sofa
Latest
Sound Sofa is a sofa with an iPod dock
If you want to use your iPod in the living room for ambient sound, but abhor the look of a black, plastic dock, then you should check out the Sound Sofa by CSL. The Sound Sofa is a sectional sofa that houses a built-in audio system with an iPod dock. You can pick among different combinations of love seats and armchairs that let you design your ideal seating arrangement. There's even matching chairs and foot stools, so you don't have to sacrifice the overall look of your living room. The Sound Sofa starts at a US$1600 and is available in England. [Via Dvice]
Facebook acquires Mac development house for design talent
Facebook has just bought Dutch Mac development house Sofa, according to a company blog post. In the Mac world, Sofa is best known for four of the Mac apps that it makes: Kaleidoscope, Versions, Checkout and Enstore. However, Facebook's acquisition of Sofa had nothing to do with the Mac apps -- it was purely a purchase to get the company's design talent. "Terms of the deal are not being disclosed. But again, this is a pure talent acquisition for Facebook. And we've heard the main emphasis behind it is to continue to boost their [Facebook's] product design talent," according to TechCrunch. Fans of Sofa's apps don't have to worry about their future however. Though Facebook purchased the company, it did not purchase the rights to the apps. The company says that Kaleidoscope and Versions will live on, but Sofa will need to find homes for the apps at other development houses. Checkout and Enstore will also survive due to joint partnerships that were formed to create the apps.
Logitech Wireless Mouse M515 works on sofas for up to two years without recharge, stays lint free
Sure, lots of mice, ok, most mice can be coddled to work on fabric. But it takes a company with a dedicated mousing portfolio the size of Logitech's to design a mouse specifically for use on the sofa. See, the Logitech Wireless Mouse M515 features a sealed bottom case that lets you mouse around on soft surfaces without snagging. That means it won't collect bits of fuzz around the sensor when dragging it across the couch, bed, or a trouser-clad thigh. Naturally, it can also be used on more traditional computing surfaces, too. The M515 boasts up to two-years of battery life thanks, in part, to a hand-detection sensor that causes the mouse to sleep anytime it's not being held. Rounding out the list of features is Logitech's Hyper-Fast scrolling wheel and Unifying USB micro receiver required for the laptop or home theater PC you wish to control. Look for the M515 to ship to Europe in April for £49.99 -- that's about $80 converted, but you'll likely find it for a lot less whenever it hits US retail. Update: It's available in the US right now for $50 at our more coverage link.
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.
Versions out of beta
Since getting schooled in the comments on my last mention of Versions (a favorite of Robert's), I've reacquainted myself with Subversion ... and come to really enjoy using this polished and highly usable SVN client. Git may have its benefits, but for a lot of what I do (especially solo web design), Subversion (and Versions) make a lot of sense. Versions is, as of yesterday, officially out of beta and available for purchase. I even received a 10% discount for being in on the beta test. Versions 1.0.1 is already out, which fixes the registration issues that some of us ran into. The initial 1.0 release included a lot of additional functionality, and Versions has become an amazing tool for handling all manner of Subversion-related revision control. Top on the list of new features, and of pretty major importance (at least to me), is the addition of an "Ignore [file/folder name]" option to the context menu. The full release notes are available at the Versions site, where you'll also find the download for the free demo. Versions is retailing at €39.00 (about $49USD), and users on the email notification list should have received a 10% discount coupon number. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Sofa sets new land speed record for furniture
Besting his own "world's fastest office" in both comfort and speed, this souped-up sofa from furniture-modder Edd China laid claim to the top spot in the Fastest Furniture category in the Guinness Book of World Records over the weekend, reaching a top speed of 92 miles per hour. Sofa-driver Marek Turowski (who won his place in the driver's seat in an eBay auction) described the record-setting run as "terrifying," adding that "you feel every bump... worse, you feel like you might take off." What's more, the sofa is supposedly street-legal, and will apparently soon be motoring around the streets of West London to help attract potential sofa-buyers to Sofa.com (which, sadly, only seems to sell stationary sofas). Of course, no one breaks sofa speed records without taking a camera along, the results of which you can see by hitting up the video after the break.
Danielle Sobik's electroluminescent couch encourages nearness
Although today's not exactly a good day for some furniture manufacturers, Danielle Sobik's electroluminescent couch is looking to cure the boring couch blues by offering touch / location-sensitive lighting in an ultra-mod sofa. Clearly designed with the female in mind, the couch emits blue flower patterns when a couple is sitting apart from one another, and as the two move nearer, the patterns change in relation to their proximity. Once the two are close enough to finally get over that gripe they had earlier, the deep blue colors begin to turn to a light pink, presumably aiding everyone in just getting along. Nah, it doesn't look like Danielle has landed a deal with Berkline just yet, but this would definitely be the perfect seating location when typing away on your Luxeed keyboard. Psychedelic, man.[Via ShinyShiny]
