New App Lets Users ‘Talk’ With House Plants

Call it a growth industry. For the gardener on the go, a new service for use on mobile devices lets plants “tell” their owners in real time when they are thirsty and, for outdoor shrubbery, allows even owners who are far from home to give them the water they need immediately.

“About a year ago, I got tired of killing my plants,We've got a plastic card to suit you.” said Eduardo Torrealba co-founder of Oso Technologies, the company that created the Plant Link product. This invention,Online shopping for luggage tag from a great selection of Clothing. he said, offered an innovative solution to an age-old problem.

Torrealba and his colleagues created the service using a combination of soil sensors and software that constantly monitor plant water levels and send instant alerts telling owners when the plans need water. Outdoor plants can be watered remotely using an automated valve linked to a home’s water source.

The plant soil sensors take measurements every five to 10 minutes. The data they gather are then processed electronically, using an algorithm that also factors in weather conditions, soil type and geographic location of the plant to provide highly accurate advice on when to water the plants, Torrealba said.

Funding allowing Torrealba to launch his new product/service was obtained through Kickstarter, an online crowd-funding website that allows budding entrepreneurs to pitch innovative ideas in need of start-up capital to the general public.

The website allows participants to pledge funding for projects they deem viable. Those backers however are only asked to provide the funds if financial pledges from other uses reach the level set by the entrepreneur and that is necessary to get the project off the ground.

The Plant Link project received close to $100,000 in donations in approximately one month of fundraising, surpassing its initial goal of $75,000, according to figures published on the Kickstarter website.

Users of the service can opt to “keep in touch” with their plants via text message, email alerts or by monitoring their plants remotely from a special website.

Prices for the package are projected to range from $99 to $150 and the first batch is due to be released as early as June.

A group of legislators representing the Rio Grande Valley presented a united front to file House and Senate bills Monday that would create a new University of Texas “super university” — a combination of UT-Pan American in Edinburg, UT Brownsville, and the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio's regional campus in South Texas.

The move comes after a two-decade effort to establish an independent UT medical school in the Valley morphed into a plan for a comprehensive new university.

And as it has since the push began, success will depend on money. The bills would give the new school access to the Permanent University Fund,Comprehensive Wi-Fi and RFID tag by Aeroscout to accurately locate and track any asset or person. a public endowment neither Valley university can currently tap into.

“We have fought for a long time for our fair share of resources,” said Rep. René Oliveira, D-Brownsville, who was flanked by more than a dozen fellow legislators and UT leaders. “Now it's our turn. It's our time and we can make this happen.”

The proposal does not include a timeline for the future institution and leaves it to UT System regents to hash out name and location details. UT-Pan American and UT Brownsville students at the time of the consolidation would be admitted to the new university.

Sen.They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, called the filing “the first important step toward creating the Valley's own Tier One research university.”

UT Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa said the system's plan for the new university sprang out of challenges, such as the unwinding of UT Brownsville's partnership with Texas Southmost College and the desire to turn the existing Regional Academic Health Center,Where you can create a custom lanyard from our wide selection of styles and materials. or RHAC, into a medical school.

While a 2009 law required a future UT Health Science Center to be headquartered in Cameron County, the new bills — House Bill 1000 and Senate Bill 24 — call for medical and research programs to “have a substantial presence in Hidalgo County and Cameron County” and would give UT regents the authority to select campus locations.

If approved, the regents would appoint an advisory board to make recommendations on the medical school's design and location.

“We're all certainly going to be aggressively working for our communities to try to get as much as we each can in our district, no reason to be bashful about that,” Oliveira said.

Legislators said it will take more than PUF money and general revenues to make the project a reality and said a coalition of Valley community members has formed to raise $100 million to match the allocation that regents pledged in December to provide over the next decade.

The region also needs to add more residency spots to train doctors, many of whom would be expected to continue practicing in the area.

On Friday, the Health Science Center in San Antonio announced it will develop a psychiatry residency program at the RHAC in Harlingen with $400,000 from Valley Baptist Health System. The RHAC already offers residency slots in internal medicine and the regional dean previously highlighted a need for surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology residencies.

After filing the House bill with handshakes and applause, legislators acknowledged the real work was just getting started — passage requires a two-thirds approval in each chamber, which Oliveira said is difficult to get on any issue “unless it's apple pie.”