IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 44

winners & losers 2008

loser: SociAL NEt workiNg

social
NetworkiNg
goes to
the dogs
a $200 rfid dog tag tells owners-and
their neighbors-when their pets are alive,
at home, and sniffing things
By Sandra Upson

B
Mark PeterSOn/redUx

urberry dog leash:
US $195. Goyard collapsible dog bowl: $1970. A
case of 12 cans of Pinnacle
Holistic Trout and Sweet
Potato formula: $19. Meeting your
virtual soul mate online after walking your pooch: priceless.
The pet industry, worth about
$40 billion in the United States
alone, is in a growth spurt, up
65 percent since 2000. Pet products
are branching out as never before
in new and glamorous directions-
and also in a few weird ones.
www.spectrum.ieee.org

In that latter categor y you
might put some of the many petoriented social-networking sites,
such as Dogster. People who don't
share a household with an animal
might find it hard to fathom the
appeal of a Web site that allows a
pet owner to maintain a profile of
his furry companion, along with
anecdotes, a list of its friends,
and of course the dog's astrological sign. (Some of these sites
have an e-mail function: "Send a
message to this dog.") But wait, it
gets weirder.

What's missing from all these
sites is the real-time element. Sure,
it's fine that Rufus the bulldog is a
Scorpio, but what's he doing right
now? A company called Snif Labs,
in Boston, is out to rectify this shortcoming. Snif has created a colorful
little dog tag that purports to monitor a pet's activity levels, track the
walking habits of its friends and
enemies, and share it all in an online
community, with profiles for pets
and owners alike. The tag does a little bit of everything, though none of
it all that well. With its accompanying base station and software, the tag
will sell for $199.95.
The company's name is an acronym for Social Networking in Fur,
and it began life at MIT's Media
Lab. The Snif engineers are banking on a spring 2008 launch of this
one product, which they contend
will help neighboring dog owners
to befriend one another. Basically,
they have combined a radiofrequency-identification (RFID) tag
with an accelerometer. The tag is
battery powered and transmits its
identifying code, as well as receives
and stores other codes, when in
range of another tag's antenna.
The idea is that when a dog
goes for a walk and encounters
other Snif-tagged pooches, the
JANuAry 2008 * iEEE SpEctrum * NA

55



http://www.spectrum.ieee.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum January, 2008

IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 1
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 2
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 3
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 4
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 5
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 6
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 7
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 8
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 9
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 10
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 11
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 12
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 13
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 14
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 15
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 16
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 17
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 18
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 19
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 20
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 21
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 22
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 23
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 24
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 25
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 26
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 27
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 28
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 29
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 30
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 31
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 32
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 33
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 34
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 35
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 36
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 37
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 38
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 39
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 40
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 41
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 42
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 43
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 44
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 45
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 46
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 47
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 48
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 49
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 50
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - 51
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum January, 2008 - Cover4
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