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Matsushita Designed Sleep Room 195

Posted by michael from the when-the-bough-breaks dept.
wersh writes "Matsushita Electric Works has developed a room that helps people sleep. They've been letting their employees take 30-minute sessions in the room and so far, not one has failed to fall asleep, they claim. They plan to open the sleep room to the public next week and intend to start selling it in June 2005 for 30,000 USD."
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Matsushita Designed Sleep Room More

Matsushita Designed Sleep Room

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  • Eheh (Score:5, Funny)

    by dotslashconfig ( 784719 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:33PM (#9408687)
    And what they don't tell you is that they make those employees work for 72 hours straight before they head into the sleep room. Hehehe...

    • Re:Eheh (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      This room is bogus. I've been in it 29 minutes and nothing... hold on, though...
      *wham!*
      LKGJ%KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
      (snoring)

    • Re:Eheh (Score:2, Funny)

      by Ziviyr ( 95582 )
      And what they don't tell you is that they make those employees work for 72 hours straight before they head into the sleep room. Hehehe...

      Dude, he's dead!

      We'll call it sleep for statistical purposes....
    • That only sounds like a lot because many of us are lazy Americans.
    • People also fail to notice the small chloroform vents upon entering.....

  • We already have these in the US! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:33PM (#9408689)
    And they come with the house or apartment. Its called the bedroom.

  • Prior art (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:34PM (#9408692)
    In college, we called a room that would put you to sleep in 30 minutes or less a "lecture hall"

  • also known as Technics Panasonic (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:34PM (#9408693)

    Matusushita is a huge company who are probably Sony's main rival, they are of course the parent company of Panasonic and numerous other brands of electronics, they usually like to keep a low profile

  • $30,000 (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Thats a whole load of money. Surely it would be cheaper just to take a year off work and get yourself sorted out. Or alternatively spend $30,000 on Coffee.
    • Yeah, I can't imagine trying to sleep after you realize how much money they managed to con from you. :)

    • Re:$30,000 (Score:3, Insightful)

      by afidel ( 530433 )
      A new kitchen can easily cost as much and you spend maybe a couple hours a day in there. You spend 4-9 hours a day in the bedroom. I personally think the money would be better spent on a good nights sleep then a pretty kitchen.

    • Re:$30,000 (Score:3, Insightful)

      by xanderwilson ( 662093 )
      As a life-long insomiac, I can tell you that I'd pay about whatever I'd have to. That's if it actually worked. Alex.

  • How I WISH american companies would follow (Score:5, Insightful)

    by lawaetf1 ( 613291 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:35PM (#9408708)
    Seriously, how many of you would end up increasing your productivity enormously if you were able to take a half hour nap at work every now and then? Sometimes you just need to quick-charge the batteries.

    Pity our corporate overlords would rather have zombies at their desks for a full 8 hours than surrender a few minutes for a nap.
    • Did you read the article? This isn't about taking thirty minute naps, it's about a thirty minute preparation for falling asleep.
    • I used to, but I was told I snore too loudly. Now I just get a Coke or coffee and go for a walk.

    • Re:How I WISH american companies would follow (Score:5, Funny)

      by sahonen ( 680948 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:50PM (#9408818) Homepage Journal
      My boss is cool with me sleeping on my lunch break.
    • Pity our corporate overlords would rather have zombies at their desks for a full 8 hours than surrender a few minutes for a nap.

      8 hours? 12 Hours are the norm, 7 days a week. And 20 hour days are seeming to pop up more often. If I was union, I'd say call my Shop Steward after 8.

    • Polyphasic Sleep (Score:5, Interesting)

      by totoanihilation ( 782326 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @08:14PM (#9409523)
      Actually, if you take enough 30 minute naps during a day (usually 30 minutes every 4 hours) you can get away with as little as 3 hours of sleep PER DAY. It's known as polyphasic sleeping, and it tricks the mind into falling into REM sleep very quickly rather than waiting several hours (as when you only sleep in one 8-hour chunk). You even end up getting MORE REM sleep this way.

      Lots of mammals do it naturally, including us as babies, but we are raised by our parents to stay awake all day and sleep at night.

      I tried this a few semesters ago to get through a rough finals week. Works great, you even feel more awake than usual. But you have to have a lot of stuff to do, otherwise you bore yourself to sleep ;)

      Anyways, I wish Universities and workplaces would have sleep-rooms and schedules separated in 3.5 hour chunks!!

