Cat Island anyone?

LOVE the cuddly, lovely felines? Perhaps this island is just what you want! A remote island in southern Japan has an army of feral cats outnumbering humans six to one.

It is said that 120 cats swarm the island with only a handful of humans for company, mostly pensioners who didn’t join the waves of migrants seeking work in the cities after World War II.

The cats were originally introduced to the mile-long island of Aoshima to deal with mice that plagued fishermen’s boats, but have taken over the area since multiplying in the last 50 years.

Aoshima, a 30-minute ferry ride off the coast of Ehime prefecture, had been home to 900 people in 1945. The only sign of human activity now is the boatload of day-trippers from the mainland, visiting what is locally known as Cat Island.

With no restaurants, cars, shops or kiosks selling snacks, Aoshima is no tourist haven. But cat lovers are not complaining. The cats of Aoshima are not too picky either, surviving on the rice balls, energy bars or potatoes they cadge off tourists. In the absence of natural predators, they roam the island without fear.

No more cable mess!

TECHNOLOGY has made us all tangled in wires everywhere, whether at home or office we have cables to charge phones, laptops, notepads, etc., but taking one step further we are now to witness new tables, desks and lamps that will wirelessly charge mobile phones or other devices and we will no longer need cables.

The Swedish furniture giant Ikea revealed last week that the new collection of furniture will use Qi wireless technology to power-up compatible devices that are placed on or near the furniture. Many products can be charged at the same time.

The Home Spot range of desks, bedside tables and lamps will hit stores in Europe and North America next month — with an international roll-out set to follow.

Qi is said by its developers to be the most widely-used wireless charging type, and can be used in 3,000 public locations globally. There are now more than 80 Qi-enabled smartphones available. Among these are models of the Nokia Lumia, Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus and Sharp Aquos.