Scratchings-and-Sniffings

Vimtag Pet Surveillance Video Camera - Take 3

This post is sponsored by Vimtag. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about the camera, but everyone knows Scratchings and Sniffings only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Vimtag is not responsible for the content of this article.

Hey, it's Tom again. Not sure if you followed any of our holiday travel saga, but I did get a chance to log in and play with the camera again. If you missed my previous posts covering the basics of setting up and using the camera, you might want to start there, First Take and Take 2.

Recorded while traveling far, far away . . .

Keep in mind that we were in upstate New York, controlling the camera in our house over 1,500 miles away.

This time around, I've gone back and edited the raw video captured by the camera, to overcome two main problems: boredom and potential liability for deafness from the audio track. 

It's the models' fault

We tried to get them to look alive, really we did! The raw video was over 5 minutes long. And not much happened. During the live recording, I would have sworn I saw Olive's ear flick once or twice, seemingly in response to my voice. But I couldn't find it in the recording.

In this clip, you should be able to see Emily move her front paws a couple of times. To be honest, she does that often while chasing rabbits in her dreams, too, so I can't be certain that she actually heard me through the camera's speaker.

Zoom, zoom?

The camera and the app-based monitoring software enable you to zoom in and out, if you are using a device with a touch screen, like a smart phone, tablet, or my Samsung Windows 8 laptop. I played with it quite a bit during this session and it works great in real time. However, when I looked at the recording on the SD Card, the zooms were not captured. Why that happened is beyond my tech knowledge.

So the zooming in that you see in the clip above, I added during the editing using Camtasia Studio 8. I actually like that better, because it gives me much more precise control over when the zoom should begin and end.

Two-way audio not great for noisy environments

The only part that I'm less than satisfied with so far is the audio quality when I turn on the microphone and try to talk to the pets through the camera.

Now, the audio you hear when you just turn on the sound from the room where the camera sits is pretty good. You can hear Olive's clicking toenails on the floor and Yvonne's and my voices quite clearly in the Take 2 video.

But when I turned on the microphone to enable talking back to the pets through the camera, the audio quality went way down. We could (barely) hear and understand it during the live session, but in the recording there is so much background noise that my words were almost unintelligible. I removed as much of the noise as I could, but finally had to dub over to give you a sense of what was going on. 

Very little, as it turned out! ;-D

I'm not sure how much of the two-way audio issues might have been caused by using my laptop's built-in microphone with the speakers turned on, possibly creating a feedback loop, along with being in a room with two holiday-crazed kids and the adults trying to keep up!

I plan to try again, using my phone, our Galaxy tablet, and maybe a headset when I get a chance, so I'll let you know if I learn anything new.

But wait, there's more!

So much more, that if you're thinking about getting a camera for pet safety or general security, I urge you to find out even more about the Vimtag IP Video Camera VT-361.

Here are some of the additional features that I haven't mentioned specifically or had a chance to review:

• Motion Detection with Snap Shots and Alerts,
• Scheduling times for recording,
• 12 IR LEDs for Night Vision Up to 10 meters, 
• HD Video Quality 1280 x 720p,
• 320 degree x 120 degree panning range
• Ability to connect, monitor, and control multiple cameras from the app
• Web apps for iOS and Android devices, as well as PCs

Of course, the system has may possible uses (besides pet monitoring): Nanny Cam, Business Monitoring, Vacation Home Monitoring, Senior Monitoring, Remote Live Video Streaming, to name a few. All in all, this video camera system has been easy and fun to use and the video quality is exceptional for a surveillance tool. What do you think?

DogPacer: Does your dog need a treadmill?

A treadmill for dogs. Not convinced? See video below. Need more information, go to Dogpacer.com (am sharing this because it fascinates me, not because it was part of the BP conference). Hmmm... I wonder if we could get cats to do a treadmill? What do you think?

 

Here's a Pet Overpopulation Idea to Consider

We all know the terrible statistics about pet overpopulation. Millions of puppies, kittens, adult dogs and cats are put to sleep every year because we can't find homes for them. One of the solutions is obviously spaying and neutering.

