To: "homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [Homestead] How city people can spend more money . . .
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 08:26:45 -0500
. . . 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.