Found in a landfill starving to death, unable to feed herself, "Beauty" the eagle had its fake beak designed by engineer Nate Calvin. It's just a temporary solution, albeit one that seems to be working pretty well so far. The next step is making a new, more permanent one that'll be tougher. After that, they'll track down the poacher who did this and have Beauty peck his eyes out with its prosthetic superbeak. Poetic justice. [The Sun via Boing Boing]

The acoustic kitty was a bionic feline with a 3/4-inch radio transmitter embedded at the base of its skull. The transmitter's antenna was woven in to the cat's fur, while the microphone was placed in the cat's ear canal. Yes, PeTA members, the cat project did consider "questions of humane treatment." Once the system was up and running, the cats didn't seem to mind it at all. Boom, total success right? Well, no. Spycraft author Bob Wallace told me in an interview: "The cat wanted to do what the cat wanted to do, and not what we wanted it to do."

The British secret service actually used mice in a similar fashion, not as live microphones, but as a means to drag wire along the studs inside walls. The CIA trained pigeons to fly to laser dots and drop payloads, generally wireless mics. Obviously dogs too were trained for ops—though the Soviets were up on dog training, too, according to Spycraft co-author Keith Melton: the KGB trained dogs to sniff out the glue used by the CIA in equipment drops.

Says Melton re: animals in the line of duty: "If you have a choice between putting human and animals at risk—and I'm an animal lover—you have to use an animal."Dead animals worked as well or better. Deceased rats, which apparently had lived long happy lives and died of natural causes, were hollowed out and used to stash secret information for drops in hostile territory. The reasoning was that people don't go around picking up dead rats to see what's inside. As for animals who might be looking for a tasty snack, the rats were painted with Tabasco sauce, repellent to every critter but humans. Fun fact: The CIA used white rats for this, so that they could dye them to match the indigenous coloration of local rats.Before the CIA was born, live rats—with wings—were considered for strategic use. Project X-Ray a.k.a. BAT was an OSS plan to release 1 million bats rigged with tiny explosives over Japan towards the end of World War II. Bats from Carlsbad Cavern in New Mexico were brought to a test facility. According to Spycraft, the bats' most successful test run resulted in the fiery destruction of a new hangar. The plan was killed off, it seems, because no one knew how to automate the bat-arming process in a cost-effective manner. Bombs were also attempted with the Norwegian rat and trained domestic cats, who were supposed to swim to a target after being dropped in the ocean. (Anyone see a problem with that?) [More CIA Spytech on Giz]

All of this CIA tech and much more like it is covered with great depth and hair-raising anecdotes in Spycraft, a new book by Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton, reviewed by us, and available for pre-order at Amazon.

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[Yanko Design]

[Metro]

Thanks to its lightweight frame and complex gear system, the Naturmobil can can reach speeds of around 50 mph when the horse is really hauling. However, the cruising speed generally tops out at a more leisurely 12 mph. Mirhejazi hopes to parade his invention throughout the world in an attempt to secure financing for a second generation 4 horsepower Naturmobile that he plans to use for tourist transportation. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. [Xpress via Neatorama via DVICE]

If the procedure is successful, the beak could help Beauty clutch food and drink water properly (and no doubt deliver a big boost in self-esteem). However, because of her limitations, she will never be able to survive if returned to the wild. Still, the researchers behind the project believe that Beauty could potentially live another 43 years in captivity thanks to their efforts. [CrunchGear via Wired]

Essentially, this thing is a sunshine simulator, making your pet feel like its laying out in the sun even when it's the middle of February. But do you know what else a pet can sleep in front of to feel warm? A heater or a fireplace. It's not like there needs to be a bright light there to confuse your cat about what season it is, and last time I checked pets don't need to tan, as they're covered in hair. If you purchase this you should officially lose your right to use currency and should forfeit agency over your finances to a third party with some sense in its damned head. [TrendHunter via BornRich]

When they found Winter injured and flopping around in the ocean, rescuers took her to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where she recovered, but couldn't get her swimmin' skillz back. Worse, her doctors thought she might throw out her back trying to swim with her stump.

Enter prosthetics master Kevin Carroll who, says the Daily Mail, "has designed prosthetics for dogs, an ostrich, and even [one lucky] duck." Carroll checked out the situation and thought coming up with the prosthetic would be easy. In the end, though, it took a year and a half to construct the 30" silicone and plastic tail, due to the fact that inside the prosthesis' slip, the spine of the dolphin has to have the freedom to move any which way. (By contrast, a leg bone typically stays put when a prosthesis is slipped over it.)

Check out more pics of the happy-looking Winter at the Daily Mail. [Daily Mail]

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Fuzzy Wuzzy Modo Photo Contest: How Cute are Your Pets and Gadget [Gizmodo]

You know we love em. Cellphones, cameras, MP3 players: They're like Pokemon for Nerds. Well, Pokemon is like Pokemon for Nerds. So maybe gadgets are more like Geek pets that don't die when you forget to feed them. Yeah. And what are puppies, really but hairy Sony Aibos that lick everything and eat their own poo?

Entries for the photo contest should have an adorable gadget and a cute pet in the photo.
Your inspiration should come from past posts, like the puppy monorail, the Macbook cat toy, and this disgusting photo here. (Not Goatse; nor iPhone) The winner is simply the one that makes us gush the most. See? We have feelings.

The prize is a 50 dollar gift certificate to Amazon, courtesy of Solano County Friends of Animals who rescue kitties from the gaping maws of evil gadgets like paper shredders.

The contest will be judged by you on Giz, but semi finalists will be chosen by Richard Baguley, writer, Englishman, and champion of both Pets and PCs everywhere. He'll pass the winners on to us, and after that, we'll put up a poll so you can vote on the final winner.

Post your photo on flickr or some other photo hosting service, and email the url to: petgadget@solanocountyfoa.org

The contest ends in 2 weeks.

And if you're feeling charitable, please donate a bit of change to the fuzzy creatures over at Solano County Friends of Animals.