pets

What would you do for free Wi-Fi? Mexican Internet provider Terra has teamed up with ad agency DDB to offer free Wi-Fi in public parks to dog owners who clean up after their pets.

As seen in the absurd promo vid below, owners who deposit poop in the special bins in 10 parks in Mexico City will be rewarded with free Wi-Fi, broadcast through routers shaped like doggy bones.

The more you add, the more minutes you and everyone else gets. The bins seem to have a simple scale to weigh the poop, so they would likely still work if people put rocks or trash in them instead. … Read more

Facebook users can now rescue homeless cats and dogs by potentially fixing them up with the right owners.

Spearheaded by PetSmart Charities, the new Share a Pic, Save a Pet campaign is calling on users of the social network to spread the word among family, friends, and followers about pets available for adoption in their communities. Information and photos of local homeless pets, along with links to the local shelters currently hosting them, can be shared directly on your Facebook timeline and appear on the newsfeeds of your friends.

Facebook users who want to do their part can tap into … Read more

Kacper Jarecki, a librarian at Queens Library in New York, has 10 other life forms living with him. They just all happen to be electronic toys.

Jarecki's Virtual Pet Shelter is one of the more unusual projects on Kickstarter. It has a modest $250 goal and no backers yet, but there's a certain charm to the concept.

Digital-pet revival In case you missed the fad, virtual pets are little electronic toy creatures that require "feeding" and care--and sometimes, as in the case of Webkinz, have alter-egos in the form of online avatars. Jarecki is looking to … Read more

The Internet is for sharing knowledge, interacting with others, and expanding our mental and social horizons. Scrap that. The Internet is for cat videos--and Friskies knows it.

The Friskies Plus Playhouse is a social-media experiment that embeds live feeds of rescue cats into Friskies's Facebook page. Ten cats occupy a feline fantasy penthouse full of scratchers, videos of rodents and birds, an aquarium, wiggling toys, and stacks of cat food cans.

Facebook users can wait in line to activate remote-control toys to drive the felines wild. This is made possible by iPet Companion, a technology system that is already in use in several shelters around the country. … Read more

Ah, we are but mere mortals, and scientific research has a way of reminding us precisely how.

Not only has one recent study found that humans can experience age-related neurological decline as early as 45, but scientists are also reporting in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine that positron emission tomography (PET) can safely and accurately detect dementia early on.

The technique, according to lead author Nicolaas Bohnen in a news release, not only helps diagnose dementia, but also improves physician confidence: "This process can be difficult for physicians, especially when evaluating younger patients or those who have subtle signs … Read more

Fifteen years is a pretty good life span for many pets. Tamagotchi is celebrating the birth of its digital critters with a limited-edition anniversary model.

In case you missed the Tamagotchi craze, they are little egg-shaped gadgets with small screens that house electronic pets. Each one starts from an egg, and has to be fed, cleaned up after, and disciplined as it goes through its virtual lifecycle.

Bandai's Tamagotchi spawned the sale of 78 million units and taught a lot of kids about the virtual joys, tribulations, and sorrows of digital parenthood.

Tamagotchi may be 105 in dog years, but it has learned a few new tricks along the way. The Tamagotchi iD L 15th Anniversary Model features a full-color screen with new characters and games.… Read more

Don't underestimate the power of Japan's brassieres.

We've seen Japanese bras that can grow rice, pressure men to propose, double as a golf green, and even offer messages of support in a crisis.

Now Japanese underwear makers are turning bras into an alternative fuel.

Triumph International and Wacoal have been collecting used bras from customers and turning the raw materials minus the metal into refuse paper and plastic fuel (RPF), which is used to power industrial boilers and power generators. … Read more

Tap Fish makes you a pet owner by letting you start, grow, and maintain a digital aquarium, right on your Android device. It's fun and addicting, and best of all, it's a lot easier than taking care of a real tank full of fish.

First thing to do after downloading the app is drop some fish eggs in your tank. Choose a few species, and watch as your fish instantly materialize. From there, you must take care of your fish just as you would with an actual aquarium. Because the app functions in real time (which means it … Read more

Dog-walking services have graduated from flyers on poles to full-fledged serious businesses. The final coming-of-age moment is the arrival of Pet Check Technology, a suite that brings QR codes, mobile apps, and GPS to the dog-walking experience.

For dog-walking entrepreneurs, Pet Check includes online tools for scheduling clients, billing, and tracking dog-walking employees. That's all well and good, but it's a lot more fun when you look at it from the customer's standpoint.

Customers can look to see exactly when Fido was taken out on a jaunt, where he went, and what time he got back. That can help with scheduling when you need to be home from work. Completed walk reports are stored for future reference.… Read more