The Woofer

The Woofer on a dog

The Woofer is a dog coat which lets user play songs from his Ipod or other MP3 players on the back of their dog.[1][2] Each device is handmade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[3][4] The Woofer has two opposing speakers that are present above the hind legs of the dog. The Woofer's clarity and high-quality sound has been proven to not be harmful to the dog by Dr. Meister of Society Hill Veterinarian Center. With two opposing speakers on top of the dog's hind legs, it is designed to be away from the dog's ears and still allow swift mobility to run and play. It has an amplifier to safely enhance sound.[2]

Background

The story of The Woofer starts back in 2009. The device has been designed by Matthew Baron. The Woofer is a speaker that is integrated into a dog sweater [1][5]
According to the designer:"The first coat that I made was for humans. I called it the Boom Coat. I took an old tuxedo jacket and replaced the lapels with my lapels with speakers built in, then I started doing it for dogs, and it became a real opportunity."[6]
The fitting is for dogs between 20 and 100 pounds. It is made by hand in six hours.[4]

The Woofer

Technology Overview

The Woofer is a normal dog coat with pockets for mp3 players and it features in-built speakers with technology to optimize sound, thereby maximizing the outdoor sound. One can play them in stereo and it can be kept safe from over heating, and the speakers are reinforced to take any dog abuses.[6] It is a dog coat that plays music from an iPod or smartphone. Anyone can play any type of music on the coat including audiobooks to podcasts. The speakers are waterproof that can be connected via the standard 1/8" audio jack to a music player and are held on with rivets and rings which are made out of aluminum.[7] The wires are made by hand of copper and coated in Kevlar. The audio jacks are made of gold plating for performance. The amplifiers are made of a different components and is powered by two rechargeable double A batteries. The speaker batteries can last at full power for four hours.[6] The coat is mostly made of satin and microfiber for comfort easy cleaning. There is an inner batting and another batting fabric that is used to pad the back of each speaker.[8] The Woofer comes in three different sizes.[7][9]
According to its inventor "it turns your dog in to a boom box."[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "AroundPhilly". AroundPhilly. 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Wong, George. "The Woofer turns your dog into a portable music player". Ubergizmo. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  3. ↑ "The Woofer". The Woofer. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Area inventor introduces The Woofer | News". South Philly Review. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  5. ↑ "News Videos and Video Clips | NBC 10 Philadelphia". Nbcphiladelphia.com. 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "The Woofer: a dog coat with built-in speakers to play music, made on South Street [VIDEO] — Technically Philly". Technicallyphilly.com. 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "The Woofer: Turn Your Dog Into a Speaker – New Tech Gadgets & Electronic Devices". Geek.com. 2011-03-07. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  8. ↑ Tanna Paradis (2010-12-20). "Member Spotlight: Matthew Baron « Handmade Philly". Handmadephilly.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  9. ↑ Break.com. "Watch The Woofer on NBC 10 Video". Break.com. Retrieved 2012-03-06.

External links