It's Not Easy Being Green

I'm registered for gobs of e-mail newsletters. Some of them are related to my job, some have to do with my personal interest, and some are just to keep in-line with what's going on in the world. One of the newsletters I typically find interesting is from C|NetNews.com.

In today's "afternoon issue" there was a feature about...what I think...is a pretty absurd use of social media. Here are the details:

A group of NYU postgrad students have been working to develop something called the "Botanicalls" system. This lets plant owners essentially communicate with their green friends. Through technology and social media plants and convey their needs to people. "What?" you ask? "How is this possible," and "what is the point?" Well, moisture sensors can be placed in the soil of the plant, to send a signal over a wireless network to a gateway that places a call if the plant's too dry or wet.

Now I ask if this is really necessary. I suppose if the "owner" were out-of-town on business for a long period of time or on vacation, this might be worthwhile, but seriously.... Will a plant kick the bucket if it goes a few days without water?

Here's photo documentation of what the grad students came up with:



And the team that came up with this:


This is silly. Maybe if I think-it-over for a few days I might feel differently.