      Link: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/4/15/103358/720 [kuro5hin.org]

      • Re:Polyphasic Sleep (Score:4, Informative)

        by Art Tatum ( 6890 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @09:29PM (#9409913)
        We read about this in Psychology class. The textbook said that the schedule doesn't work long-term: even though you get more REM sleep, you don't get all of the physical rest that you normally get. It supposedly breaks down after about 2 months. According to my textbook. But they may be wrong. They're psychologists, after all. :-)

        • We read about this in Psychology class. The textbook said that the schedule doesn't work long-term: even though you get more REM sleep, you don't get all of the physical rest that you normally get. It supposedly breaks down after about 2 months. According to my textbook. But they may be wrong. They're psychologists, after all. :-)

          What happens after the two months? Could you sleep really heavily for a few days, go back to normal for a few more days, and then go back to the 3-hour-sleep schedule for two mo

          • To learn more you could always go to your local library and get the book "Why We Nap: Evolution, Chronobiology, and Functions of Polyphasic and Ultrashort Sleep" by Claudio Stampi.
            It's an interesting little book, with plenty of examples and experimental results.

            As for the long term risks, I guess one has to use his noggin. You won't be physically more energetic, so don't start this to train 20 hours a day for a marathon. Your body still needs its rest. Since most geeks stick to their computers, that sh

  • MSDN does it for me.. (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    MSDN is enough for me tzzzZZZZzzzzZZZZzzzz

  • like a child (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Coneasfast ( 690509 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:37PM (#9408714)
    i can't remember getting sleep like i could when i was a child, sometimes it takes me time to fall asleep, when i was kid, it was so easy and so restful.

    this device just speeds up the process to make you fall asleep, doesn't improve the sleeping too, which i think is what a lot of people need.

    • Re:like a child (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mikael ( 484 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @06:23PM (#9408955)
      For me, getting a good nights sleep involves being in a room that is pitch dark, completely silent, with plenty of cool fresh air. If I'm not feeling too tired, I'll read a chapter of a novel for 30 minutes.

      My parents home is out in the countryside, and each window has iron shutters on the outside, which can be folded horizontally. For extremes of weather these can be unfolded and used to cover the windows, depending on weather conditions. For stormy weather, these stop the danger of stuff being blown into the windows, and in Summer, these reflect the heat of the Sun while allowing a breeze to blow through. In Winter, they help to keep the heat in the house. At night, they can be used to keep the persistant orange glow of the streetlights out. Every night gives me a solid night's sleep. The air is cool and fresh. I feel sharp in the morning, and can work for eight hours non-stop.

      Getting a good night's sleep in the city is much difficult. The apartment I rent has thin curtains, no shutters, and so the orange glow of streetlights is present in every single room throughout the night. Opening the windows to get a cool breeze introduces its own problems, since other residents tend to take taxi's home up until 4am, and the taxi cabs hang around for 10 minutes with the engine idling until the next call. Not forgetting the occasional ambulance/police car, the upstairs neighbour running their spindryer at 7am in the morning, the downstairs neighbour renovating their ceiling, somebody upstairs coming home from a pary in the early hours of the morning, and getting a good night's sleep is much harder.

      Given the high population density in Japan, I'm not surprised they have difficulty getting a good night's sleep.
      • For less than $50, you should be able to solve most of your problems.

        Window treatments can be made from inexpensive, thick cotton fabric. If you have existing curtains, you should be able to hang another set fairly easily. You can at least afford a set for your bedroom. This simple fabric should cost no more than $3 per yard, and you should be able to find instructions for making simple curtains on Google. Needle and thread (or staples if you're really lazy) shouldn't cost more than $4. Let's pretend you n
      • Amen. I spent the last year in a city while I was working on my master's degree and I hated it. It simply amazes me that people want to live in cities.

        Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the culture. Museums, music, theatre, good restaurants, etc. I just could not possibly conceive of dealing with the trade-offs long term. Traffic. Noise. Light pollution. Higher cost of living. PEOPLE. Ugh.

        The first thing I did when I moved into my apartment was to put up a double-thick curtain across the window in my bedroom. To

      • Re:like a child (Score:3, Informative)

        by xyz(void) ( 589270 )
        I used to have the same problem of city noise
        disturbing my sleep. As I live in Europe
        where people tend to have no aircon it also gets
        very hot in the summer so that you have to open
        whe windows in the night, what draws in only more
        noise.
        But after working in a third world city of 12m
        for some time I learned to sleep with earplugs,
        what solved all my problems. With them I can
        sleep almost anywhere under any conditions.

