The Idea Factory: Facial recognition for Fido

A new app helps you quickly track down a lost dog or cat

In the old days, searching for a lost pet meant taping up posters. But now a Canadian designer wants to make identifying your lost dog or cat as simple as booting up an app. PiP is a facial recognition system for pets that "minutely records, classifies, and categorizes every feature of a dog's or cat's appearance," says Ben Schiller at Fast Company. Simply download the app, snap a photo of your pet, and punch in some basic information. Then, if Mr. Mittens ever goes missing, you can send an alert to local vet clinics and animal shelters, which can match your wayward fur ball to PiP's database.

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Chris Gayomali is the science and technology editor for TheWeek.com. Previously, he was a tech reporter at TIME. His work has also appeared in Men's Journal, Esquire, and The Atlantic, among other places. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.