Hungarian Dog Translator

At Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, scientists developed a computer that translates a dog's bark. Using Hungarian sheepdogs, they performed a series of experiments to pick up on the differences between their barks. Amazingly (sarcastic), the computer is able to pick up when a dog is in any of these scenarios: dealing with a stranger, in a fight, wanting to walk, being alone, wanting a ball, or wanting to play.

Just a hunch here, but I'm guessing most dog owners can already pick up on these things.

Hmm...I'm holding my dog's tennis ball...and my dog is wagging its tail, staring at the ball, and barking. I better consult my dog-translating computer for this one! Dogs have a pretty simple vocabulary...developing a computer to translate the songs and sounds of the humpback whale? Now that would be pretty sweet (that was an inside joke...I was lucky enough to get an audio tape of humpback whales yesterday from Kathryn...it's far out).

Aside from (what I think is) unneccessary work that these scientists have done, they took the wrong approach. They should have worked with little Timmy, the owner of Lassie...that kid could read dogs like a book! "What's that Lassie? You have the cure for AIDS? And you know how to solve world hunger??"