Chips and Water, Books and Browser

Mr. Eric Bland of Discovery News writes in an article titled "Tech Lets Plants Phone for Water" that "Carrots might not scream when pulled from the ground,but new technology is giving vegetables a voice in how they are raised. Microchipped plants can now send text messages to a farmer's cell phone and ask for water. "It's akin to a clip on earring, very thin and smaller than a postage stamp, and is affixed to the plant leaf," said Richard Stoner, President of AgriHouse, a company marketing the technology. "The farmer would just need their regular cell phone service, and the plant would send a text message when it needed water." The existing sensors have to be connected to a power source to take readings and transmit them over commercial cell phone towers. Stoner hopes that future sensors can be equipped with batteries, solar panels or even piezoelectric generators to generate the power necessary to run the sensors and transmitters. Adding more sensors across wider areas will enable more detailed management of farms, saving farmers even more, says Stoner. Water in the western United States might be relatively cheap, but the electric bills to pump the water from underground aquifers do add up. And there is no guarantee that the water will remain cheap either. Being sustainable could end up being good business..."
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Kindle is an interesting play by Amazon. According to Mr. Bezos, the CEO, investors should regard the digital-books business as being in "investment mode" right now rather than a "big cash-flow generator for us." His comment reinforces speculation in the publishing industry that Amazon is losing money on at least some of the books it sells for the Kindle. Most of the 290,000 titles available sell for $9.99 or less, a price point in many cases probably below what Amazon pays publishers. Generally speaking, retailers pay 50% of the publishers' list price, which for new, popular titles can be as much $25 to $30. (WSJ).