THis Pooch will never bite the hand that feeds it
Hong Kong residents longing to own a pet but afraid to antagonise estate management may find an answer to their problem in Sega's 'idog', a canine robot that will not mess up your carpet. The hi-tech dog expresses emotion, plays music and even waggles its tail in time to the beat. It also reacts to its owner's tone of voice through seven LEDs on its face that express emotion.
Stressed-out owners should be careful about what they say, however, as idog can also mimic expletives by playing sounds in a similar wavelength to your voice. An audio jack under the pooch's right hind leg lets you plug in your iPod (or other audio player) to broadcast through idog's speaker. The 168-gram robot will sell for $300 from April.
golf firm on the ball with swinging, beeping device
A California-based golf company has come up with an application for RFID technology to help directionally-challenged golfers - it inserts radio-frequency tags in golf balls and provides players with a handset. Radar Golf's patented Ball Positioning System (BPS) beeps when pointed towards the ball, within a range of 30 metres. 'By minimising lost ball penalties, we estimate the average golfer will improve per-round scores by an average of two to four strokes,' the company said.
The company contracts handset manufacture to Philippines-based Integrated Microelectronics Inc (IMI), while the tagged golf balls are made in Qingdao, China.