Yup, the folks at Music Bird Corp. have invented a gizmo that turns flowers into stereo systems.

According to Gizmodo: “the ‘Canon,’ a series of vases and flower pots that actually use the leaves and flowers of plants as speakers. The Canon (a play on Japanese words for flower (”ka”) and sound (”non”) uses an acrylic tube to vibrate the flowers, adding directionless sound.”

Now wouldn’t that make an interesting centerpiece. Or would it just be annoying?

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According to an article on BizBash.com, attendees aren’t, for the most part, flocking to new PDA show applications, as was once thought would have happened by now. Companies like Bluefish Wireless make applications that allow attendees to do things like download show guides, maps, exhibitor and attendee lists, etc., but most attendees and show organizers aren’t biting.

At least, not yet. In the article, Corbin Ball is quoted as saying: “”We’re not early adopters…But we are coming on strong.”

“The trade show business is down and planners just don’t have the money to invest in these new technologies. They’re trying to put bodies on the floor,” says Tim Scannell, president of Shoreline Research, a Boston-based technology consulting firm. “It’s not happening now and probably not in six months, but maybe in a year or two. Today too many PDAs are just personal digital assistants, not collaborative tools.”

The events that are having some success tend to be technology, medical, and education conferences, which isn’t too surprising, since PDA use is prevalent among those techie demographics. Even the gigantic American Society of Clinical Oncology conference, held not long ago in New Orleans, only had roughly a fifth of its attendees actually use the cool Bluefish Wireless applications it offered at its show. I doubt it would be worth the $10,000 to $25,000 it costs to use Bluefish’s solutions for a smaller show (ASCO pushed close to 30,000 attendees this year), or for one whose audience is still using their PDAs just as address books and daytimers.

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Are your attendees a little jaded, you know, the “been-there/done that” types? Or are they just a little spacey? This might be just the thing to jazz up an incentive trip or afternoon outing–Zero-G Experience, where your attendees can fly weightlessly and pretend they’re astronauts (you have to be in Hollywood, Fla., to participate, and it takes a full day to go through the training). From the company’s Web site:

For the first time in United States history, you are invited to experience Weightless Flight. We apply the highest standards of safety, FAA approved activity offers everyone the chance to enjoy the fun and exhilarating dream of weightlessness, which is how astronauts have been trained by NASA for 40 years and how Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. During a Weightless Flight you can experience what its like to
walk on Mars and the Moon and be weightless like you are in Earth orbit.

I just got a press release from Maritz Travel about how it will “begin offering The ZERO-G Experience to coincide with ZERO-G’s launch and first public flight taking place at Newark Liberty International Airport. The package will consist of a full-day program led by a veteran astronaut and a weightless flight on G-FORCE ONE, ZERO-G’s specially-modified Boeing 727-200 cargo aircraft.”

Just don’t invite me along for the ride–despite a Robert Heinlein-induced desire to be an astronaut as a kid, even roller coasters make me green these days.

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Yeah, hotel rates may be cheaper during hurricane season, but you take a risk that you’ll pay the price if the odds are against you and a Charley or Frances hits while your meeting is in town. The back-to-back gack-splats Florida’s gone through lately have officials worried that meeting planners might rethink Florida as a destination for their event, at least through the worst of the season. And they’re concerned that other states nearby will use Florida’s bad fall to steal away more of its business.

“We’re going to have to salvage the meetings industry in Florida,” Nicki Grossman, head of the Broward County convention bureau, told state tourism leaders in a conference call Tuesday to discuss the impact of Frances.

The threat of lost conventions emerged as the top concern in South Florida as tourism officials assessed the storm damage sustained by the region’s top industry. They accused Sun Belt competitors of trying to woo conventioneers with warnings of South Florida’s hurricane problems.

And now, with Ivan the terrible ripping up the Caribbean, this PR problem is probably going to grow.

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