Most of us are responsible enough to realize that but many don't heed the call. Whether it's an education issue or a financial issue, lots of dogs and cats don't ever get spayed or neutered. Believe it or not an un-spayed cat and her offspring can produce 400,000 kittens and and an un-spayed dog and her offspring can produce 6000 puppies. That's scary.

Bone Grafts for Fracture Repair

As I well know, sometimes broken bones don't heal properly. I spent most of 2008 dealing with a broken wrist from my mountain biking habit. After and unsuccessful cast I had surgery where a plate was applied to the fracture. Along with the plate I had what is called a bone allograft. That means that I had bone supplied by a tissue bank from some other human donor. This bone was packed into the fracture site along with the plate to help bridge the gap created by the non union.

Using bone from a tissue bank is common practice in human orthopedic surgery. The other option is to harvest bone from the surgical patient at the same time you are doing the fracture repair. Called an autograft as opposed to an allograft, bone is usually taken from the patient's hip for use at the fracture site. 

The Soul of a Horse: Joe Camp Teaches Life Lessons Worth Learning

[UPDATED TO FIX TYPOS - FINGERS MUST HAVE BEEN TOO FAST THE DAY I WROTE THIS]

Everyone always wants to know what you're reading and at any given time I'm reading two or three books at once. No, no...not at once like I have each of them open on my bed and I switch from one to the other every fifteen minutes. Hmmm...I wonder if anyone does that?

What I mean is that one day I'll read book A, the neXt I'll read book B. And so on.

I know people, mostly business people, who profess to read a book a day. I find that a bit unrealistic. A book a day? Are they really short books? Do they just skim the beginning and end and consider the book 'read'? I don't know. It takes me longer than a day to read a book because I read it page by page, from beginning to end. And, with really good books, I stop now and then to think about what I just read. Contemplate it a bit.

Today, I want to talk about a book that has little to do with dogs or cats. It has to do with horses. However, it came about because of a dog. So, it counts.

Do I Hear Barking? Do I Hear Meowing? I Do!

Wait until you see what I found! It has me laughing and crying - and dancing in my chair!

But first...what's up with this blog? I set the previous post to go live on Tuesday - so I thought. Obviously, I clicked the wrong thing - because Typepad had it set to publish on December 29th! Wow -  even I'm not that good, to have posts all lined up until the end of the month. Anyway, I noticed it this morning (or was it this afternoon? ok..Carmel says it was this afternoon), and I told Typepad to publish now. Which it did. With the December 29th date on it! I don't get it.

Well, all's well that ends well, so they say. I republished with today's date and it's fine now. Hence, the mix-up in your aggregator, if you subscribe to this Scratchings and Sniffings. My apologies.

Now...onward and upward, into the happy holiday season. Look at what I found: Barks and Cats pet products. I have to do more investigating, but I'm liking what I see! Check it out for yourself.

They even have a blog! Check out Santa Paws, the story: "upon a time, a dog named Santa Paws delivered goodies to dogs everywhere on Dogmas Eve. Santa Paws was a fat little white dog with curly fur. His eyes were blue and his nose was black. Santa Paws lived at the Dog Pole. It was perfect for dogs because..." Sorry, I'm not giving it away. You have to go to the blog to see the rest.

Enjoy! Then, come back and write a story for me!

Innovation in the World of Pets

This week I'm in New York City at the Fortune Innovation Forum conference. I've been talking about it a lot over on my Marketing to Women Online site, but haven't really mentioned it here. This morning I got to thinking about pets and innovation - and wondered if anyone out there wants to share ideas on this topic.

Is selling human products designed for pets, innovative? Like, doggie beds, clothes for your cat, or cookies for your pet? How do we judge innovation to begin with? Is it anything that's new and different? Or, are there certain requirements? Does innovation have to actually do something, or accomplish something? Does it have to be for the public good? Can creating innovative pet products be for the public good? [pic compliments of or rather, borrowed from, Creature Bug blog.]

I think I'm on a roll. Yesterday I was reading an article in my Smithsonian magazine, by novelist Paul Theroux. His article, "Living with Geese" contains this observation, "Animal lovers often tend to be misanthropes or loners, and so they transfer their affection to the creature in their control."

He goes on to say,