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New Security System Interprets Guard Dog Barking

When a dog barks, do you know what it is saying – or at least trying to say?

A system designed by an Israeli tech firm is being employed by the Israel Prison Service to help guards understand when a guard dog's barking is "normal" and when the dog is stressed, which could mean that a dangerous situation is developing.

Guard dogs are often able to sense a developing situation well before people or automated systems recognize danger – but human guards often don't hear the dogs or ignore the barking until it is too late.

Watch a video demonstration here.

That's why the developers at Bio-Sense, a high-tech company near Tel Aviv, created the program to interpret dog barks. They recorded thousands of dog barks from a variety of situations, from playtime to cat encounters to real emergencies. They then analyzed the barking to differentiate between normal and emergency situations. Now they claim the system identifies when a dog senses a problem and when it is just, ahem, crying wolf.

This goes well beyond the the LED light that purportedly interprets what a dog's wagging tail means, although a group of Hungarian scientists have developed a fairly complex program to interpret the language of the Mudi herding breed. The Hungarian system does not appear to be used by anyone yet for practical purposes.

The system from Bio-Sense, however, is in place with more than 100 clients in Israel, from prisons that want to prevent jail breaks to farmers who are trying to prevent theft. [Source: USA Today.]

Editor's Picks, Top Lists, Slideshows

12 Top Pet Gadgets

We already knew that people love uploading pictures of their pets online, but we had no idea how many gadgets and toys are available for our animal friends. From the bizarre to the practical, there's tons of tech out there that's designed to benefit owners and the pets themselves. Check out our list of some of the best gadgets available for pets, because it's time to stop spoiling ourselves with shiny new toys and treat our little companions instead.



GoDogGo! Automatic Fetch Machine


Busy. Tired. Neglectful. Whatever you are, sometimes you just can't play fetch with your dog. Unless, of course, you pick up the automated fetch machine, GoDogGo! Take this gadget, load it up with tennis balls -- six of which are included -- and start firing away. You can manually fire the balls or set them to launch automatically every 7 or 15 seconds between 15 and 30 feet. Set it up in your yard with the included AC adapter or run it at the park with six D batteries, and you'll have an easy, lazy solution to playing with your "best friend."

Editor's Picks, Top Lists, Slideshows

12 Wacky Pet Gadgets

We already knew that people love uploading pictures of their pets online, but we had no idea how many gadgets and toys are available for our animal friends. From the bizarre to the practical, there's tons of tech out there that's designed to benefit owners and the pets themselves. Check out our list of some of the best gadgets available for pets, because it's time to stop spoiling ourselves with shiny new toys and treat our little companions instead.



GoDogGo! Automatic Fetch Machine


Busy. Tired. Neglectful. Whatever you are, sometimes you just can't play fetch with your dog. Unless, of course, you pick up the automated fetch machine, GoDogGo! Take this gadget, load it up with tennis balls -- six of which are included -- and start firing away. You can manually fire the balls or set them to launch automatically every 7 or 15 seconds between 15 and 30 feet. Set it up in your yard with the included AC adapter or run it at the park with six D batteries, and you'll have an easy, lazy solution to playing with your "best friend."

LED Gadget Translates Your Dog's Tail Wags

LED Gadget Translates Your Dog's Tail Wags

We've seen toys that claim to decifer dog barks (and even fancy computers that can decode the barks of a particular breed of dog better than humans can), but we still haven't seen a big glowing sign that spells out what your dog is trying to say -- until now.

Okay, truth be told, you still won't, at least not at home, unless you run to New York's MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) for a demo at the Elastic Mind exhibit, since this device is just a concept.

The proposed device would attach to the dog's tail, measure his or her WPM (Wags Per Minute) and use that to figure out what he/she is trying to say. It would then spell out your canine's message in LED lights in mid air as the your dogs tail wags, turning it into a tacky novelty message board.

From Engadget

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Cell Phones

PetCell, the Mobile Phone for Dogs

Calling Your Dogs
If you're prone to losing your dog or have a Barbara-Walters-like ability to communicate with your pooch, you may want to pick up the PetCell, which is exactly what it sounds like -- a cell phone for your pet. Our dogs' conversation skills tend to be a little lackluster, so the calling feature seems a little pointless for anything beyond a a laugh.

That said, dogs do have a tendency to wander off and get lost, which is where the device's built-in GPS features come in handy. Like Verizon Wireless's Migo phone with Chaperone Service for keeping track of your kids, PetCell's GPS capability lets you track Fido's movements, as well as build electronic borders for he or she to stay in -- if your pet steps outside of a predesignated zone, you'll get an automatic alert in the form of a text message or e-mail to your phone or computer.

And get this --the phone can also be programed to only accept calls from specific numbers so that telemarketers can't convince the poor pooch to subscribe to US Weekly. Did we mention it's also waterproof?

Besides the GPS capability, the device is fairly pointless, particularly when you factor in the outrageous $500 price tag before you add a service plan. For that money, we wonder why PetCell doesn't have media playback capabilities and a multi-touch screen.

Of course, pet gadgets -- useful or otherwise -- are always good for a laugh, so here are a few others that made us smile:

From Sci-Fi Tech

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