The sci-fi sleep solution

Incense, music, pillows made from spaceage foam: the arsenal of tools available to the pursuer of untroubled slumber is already fairly well-stocked. But such things pale into insignificance before the sheer integration of Matsushita Electric Works' vision of the ultimate sleep room. Their "Emit Sleep System" controls all of the devices in your bedroom (lighting, bed, air conditioning, stereo, massage chair, curtains) to make sure that your Z's are of a quality that has so far been the province of science fiction. For readers who happen to be in Tokyo, head to the "suimin' ROOM" on the second floor of Matsushita's National Living Showroom in Shiodome—though you'll need to have a Japanese speaker with you for the 30-minute consultation before you get to actually experience the delights of their full-on sleep solution (which unfortunately lasts only another 30 minutes), and you'll have to pay Y2,000 for the privilege. Matsushita envisages having products on the market in 2005 and earning Y5 bn from this as a separate business in 2007, incidentally. They have no plans yet for one of those sci-fi beds that tips you up and slides you into your clothes in the morning, unfortunately.