  • Prior Art (Score:5, Funny)

    by Erick the Red ( 684990 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:37PM (#9408715)
    My University has one of those. They use it as a classroom for quantum physics.

  • See the duplicate article next week... (Score:5, Funny)

    by fermion ( 181285 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:38PM (#9408723) Homepage Journal
    YRO...

    Matsushita Patents the Bedroom!

  • Cheaper ways (Score:5, Funny)

    by Sponge Bath ( 413667 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:38PM (#9408724)

    A quart of whiskey and a bag of weed has proven effective in my experience and costs significantly less.

  • Soylent Green??? (Score:5, Funny)

    by mykingdomforahorse ( 744451 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:38PM (#9408727)
    Doesn't this sleep room remind you of the suicide room from Soylent Green? Japan is about to corner the market on high-protien food.

  • the sleep room, or.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mad_Rain ( 674268 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:39PM (#9408732) Journal
    The 30-minute session in the sleep room -- about the size of a small hotel room and programmed with a control panel in the wall -- starts with the bed upright like a recliner. A huge TV screen is positioned high above the dresser to meet perfectly with your line of vision, showing verdant scenes of a river ambling through a forest.
    Gentle guitar and piano music plays against a backdrop of trickling water and birdsong.

    So is it a sleep chamber, or New Age Music Torture Chamber [vintners.net]?
    (for those of you who have a excellent memory for the Far Side cartoons - the link is to Charlie Parker's private hell)

    • The 30-minute session in the sleep room -- about ...showing verdant scenes of a river ambling through a forest. Gentle guitar and piano music plays against a backdrop of trickling water and birdsong...

      Need I say more?

    • Remember the scene in "Soylent Green" where Sol Roth is laying on the cart viewing some film, getting ready to be made into crackers?

      (as a side note, Dick Van Patten played the attendant, I always knew there was something creapy about him...)

    • So is it a sleep chamber, or New Age Music Torture Chamber?

      You will get sleep but sadly your neighbors won't as you scream until you finally pass out.

    • So is it a sleep chamber, or New Age Music Torture Chamber?

      That depends on how you program it. It's got a big screen, speakers and a matres that vibrates and moves. It's a Quake booth.

    • "(for those of you who have a excellent memory for the Far Side cartoons - the link is to Charlie Parker's private hell)"

      I figured they'd just scroll a bunch of Slashdot stories about SCO.

  • Sweet (Score:1)

    by su2ge ( 713552 )
    I need to get one of those so I can sleep better and end turn produce better code for my website that will eventually rule the world!!! MUAHAHAHAHA... oh wait... slashdot already claimed that position. I guess I can settle for second best. On a more serious note, I wonder if this will help some people with insomia finally fall asleep. In that case, the worlds geek population will greatly diminish as the fakes that are just slight tech people who don't get enough sleep will go back to doing whatever it was

  • hmmm mildly impressed. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Haydn Fenton ( 752330 ) <no.spam.for.haydn@gmail.com> on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:41PM (#9408748)
    Recently, I've been looking into hypnotism, subliminal pursuation, inducing alpha state conciously and lucid dreams.

    Although this does seem pretty cool, I have a breif idea of how it works, and just like most things, once you know how it works, it doesn't impress you as much (well, if it's not that hard in the first place).
    To me, it looks like it's using hypnotism techniques to make you fall asleep (dimming the lights, making you relax, playing music (if you time the beats right you can change the brain waves into an alpha state)). Anyway, as we know, hypnotists can make people fall asleep in seconds, so making a computer which makes people fall asleep in 30 minutes, I have to admit, doesn't impress me that much. Considering the techniques are very similar


    The sleeping gadget which impress me is the NovaDreamer [lucidity.com] - a device which, when you train yourself, can induce lucid dreams - It detects when your eyes are in REM sleep, and then uses flashes and sounds at the right level to wake you into a lucid state.

    For those who don't know what lucid dreams are; they are dreams in which you know you are dreaming, and can therefore control your dream in any way you want - fly, breathe underwater, whatever. There are reports people can predict the future in lucid dreams too, which I really don't know if thats BS or not, we've all had deja vu's, and apparently they are previous dreams we've had. Lucid dreaming deviced would be more impressive to me, but hey.

