Digital dog tag tied to red-alert service

(Credit: KoogaPet)

Depending on where you live, lost kids (and adults) aren't the only ones who could use the occasional aid of an identification device. In San Francisco, for example, it's been widely reported that dogs outnumber children.

And with about 10 million pets expected to get lost each year, technologies like "KoogaPet" will become an increasingly common sight. Though far from the only digital dog tag on the market, the KoogaPet is much smaller than others and holds more data.

The $30 dime-sized tag, which is waterproof and comes in various colors, can store information transferred from the computer through its USB connection. To take full advantage of the device, however, the company offers a 24/7 service for another $1.99 a month that would "retrieve the pet's information from the company's database, contact the owner, and send immediate alerts with pictures to shelters and veterinarians within a 10-mile radius of the pet's home." We still think that such devices would be infinitely more effective if they were combined with some kind of GPS or other tracking technology, but it's at least a start.