Teat Tweets

Ontario farmer Chris Vandenberg runs a hi-tech dairy farm where the cows are robotically milked and are monitored by RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags attached to their ears. The system allows Vandenberg to maximize milk productivity by denying access to the milking area until a cow is ready for optimal performance. If that weren't cool enough the University of Waterloo's critical media lab has tapped into the system to create Teat Tweet Dairy Diary, a Twitter account from the cows perspective.  

"I just squirted 20.4 kgs of milk out of my teats in 10:28 seconds. What did you do today?" offers Charge Gina (@chargegina) while Montgomery Mae (@montgomerymae)says "My RFID transponder must be dirty. I'll give it a lick and see what happens."

12 cows in all are participating. Got milk? 

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/05/03/tech-twitter-cows.html?ref=rss#ixzz0mugKqLYN

Graduate School of Digital Media Being Contemplated For Toronto

Three Ontario universities - Ryerson, Waterloo and the University of Toronto - are contemplating the creation of a graduate school of digital media to be located in downtown Toronto and which could be up and running within two years.

Ryerson President Sheldon Levy said that the idea is to create a centre where industry can bring their most challenging problems in this field and where graduate students can gain real experience, according to the Globe and Mail. The 3 universities are said to already be collaborating in the area of digital media and the 2 years is really required to locate a physical home for the program.

Canadian Students Win Top Award In Google's Android Developer Challenge

Five Ontario students, 3 from University of Waterloo and 2 from the University of Toronto have teamed up to create "Ecorio" an Android application that "... gives users the ability to reduce their environmental footprint with tools that provide transit options for trips, allow them to invest in carbon reduction projects and share their tips with other users." according to the CBC. On the team's Facebook site they explain "We're not a company. We are 5 guys from Ontario, Canada and we think that this environmental thing might be for real. There are many people with lots of ideas on how we can live smarter, greener and sustainable lives. Ecorio is one piece of that mosaic" Well done gentlemen, I'm sure the $275,000 prize will cover some of that student debt! Read more about Ecorio at the team's web site.