How does your garden grow? How about in fast forward?

If you’re the type of gardener who starts every day with a quick tour just to see how well everything is blooming, you’ll get the idea behind PlantCam. It’s a four-megapixel time-lapse digital camera that captures mini-movie frames of your plants as they grow.

Created by Wingscapes, the PlantCam operates much like the company’s Audubon BirdCam, a motion-sensor camera that photographs wildlife at the backyard perch, feeder or nest.

PlantCam, housed in a weatherproof case, is easy to mount on a tripod, post or even a tree trunk. Leave it alone to do its thing and pretty soon you’ll have all the pieces to stitch together a slow-motion film of a bud opening or a leaf unfurling.

It took about five minutes for me to set up the camera and lash it to an arbor post with a bungee cord. Since most of my plants are about to enter their dormant phase, there isn’t much about to bloom. But I am interested in seeing how daylight moves through the garden and illuminates my perennials and grasses. I set the camera to snap a scene every hour and ran the camera for two days. There also is a “By Light” setting that tells the camera to resume shooting when there is enough morning light to make an image.

There are two ways to make movies. One is to stitch the frames together in the camera and then upload a short film to the computer. Or, if you want a jazzier film, upload the frames to your computer and use a video editing program to enhance the clips. I used Windows Movie Maker to create this short video with  credits and music. Then I uploaded it to YouTube to share with my fellow garden geeks. 

The PlantCam is PC and Mac compatible. The garden-friendly device can zoom in for closeups of sprouting seeds or capture an entire garden in wide angle. It has other uses too. Just think how cool it would be to track the progress of your next home improvement project.

In Southern California, you can find or order PlantCam, which costs $79, at Armstrong Garden Centers, Green Thumb Nursery and Wild Birds Unlimited. 

-- Debra Prinzing

Photos: Wingscapes

Event: The Energy Star demonstration house lands in Pomona (and online)

If you're looking to help save the planet--and some of your hard-earned cash--you can start at home. Starting Wednesday, Sept. 30 (from noon to 10 p.m.) and daily through Sunday, Oct. 4 (from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.), the "Change The World, Start With Energy Star" demonstration house will be on site as part of the Going Green exhibition at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona.

Experts will be on hand to discuss the energy and money savings of properly maintained heating and cooling systems, programmable thermostats, and Energy Star-rated appliances, electronics and home office equipment. 

Here's just one of the exhibit's light bulb-over-your-head recommendations: If every home in the U.S. replaced just one traditional incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent one, the annual energy savings would be $700 million a year in energy costs and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions--about 800,000 cars' worth--each year.  

If you can't make it out to the fair, don't despair. The illustration above links to a cool interactive map of a home that offers valuable tips for conserving energy inside and out. 

--David A. Keeps

Photo credit: Energy Star

Bluelounge's Refresh: a better recharging station

Earlier this morning, my colleague David A. Keeps blogged about Drinn, a clever little piece of rubberized  plastic that can turn any electric socket into a cellphone charging station. At the other end of the technological spectrum are the designs of Pasadena-based Bluelounge. A year ago we reported on Bluelounge's  Sanctuary, a device that's capable of recharging an astounding 1,500 different types of mobile devices. Now the company has released the follow-up, Refresh, which in many ways is more appropriate for the times: smaller, sleeker and less expensive.

Refresh is a plastic tray with a false bottom that lifts up to reveal six ports: two for iPods or iPhones, one mini USB, one micro USB and two standard USBs. I used to think charging stations were idiotic, but after two weeks of using Refresh at home, I have to admit there is something beautifully efficient about docking an iPhone, an iPod, and a Blackberry in the same little tray powered by a single cord to the wall socket.

Last week the New York Times Home section beat me to the punch with its take on Refresh. The write-up noted that the product wouldn't work with a reporter's 4-year-old Samsung phone, but compatibility with old devices seems less of an issue to me than price. Yes, Refresh costs $40 less than the earlier Bluelounge charging station. Even so, the retail for Refresh is still $89.95. If I had a 4-year-old Samsung, I think I'd skip the $90 charging station and invest $99 in an iPhone.

-- Craig Nakano

Photos: Bluelounge

The Deal: Dormbuys' phone holder, bulletin board

 

Dormbuys, a site that seems to hit just the right not-too-hip note for college students (like I'd know), has our seventh and final installment of 2 Cool 4 Back 2 School: a great selection of items on my organizational agenda. The site recently cut prices of two products that I'd be happy to have in my home. 

The Drinn cellphone holder turns any wall socket into a recharging station for mobile phones, MP3 players and PDAs. The device provides a non-slip shelf with extra room to spool a cord and keep it out of the way. It's a quick fix for home offices, guest rooms and my overnight bag. It's made of a mix of plastic and rubber and is available in six colors. Originally $7.99, it's now $5.99.

The Pulp bulletin board is a smart, ecologically conscious alternative to a traditional corkboard. Made from recycled paper, each one allows users to tack up notes or slip cards securely in between layers of paper (like a bookmark). The board is 13 inches square. It's marked down from $24.99 to $20.99.

