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Tag: chair

  • No Assembly Required: This “Smart Chair” Assembles Itself

    Over the years, furniture hasn’t really evolved The tools we use to make furniture have evolved, but the furniture itself has remained largely the same.

    Well, that’s not the case anymore as Belgian designer and engineer Carl de Smet has created a smart foam technology that can be packed down to a small size, and then expanded to a set shape when heated. It’s like a shrinky dink in reverse. Check it out:

    Interestingly enough, the foam would allow consumers to shape the furniture into whatever shape they would want. An example from the video above is a lounging chair that can be reshaped into a short stool.

    De Smet hopes to have his expanding foam furniture on the market by next year. It seems that he also wants to bring some competition to Ikea, the current champion of cheap, easy-to-assemble furniture. He may do just that if his full-sized foam furniture behaves like current, smaller prototypes.

    [BBC News via Engadget]

  • This Chair Shows The Abusive, Anti-Consumer Side Of DRM

    DRM is a fact of life these days. Every company wants to protect their digital content with varying degrees of security from product codes to always online Internet connections. The sad part is that most DRM solutions fail to stop pirates, while hurting legitimate consumers. Even sadder, most consumers never question these practices.

    So, what would happen if companies started applying DRM to physical objects? The results are a little more than ridiculous if the DRM Chair is any indication:

    The DRM Chair has only a limited number of use before it self-destructs. The number of use was set to 8, so everyone could sit down and enjoy a single time the chair.

    A small sensor detects when someone sits and decrements a counter. Every time someone sits up, the chair knocks a number of time to signal how many uses are left. When reaching zero, the self-destruct system is turned on and the structural joints of the chair are broken.

    DRM CHAIR from thibault brevet on Vimeo.

    Consumers would never buy a chair that had only eight users. Why do we then keep buying digital software, music and movies that have the same anti-consumer restrictions?

    [h/t: Reddit]

  • Inflatable Star Trek Captain’s Chair: Sadly, Not For Adults

    If your the kind of guy that loves to debate on who is the better captain, Kirk or Picard, this is the home furnishing for you. (It’s Picard by the way). Introducing the Inflatable Captain’s Chair from ThinkGeek.

    You may already know ThinkGeek for their collection of science and geek related merchandise. And this is probably the geekiest of them all. For a mere $25, you can pretend you are the captain of the Starship Enterprise. Or your kid can, whatever.

    If you don’t purchase, or even if you’re not a Star Trek fan, you should still check out this promotional video ThinkGeek made for the product. Funny Stuff.

    Unfortunately for you, the chair will only support 120 pounds. (This guy doesn’t look to be 120 pounds)

    You are the youngest Captain in Starfleet. Your Lieutenants gather around you, desperately vying for your approval and catering to your every whim. They go on Away Missions to distant worlds and return with strange new foods. (Rigelian cabbage? Yuck!) Then there was that Red Shirt that your Chief Momular Officer called “Uncle Joe.” Gosh, wasn’t he annoying with the relentless games of Got Your Nose? You couldn’t be more pleased that he never returned (and that you got your nose back before he left).

    Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young and you have your whole youth ahead of you. Take your seat in your Inflatable Captain’s Chair, assemble your bridge crew, and start exploring. Invented at ThinkGeek, this chair is suitable for wee geeks aged 3 to small adult, or up to about 120 pounds. The arms are printed with all sorts of buttons and and lights to encourage imagination play, including setting Red or Yellow Alerts or jettisoning the pod. All that’s missing is the most adorable Captain in the quadrant – your kid!

    [h/t: geektyrant]