IoP

This entire idea was triggered by a phone call I had earlier this afterevening, from Michael Rentisham-Ffoulkes, who is on the Technical Advisory Board of Rentishams.

Michael is aware of the Internet (he is, after all, a Technical Advisor) and is even considering installing a machine to access it in Rentisham's 'head Office. However, he had recently come across the phrase "Internet of Things", and asked me to give him a quick explanation thereof. I did my best.

Once he had grasped the concept of a refrigerator that can email its owner, he enquired as to whether animals had also been internet-enabled. He was quite surprised that, in going from the Internet of People to the Internet of Things, technology had not passed through the Internet of Animals. All this set me thinking, which is never a good thing, and I think he is onto something.

I have, in the past, been the guardian and protector of several goldfish. I am currently in loco parentis to four Giant African Land-snails. None of these pets is in any way satisfying. Goldfish just swim, go "glub glub", die and then float. Giant African Land-snails don't even do any of those things - they just live on and on, like chihuahuas and television chefs. Many other pets are equally unexciting.

The solution, it occurs to me, is to internet pets. Obviously giving a keyboard to a goldfish is unlikely to work, so a different approach is needed. Many pets, these days, are microchipped - the implanted chip simply serves to identify the animal, should it get lost. Yet, with modern electronics, the implanted chip could do more, much more.

What's needed is an implantable chip that can report interesting information, wirelessly, powered by a small internal battery that can be recharged inductively. Said chip will need things like GPS and compass, motion sensors, pressure and temperature sensors, and perhaps even a microphone (if the chip can be implanted just beneath the skin). The chip can be made to tweet interesting events, such as "My core temperature is 2 degrees above normal, perhaps I have distemper, LOL" or "Just finished 100 laps of my goldfish bowl - time for a snack!" or "I have been motionless for 34 hours. I'm either hibernating or dead but, as a cat, it's probably the latter."

Celebrity pets might attract quite a following ("I'm being taken out in Paris Hilton's handbag"; "I'm in the White House"), but even the most mundane pet could provide entertainment and diversion for its owner.