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Mattel is about to launch a toy that will brighten the lives of some dog lovers — but act as a sign of the coming apocalypse for folks who aren’t so keen on cute pet gimmicks. It’s called Puppy Tweet, and it gives your dog the ability to send Twitter updates about what he or she is doing.

Well, sort of.

The collar detects when your dog moves or make a sound, then randomly selects one of 500 pre-written tweets to post to Twitter. Your dog has to be within a reasonable distance of the room with your computer in it, though; the tweets are sent wirelessly from the collar to a USB receiver that has to be plugged into a supported Internet-connected device.

Since the selection is random, the tweets don’t really represent what your dog is doing. It’s more a placebo that reminds you that your beloved pet is out there doing something, whatever it is. They’re cute though. A couple examples: “I finally caught that tail I’ve been chasing, and . . . OOUUUCHH!” and “I bark because I miss you. There, I said it. Now hurry home.”

It sounds like it would get redundant, but Mattel Brands President Neil Freidman said “”Eventually it will certainly repeat itself, but people repeat themselves, too.” True enough.

Puppy Tweets will cost $29.99 when it launches in the United States this fall at e-tailers like Amazon.

We’d be remiss not to mention when seeing this that it resembles the talking dog collar in the Pixar film Up — everybody else has mentioned it! Sadly, Puppy Tweets isn’t nearly as advanced as that one.

Tags: dogs, mattel, pets, twitter

If you thought the downfall of Twitter began when Oprah said it was the best thing ever, well, you’re probably right, but this latest toy from Mattel won’t help to improve the situation. It’s called Puppy Tweets, a little clasp that hangs from your pooch’s collar and detects what it’s up to — presumably making wild guesses based on accelerometer and microphone readings. It was announced last month and is being shown off at the NY Toy Fair, where Mattel is pledging it can detect 500 different activities and turn them into 140-character witticisms, like: “It’s not the catching of the tail, it’s the chase,” and “Guess what I’m licking right now.” Yep, a real product, and $30 will get you yours in either pink or blue.

Puppy Tweets will turn your Pooper into a world-class twitterer originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yes, we’ve seen this puppy before — but last time, we’d merely heard it was running Android. This time around, we’ve got a little more confirmation that the so-called Zeppelin from Moto is sporting Google code (allegedly Cupcake, sadly) with a dash of Blur added in for good measure. Gizmodo Brazil — which scored some time with a prototype — suggests that this’ll see duty on the lower end of Motorola’s smartphone lineup, and we tend to agree considering the HVGA display that takes up far less space than it could if Moto had wanted to go for broke. A keyboardless companion to the CLIQ / DEXT, perhaps? Carriers are an open question here, but we’ve heard rumblings of interest on T-Mobile USA’s part; the site says it’ll hit streets in March, so we shouldn’t have long to wait to find out.

Motorola Zeppelin spotted again, Android-ness confirmed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Productivity guru Merlin Mann interviews best-selling business author Seth Godin about his new book, called Linchpin, discussing lizard and puppy brains, Bob Dylan, and why the cost of failure is so low that you should ignore your brain’s instincts.

Photo by sheilaellen.

The entire interview is available over at 43 Folders, and it’s chock full of interesting conversation about productivity and work (Godin even professes an affinity for Lifehacker), but our favorite discussion focuses on what Mann sums up as “beating back the fear and resistance that drive mediocrity.” After focusing on the driving factors that cause us to avoid taking risks (our brains evolved to see failure as a life-or-death concern, which is clearly no longer the case for most “risks”), Godin ends with this nugget:

The cost of failure is not that a saber-toothed tiger eats you… the cost of failure is nothing. The worst thing that will happen is that you will fail and no one will notice.

The upshot: Rather than avoiding risks for fear of failure, go for it. Your brain can try telling you that you’re risking your life; you’re not.

Hit up 43 Folders for the full interview, and share your thoughts in the comments. If you like what you hear from Godin, Linchpin is available from Amazon for $17.

Filed under: Handhelds

Sungworld’s Android MID fights the future originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, now this isn’t your average, everyday, boring netbook now is it? Well, at least not in looks, anyway. The Sheng T108, which has recently been spotted in Shenzhen, China, has a brushed aluminum chasis that makes it stand out from the crowd, to be sure. Internally, you’ll find this 10.1-incher boasting an Intel Atom N280 CPU, 2GB of DDR2 memory, and a 250GB hard drive — nothing volcanically surprising, but not too shabby either. It’s also got a 3-cell battery, a VGA port, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi support, a built in webcam, and a SIM card slot for 3G connectivity. The pricing is said to be somewhere in the realm of $300, and while there’s no word on availability of this puppy outside of China, we’ll certainly keep our eyes peeled for you. One more shot after the break.

Continue reading Sheng T108 brushed aluminum netbook appears

Sheng T108 brushed aluminum netbook appears originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Archos has been on a real PMP tear as of late, releasing the Archos 2 Vision, 3 Vision, and the Clipper all in one pop back in August. The company’s now launched yet another Vision model, the entry-level 1 Vision. This tiny little 4GB dude has a 1.5-inch LCD and supposedly gets about 20 hours of battery life per charge. No video support in this puppy, but the €30 (somewhere in the realm of $45) pricetag should temper some of your crushing disappointment over its lack of features. The Archos 1 Vision should be available in Europe by the end of November.

[Via PMP Today]

Super cheap Archos 1 Vision DMP set for release this month originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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