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Nissan envisions car-themed esports gaming chairs
Nissan's connection to gaming might extend beyond the occasional car in a racing sim. The automaker has joined with FaZe Clan and OpTic Gaming to design a trio of "esports gaming chairs" themed around (what else?) some of its more iconic cars. The GT-R Nismo is a "performance" chair with a thin carbon fiber shell, a racing seat shape, Nismo leather and an audio system built into the headset. The Armada chair echoes the SUV with extra-comfy lumbar support, posh leather and its own climate control. A Leaf chair, meanwhile, mimics the EV with "eco-friendly" materials and a USB charging port.
Seat wants to sell its Cupra Tavascan EV concept some day
After Spanish automaker Seat (owned by VW) spun out the Cupra sport sub-brand last year, it seemed like we were going to see some interesting vehicles from it. That's certainly the case at the Frankfurt Motor Show, where Seat has unveiled the Cupra Tavascan EV concept. It's not only a striking look at the possible future of Seat's Cupra EVs, but it might eventually become a production vehicle itself.
VW will debut cars with autonomous parking in 2020
Automakers are fond of experimenting with self-parking cars, but VW intends to make it a practical reality. It's promising that vehicles in the company group (which includes brands like Audi, Bentley, Porsche and Lamborghini) will start including autonomous parking as of 2020. The system will only be available in "selected" parking garages at first, but it relies on pictorial guiding markers that are theoretically usable in any garage.
VW's Seat unveils the first fully electric touring-class race car
You've seen electric Formula cars, Le Mans racers and even a Pikes Peak machine, but there's still room for more firsts in EV racing. VW's Seat brand has unveiled the Cupra e-Racer, which it says is the first completely electric touring-class race car. It's built on the existing Cupra Leon TCR design and promises the kind of performance you'd expect in this category: it can muster 402HP of continuous power, and 670HP at peak.
Any Tesla will soon pull your personal settings from the cloud
There aren't a lot of formalities for new Tesla feature launches -- if CEO Elon Musk decides to tweet something then it's coming, and probably soon. A case in point is new cloud-based driver profiles. "We are going to move all info and settings to the 'cloud' (aka server) so any Tesla you drive in the world automatically adjusts to you," Musk said on Twitter yesterday.
Panasonic's airline seat puts you in a high-tech cocoon
Panasonic has launched the most techie airplane seat we've ever seen, complete with its own app, user programmable mood lighting and a 4K TV. It revealed the product, called "Waterfront," at Hamburg's Aircraft Interiors Expo (yes, there's a show for everything), where it was spotted by The Points Guy. Since this is Panasonic's first foray into high-end airliner seats, it teamed up with B/E Aerospace, Formation Design Group and Denny e-bike designer Teague.
Ticketmaster's interactive seat map brings Facebook stalking to concert venues
You desperately want to attend Katy Perry's raucous San Antonio concert, but your kid sister has absolutely zero interest in tagging along, and the mere thought of going stag strikes fear into your heart. All seems lost, but worry not -- because Ticketmaster and Facebook have just joined forces to create a new feature that weds concert-going with social networking. As of today, users purchasing tickets to select events can easily find out whether any of their Facebook friends are also attending and where they're seated. All you have to do is connect to Ticketmaster with your Facebook account, find your concert of choice and use the interactive venue map to tag your own seats, or to see those of online friends who've already tagged themselves. From there, you can buy tickets right next to your intended targets and act totally surprised when you bump into them at the show. For now, the feature is only available for 300 venues (encompassing some 9,000 events), but you can find more information in the video and press release after the break.
Visualized: Tron Armchair redefines furniture art
If you haven't noticed already, Disney (and the rest of the world, seemingly) is going all-out for this year's rendition of Tron. What's potentially better than a cinematical remake? You're looking at it. The Tron Armchair was dreamed up and designed by New York's own Dror Benshetrit, with the seating apparatus officially debuting this week at Design Miami / Art Basel. There's a whole slew of motifs to peek down there in the source link, all of which make "impregnated fiberglass and polyester resin" look about as good as they can. It's a crying shame that no price tag accompanies them, but hopefully that'll change soon. Really soon.
