Everyday lost and abandoned dogs are left in shelters, never being adopted and many of which end up put to sleep.   The Auckland, New Zealand SPCA decided to do something about it.  They wanted to raise public awareness for the 50 – 100 dogs it has in its shelter every week.  Anyone with an obedient dog knows how intelligent they are and how able they are to be trained.

So the NZ SPCA teamed up with the automaker MINI to make a commercial that will change the way people view the abilities of canines.  MINI’s NZ brand manager, Simonne Mearns, asked his ad agency DraftFCB to work with the SPCA on the campaign.  DraftFCB had big ideas and came up with something that no one would have expected to be possible.

Three dogs — Porter, Ginny and Monty — worked with four different trainers for over two months to become the world’s first driving dogs.  The MINI Countryman vehicle was specially modified with accelerator and brake pedals moved so the dogs could reach them, and an easy activate ignition switch.  They also made “paw friendly” controls and handles for the steering wheel.

Porter excelled and was featured in the Youtube video “Meet Porter.  The World’s First Driving Dog”.  The video shows Porter sitting in the seat, starting the vehicle, pulling off and even negotiating a corner.  It has received over 6 million views on Youtube.

While I don’t think we will see personal canine chauffeurs anytime soon, it did its job to raise awareness of how smart these dogs actually are.  I’d like to note though, Porter did not use the proper 10 and 2 hand position on the steering wheel.  Maybe a bit of remedial training is needed.

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If you’ve been following his adventures, then you’ll know that Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz in Germany) is currently out on bail, but the United States is looking to have him extradited from New Zealand to face charges related to the distribution of copyright-protected content like movies and music. Dotcom earn over $100 million from Megaupload over the years.

Things aren’t exactly looking all that hot for Kim. Police raided his Auckland mansion earlier this year and the New Zealand high court has ruled that his online operation was illegal. As it stands, Dotcom is facing an extradition hearing in March. In the meantime, he’s apparently working with Pacific Fibre (a New Zealand company) to build up enough money to build a fiber optic web cable across the Pacific to the United States.

This would double the available bandwidth for Kiwis, but it would cost 200 million GBP to build. Kim hopes to supply broadband for free to domestic users, charging businesses and government users. The initial capital, he hopes, would come from the proceeds of his lawsuits against the US government and film studios for their “unlawful and political destruction” of Megaupload.

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Judge Nevin Dawson ruled that Dotcom is eligible for bail as he has no access to funds which would make him a flight risk. Although lawyers acting on behalf of the US government argued that Dotcom has access to wealth that would help him to flee the country, Dawson said that there is no evidence to prove that he has further assets hidden.

As you might know, Dotcom’s known assets including his bank accounts and his Coatesville, Auckland mansion have been seized. However, his pregnant wife and three children were allowed to live in the mansion.

And According to Dawson, Dotcom has “every reason to stay [in New Zealand] to be with his family and to fight to keep his significant assets“.

To make sure that he doesn’t break the bail conditions, Dotcom must reside at his Coatesville mansion and should not travel beyond 50 miles from the residence. Access to helicopters is not allowed. He is also forbidden to access internet as he has “the ability to use it for wrong purposes”, according to Dawson.

Just to refresh your memory, Kim Dotcom is wanted by the US Justice Department for committing $500 million worth of copyright infringement. He and three of his associates might get extradited to the US if the court rules against them in an upcoming hearing.

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