-- David A. Keeps

Photo credits: Dormbuys

The Deal: Frontgate drops price on outdoor screens

 

Ditch the white sheet. Frontgate's Epson MovieMate 72 Backyard Outdoor Theater System --  featuring a 12-foot-wide screen, Epson MovieMate projector and a pair of 80-watt speakers -- is on sale for $2,999, discounted from $3,499.

The system promises to transform your backyard into an outdoor cinema with 720p digital resolution; and after the final credits roll all the equipment collapses to fit in wheeled storage bags.

How about just the screen? It's also on sale; originally $1,999, it's now $799. The website claims (and I use that word with skepticism) "easy set up and break down in under 20 minutes."

-- Lisa Boone

Photos: Frontgate

Bond & Bowery: vintage site, the second time around

Mea culpa: In my recent story about vintage and secondhand furniture shopping websites, I neglected the rather wonderful Bond & Bowery. (Full transparency: The site's founder Ben Spaisman alerted me to the error of my ways.) 

Bond & Bowery launched in 2007 as a more searchable and affordable alternative to the high-end site 1stdibs. Spaisman expects to have 180 sellers by the end of the year. For those concerned about the high price of shipping, nearly two dozen dealers are local, offering antiques and midcentury modern.

Some sellers, such as Empiric in Los Angeles, also sell new furniture designs alongside vintage finds. Items currently on the site include, from left: two Evelyn Ackerman-designed hand-hooked wool tapestries, $1,400; a 12-bulb chrome Helix table lamp designed in the 1970s, $195; and a pair of brass-trimmed John Widdicomb nightstands refinished in jungle-green lacquer, $690 each.

-- David A. Keeps

Photo credits: Bond & Bowery

Maynard L. Parker photos online at Huntington

 
Los Angeles-based architectural photographer Maynard L. Parker captured postwar suburban homes designed by noted architects such as Paul Williams, Richard Neutra and Cliff May for Architectural Digest, Sunset and House Beautiful, among others.

Now, Parker’s archive of nearly 58,000 photographs, negatives and other materials -- donated to the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in 1996 -- is accessible through the Huntington’s website using the keywords "Maynard Parker."

About 6,000 of the photographer’s images have been uploaded to the database so far. Archivists will continue digitizing the collection with the goal of making them all electronically available. The Huntington also has created an audio slide show of some of the images, narrated by curator of photographs Jennifer Watts.

What we're reading: Core 77 on mutant Eames chair

That sound you just heard may be Charles and Ray Eames swiveling in their final resting places. Hats off to the generally knowledgeable industrial design website Core 77 for pointing out these grotesque versions of the classic Eames 670 lounger. According to an Aug. 17 post by Core Jr, these puffy pieces are sculptor Mark Wentzel's way of "alluding to topics of global obesity and consumption, and the potential cooperation among artists, designers, scientists and manufacturers to address such issues."  

Oh, so that explains it. Viewed from the front, the chairs do indeed take on the appearance of overstuffed body parts. I get it. But I reckon the imaginative yet ever-practical Mr. and Mrs. Eames, who introduced the classic chair in a 1956 NBC program (see the video after the jump), would have been amazed and amused to hear Wentzel's work being called "a fruitful overlap between art and design ... borrowed directly from the historical and cultural narrative of the Eames lounge ... evoking its particular typification of enduring, desirable and mass-produced products."

I'd call it an overly generous assessment of beautiful furniture gone horribly wrong for art's sake. What do you think?

Remote-control bathtub? Moen rolls out ioDigital

             

The faucet handles on your bath, shower and spa have just become obsolete -- if you buy into Moen's ioDigital Roman tub. Thanks to the new technology, you can lay comfortably in your bed -- or anywhere up to 30 feet away -- and still turn on the shower or fill your bath. A wall-mounted control allows you to set temperature and water volume in advance, then a push of a button on the remote control activates the flow.

A child-lock feature reduces the risk of scalding accidents or tub overflow. If water is turned on in other parts of the home, ioDigital will adjust accordingly, maintain your desired temperature and alert you if the hot water supply happens to run low.

Now the really important question: Are people who turn on their bath by remote control in the same category as TV couch potatoes? If precise flow and consistent temperature in the bath are overarching concerns, this device may be for you. The suggested retail price for the Roman tub or shower is $1,200; the "vertical spa," which includes a rain-shower shower head and four body jets, is $2,500.

-- Barbara Thornburg

Photo credit: Moen

The Scout: Balustrade & Bitters, L.A.'s new shelter e-zine

No, this is not a banner ad. It's the illustration for a story on a Santa Monica flea market vendor found on the new design website Balustrade & Bitters. "We want to provide the same visual experience as a magazine would, with  original content, in-depth stories, interviews and rich images," says vintage furniture dealer Coleen Rider, who co-founded the site with design blogger Megan Arquette and custom drapery designer Holli Thomas. The wonderfully L.A.-centric site launched last week with a 1,125-word piece on the restoration of the former 1876 Cathedral of St.Vibiana and Rider's 4,000-plus word Q & A with Hollywood interior designer Peter Dunham, which contains this charming (and completely unsolicited) exchange:

CR:  When thinking about your work, how would you describe it?

PD: David Keeps of the L.A. Times called it Merchant Ivory Moderne. That kind of summed it up.

Needless to say, I've bookmarked the site.

-- David A. Keeps

Photo credit: Balustrade & Bitters