CULTURE BUZZ: There’s a collection of YouTube videos where dogs face-off against the Roomba, their household robotic enemies. What happens when the cute and the useless face off against the Greatest Machine Ever Invented? Madcap fun ensues.

The Best Links:

1. Are Puppy/Roomba Videos a Form of Animal Cruelty?
2. YouTube - Puppy vs Roomba Videos
3. From the Roomba Website - How Pets Will Interact With Roombas
4. WSJ.com: “When Dogs and Robots Collide, Somebody Needs a Talking To”
5. Puppy Poop plus Roomba Leaves Carpet Skids
6. Pleo V. Roomba

CULTURE BUZZ: The voting is now open for the 2008 annual World’s Ugliest Dog contest. Cast your vote now! Even though he already won last year, I’m rooting for Elwood (pictured). The mohawk and lolling tongue rival the cuteness of any goldendoodle.

The Best Links:

1. Sonoma-Marin Fair 2008 - Vote Now
2. YouTube - Last Year’s Winner
3. The Ugly Dog that Won the Contest 3 Years in a Row
4. Sam The World’s Ugliest Dog Uncannily Resembles Amy Winehouse
5. The World’s Ugliest Dog and the World’s TWO Cutest Dogs!!
6. Who are you rooting for??
7. The Ugly Contest Phenomenon