Marble WiFi Router Lets You Grow A Small Plant On Its Surface

As technology ever-encroaches into our daily lives, it can be harder to stop and smell the flowers, both literally and figuratively. The Consortium for Slower Internet is aware of such an issue, and wants to make you aware of it, too, via its marble and wood router. With this router, which to the naked eye appears to be an organic brick with a couple antennas coming out the rear, you can grow a small plant that serves as a reminder to unplug every so often and enjoy nature.

The router is called the Cybernetic Meadow router, and is built upon the more conventional TP-LINK TL-WDR3600 router, which is decidedly more shiny and made of plastic. The router is a square of marble with a shallow depressed circle in the middle and a wood base, and for the earthy green-centric gadget, you'll be shelling out $350 USD. With that comes some nice specifications, however, so you won't be sacrificing Internet speed in the Consortium's desire to see you slow down.

The TP-LINK router offers 5GHz 300Mbps and 2.4GHz 300Mbps connections simultaneously, for up to 600Mbps of available bandwidth. There are a couple of USB ports, and IPv6-ready gigabit ports. WAN to LAN throughput exceeds 800Mbps via NAT, and there's an integrated media server for content sharing with computers and other devices, like gaming consoles. The router's base price is lower than the marble brick's at about $85 USD.

You're not going to suffer any signal loss from the thick marble housing, but one does have to wonder about heating issues with such a large — and solid — structure around the router. The device is handmade, and is part of a larger range of similar devices that include a flash drive and a phone dock.

SOURCE: Digital Trends