Tag: bed

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Connected Objects Sleep

Bedjet 2 cools, heats beds to the rhythm of the night

As anyone who’s tried to get comfortable during a sticky summer heat wave or gelid winter frost knows, temperature is an important component of nighttime comfort. Indeed, we’ve already seen sleep monitoring projects that include monitoring temperature along with other factors such as noise and ambient light. But while these products can help you understand if the temperature is keeping you awake, they can’t do anything about it.

patent-claimedThat’s no obstacle for Bedjet v2, earlier versions of which have already seen Kickstarter success and Shark Tank failure. Designed by a former NASA engineer, Bedjet uses a noise-dampened blower to adjust the temperature during the nightly horizontal excursion. The result is, to quote the campaign, a “magical event in your bedding.” Stealing a page from the Select Comfort air mattress (the Sleep Number guys), it can service each side of a bed independently to match personal preference.

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Sleep

Sleep Sensei lulls you to sleep with fun lights, calm breathing patterns

Many people have trouble sleeping. There are few natural options out there that can help. Lack of sleep can disrupt daytime life immensely and is extremely unhealthy.

Using lights, Sleep Sensei can help restless people fall asleep. This small device about the size of two alarm clocks sits on the bedside table. It uses soft, red lights to mimic breathing patterns. When you first crawl into bed, the lights are fast, getting brighter when you inhale and dimmer when you exhale. As you doze off, the lights become slower to slow down breath, which is what causes sleep to happen. The device pivots to different angles and features a knob that lets the user adjust brightness and speed of the lights.

While this product has a sensible purpose behind it, it seems like a lot of clutter compared to taking a couple of Unisom tablets. And the design leaves some room for improvement, slightly resembling some kind of mini Medieval catapult. Backers will need to donate $40 for an assembled Sleep Sensei with estimated delivery in September 2015. This product is hoping to raise $2,500 with the help of Kickstarter.

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Connected Objects Sleep

Proper Pillow Plus will help give you an amazing night of sleep

A comfortable pillow is just as important as a good mattress to provide a good night of sleep. Most pillows, even the best orthopedic ones, however, can’t quantify just how well the user is sleeping.

The Proper Pillow Plus is a smarter version of the existing Proper Pillow, created by the same inventor. The Proper Pillow was designed to support optimal alignment with both back and side sleeping positions. Proper Pillow Plus builds on that and adds the quantification of sleep patterns with the assistance of a mobile app. A sensor network of pressure receptors built into the pillow tracks the user’s sleep experience and relays that data directly to the Proper Pillow Plus app via Bluetooth Low Energy. Among other things, Proper Pillow Plus can gauge what sleeping position and head orientation generate optimal sleep conditions. Proper Pillow Plus costs $60 and ships in April. Its maker is hoping to raise $375,000 via an Indiegogo campaign by April 18.

The product holds promise if it can truly and accurately measure sleep patterns and, more importantly, if it’s comfortable. That said, these two variables are impossible to gauge from a campaign video. Those are two of the same issues faced by similar products that have sought crowdfunding, including ThinkPillow.

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Connected Objects

Luna smart bed cover covers all the bases to provide good night’s sleep

Objects all around keep getting smarter and smarter. But the bed, one of the most important things that people use every day and a key part of our health, isn’t getting any smarter.

The San Francisco-based makers of the Luna smart mattress cover are out to change that. Luna is able to manage the user’s bed temperature and tracks sleep habits using multiple hidden sensors, including an ambient light sensor and temperature humidity sensor. The thin cover can also be integrated with the user’s other smart home devices to turn off lights, lock doors, change the thermostat, or make sure coffee is brewed when the user needs it each morning. Luna’s dual zone technology provides the option for users and their partners to select different temperatures for each side of the bed.

Luna works with any kind of mattress, its maker claims. Backers who pledge $199 for a queen or full size cover, $219 for a king size cover, or $229 for a California king size cover when it ships in August. The $100,000 Indiegogo goal has been set to pay for product validation testing and tooling to manufacture enclosures.

The product holds great promise, going a few steps further than the ThinkPillow smart pillow and Beddit sleep and wellness tracker that are both more reliant on their apps than Luna is. An iPhone or Android smartphone is required only the first time the user installs Luna. Consumers who are sleep-challenged will find it especially valuable.

