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Parrot Flower Power review: Can technology give you a green thumb?
Sure, you've heard of the connected home, but what about the connected garden? If you're someone who manages to always kill your plants, Flower Power, a new gadget from Parrot, might sound like just the thing. The $60 Bluetooth-connected device aims to turn your black thumb green by sending you daily push notifications about your garden's health. The small sensor can provide up-to-the-minute reports that can ensure everything from your potatoes to your petunias are getting exactly the right amount of sunlight, water and even fertilizer. So, is the tiny gadget what your garden needs?
Osungo readies a garden of super-efficient Flower Power USB chargers (hands-on)
It's normally hard to spruce up a USB power charger, but Osungo gave us a pleasant little treat at its CES booth. It's readying a Flower Power series of wall adapters that are unabashedly cute and, more importantly, can save as much as 95 percent of the energy that's wasted when devices already have a full charge. No, it's not extremely sophisticated, but it doesn't have to be to do some good -- and we'll admit that the pseudo-organic cord wrap is a nice touch. Versions are coming with both 1A of current for phones and 2.1A for tablets, and we're told they should be on sale in March. US-friendly adapters will cost about $25 to $30.
Parrot's Flower Power monitors plant's environment, sends data to the cloud
For a company that usually makes Bluetooth audio products and quadcopters, this sure is a weird product coming from Parrot, but we dig it (pun intended). The French company has announced its Flower Power at CES, and as you can probably guess from the name, 'tis a smart sensor that you can insert into a pot to monitor the plant's environmental variables: sunlight, humidity, temperature and fertilizer (but no acidity?). The data is sent to the cloud via Bluetooth Smart for analysis before coming back to your mobile device, and you'll be able to look up Parrot's "library of thousands of plants" for the extra care for your herbal friends. No price has been announced for the Flower Power just yet, but it'll definitely be out at some point this year. Update: Official video added after the break. Update 2: During our stage interview, Parrot CEO Henri Seydoux confirmed that that the Flower Power can also measure the soil's pH level, so all is good. Update 3: The pH detector has been removed from the final specifications. Sorry folks. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
Phat Loot Phriday: Lei of the Lifegiver
I have to say, I don't use them much (mostly staves for my casters). But for some casters, there's no better stat booster than an offhand item, and here's one of the best (it's the flowers on the right, not the dagger on the left).Name: Lei of the LifegiverType: Unique Off-handDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 53 Restores 3 mana every five seconds Looks really purty. And flowery. Flower power! How to Get It: No raiding or quests required for this one-- all you gotta do is go into Alterac Valley and win enough to get Exalted reputation with your faction's appropriate militia. For Allies, that's Stormpike Guard. Horde, Frostwolf Clan. And with all the rep coming out of the BGs lately, it shouldn't take you too long at all.After you've hit Exalted, take 50g to a Supply Officer at the BG (either inside or outside) and boom, you'll get Lei'd. Combine with a nice healing mace (I'm sure some will show up in the comments below), and you'll be a healin' force of a healbot, baby!Auction Price: All of our stuff has been BOP, hasn't it? Next week, we'll do a BOE. For the Lei, vendors will give you 12g 50s.
30 years in Apple products: the good, the bad, and the ugly
Has it really been 30 years since two buddies named Steve sold off their prized possessions (Woz's HP calculator and Jobs' VW van) to raise money and launch a company? Has it really been 30 years since the two Steves, tired of selling blue boxes, built the Apple I and began selling it for $666.66? Yes, it has, and if you don't believe it, just compare Jobs' hairlines from '76 and today. And while the company has become known for many things, from its groundbreaking GUI to the iTunes Music Store, we know Apple has always been a hardware company at heart. So here's to you, Apple: the good, the bad and, yes, the ugly from the past 30 years. Happy Birthday.
