gardening

Craver Kent German gave us an excellent tour last week through the bizarre and sometimes disturbing universe of phone straps and dangles that is Strapya-World, but it's not done yet: Its latest offering is going green.

The "Babytree Cell Phone Strap" features tiny capsules containing an assortment of equally tiny trees from various parts or the world from which you can choose, Tokyomango says. The trees--from Argentina, South Africa, Mexico, and the United States--are alive and, according to the Web site, will stay that way for six months as long as they're watered once or twice … Read more

Our appreciation for "Chia" nightclubs notwithstanding, we've never been much for gardening (desktop or otherwise). But we just can't pass up anything with a remote.

For that reason alone, this self-contained garden from the unfortunately named Smeg piqued our interest. No ordinary terrarium, the Smeg Home Garden is a mini-greenhouse that features three micro-climates that can be controlled by the remote, according to OhGizmo. The system can determine the levels of light, humidity, and temperature.

Be careful not to keep the remote too close to the plants, however. Some species apparently have the ability to control their own destiny.… Read more

It's not the most innovative name but the concept may be revolutionary. Metaplace, a virtual community that is currently being tested for launch in spring 2008, was one of the most talked about start-ups at the TechCrunch40 Conference. The new platform allows anyone to build a virtual world from scratch -- for the web or even mobile applications -- without any programming knowledge. Like other virtual communities such as Second Life, There, Entropia Universe, or World of Warcraft, the Metaplace worlds can be used for gaming, socializing, and e-commerce. And they come with the usual community features: forums, user … Read more

Upon moving back to Seattle in 2000, one of my favorite discoveries was the Sound Garden, a public art project built by Doug Hollis in 1982 and 1983. It's on the grounds of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which adjoins Magnuson Park, a huge Seattle park that used to be a naval air station.

The Sound Garden consists of 12 towers, each with an attached contraption consisting of a hollow metal pipe and a metal fin or rudder. The rudders catch the wind off Lake Washington, and the contraptions rotate around the central pole of each tower … Read more

Mother's Day alert! While not categorically perceived as die-hard techies, moms can be quick to pick up new tech tricks when it suits their interests. Check out this collection of mom-friendly downloads sure to make your mom forgive all of those forgotten Mother's Days of the past.

For cross-stitch crazy matriarchs, check out this handy stitch-pattern designer and creator. If your mom is of the green-thumbed variety, she'll love this garden planner. And for the budget-conscious, save money by giving your mom this virtual desktop flower bouquet.

Many people talk to their plants, but aside from Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors, and maybe the AeroGarden, how many plants actually talk back?

A new sensor system allows plants to ring their owners up when they want service.

Ambient sensors detect humidity, temperature, light and CO2/oxygen availability in the plant's vicinity. The info is then matched against a plant database in a server that can trigger an e-mail or phone call to the owner when appropriate. The phone calls are coordinated by the open-source telephone platform Asterisk. Depending on the plant's determined needs, the … Read more

Disney.com unveiled its new look this morning. Announced last month at CES by CEO Bob Iger, the new Disney.com aims to bring more personalization to the site and cash in on provide Disney content to share with others. Funny thing is, you can't even share the content on outside sites like MySpace or blogs.

It's downright tough to find the new personalized area of Disney.com, but it's called XD. The Flash-based XD interface takes about half a minute to load, and you're greeted to a smattering of widgets featuring Disney content that appears … Read more

Now that plasma TVs have reached the point of no return, we've been wondering what furniture makers would do to replace the cumbersome faux armoire that had become a fixture in so many living rooms in a somewhat vain attempt to conceal the tube. It's probably too early for a definitive standard to take hold, but we're starting to see a sandwich-board design gaining popularity for TV stands.

The latest company to take this approach is Alivar, an Italian (of course) designer of contemporary furnishings that has come out with a sandwich stand made of aluminum in … Read more

It always starts with the best of intentions: an attempt to bring the nature of New Jersey into my city apartment or office. It usually ends with dried-out seedlings or mold.

The AeroGarden from AeroGrow is a computerized garden with a lamp that will allow the most negligent gardener to successfully grow plants. You fill the bottom with water, add the little seeded cones and nutrient tablets, and plug the AeroGarden into any regular outlet. That's it. This "smart" appliance self-regulates the amount of light, water and nutrients it allows the plants to receive. A warning light … Read more