Interactive networked flowers
Three students at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU have made the perpetual Mother's Day gift that keeps on giving. Networked Flowers is an acrylic sculpture made of 25 LEDs and a touch sensor controlled by a personal Internet communicator (PIC) providing basic network services. Via any web-enabled appliance (including your cellphone, natch) one can control the color and light pattern displayed by the flower. And it beats having to clean out that nasty vase water.