Categories
Furniture

Nugget turns pool noodles into beds of comfort

Finding furniture that travels well from home to dorm, or just from room to room and can take on the wear and tear of kids without breaking can be a challenge. Who knew that pool noodles would make what seems to be the perfect foundation for Nugget? The product consists of four pieces that weigh 19 pounds, and are amazingly quick to set up. The pieces stay together with friction alone. The fabric is easy to spot clean, but is also removable so that it can be washed. Since it’s unbreakable, it can be a great solution for either the dorm or for kids still living at home.

Nugget’s versatility means it can function as a bed, couch, lounge chair and more. Those who prefer studying and doing homework on the bed with their laptop rather than at a desk may be interested in the Lappito campaign. This campaign seeks to raise $20,000. Backers get one Nugget for $249 with an expected delivery of January 2015.

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Kids/Babies Toys

Edwin the Duck smart toy teaches the old duck new tricks

No item is safe from becoming smart and connected. From lights and appliances to cameras and scales, everything is becoming connected.

For proof of this, look no further than Edwin the Duck, a smart rubber duck that offers companionship to children and peace of mind to parents. During bath time, Edwin the Duck goes right in the tub and can report when the water is too hot or when it’s just right, and can stream sing-along songs for cleaning. Once in bed, Edwin pairs up with a tablet or phone to read stories aloud complete with sound effects. Edwin also streams lullabies and functions as a night light.

This collection of features makes the part of the day parents and kids both dread a fun and easy experience. Inventor pi lab is raising $85,000 for safety certification, app development, and manufacturing. Parents can grab Edwin the Duck for their children at the $59 tier level, ready to hatch in March 2015.

Edwin the Duck is designed to give kids something positive to relate to bath and bed time, and the online features and interactivity should do just that. It may be strange shopping for a smart rubber duck, but that’s just a sign of the times.

Categories
Accents

Nova duvet cover zips up blankets for quicker bed-making

The Premise. Duvets are the luxury item of the bedding market and owning one has weirdly become a status symbol. The only problem is that comforters often get tangled up inside of their duvet covers and can be really hard to reinsert after washing. Often, they look messy after making the bed and appear rumpled.

The Product. The Nova is a duvet cover designed to make sleeping even more comfortable. This innovative product reinvents the way that normal duvet covers work so that blankets are easy to insert and don’t bunch up. The opening to put the blanket in is actually in the middle of the cover disguised by piping and has ties on the inside to keep the comforter in place. This cover comes in two colors (charcoal and off-white) and five different bed sizes.

The Pitch. Nova’s campaign begins with the standard video talking about the birth of the idea along with the long prototyping process. The rest talks about the various “revolutionary” benefits of this product along with the different packages that the reward tiers offer. Nova hopes to raise $20,000 in its 30-day Kickstarter campaign.

The Perks. A twin duvet cover and two matching pillowcases costs backers $150. Various packages offer sheets, fitted sheets, standard pillowcases, and decorative pillowcases along with the cover itself. The last and highest reward tier goes for $390 and includes one king duvet cover, two king-sized pillowcases, one fitted sheet, two decorative pillowcases and one cotton-filled comforter. All tiers have an estimated delivery date of August 2014.

The Potential. The Nova duvet cover was created by Crane & Canopy, a bedding company from San Francisco, California. This product uses a simple idea to completely revamp your bed. And the price isn’t too expensive, taking into account that duvet covers always seem to be overpriced. While there aren’t other duvet covers quite like this out there, Amazon does have a few products aimed at fixing this problem, like the Padded Comforter Clips that hold a duvet in place. All in all, the Nova duvet cover certainly offers a new solution to an age-old problem.

Categories
Furniture

MOVE combines bed and desk for easy room configuration

MOVE 20140306071445-Serie_Schreibtisch[1]Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of college dorm life is the limited space. Once you put a bed and desk in there, there doesn’t seem to be much room left. MOVE offers a way to combine a bed and desk into one unit. With the bed on one side, and desk on the other, each piece can be folded up into the unit when not in use. It’s made of wood and multiple units can be hooked together to increase desk space or create a double bed. It does appear, though, that one side needs to be folded into the unit in order to make use of the other side. For €1000, a backer gets a complete unit minus a port for a multimedia and power connection, which can be added for another €100.