exotic foods (well, pretty much just those weird pellet things and tap water).

And it's only $6. [Your Pets and More via Nerd Approved]

The fish tank has a deep concave bottom like a wine bottle, so that the bird can fly up "into" the tank. I don't know what kind of enjoyment the fish would get out of this, but I imagine the birds would be entertained, up till the moment they realize that fish can suddenly fly higher than they can. The fish, on the other hand, won't notice a damn thing. Cuz they're fish.

There are some structural issues I have with the design, issues you might have as well. The disc-shaped base of the thing had better weigh a ton to support not only the very tall bird cage, but the heavy water-filled (glass?) bowl atop it. And anyone who's ever owned birds or fish will be wondering about how to clean the damn Duplex—one hopes at least that the fish tank's green gunk build-up reaches the point of intolerability at the exact same the bird droppings do, but chances are you'll be disassembling that thing all the time just to keep your little lovelies from croaking. [Yanko Designs]

Yes, now you can get your lazy ass carted around by your poor dog, attaching him and up to three other dogs to one of these crazy contraptions. The big selling point, apparently, is that by placing the dog behind the steering apparatus, you're able to have much more control over where you're headed. Because if the dog was placed in front of the steering apparatus, you'd always just head right to the butcher shop or milk bone factory.

But really, you need to see the website to get the full effect of this product. I mean, with quotes like this, how can you go wrong?

YOU WILL LOVE THE TOTAL STABILITY OF THE TRIKE AND THE SPORTS CAR TYPE HANDLING WITH POWERFUL STEERING AND BRAKING.

I SURE WILL! [Dog Powered Scooter via Neatorama]

The dog mansion contains two bedrooms and a day lounge, temperature-controlled beds outlined with sheepskin, automated food and water dispensers that pour their goods into self-cleaning eating and drinking bowls, a 18-inch deep pool, a $230,000 sound system (they can hear sounds we can't, you know) and even a retina scanner... to stop other pets from entering.

Well, at least the dog house is kind of environmentally friendly—with geothermal heating and solar and wind power generators, it produces more energy than it uses. Yay, Earth? [Dailymail via Born Rich]

Yes, this guy actually did that, at a cost of $214 to himself. However, I think the videos are obviously worth the expense and effort. I only wish they had sound. He's still running the thing, and he says he'll keep posting videos as he makes them until the cat either learns its lesson or has a heart attack and dies. [Blender Defender]

The camera itself is one of the cheapest network cameras out there, the DCS-900. It can be picked up for about $120 or so. There are a couple network cameras that are a little cheaper, but the D-Link one is pretty rugged and makes it easy to get into the raw feeds, something that cant be said for many other cameras.

As you can see from the videos above, the blender and the strobe light are both controlled by an X10 unit. The unit is sent an on or off command from the computer running upstairs by means of an X10 Firecracker. The Firecracker is just a wireless X10 transmitter that plugs into your serial port. I wont get into explaining it much here, but one thing to note is that is happily co-exists with my CM11A unit.

The computer upstairs is running the 'motion' library for linux. As soon as it detects something moving on camera, it starts recording frames. While it is saving frames, it also initiates another Perl script I wrote that sends an X10 command to turn on the blender and strobe, wait 3 seconds, then turn them off. After the script is done detecting motion, it then splices all the JPG frames together using ffmpeg and saves the resulting movie as a SWF file, which you can see above. Finally, after it saves the movie, I have it set up to email me a link to the movie so I can see the results from where ever I'm at (remotely by using my phone).

The Israeli city of Petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv, has just launched a six-month trial program that will have local dogs DNA tested so their droppings can be identified after being scraped off the bottom of your shoe. The system will work both as a way to punish poop-leavers as well as reward those who do their civic duty by cleaning up after their pooches. If you scoop up after your dog and leave it in specially marked bins along the streets, you'll be eligible for pet food coupons and dog toys. If it's found on the street, you'll be eligible for fines.

