At some point, you've probably shared ownership of something, be it a car, vacation home or, for the lucky few, a yacht. But have you ever shared a pet? It's a new concept being pushed by Flexpetz, a service allowing dog lovers to select their canine of choice and spend anywhere from a few hours to a few days with it. The idea originated when a group of dog lovers realized they couldn't provide the full-time care pets required, either because their apartments wouldn't allow dogs, or their hectic business travel schedules kept them away from home for days. Currently, Flexpetz has locations in both Los Angeles and San Diego, with plans to open in 13 other cities including San Francisco, New York, Boston and Miami. International expansion is also in the works, with London, Paris, Tokyo and other locales in mind.

If you're feeling this may be a bit unfair to the pets involved, as I initially did, you'll be happy to know that when the pets aren't out with members of Flexpetz, they're living in a cage-free facility. The service also tries to look out for dogs that are rescues and in need of some TLC. The dogs and program members go through a full training program so both temporary owners and the dogs know how to treat each other right. Monthly membership with Flexpetz runs about $40 along with a daily fee.

Busy business owners will appreciate the convenience of Yahoo! Inc.'s new version of instant messaging, which allows users to chat with others inside a web browser instead of having to download a separate piece of software. Yahoo! is trying to reach out to the millions of consumers who use the internet at airports or internet cafes instead of at work or home. So what's next? Yahoo!'s senior vice president in charge of communications, Brad Garlinghouse, said the potential exists for Yahoo! to allow the instant-messaging service in the pages of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. "We certainly think about the opportunity where social networking and real-time IM communications intersect," he said.

We first mentioned the healthier lunch trend last month. Now, Springwise.com is highlighting one of the companies offering parents a healthier alternative to school lunches. New York-based Kidfresh touts itself as a children's food store, much like a Whole Foods for younger eaters. The store was created by a team that includes an award-winning chef, a dietician and a pediatric nutritionist. The new lifestyle brand was concocted by CEO Mathias Cohen one day while he was preparing his son's lunch. Featured menu items include pureed strawberries, an organic yogurt parfait, and turkey and cheese kebobs with honey mustard dip. Prices range from $4.95 to $7.25 per meal. Though it's not exactly cheap, it's a small price to pay for helping children live healthier lives, which is the philosophy companies like Kidfresh believe will help their all-natural meals trump junk food.