Designer sofa encourages you to lose the remote control
If you've ever lost an important gadget to that black hole colloquially referred to as a "couch," you know what this is for -- it's a seat designed to hold your possessions without swallowing them whole. Designed by Daisuke Motogi Architecture of Tokyo, Japan, "Lost in Sofa" is made of upholstered cubes that naturally form slots. Sadly, the armchair's not for sale as far as we can tell, but rather one of a kind, and resided at DesignTide Tokyo 2010 until a few days ago. Ah well. Perhaps if we can find a vendor of plushy cubes, we'll just build one ourselves.
Seat's Ibe concept is the electric sport coupe of our dreams we'll probably never wake up to
Seat doesn't have much of a presence here in the US. In fact, we're sure 10 out of 10 'Mericans would mispronounce the Spanish company's name given the chance. (It's "SAY-at," for the record.) And that's totally fine, because at this point Seat largely produces generally boring VW-based hatchbacks, sedans, and vans. The Ibe concept, however, is good reason to get a little more familiar with the brand. Unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, this curvaceous coupe offers 2+2 seating and a deliciously lithe 2,425lb curb weight, doubly notable due to the batteries required to spin its entirely electric underpinnings. The heart is a 102hp motor with 148lb/ft of torque, offering a top speed of 100mph, 81 miles of range, and a 0-60 time of about 10 seconds. Okay, so that's performance more in-line with Honda's CR-Z than Tesla's Roadster, but the weight and torque should make it a blast to drive -- assuming it ever sees production. If it does it certainly won't be filled with the lovely white interior pictured after the break. Imagine trying to keep that clean...
Vibrating auto seat alerts driver when cars get too close
Every time we turn around, auto manufacturers are developing loads of new displays and sensors. At what point does the driver hit sensory overload? That's the question that prompted John Morrell, an Associate Professor at Yale School of Engineering, to position twenty vibrating cellphone motors in a rectangular array inside the driver's seat. Several different warnings were devised, including positional warnings (someone approaching closely behind will set off the center of the array, while a car approaching from the left or right will set off the motors on your left or right, respectively). Preliminary tests were done on a simulator based on The Open Racing Car Simulator (TORCS) platform, and so far things look promising. "[T]he vibrotactile feedback improved drivers' performance over that attained by using the rearview mirror alone," according to Gizmag, "and also helped warn of vehicles hidden by the mirror blind spot." Now, if this could do double duty as a massage chair? Then we'd be onto something.
Air New Zealand 'revolutionizes' coach cabins: power, USB, iPod support and Skycouches
When the so-called "friendly skies" are mentioned, a few airlines in particular come to mind: Virgin America, Singapore Airlines and Qantas, for starters. Starting today, you can safely include Air New Zealand in that discussion. In a bid to turn long-haul international travel on its head, the outfit has today revealed a freshly outfitted Boeing 777 with a coach cabin that easily puts every coach cabin found in the US to shame. Designed by Recaro, the world-class coach area includes 11 rows of Skycouches that can actually fold flat in order to create (admittedly short) beds for two. The best part? The "third seat" in the row will only cost a couple 50 percent of what it normally would, making it somewhat more affordable to buy a bed without springing for first class. You'll also find power sockets, USB ports and iPod connectors in every single coach seat, leaving the plane a Gogo-module away from being absolutely perfect. Pop those source links below for a hands-on at the Auckland unveiling by our good pals at Gadling.
Branex iTamTam iPod docking stool ensures your backside breaks it on day one
Hey, can you feel the vibe? That was actually your iPhone being snapped off by your reclining-inclined back. Anyhow, some genius at Branex Design of France decided that people would totally buy this $570, 11.5-pound speaker stool. Underneath the hood are four 1.5-inch 10W tweeters and a 5.25-inch 80W subwoofer to shudder your pelvis, all of which contribute to an overall power rating of 70W. There are over ten colors to choose from, too. Let's just hope that Philippe Starck doesn't see this and cry.
Stronger airline seats with airbags might just save your life, even on a business trip
If you're a product recall specialist hoping for your relatives to bank it big on an airline disaster-related life insurance claim, this post isn't for you. For everyone else who'd like a greater chance of walking away from a decidedly rough landing, here's your ticket. New airline safety regulations going into effect this fall require that all airline seats stay intact even under an impact of 16 times the force of gravity -- nearly double the old nine G requirement. As of now any aircraft model introduced after 1988 has the sturdier new seats, but starting October 27 all planes will. Additionally, a number of airlines are starting to have seats sporting airbags but, wouldn't you know it, they're largely found in first class. Ostensibly that's because the greater gaps between seats means in an impact your calm, blank face won't get restrained by the tray of the seat ahead, but you know the truth, don't you?
