You have to give Japan-based IT company KAYAC Co., Ltd. points for creativity. Many IT-centric businesses have a tech worker bee or marketing guru maintain the company blog, but KAYAC handed the keyboard over to a Sweetheart Hoya. In case you're not a botanist, that's a rare and beautiful succulent plant native to Thailand and Indo China.
Special sensors gather environmental data from the plant, named Midori-san, which records information such as humidity, temperature, and nearby human activity. The information is fed into a "plant interface system" that translates it into pre-written Japanese sentences and the occasional pun, which then appears on the company blog.
"Midori-san started blogging about a week ago. So far, the plant’s highly structured posts summarize the day’s weather, temperature and lighting conditions, describe its overall physical condition, tell how much light it received via the user-activated lamp (see below), and explain how much fun the day was. Each post also includes a self-portrait photo and a plant-themed pun (in Japanese), which Midori-san likely did not write."
The plant is housed at the bowls Donburi Cafe under its own fluorescent light. Internet visitors can activate the lamp remotely via a special widget, and will be rewarded with a real-time view of Midori-san and an appreciative note of thanks.
Though the idea of a blogging houseplant may seem a bit corny, the company says they're hoping to encourage people to look at the environment in a new way. I'm sure extra PR for the IT company doesn't hurt either.
