Gizmodo: comfort

The Comfort Respirator

Jason Chen — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:30:00 EDT

This respirator mask design by Elijah Stillson is meant to have comfort AND function, ensuring that when a biological attack does hit, you won't even notice that you're wearing a mask. You will notice the dead bodies, however. [Yanko Design]

10 of the World's Most Comfortable Office Chairs

Sean Fallon — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:30:00 EST

With the holidays behind us, it is time to buckle down and get some work done in 2009. With these chairs, you might actually enjoy sitting in front of the computer all day.

[Background image via Flickr]

Oki's Comfy Leopard Office Chair Has a Robot Leg at Heart

Kit Eaton — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:10:00 EST

You may have thought the Embody chair was all very high-tech...but it's got nothing on Oki's protoype Leopard chair. It's got a robot-leg in its design. Based on Oki's well-named Robot Leg walking robot, the chair is motorized: when empty it perches up in the air, waiting for your butt to settle against it. When you do so, the leg contracts and winds you backwards and down into an ideal position with "seating comfort akin to being held in someone's arms," apparently.

And when you stand up it lifts itself up behind your behind to aid you getting vertical: assistance you'll presumably need if you're so very relaxed in the chair when seated. I'm not sure how this is different from a regular hydraulic chair mount in practice, however.

Unlike the Robot Leg, which is motorized and capable of jumping, the Leopard chair utilizes the geometry of the Leg, but is unpowered. So it won't rise up and start kicking human butt when the robot revolution comes. It is made of carbon fiber, though.

Sadly this material might not make it into the final for-sale product, which Oki is hoping to release in May of 2009. [Tech-on]

Ear Pressure Equalizer Sucks On Your Eardrum to Un-Pop It in Planes

Kit Eaton — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:20:07 EDT

Now that's a headline you won't see often, and yet that's exactly what this gizmo does. You pop it in your ear, and squeeze it to create negative pressure outside your eardrum, thus compensating for the sometimes painful inward-flex caused as the aircraft you're flying in descends from altitude. Or you climb back down a mountain. There is a safety vent, so nothing should go bang (ouch!)... as befits a device developed by a professor from the Tinnitus Research and Balance Clinic in Melbourne Australia. Still, since it costs a surprising $60, I'll be sticking with my Eustachian tubes, thankyouverymuch. [OhGizmo]

Thanko's Lazy Geek's Cushion, Perfect for Prone PC Action

Kit Eaton — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:52:00 EDT

Ages ago I admitted to being a floor-lounger, and it looks like Thanko has come up with a solution that'll let me combine lazing around and blogging for the Giz at the same time. I might rename it from Lazy Geek's Cushion to "Relaxed Blogger's Desk" though. Looking a little like a massage table, it's 31 x 19 inches across, and can be propped up at a variety of angles from flat to about 30 degrees so your arms reach your notebook... and see that little space for your chin? Looks comfy. No info on pricing, but I'd love to import one. I'd just have to persuade my wife that it's a good idea, and not ugly at all. [Akihabaranews]

Verb for Shoe Auto-Adjusts Comfort With Built-in Computer

Kit Eaton — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:30:00 EDT

The adapting Verb shoes from VectraSense Technologies, an MIT spin-off company, have been in development for a while, but now they're finally ready to buy. They're not quite Marty's amazing Nike's from Back to the Future 2 but they are clever: the built-in twin air bladders are controlled by an on-board computer that detects what activities you're up to and adjusts the air pressure accordingly.

The idea behind the design is that the shoes are always comfortable, adapting dynamically. And if that's not 21st Century enough, then the shoes also have built-in wireless networking which can let you swap contact info with other Verb wearers nearby, and connect up to a PC so you can access the autocomfort settings. Activating the wireless mode is achieved by tipping your foot vertically and holding it for five seconds, so you shouldn't trip it off accidentally.

Partly because of all this technology, and partly because they're hand-made to order, a pair will set you back $699.99. [Verb via Talk2MyShirt]

Sitzfleisch Chair Cushion (That's "Flesh For Sitting")

Gizloco — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 14:43:19 EDT

The silicone flesh cushion known as "Sitzfleisch" attempts to give people stuck in office chairs all day long a bit of a respite by mimicking the look and feel of real human flesh, delivering the utmost in comfort. Made out of a silicone polymer, the chair cushion promises to act as an extension of the human body, since, as the South American manufacturer Exsil claims, "healthy human soft tissue is nature's unequaled solution for utmost sitting comfort."

Exsil also says that the cushion may help people who suffer from aches and pains, since many of those ailments can be attributed to sitting on lackluster chairs for long periods of time. Who's going to argue about sitting on top of $80 slab of fake skin?

A fair warning for those looking to further investigate the comapny's Web site: there's quite a bit of nudity, but it's mostly the artsy kind. – Nicholas Deleon

Product Page [Exsil via Shiny Shiny]

Exsil Store (in Portuguese)