Slashdot Mirror
First Cell Phone for Dogs
revelCyllufyalP writes "A company called PetsMobility has come out with PetCell, the first cell phone for dogs. The phone will allow users to call their dogs in case the dog gets away and also includes a GPS tracking device if the dog doesn't respond to the call. In addition, the PetCell will feature GeoFence, which will alert owners whenever their dogs wander outside a prescribed area. Will the PetCell actually prove useful to dog owners or is it just another cheap gimmick?"
Gives a whole new meaning to "calling the dog."
http://www.fido.ca/
another worthless widget to consume!
Please, go fulfill the American Dream (TM) and buy one today!
signatures are for fools with hands
Fine for those serious pet owners who would die if their pet ran away, but it will be a total mess if people just purchase these things and let their dogs run loose just because they can track them.
Dvorak on Doomtech
... an easier way of callin your b*tches!
fo shizzle...
My dog can pretty much chew through anything it wants. I am not sure I want him chewing on something with a battery inside. If I attach this cell to him, he will think it is his, and think he is allowed to chew on it.
quis custodiet ipsos custodes
Do they have an anti-face-biting-off attachment for rottweilers?
signatures are for fools with hands
I could be wrong but $350 to $400 doesn't sound too much like a cheap gimmick.
Quid, me anxius sum?
That's why I'm a cat person. Kitty goes out, Kitty comes back in. She ain't dumb, she knows where her food dish is.
Funnily, I've seen FAR more "lost cat" posters than "lost dog" posters.
"A company called PetsMobility has come out with PetCell, the first cell phone for dogs. The phone will allow users to call their dogs in case the dog gets away and also includes a GPS tracking device if the dog doesn't respond to the call."
You know, just on the one-in-a-million chance your dog either doesn't answer the phone at all or does answer it but can't quite make out the street signs so he can tell you where he is.
I saved a bundle my just giving my dog a quarter. Last time he got lost he found a payphone and asked me to come pick him up. It worked out well enough, but I'm also considering getting him one of those Franklin translating electronic phrasebooks, in case he gets lost in the Spanish-speaking area of town and needs to ask for directions.
"Will the PetCell actually prove useful to dog owners or is it just another cheap gimmick?"
Gosh, that's a real stumper.
A thinly disguised means of putting a GPS leash on your kids... My guess is the pet angle just makes it look more friendly/gets more press, whereas the paranoid parent market will be the real revenue generator.
bleurk. Must be nice to be treated like a parolee by your parents... really inculcates that sense of responsibility. Ah well, you get the kids you deserve--and then we all deal with the consequences.
Next thing you know the government will use these things to tax our dogs. Take it outside your backyard, pay a walk tax.
This would be useful for a girlfriend, lets see:
- "The phone will allow users to call their girlfriend in case the girlfriend gets away", very useful feature!
- "and also includes a GPS tracking device if the girlfriend doesn't respond to the call", very nice, I definately want to check where she is going!
- "In addition, the GirlCell will feature GeoFence, which will alert owners whenever their girlfriends wander outside a prescribed area.", also very useful. No more going to shopping/partying to a nearby city without my knowledge.
Kitty goes out, Kitty comes back in.
Except when Kitty gets run over, or sneaks onto a truck bound for Vladivostok, or urinates on the wrong car, or gets caught by animal control, or... Quite apart from the lack of consideration towards your neighbours (people can be allergic, phobic or just plain don't want kittycrap in their yards), it's not good petkeeping to let it run free either.
If you want to have a cat in a city, keep it indoors or walk it leashed. Seriously. Just like with dogs, if they are trained to wear a leash as kittens they have no problem with it.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
*answers his cell phone*
What boy? There's trouble at the well? Little timmy's stuck?
GOOD BOY! I'll be there right away!
You never realize how much manually made unmanaged "linked" lists suck, till you have src.link.link.link.link...
In soviet Russia, dogs call you!
Well, you have to call it so that it can read the GPS display back to you.
Duh.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
The GPS and GeoFence features sound like they'd be much more useful to the pet owner than the cell phone capabilities. What, exactly, are pet owners going do tell their dog over the phone? "Sit?" "Stay?" And how will the dog respond to a disembodied voice that seems to be coming from behind its head?
That's why this seems like a giant gimmick to me. If it weren't a gimmick, and were actually useful, the designers would have ditched the cell phone capability as a very expensive add on and just marketed it based on the dog-tracking capabilities. This will probably be bought by those pathetic dog owners who make ridiculous outfits for their pets to wear and visit pet psychologists when Fido barks twice more this week than he did last week.
When you call a dog it comes to you because it hears your voice coming from the direction you want it to go. So how is the animal supposed to understand where you are calling it to when your voice is coming from a speaker beside its ear?
From the article (italics are mine)
"Sturdy and slobber-resistant, the PetCell isn't just for dogs. PetsMobility's parent company, On4 Communications, is simultaneously rolling out models for kids, the elderly and outdoor sports fanatics who enjoy snowboarding and kayaking."
http://www.santacruzbynight.com/index.shtml Santa Cruz By Night Vampire Larp
OK, dis me if you want but I happen to have a $1000 dog. Unusual purebreds come high. When he gets nervous or excited, he can scale a 6-foot fence. I'll likely wait 'till the price drops a bit but it would be a valuable service to know if he leaves the area and to be able to go out and positively track him down. The "call your dog" feature seem to me to be a subset of the other necessary functions. To call and get GPS location, you need full-bore cell functionality anyway. Hey, maybe next they will add a camera and I can see where he is.
Profanity - The sign of a small mind trying to express itself.
...when someone's dog is run over because their owner calls on one of these gadgets and the dog is distracted. I mean most humans would be confused if a voice started coming out of some place on their body. I can just picture one of my dogs cocking his head from side to side in confusion.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
People must actually care about their cats.
"Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality." -- Dalai Lama
"Or get several and set up a wireless mesh network using all the neighborhood strays!" ... and call it Fidonet.
Resistance is futile. Reactance buggers it up.
"The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
No the real issue is whether the dog is responding in particular to the command or to the person. It has been well established that dogs can understand vocabulary. IE a word as an abstract meaning. Thus they do not need a person to understand that fetch *object* only means fetch it if a certain person asks it in a certain way. If you doubt this go look into it. There was a story about a border collie not to long ago that recognised dozens of objects... that is in a room full of these objects if you asked the dog to fetch a specific one it would find it and bring it back, and bring back nothing if it was not to be found.
As for recognising a voice on the phone. Hell some people can't do that and just like you wouldn't necesarrily do something some unrecogniseable person asks you to do niether will a dog. On the otherhand a dog may be more willing if they are trained to do more. Also they may recognise (perhaps even mistakenly identify) the voice and then be willing to do anything they would normally. Also the dog may be unwilling to seperate the voice from the presence of the person. Same thing happend to people with the invention of the phone in the first place. But we deal with abstraction better than dogs.
I always find it funny when people insist that a dog does not understand a command given by someone they don't know. They seem to be unable to understand that the dog is quite capable of deciding they are not someone they have to obey. Some will respond to any attention just like some people. And some are loyal to one person.
I don't ask you to be me. I only ask you not expect me to be you.
Brain from Inspector Gadget had one of these years ago.
if you're trying to impress me, you've failed. harumph.
---
Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!
You're looking at these relationships the wrong way.
To a dog, you're family.
To a cat, you're staff.