    Anyway, there's my opinion.

    • Re:hmmm mildly impressed. (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      There are reports people can predict the future in lucid dreams too, which I really don't know if thats BS or not

      Have a guess.
    • Anyway, as we know, hypnotists can make people fall asleep in seconds

      Usually, this requires conditioning first. A hypnotist can make you fall asleep in seconds if they have had MINUTES first to condition you to fall asleep or have previously given you a suggestion under hypnosis to return to a hypnotic state ("sleep") when given a trigger stimulus.

    • Curious (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Writer ( 746272 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @08:37PM (#9409655)

      Have you heard of light and sound machines? They use flashing LEDs and pulsing sounds or binaural beats to induce certain brainwave frequencies through something called the frequency following effect [csuchico.edu]. I can even recall seeing one of these machines on the net that actually used a mild electrical charge pulsing at these frequencies as well.

      Another thing you ought to know about lucid dreaming is that text in dreams does not stay constant. While you're dreaming, if you read anything then read it again a second time, it will change. The sleeping mind doesn't have the external stimuli to keep the dream imagery constant.

      Psychologists didn't believe that it was possible that people could be conscious while dreaming. However some sleep researchers found out that wherever your eyes are looking at in a dream is where your eyes are facing in REM. They found one subject with a constant pattern in his REM activity- his eyes kept moving from side to side- while he dreamt of watching a Ping-Pong game. Sleep researchers used this to prove lucid dreaming exists [psywww.com]. They got subjects to perform a pattern of eye movements when they achieved lucidity while dreaming, which they recorded with polygraphs so they had actual evidence.

      I'm curious to know if anyone out there has any experience with enhancing the ability to have lucid dreams. I actually have a NovaDreamer, but the thing just wakes me up. And I'd like to know what these "computerized dream-inducers" mentioned in the article are. Could it be this [slashdot.org]? I heard that taking the nutritional supplement 5HTP enhances dreaming, but I've never tried it. I've tried Melatonin, but that doesn't seem to affect me.

      • Have you heard of light and sound machines?
        Yep, I have one. When I have trouble sleeping, I just use one of the sleep programs, and I'm asleep in 20-30 minutes. A few times I haven't stayed completely asleep after the program ended, but at least I felt quite drowsy and not wired like I did before the program started.
      • I used the following technique to assist in lucid dreaming. It's actually very simple:

        1.) periodically throughout the day, ask yourself "am I dreaming?" Do this regularly and consistently, and don't just say it, try to reason whether you are dreaming or not (ie, are things normal, or are normally impossible or unlikely things happening). Certain common tests which can be used to distinguish dreaming from waking states are whether text stays constant or whether a clock keeps proper time.

        If you get int

      • I'm curious to know if anyone out there has any experience with enhancing the ability to have lucid dreams.

        I have the ability to have lucid dreams, but I've only had them in the morning. Basically all I do is decide to stay in bed and dream even though I'm actually waking up and could just as well get up.

        I've found that in a sufficiently calm environment (alone in bed) I can induce lucid dreams if I relax and refrain from thinking to intensly. Moving is also a bad thing, as it makes you aware of your phy
    • Lucid dreaming is not difficult. Make a habit - several times a day, when nobody's looking, try and grab the remote / your coffee / whatever using the force. Keep doing this for a couple of weeks, and eventually it'll work - congratulations, you're dreaming! Another technique, is whenever you pick up something with only a couple of lines of text on it, read, look away, read it again. If it's changed, you're dreaming, and go throw some hadoukens around, or fly, or do all the nasty things you can't do in meat
  • This is a v. .. very.... Zzzzzzz

  • I can do this for free in 5 minutes... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:42PM (#9408759)
    So can anyone else who has three kids. It's magical. 2-5 minutes in a recliner is all you need.

  • Falling asleep is easy... (Score:5, Funny)

    by lortho ( 700090 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:46PM (#9408790)
    ... what I really need is a 'wake up' room:

    In bright, pulsating light, the loud scream of a heavy metal guitar solo electrifies your lazy nerves. Your back is pounded with electric shocks, zapping muscles atrophied from the long lazy slumber, as an IV of raw Mountain Dew syrup is injected straight into your veins. Before you know it, you're at work, and actually on time for once...
    • ACK!

