Reminds me of a Far Side cartoon where they revealed what dogs were saying when barking (basically "hello" over and over).

08: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/25/diy-kit-lets-houseplants-...

And flagged.

It's way too expensive. I think you could build a cheaper one with Xbee instead of ethernet.

I've been tempted to hire someone to build a few of these things. Any arduino hackers around?