What was once an art form of sorts has become somewhat of an antiquated skill, as touting a green thumb certainly isn't as awe-inspiring as it used to be; with gizmos like
RFID-enabled terrariums,
hydroponic gardens, and
remote-controlled greenhouses, it shouldn't be all that difficult to keep that flora flourishing. Giving further aid to the clueless plant owner is a USB stake sensor that resides a few inches beneath the soil, and provides "information about light, moisture, soil composition and other factors that can affect plant growth and health." Start-up PlantSense has designed the intelligent stake to relay the data via USB to a subscription-based website, where it informs users what they're doing wrong (too much sunlight or not enough fertilizer, for example) as well as "providing recommendations on which plants might grow best in a particular microclimate." The self-proclaimed "lifecycle development platform" will likely sell for $49.95 (includes a stake and one year of data analysis) if it can scrounge up the necessary funds from eager VCs, while additional years of the service will run $20 -- but that's a small price to pay if your home-based garden looks more like a cemetery anyway.
[Via
Engadget Chinese]
posted Oct 23rd 2006 11:09AM
Doesn't this make more sense using 802.11 or BT?
"green thumb-drive"
nice.
Wireless AND solar.
Or build it into the pot to make a smartpot.
-and then build that into a PC case...oh wait. maybe not.
Mmmmmm... steak.....
I could see this being used for some rare plant specimen that you don't want to be around, but with the price of regular house plants being so low, this just seems too expensive.
Hi - I'm one of the founders of the company. Remember that you can use the sensor over and over again and on multiple plants. The average american spends $160 per household on plants and just under 33% die because people put a plant in an environment where it can't thrive, or because people don't care properly.
rare plant speciment that you don't want to be around-
http://www.enviroliteracy.org/images/page-spec/Amorphophallus_titanum.jpg
PS. engadget is lame for not letting me create a hyperlink with the 'a' tag.