      This is such a big problem for me that I still have plans to put around 20 alarm-clocks all over my room and wire them with a central 'set-alarm' wire.
      I want to put all these into the locations where it is most difficult to switch them off, i.e. hang them from the ceiling, in the shelves etc. and, yes, I want to remove/disable the snooze buttons. So it would be really hard to be lazy in the morning. Switchting them off would be done by starting the computer and entering some weird, 30 character-long pr
  • At first I thought this might be a simple mechanical version of the classic Asian massage parlor, but I was quickly disbused by this quote:

    Eventually, the lights turn off completely, the massage peters out...

    Now I know it is just another version of the "happy ending"!! Admittedly, it is a tried and true method of putting people to sleep. But what will they do about females??
  • Dream inducers? Great. Like I don't already have enough pairs of Lightspeed Briefs.

    "Dump him, Marge. He's a loser. I travelled the world / and the seven seas. / I am watching / you through a camera."

  • Not sure if this is the answer... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bloxnet ( 637785 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:47PM (#9408801)
    It's very nice that efforts are being made to improve the environment to get people to fall asleep...but it seems that this may be the wrong approach to the real issue. A growing amount of sleep disorders suggests problems with higher stress levels, diet, or having a routine sleep pattern. These issues seem to be all common in the U.S. as well as other industrialized nations. In my own humble opinion, I think it's because as a collective group, we put too much time and focus on things that aren't important and in turn have forgotten what's really important, substituting friends, family, and improving oneself mentally/spiritually for material things or work. It would stand to reason that if this substitution leads to these types of problems, it is a poor substitute indeed. I know I sound like a hippy or self help moron, but I have to say, ever since I read this quote somewhere: "One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." ...and thought on it, and took it to heart, I have just seen/approached things a lot differently. Haven't been fired yet, and hell even if I do, is it the end of the world? I forgot where I was going with this, oh well. The next stage I would love to approach would be this qoute: "I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours." Oh well, enough posting, I should go take a nap.

    • ...I think it's because as a collective group, we put too much time and focus on things that aren't important and in turn have forgotten what's really important, substituting friends, family, and improving oneself mentally/spiritually for material things or work.

      How amusing. What you MEANT to say was, "substituting material things or work for..." etc. See, when you substitute A for B, B is replaced, not A. You were trying to say that material items aren't important, and ended up doing the reverse.

      S

      • You are right...I will make a point to develop important things like communication skills as part of my mental/spiritual growth so that I can clearly express what I mean to people without confusing them. Usually I pick at spelling, but your correction somewhat emphasizes my point. With a lot of technical people who just go nuts on focusing on work or in some cases specifics like interacting with machines (programming, administrating, etc, etc) important communication skills gets abandoned. To the rest of th

  • Prototype name (Score:4, Funny)

    by lawpoop ( 604919 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @05:55PM (#9408840) Homepage Journal
    They're calling it "the cubicle".

  • Been done.... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Himring ( 646324 )
    "Matsushita Electric Works has developed a room that helps people sleep...."

    That's been done already. It was at my insurance company's place in the salesman's office when I asked him the difference between term and whole life....
  • Matsushita needs a machine. We have Dennis Miller.

  • I hope that wet beds don't increase... (Score:5, Funny)

    by foidulus ( 743482 ) * on Saturday June 12, 2004 @06:06PM (#9408887)
    A huge TV screen is positioned high above the dresser to meet perfectly with your line of vision, showing verdant scenes of a river ambling through a forest.
    Won't that make people feel the urge to pee?
  • "We have determined that our customers often need extensive relaxation therapy during long and arduous commutes" said GM CEO Richard Wagoner Jr who dismissed claims that SUV owners were more in need of a wakeup call than a sedative environment.

  • Apnea (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mfh ( 56 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @06:28PM (#9408971) Homepage Journal
    I have sleep apnea, and I wonder if they have accomodated for anyone with this disorder? I think a pressurized room might do the trick, but I'm not sure.

  • napping very good for you - and famous people (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Dr.Knackerator ( 755466 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @06:35PM (#9409002) Journal
    Churchill, JFK, Napoleon, Thatcher, Leonardo, Brahms, Edison all (have) partaken in the power nap.
  • I need a stay awake room.
  • Homer, shown sensory deprivation tank in back of New Age store:

    "Can I pee in it?"
  • Hmmm so a sleeping invention from Japan... I'm thinkin' robotic arms holding rags covered in chloroform.

