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10 Technologies Reshaping the Bedroom to Version 2.0

07.28.17 | By
10 Technologies Reshaping the Bedroom to Version 2.0

Ideally the bedroom is a dedicated domain for sleep – a calm, quiet, and peaceful oasis in our otherwise busy, loud, and stressful lives. But as goes with most everything in our WiFi connected lives, the bedroom typically inhabits a multi-purpose duty beyond sleep and intimacy. It’s where we read, work, watch television, browse online, and anything else imaginable beyond the unconscious spell of slumber. Finding the balance between a restful, healthy atmosphere with our perpetually plugged-in lifestyles takes planning, so we’ve gathered several technologies designed to optimize comfort, convenience, and health.

1. The Frame by Samsung
If you’re going to insist on keeping a television in the room, why not make it one as handsomely minimal and unobtrusive as this 4K UHD display. The real excuse for permitting this TV in the bedroom is The Frame takes advantage of all those pixels by turning into a calming digital art display, blending into a decorative asset rather than a digital eyesore.

2. Kokoon Sleep Sensing Headphones
It’s not uncommon to put on active noise-canceling headphones upon boarding a plane. These headphones operate with similar intent, but for the bedroom, with the addition of EEG brainwave reading sensors engineered to keep tabs on sleep patterns of the wearer and playback active white noise. As the name implies, the Kokoon’s soft ear cups envelope the wearer with sound with long lasting comfort.

3. Philips Hue Lighting System
I’ve invested a good deal of money in Hue products, replacing almost all of our old CFL, halogen, and incandescent bulbs we inherited when we moved into our home. Now, not only can I turn off the bedroom lights with a tap of an app, using Siri, or with a light switch, but a motion sensor under the bed recognizes when I’ve gotten up and turns on the light in the hallway to a preset dimmed brightness to guide me when I’m not fully yet awake.

4. LeGrand Wi-Fi Ready On/Off Outlet
There are some fantastic add-on WiFi enabled smart outlets available today (I have several Belkin WeMo Mini Smart Plugs for this purpose). But LeGrand’s streamlined WiFi enabled outlet integrates connectivity with a modern and flush two-plug outlet design I’m enviously considering upgrading to, subtracting the necessity of adding an add-on hardware eyesore into the bedroom. The outlet is one of numerous components that make up LeGrand’s adorne collection, an integrated system that includes switches, dimmers, outlets, wallplates, and even a futuristic, gesture-controlled switch for lighting.

5. Blue Pure 211 by Blueair
Playful Swedish industrial design pairs up with HEPA technology for the benefit of allergy sufferers (and for anyone who wants cleaner air in the room they’ll spend the most time within each day). Each Blue model captures 99.97% of all airborne particles down to 0.1 micron in size, operating imperceptibly quiet at its lowest setting. Noting the large physical dimensions of the unit, the Blueair designers outfitted the Blue series with a selection of colorful fabric pre-filters for a functional and fashionable personality that makes its design as clean as its filtration.

6. The Lineal Adjustable Base
At first glance the Lineal looks like a tastefully modern bed frame, one specifically designed to accommodate for Saatva’s line of slim innerspring mattresses. But first impressions give way to a whole list of surprises to improve comfort while sleeping, reading, lounging around, or watching television when compared to a typical mattress base.The Lineal is all operated with a wireless remote control, a luxurious upgrade resulting in bespoke comfort and convenience at the touch of a button. Adjustable positioning, under-bed illumination, 3-speed full body massage, and customizable pre-sets for lifting/lowering legs and torso sections independently make the Lineal anything but an ordinary way to retire each night.

7. Sonte Smart Film Digital Shade
Sonte’s digital shade is an intriguing residential and commercial privacy technology that switches from transparent to opaque in an instant. An electric current transforms the window application non-transparent film with the touch of an app, an ideal primary privacy screen to be partnered with a light-blocking shade or curtains when it’s time for sleep.

8. Google Home
The bedroom is where we’re most apt to befall to a state of “don’t want to move” paralysis. That’s where voice recognition and activated digital assistant like Google Home (or Amazon Echo) is particularly helpful, capable of answering questions of the day’s weather, tomorrow’s plans, and tonight’s television options. Partnered with the above mentioned Hue light bulbs, turning off the lights won’t even requiring rolling over to reach for a light switch.

9. ZEEQ Smart Pillow
This pillow is always listening, monitoring for any loud snoring while also analyzing the sleepers tossing and turning. Snore loud enough and the ZEEQ gently vibrates to encourage shifting to a new position, much more preferable to the ole elbow-to-the-gut response to hush a loud snore. A Bluetooth-enabled speaker is also tucked within the pillow’s cocoon of foam, with the accompanying app preloaded with relaxing tracks and binaural beats to expedite a quicker fall into Slumberville while tucked in with this smart pillow. This has the potential to become a popular gift between spouses.

10. Nightingale Smart Home Sleep System
Sleepers with a mild case of insomnia searching for a non-medicated solution for improved shuteye might want to investigate the Nightingale’s relaxing ambient sleep system. Two plug-in units work in unison to emit relaxing “sound blankets” – a playlist of 15 ambient audio tracks. The sweet spot between the two units blankets the listener with sound formulations specifically composed for sleep conditions like tinnitus or to block out the disruptive snoring coming from an adjacent rooms.

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.