It's a pretty interesting idea, but I wonder if it's worth all the effort. Sure, clean streets are great, but how much does it cost to set something this elaborate up? I mean, how much are you going to have to pay the poor bastard whose job it is to go around analyzing dog crap from the sidewalks? Yikes. [Reuters]

The hack requires a little plumbing know how and some circuitry work, which makes it slightly harder than your normal DIY project. To help you and your pets out, Tsruzik has put together some kits for order. Prices range from $10 to $125.

The end product works a lot like those sinks that automatically turn on when you waive your hands under them—except instead of detecting hands, it detects cats. Tsruzik has even thrown in an optional “people detector” so that the faucet won't run every time a person walks by. Check out the video to see some cute kittie drinking action:
[MAKE]

Yikes. To make you feel better, might I suggest revisiting the adorable bionic puppy? [Environmental Graffiti via io9]

I think it's the spin cycle. The tiny water-efficient unit rotates with incredible speed, making a sound that's somewhere between a pneumatic drill and a jet engine launch. During the first load of laundry we washed, Anya (the cat) stood three feet away trembling in fear.

She's a tough cat, so it's a bit disturbing to see her scared.

Anya raised one paw, ready to smack the mechanical beast down if necessary. We couldn't approach her to assuage her fears with pets/snuggles. She was busy in a battle for her/our lives.

Since that evening, it's gotten better, but only a little. Frequently, she sits in front of the washer when it's not in use, studying the slumbering beast for any weakness and knowledge of what makes it tick.

It's just a lousy situation, as there's no good solution here. (Imagine that conversation with our landlord. "You have to buy our cat new laundry equipment, sorry.") We have to give it time—time for our very loved pet to become less and less intimidated by an electronic device that doesn't even know she exists. Because there's simply no way to tell an animal that inanimate objects mean them no harm.

And while it's kind of funny for a moment or two, eventually you start to feel like a real jerk for keeping such electronics around. Has anyone out there had similar issues with their pets and gadgets?

Wan Love Yu's micro bubble technology can stably produce bubbles with a 20μm average diameter, that's roughly 600,000 bubbles in one square centimeter. The bubbles are negatively charged so that they attach to positively charged organic particles and lift them off. The result—foam that reaches way down into a dog's hair to dissolve dirt and grime.

The Wan Love Yu generator attaches to a regular hose in the bathtub, so it doesn't require any additional piping work. IDEC is planning on releasing Wan Love on June 20 in Japan for between $6,000 to $7,000. Though if that's the price for shampoo free doggy eyes, I say Fido ought to just suck it up and bathe the old fashioned way. [Fareastgizmos]

The urn can handle up to 75 pounds of pet remains—if you have one giant dog or many smaller ones that you mix together—has a 7-inch screen and 256MB of storage for your photos and audio recordings. Yes, we said audio recordings, which can play back your pet's various noises for you to enjoy from the comfort of your couch. Who can put a price on loving your pet after he/she's gone? Pet-Urns can, and they're $249. [Pet-Urns via Picture Snob]

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[Yanko Design]

Essentially, this thing is a sunshine simulator, making your pet feel like its laying out in the sun even when it's the middle of February. But do you know what else a pet can sleep in front of to feel warm? A heater or a fireplace. It's not like there needs to be a bright light there to confuse your cat about what season it is, and last time I checked pets don't need to tan, as they're covered in hair. If you purchase this you should officially lose your right to use currency and should forfeit agency over your finances to a third party with some sense in its damned head. [TrendHunter via BornRich]

Naturally, there is no word on when the Pet Pavillion will be released or how much it will cost. However, it will be on display to the public at the Koreannovation trade show in NYC from May 14th-15th. [Koreannovation via Gearlog]

Essentially, it looks like this is your basic reward system, with a special food wand making it easier to jam food right in your goldfish's face when it does something right. Of course, you can't scratch it behind the ears or take it for walks or go outside and play with it, but a coldhearted parent like you doesn't care about things like that, do you? [R2 Fish School]