  • Tinnitus (Score:2, Insightful)

    by obi-1-kenobi ( 547975 )
    Yes but will it create background noise as well so I can't hear my tinnitus (note i'm only 20).
  • .. participants reported a very bare room with only a TV screen showing a movie entitled 'Gigli'. Within 15 minutes most of those that entered...

  • This is coming (Score:3, Informative)

    by foidulus ( 743482 ) * on Saturday June 12, 2004 @08:05PM (#9409467)
    From a company who figured out how to eliminate toilet paper [mew.co.jp]
    I have seen some of these in Japan, but was always too afraid to use them. However, a lot of people seemed to judging by the sounds coming from the toilet.
    • While I think that they probably have a point, that site is hilarious!

      Check out the demo movie in the feminine hygiene section! ;-)

      Great quote from the FAQ:
      "Q: When I have house guests, they might feel uncomfortable or intimidated by this piece of equipment in my bathroom. What should I do?
      A: Well, as long as they know they can just use your toilet like any toilet, everything should be fine. If they start asking, just tell them what it is. Suggest trying it. They will leave your house never forgettin

  • How To Sleep (Score:3, Informative)

    by nate nice ( 672391 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @08:15PM (#9409532) Journal
    Have a fan going in your room or outside/in a closet. I have known many people that use this technique and everyone agrees this helps them fall asleep quickly. This will cost you about $20.00. Calm, white noise is the key to good rest.
    • Or leave your computer on at night and save money on the fan.
    • Ask any Korean. They know ALL about this.
    • Have a fan going in your room or outside/in a closet. I have known many people that use this technique and everyone agrees this helps them fall asleep quickly. This will cost you about $20.00. Calm, white noise is the key to good rest.

      I find that a fan doesn't produce enough white noise nor does it cool down my room on those hot and humid summer nights. That's why I have a 5000 BTU air conditioner in a window two feet from my head. Lots of cool air, tons of white noise, and a bonus loud THUMP when the com

  • feature request for sleep machine ... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by pikine ( 771084 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @09:36PM (#9409940) Journal

    What they should design is not a room, but a self-contained machine "bed" that helps people sleep. The "bed" would have a sound-proof, single-body glass dome cover with electronic blinds--a coating on the glass that dims when an electric charge is applied. The bed would be equipped with filtered air-conditioner, and it automatically adjusts to the right humidity level. Then they may have a widescreen TV, stereo speakers, and massage machine inside the bed for whatever reason.

    It's much easier to buy a "package" that has everything you need, rather than having to buy a "room." At least, this this kind of sleeping machine "bed" would find a very good application on airline flights. If you ever had a 18 hour flight, then I'm sure you'll appreciate this very much.

  • If I have to spend US$30000 to sleep surely will have nightmares.

    In the other hand, if my work spends US$30k to make me work for i.e. 50 hours straigth as a policy with short periods of 30 minutes sleep, i should quit. Working for much hours must be for some very unusual, end of the world-kind emergencies and not for er.. "usual" things.

  • ... seems someone has sleep on his design, no anti-snoring device included for the price. At least, I hope sound insulation is outstanding.

  • OK, they've got a large-screen TV showing screen-saver like content, some audio, a powered curtain rod, a motorized bed, and lighting controls. Sounds like something you'd build out of a low-end Linux PC and some X10 controllers.

    The thing it seems to lack is any feedback. If they had a system that could read your heart rate or EEG, or at least tell if your eyes are open, that would be more impressive. What they've got now sounds like the Bedroom of The Future, circa 1964.

  • I had a dog that had remarkable sleep inducing powers. She didn't like to sleep without a warm human to curl up against so she would make people sleepy when she wanted to sleep. It was really impressive: she could walk into a room and within minutes everyone would say how sleepy they were. She usually targetted me so I actually built up a bit of a resistance over the years. But if I had to pull an all-nighter I would still lock here out of the room.

  • A picture of the room (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    http://politiken.dk/VisArtikel.sasp?PageID=323076& Nr=3 [politiken.dk] From a danish newspaper

  • They had one of these at university... (Score:3, Funny)

    by adrianbaugh ( 696007 ) on Sunday June 13, 2004 @04:26AM (#9411912) Homepage Journal
    They called it a "lecture theatre".

  • Yeah, just Star Wars Episode II (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lispy ( 136512 ) on Sunday June 13, 2004 @07:37AM (#9412322) Homepage
    in a cinema near you.

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