Pet Wearables? But Seriously, Folks... (Video)

It sounds like a joke at first, but Risto Lähdesmäki, CEO of user interface design firm Idean (corporate motto: Life is too short for crappy UX), pointed us at DogTelligent and several other companies that are making pet wearables that seem to have real, practical uses. But Risto and his design crew work primarily on wearables and interface design for humans, and since their client list ranges from Sony and Samsung to Volkswagen and Rolls Royce, Risto is in a great position to spot future trends in the (maybe too) hot wearables market.

Comments

Nothing new

[110010001000]

This is nothing new. I have been wearing my pet for years.

Re:Nothing new

[snookiex]

Wake me up when the sharks start wearing lasers on their backs.

I roll for disbelief

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

Can I try a save against illusions? This guy looks like he's sitting in his mom's kitchen. He owns a company? Droid, please.

WTH is this?

[The-Ixian]

First of all TWO full 30 second ads in a 7 minute video? come on man...

Second, I didn't get any better sense at all about what the pets would be wearing... the guy mostly just talked about how we (humans) are using more wearables these days and how maybe they could be used to .... idk (there was no real point made).

Talk about blatant /vertisement... I think the video is simply a vehicle for the ads and that is it.

Re:WTH is this?

[Roblimo]

2 30-second preroll ads? Barf. I've always considered 15 seconds -- or "skip ad after 5 seconds" -- the maximum that should be inflicted on readers/viewers. I'll check with our ad and tech people, see what's happening. I know a lot of publishers consider 30 seconds okay, but 2X30 seconds? Not good, but obviously not under the control of anyone who actually works on the site. Sigh.

Re:WTH is this?

[ColdWetDog]

Yo Dog! I heard you liked pre rolls on your pre roll.

Re:UNSUBSCRIBE

[VAXcat]

Digg was like this right before the end.

Collar with speakers ...

[perpenso]

I ignored the video and the first link and looked only at the link for the company with a product. A "smart" dog collar. GPS, cellular, speakers. Aside from the expected "where's my dog" utility, the speakers were an interesting surprise. Issuing relatively quiet commands remotely, not having to yell across a field.

Re:Collar with speakers ...

[Quasimodem]

One feature was "Track Progress & Create Goals"

The only goals my dog ever had were to follow me every time I went near the refrigerator, lick my face, and catch that Frisbee,

.

Bark collars, gopros

[gurps_npc]

These already exist. Grouping them together and saying they are 'pet wearables' is the only new thing here.

Bark Collars, collar cameras, RFID chips that unlock a pet door, GPS locators, implanted RFID chips are available already.

What's the big deal?

[wonkey_monkey]

It sounds like a joke at first

No it doesn't. It's no more or less of a joke than human wearables. In fact, it's probably less so.

My old dog had an LED collar for walks at night. Is that a "wearable"?

Heck, pets are miles ahead of us. Most of them have already got "implantables" which can be used to unlock (cat and doggy) doors!

Hipster Pets?

[Irate Engineer]

Are shock collars "pet wearables" now? Wow, Sparky is going to be so psyched that he had pet wearables before they were cool!

Déjà vu

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

https://soezooscope.files.word...

<southpark>Pixar did it!</southpark>

I've had a wireless cat tracker for years...

[Wrath0fb0b]

If you have an indoor/outdoor cat, it's a pretty major convenience to track them down when it's time to go to the vet or before it's going to rain (cat's too stupid to figure that out, will get soaked and track it in, at least they're sterilized).

So yeah, nothing new here, ....

Re:UNSUBSCRIBE

[Xabraxas]

Slashdot went downhill long ago. 10 years ago people were bitching about how bad it was then.

I've done it.

[Jethro]

I walk my dog at an off-leash park every day, and in the dead of winter it gets pitch-dark here around 4:30pm. We have a light-up collar, but you can only see it from specific angles, so I used an arduino lilypad to add some lights to her jacket. The arduino board means I can make the lights be any colour I like, or even have patterns, and (most importantly) I can make them turn on automatically when it gets dark.

Range? Battery life?

[billstewart]

How far a range do you get on them? What's the battery life like?

My cats have all been indoor cats, and only some of them have been willing to wear collars (the others find ways to ditch them and hide them under furniture), and most of the ones who hated collars were the ones least likely to be able to find their way back home if they got out. So changing batteries sounds like trouble.

Dog wearables are easy; cats harder

[billstewart]

Most dogs are big enough that you've got more room for a useful device on a collar. Also, about half the cats I've owned were able to ditch collars and hide them under furniture.