New York Post, Saturday, November 14, 2020nypost.comCat translator app
By Yaron SteinBuchThis app is the cat’s meow.
A former Amazon engi-
neer who worked on Alexa
now wants to solve the mys-
tery of what your cat is try-
ing to tell you.
Javier Sanchez, a project
manager at
the Bellevue,
Wash.-based
tech com-
pany Akve -
lon, has de-
veloped Me-
owTalk, an
app that he
says trans-
lates a wide
range of fe-
line utteran-
ces, KING-
TV reported.
“It’s not a
language.
They don’t share words or
communicate with each
other. Cats never meow at
each other out in nature,”
Sanchez told the news outlet.
He said the NPR series
“The Secret Language of
Cats” sparked his interest to
pursue the pet project using
his experience with Ama-
zon’s virtual assistant to
tackle kitty talk.
Sanchez and his team con-cluded through research that
cats, along with nine lives,
also have nine basic inten-
tions — including, “I’m hun-
gry,” “I’m happy” and “I’m in
pain.” All have been included
in the app.
Still, the science isn’t per-
fect, and users can fine-tune
the app and
note when
they believe a
translation is
accurate.
They also
can update
with custom
messages
such as, “I
want my toy!”
Users must
record their
cat’s meow to
decode what
it means —
but Sanchez’s
ultimate goal is to create a
collar that can translate with
a vocal response.
Sanchez used a prototype
unit on his own kitten, Mit-
tens. During a demonstration
for KING-TV, Mittens let out
a meow that the device
translated as, “I’m angry!
Leave me alone!”
The team plans to release
an update in several other
languages besides English.There’s no need to trip
out over small amounts of
magic mushrooms, New
Jersey lawmakers say.
The state Legislature
tweaked a marijuana-de-
criminalization bill Thurs-
day to soften the punish-
ment for possession of the
psychedelic drug, according
to reports.
A key Senate committee
amended the bill, S. 2535, to
downgrade penalties for
possessing up to an ounce
of psilocybin — the halluci-
nogenic compound found in
shrooms — from a third-de-
gree felony to a disorderly-
persons offense, the Phila-
delphia Inquirer reported.
Natalie O’Neill
NJ magic:
Shroom OK?
MeOw
yOu’re
talKiN’
Miley Cyrus puts on a hell
of a show in the new book
“High Gloss: The Art of Vi-
jat Mohindra” (inset), for
which she also wrote the
foreword. Mohindra is known for wild celebrity
shots like this of Miley as a devilish delight.Steamy Miley’s
all hellfired up
This is a good buzzkill.
A Canadian researcher
has invented a simple
breathing device to miti-
gate severe alcohol intoxi-
cation that requires no spe-
cial training.
The device, simply a gas
mask connected to a supply
of oxygen and carbon diox-
ide, can help drunkards de-
toxify three times faster than
they otherwise would — by
getting them to literally ex-
pel alcohol.
The invention employs a
basic physiological means
of reducing drunkenness.
The human liver processes
alcohol at a rate that cannot
be artificially sped up, but
the lungs play a role, too.
The device forces the user
to breathe more and faster
— a process normally
known as hyperventilation.
Of course, hyperventilation
itself can be dangerous be-
cause our bodies are being
deprived of necessary car-
bon dioxide. So the re-
searches decided to add
carbon dioxide to ease
those physical triggers.
“With each breath, it is de-
signed to allow the normal
amount of carbon dioxide to
escape and any excess is re-
turned on the very next
breath,” said study author
and inventor Joseph Fisher,
an anesthesiologist at Uni-
versity Health Network in
Toronto. Hannah Sparks
Sobering
news on
detox