The Bowlingual, a gadget that analyzes a dog's bark to detect its emotion, is back and this time it speaks. The Bowlingual was developed in collaboration with an audio researcher and analyzes the acoustics of a dog's bark. It is said to be able to recognize and convey six basic emotions. It consists of two parts: a microphone worn around the dog's neck and a handheld unit that receives data from the microphone, determines the emotion and then displays a corresponding phrase on the screen for the owner. The new version has a smaller handheld unit and packs a built in speech synthesizer and will cost just under 20,000 yen (US$213). It will initially be available in Japan only. There's no word on when it might be available outside Japan.

Running out of power while on the road is frustrating but a new portable solar charger from Sanyo could help. The Eneloop Solar Charger combines a portable solar panel with a Lithium Ion battery pack and can be used to charge gadgets via USB. It should work with many portable products including cell phones, music players and portable game devices. Two versions will be available, one with a single solar panel and one with two panels. Both charge the Lithium Ion battery-based "mobile booster," which acts as an energy reservoir and is needed because the panels don't provide enough power to directly power a gadget. A one-hour charge should provide enough power for at least 20 minutes of talk-time on a cell phone. The panels are on sale now and cost ¥9,000 (US$93) for the single panel model and ¥14,000 for the twin-panel model. Overseas launch details were not announced.