Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

. . . and get a few more seconds of sack time in the morning. Ah, ingenuity 
and competition. Take that, China! Hm. Just because the name sounds 
American does not indicate company nationality. Reminds me of the Japanese 
product label of the sixties: Made in USA. Usa, Japan, that was.

Hug the Sheets and a Light Goes On

By DEBORAH BALDWIN
Published: October 20, 2005

WALLACE AND GROMIT take note: the next time the alarm sounds and you need 
breakfast in a hurry, a newfangled comforter could let you signal Mr. 
Coffee from bed.

With sheets and towels crowding the marketplace, rival manufacturers are 
striving to stand out. And in perhaps the most unusual merger of textile 
technology and electronics, WestPoint Home is introducing washable bedding 
that communicates wirelessly with lights and appliances. A simple squeeze 
tells dyes in the fabric to start talking.

This week the company presented smart bedding and other interactive 
furnishings to store buyers at its showroom in New York. One new product 
will be available next month: a Cinderella-theme coverlet that lights up 
like Broadway and makes the sound of a fairy godmother's wand sweeping 
through the air.

For grown-ups, WestPoint Home displayed a deep blue coverlet that keeps 
itself busy turning a chandelier on and off. Enabling this to work requires 
wiring the chandelier to an outlet, but once that's done options abound: 
plug in a coffee maker or a television and they will be activated too, 
allowing countless seconds of additional bed time in the morning.

The rest of this compelling story is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/garden/20fabric.html