D-BOX scores deal to bring rumbling chairs to Mann Theatres
Ah, ha! So the rumors were true, after all. Just over three months after we heard that D-BOX was trying desperately to get its Motion Code technology into cinemas, we're finally seeing the first deal with a commercial theater chain. Mann Theatres, the operators of the famous Mann Chinese 6 Theatre in Hollywood, has become the first to first to allow D-BOX seating to be installed, with the initial installation taking place in theatre six of the aforementioned multiplex. There will also be a demo station setup in the lobby for moviegoers to "test drive" the rumbling, bumbling system, though there's no word on whether watching a flick in the D-BOX cinema will cost extra. In all seriousness, this deal is gigantic for D-BOX, and if a few more chains latch on, it won't be long before you see the technology's creator(s) sailing 'round the world and basking in their own glory.[Image courtesy of About]
Gamerox gamer chair keeps you on your toes, so to speak
We've been acquainted with all sorts of strange exercise / gaming apparatuses, and while the Gamerox is far from being the strangest, it's pretty high up there. Rather than just letting your kid grab any nearby stool and have a seat while melting their brain on games for hours on end, why not force their nates into this contraption? Put simply, it forces kids to continually balance and adjust in order to stay seated. Will it really tone muscles and improve posture? Doubtful, but it's practically guaranteed to frustrate and / or enrage your offspring.[Via Slashgear]
Suzukaze air conditioned seat cushion keeps the hindquarters cool
Kuchofuku is on the loose again, this time creating an air conditioned seat cushion to keep your fundament breezy. Reportedly, the unit can be powered via an AC adapter, car adapter or rechargeable batteries, and the built-in fan can move over 170 liters of air per minute in order to "dissipate heat and moisture around the buttocks that causes discomfort and sweating." Well, when you put it like that, $89 seems like a real bargain.[Via Gearlog]
Continental Seating injects Proscenium into Bravo! / Grand Tier collections
There's nothing quite like sitting on a small mountain of cash, but we've heard from fortunate friends that doing so for two solid hours can be really back for your back. Thankfully, Continental Seating has devised a way of converting packs of Benjamins into amazingly fine seating instruments, the latest of which is the Proscenium. Said model has just been inserted into the Bravo! and Grand Tier collections where it's available in 21- / 24-inch flavors with your choice of Faux Leather, Ritz Suede, and Brazilian Leather coverings from the Bravo! collection and the choice of six grades of leather from the Grand Tier family. Only problem(s)? The four to six week lead time and the $1,420 to $2,840 price tag.
Ovei home theater pod: not for claustrophobic, poor people
As with quite a few things unveiled at CEDIA Expos, the Ovei is also aimed squarely at folks with wallets so fat they can hardly contain themselves. This home cinema pod made its most recent debut at the CEDIA UK show, where the creators explained that users could slip into the air-conditioned capsule and control their home theater and / or gaming experience via the built-in touchscreen. We are told that it was designed by Lee McCormack and engineered by McLaren Applied Technologies, but aside from that, pretty much everything else remains a mystery. The Ovei can be ordered up now for around £50,000 (that's 100,000 of those depreciating greenbacks), but if you get 'em to toss in some foot pedals and a steering wheel (or whatever else you dream up), count on that figure heading north in a hurry.[Via KanYeWest Blog]Read - Ovei pod detailsRead - Ovei pod live shots, video
Armchair Paradise pod puts you in an embryonic state... almost
With each passing moment we grow ever closer to reaching the year 2193, thus, having some sort of futuristic pod / chair hybrid in your home is likely more acceptable today than yesterday. Nevertheless, we can't recommend the Armchair Paradise to anyone with any level of self-respect with a straight face, though the amenities do seem quite nice. Besides a totally comfortable place to put your tush after a hard day's night, you'll also find a built-in sound system that quite literally envelops you in sound. Unfortunately, pricing information doesn't seem to be readily available, but fast-forward a few decades and you might find out.[Via CNET]
