(Credit:
O2 Planet)
(Credit:
DEG)
After having witnessed their rise in the bacchanalian heydey of the dot-com boom, we've always had an odd fascination with oxygen bars. And yes, we admit that it probably has something to do with Dennis Hopper's character in Blue Velvet too.
That aside, the "Entertainment Oxygen Lounge" may prove too difficult to resist even for skeptics like us. Not only does it have the requisite stress-reducing and mood-enhancing equipment, according to BornRich, but it combines that system with a massage chair. And we all know how we feel about those.
It gets even better: Add a DVD player, stereo, and high-end earphones for "audio/video therapy" to an "Aroma O2 Headset," and it's Bliss City. Come to think of it, we'll skip the oxygen and have a beer instead. Pabst Blue Ribbon, of course.
As a tech writer, it's not uncommon to see a press release or a photo of some new gadget and have an instant sensation of "I need that."
But, I'm not sure the words have ever been more true than when I saw the info on Inada's latest massage chair, the Sogno.
Inada's latest massage chair sounds perfect. If only it were here...
(Credit: Inada)I've been in a colossally bad mood today, for no particular reason. But I am sure 15 minutes (OK, 30 minutes) in this baby would do the trick. It uses an infrared body scan to determine a particular individual's central acupressure point as well as "full shoulder/neck air massage with neck traction capabilities, shoulder to fingertip arm massage, arching full body stretch," and something called total relaxation Dream-Wave Technology. Not sure what that is, but it sure sounds good.
Now all I need is the teleporter and a time machine to get it here now. Inada is showing it off to reporters at next week's Las Vegas Winter Furniture Market.
Alas, I'd even settle for Inada's earlier music-synching W.1 Masssage Chair. But it's not to be. If anyone needs me, I'll be downstairs using CNET's iJoy massage chair and feeling sorry for myself.
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Popgadget)
Faced with endless competition, massage chairs have bloated to egregious sizes in an effort to cram in as many features as possible. They kind of remind us of the Windows operating systems of the mid-'90s.
But what about the petite consumer? A smaller-boned individual might be swallowed whole by one of these undulating monsters. That's why Matsushita has made a chair that it says is sized more appropriately for women, smaller than most in height and width by 10 centimeters (about 4 inches), according to Popgadget.
The chairs, which aren't available yet in the United States, will reportedly start at $1,800. Apparently, smaller doesn't necessarily mean cheaper.
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Jovial Electronics)
Anyone who's visited a mall in the last decade knows that massage chairs are a dime a dozen--or perhaps several grand, depending on the model--but we just can't pass up one that comes from a company called "Jovial." And it's not just any manufacturer, but one that claims to be "China's leader in massage chairs" (we'll have to take their word for it).
Geographic hyperbole aside, it's latest offering alone has got to put it high on the list: As well as some advanced bodywork technology, it promises to provide nothing short of a full multimedia experience. While it uses its programmable 3D body-scanning system to gauge your sore spots, you can make use of its built-in DVD player, loudspeakers, and synchronized massage music--all through its attached LCD controller, according to BornRich. We're not sure if we would describe all this as "jolly," but it certainly couldn't hurt.
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Gizmag)
Picky, picky. That's what we are. Not only do we want a massage chair that can be set to our every physiological whim, but we also want one that will thump to the beat of our music. The problem, though, is that most therapeutic chairs on the market look so institutional--and when we're in need of relaxation, the last thing we want to imagine is that we're in a dentist chair.
So even though there are others that can be programmed to sync with music, we appreciate the effort made by "The Rave." In addition to housing a pair of speakers and plug-and-play compartments for media players, the chair sports a design that looks more appropriate for a media room than a physical therapy clinic, in five colors. And don't worry: The upholstery is a washable micro-fiber fabric, Gizmag says, which will come in handy in case you spill your stress-reducing martini.
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Relax The Back)
At this rate, the smartest technology in the household won't be the computer or the entertainment center, but the massage chair. We've already seen versions with features ranging from multimedia equipment to lie-detecting sensors, after all, and now we have a chair that will cater to your kneads by voice command.
Luxurylaunches says the "ROBO Chair" will customize your position up to 170 degrees while working you over with a "3D roller mechanism," whatever that is. There are tons of massage chairs on the market, so why is this one being featured on a luxury blog? It costs $6,000.
Regardless of price, we think all of these models are trumped by a product that isn't even a chair, and for good reason: the massage bed, by the same company that makes the ROBO. And you don't even need quarters to make it work.
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Coolest-Gadgets)
Now this is our kind of convergence product: a multimedia massage chair.
Yes, we know this kind of thing has been done before, in chairs for gaming and lounging, but Inada's "W.1 Massage Chair" takes the concept to another level. Not only will its infra-red sensors adjust automatically to hit your tsubo shiatsu pressure points, Coolest-Gadgets says, but it claims to knead you in sync with the music being piped through its built-in system.
Lest things get out of hand, it also includes a remote that can override the chair's massage levels, as well as control the media. The only thing that's not clear is whether it uses lie-detection technology.
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Sanyo)
We have a theory (yes, another one). We've often wondered why shopping malls continue to thrive, despite the convenience of online commerce, but then it dawned on us: massage chairs. So we suspect that there's a secret cartel among all retailers to develop them in new forms all the time.
The latest conspirator to surface is Sanyo, with its "Zero Gravity" model. Language from its press release sounds like it came straight from NASA's R&D labs: Using its "Stiffness Detection Sensor" technology, the chair "diagnoses stress areas by measuring changes in pulse rate and perspiration."
But a word of caution: Sanyo says the concept borrows from the technology used in lie detectors. So be careful if you have any hackers in the house.
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