Gizmodo: botanicalls

Now Even Thirsty Houseplants Demand Attention With DIY Twitter Kit

Kit Eaton — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:33:00 EDT

Back in February we showed you a slightly botched-together system that lets your houseplants Twitter, but now there's a complete kit available. After soldering it together, you simply shove it deep into your plant's pot, connect it up to with an ethernet cable, and when its moisture sensors detect that you've been a bit lax in watering it'll Twitter with a "water me please” prompt. Ignoring it won't work as it'll step up the game with an urgent Tweet, and over-watering'll earn you a scolding. It's possibly the only way I'd remember to feed Reg, my sadly dessicated lemon tree...though at this rate of digitizing the average home is at risk of networking overload. Out now for $99. [ThinkGeek via OhGizmo]

New Botanicalls Lets Plants Communicate Using Twitter

Kit Eaton — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:07:26 EST

The new version of Botanicalls can now talk to Twitter. It uses an Arduino electronics board connected to a notebook, and some soil moisture probes crafted from a couple of galvanised nails. Your plant can then send out a Twitter alert when it's thirsty, detect when its been over- or under-watered and let you know about that, and it can even signal its thanks. So, if you're off on vacation and your office-mates have abandoned your desk greenery, your plants can now automatically point the (green) finger at them. [Botanicalls via Make]

Botanicalls Let Your Plants Call When Thirsty

Jason Chen — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:50:37 EDT

Instead of having to remember to water your plants every day, how about installing a gadget that allows them to call you when they need water? Botanicalls does just that, with a soil-moisture sensor that detects whether a plan needs water and call you (on the phone that's connected to the plant) with the results whenever you want.

In version two, which they're working on now, the device will add a light sensor, a display, ambient sensor, and ability to update websites and emails and call any phone, not just the one that's connected. Definitely neat if you're the type of guy who enjoys plant watering, but doesn't quite remember to do it often enough. [Botanicalls via Treehugger]

Botanicalls Help Plants Whine to You About Needing Water

Charlie White — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 09:45:47 EST

A quartet of innovative students at NYU have given plants a way to call you when they need watering. Using moisture sensors attached to the plants, when a plant needs watering an clever chain of software is triggered, sending data to an open-source telephony application called Asterisk. Asterisk makes a call to a designated number, playing back an audio file in the "voice of the plant," describing what it needs.

If you want to find more about each one of these plants, and maybe even hear them talking to you, there's a phone number you can call: 212 202-8348. We tried to call the plants, but apparently they had just stepped out. No word yet if the plants are complaining about how you never give them bottled water, or how you never call or write. – Charlie White

Project Page [Botanicalls]