In today’s Remainders: wishful thinking. Nikon fans hope they’ve stumbled on a viral campaign for new cameras; magazine companies hope their slick new ads will keep you buying magazines; Google CEO Eric Schmidt gets pranked in 1986, and more. Follow the Signs Camera geeks are getting excited over some mysterious cards that have been showing up in their mailboxes. First I’ll explain what’s on the cards and then I’ll explain what people are surmising, just because it’ll be funnier that way.

Phwroar, get a load of ‘er rear end! This German heavy machinery calendar is wall-porn for anyone who fetishizes CAT bulldozers and diggers. Strangely enough, I want one. A calendar, that is—where would I park a digger? The Heavy Equipment Calendar 2010 came about with CAT fan Marcus Mumbach trekking across Europe, photographing these beautiful machines in action.

You know, there are times when you have to part ways with your adorable kitties at home, and you might not be so keen on getting a cat sitter in case he or she touches your precious game consoles (even if it’s an old granny ). We’ve seen the lazy man’s solution before, but Britain’s Mathew Newton has brought us a new DIY internet-enabled cat feeder just in time for a new decade. Rather than using a CD-ROM tray to push-release unknown quantities of cat food, Mathew’s version has a motor-driven cereal dispenser controlled by signal from port status LEDs on a Cisco switch — an ingenious way to avoid expensive Ethernet relay units. When it’s feeding time the user logs onto a web interface to choose the dispensing quantity, or you can also have an automatic feed schedule set up if you trust the system — Mathew said he “can rely on it 100%,” and his cats do appear to be healthy. Fortunately, you can always check the live video stream just in case you have doubts

In all honesty, this entire list is a “do not buy” for normal people, but I love my dogs beyond reason . So, here are some unreasonable gifts for them, your pets and your pet loving geek friends. BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the Grinch hated Christmas, click here . Remote Fetch : Ball chasing is very good exercise for pooches, even if it can cause obsession and anti social tendencies that will result in thousands of dollars in dog therapy. Capable of being remote triggered at 7 or 15 second intervals, or just automatically throwing balls your dog drops in the bucket, it might be worth the trouble. Think of it as the equivalent of a video game for a dog

Floridian Keith Griffin most certainly didn’t download over a thousand images containing child pornography . No siree. It must’ve been his dear puddy-tat who downloaded pictures of those oh-so-illegal birds. According to a sheriff’s report Friday, Griffin told investigators his cat jumped on the keyboard while he was downloading music. He said he had left the room and found “strange things” on his computer when he returned

When the fine folks of the USB Implementers Forum put together the specs for USB 2.0 some nine odd years ago, they certainly never dreamed that this technology would be the standard connectivity option for the tacky knickknacks of the 21st century. We know you won’t be lining your mantelpiece with any of these things (the space being reserved for your Franklin Mint collector plates depicting the cast of Gone With The Wind ) but maybe your cube could use some gussying up? We have 2GB thumb drives for you that almost-not-really pass themselves off as cat’s ears, a USB hub that comes with “chocolate” balls of dubious provenance, a hub that might look at home next to your skull bong, and lastly, a USB powered fan with a fetching Spider-Man motif. Do any of these sound good to you? We didn’t think so.

My cat discovers yet another of life’s simple pleasures: The sensation of $500 warming one’s butt.

What goes well with a communication-enabled water dish ? Why, a Twitter / RFID-enabled kitty door, of course! The so-called Tweeting Cat Door is undoubtedly the most hilarious, insightful and useful DIY contraption we’ve ever seen to wed RFID , social networking and computer programming. Essentially, this homegrown cat door was crafted to only open when Gus or Penny walks up with their super special RFID tags; once they approach, a mounted camera snaps a picture and uploads it (along with a quip) to Twitter. Don’t deny it — your feline is steaming with envy from the corner of your desk right now. [Via Switched ] Filed under: Misc. Gadgets , Household Intelligent cat door utilizes Twitter, RFID masterfully originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:21:00 EST.

Somebody alert the NYPD: A huge, blocky cat with pupil-less eyes and a single, misshapen foreleg is roaming the streets of Manhattan. Warning: Possibly psychic. Last seen at the Nintendo World Store. [ Engadget ]

Given that most cats aren’t really the talkative type, we can definitely understand scoopmycatbox’s desire to rig up a water dish (vid’s after the break) that does the yapping for his dearest kitty. Put as simply as possible, the ultrasonic water level cat dish combines an Arduino , Parallax range finder, some scrap wood and a good deal of wires in order to measure when the water bowl needs to be refilled. He’s still working to get the contraption to send him a Tweet when the level gets below a certain point, and we can only assume that part II will see an automatic refilling tool hooked in to said alerting system. And you thought pets had it good before the advent of technology… [Via MAKE ] Continue reading Video: ultrasonic water level dish pings owner when kitty needs a drink Filed under: Misc. Gadgets Video: ultrasonic water level dish pings owner when kitty needs a drink originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:07:00 EST