Is it Time for a Magnetic Floating Bed?

An anonymous reader writes "In one of the coolest implementations of ridiculously expensive tech to come along in a while, it seems that a Dutch architect has created a magnetically suspended bed. That is, if you happen to have a spare $1.54 million laying around you don't know what to do with and don't mind being careful about your piercings when getting the cat from under the bed."

Comments

Kinda disappointing

[Hemi Rodner]

It's held to its place with small metal wires, so it's not totally flying. I thought it'd be a solution against bed bugs and fleas, as they wouldn't be able to get on the bed. But no.

Re:Kinda disappointing

[kfg]

It's held to its place with small metal wires. . .

And because it's suspended by wires from the floor to resist the magnetic force makes it totally different than if it were suspended by the same wires from the ceiling, to resist the gravitational force.

About $1,539,900 different.

Or you could just buy a Mayan style hammock, the most comfortable sleep in the known universe.

KFG

Re:boring

[Anonymous Coward]

Surprisingly, you can do that! http://www.hfml.ru.nl/froglev.html

Underwhelming

[aschoeff]

Why is this news?

Okay, so some guy with a slick-sounding name took a sheet of plywood, a whole bunch or permanent magnets, some steel cabling, and put them together. When I first heard about this over a week ago, I didn't bother to RTFA and assumed there were no cables. That actually impressed me, the thought he solved the problem of movement along the field lines using just magnetism. I had thoughts of some sophisticated system of electromagnets continually detecting and adjusting the field to keep the bed aligned, or at least some sort of damping configuration to justify the absurd price!

But no, as usual, it's just another laughable device to separate scientifically-ignorant wealthy people from their money.

I hope he patents it! LOL

Re:Magnetic field?

[dbIII]

For those that think it is not possible to have an effect - look at induction furnaces. For those who think you are in trouble if you live some distance away and not directly under 33kV lines - think about the inverse square law and how weak the feild is going to be even when it hits ground level. It is real (long term exposure of pregnant women to faulty EMF plastic welders proved that), but you have to be close, and the mechanism is raising the core temperature of your body by induction.

As for the magnetic blanket stuff - it's mesmerism come back to haunt us long after Ben Franklin debunked it.

I hate to rain on the parade...

[caveat]

...of all the piercing jokes, but (and I'm sure a lot of you probably already know this), any halfway decent body jewelry is completely nonmagnetic: stainless steel, titanium, or niobium. I know for sure - I have a headful of all three metals and never had any problems with a 400MHz NMR; the red line on the floor with the little flying wrench icon was like 20 feet from that sucker.

Re:Worth the money...

[drinkypoo]

The memory foam stuff is a fuck of a lot cheaper than a spring bed worth sleeping on - but mostly because you don't use it alone. My ex-bed was a 5" chunk of medium-density foam, topped with 3" of memory foam. Now I'm sleeping on a pillow-top coil mattress. It has advantages and disadvantages. The foam has great support (For me - YMMV) and is very comfortable, and hardly moves on one side when someone moves around on the other side. However, it tends to suck up water, and smells, and is hard to clean. Air moves through it very poorly. The coil bed actually breathes better, since it's not made out of foam. It releases more of the energy absorbed when you move, so it's a lot easier to screw on. However, when I cough or something, the whole bed shakes.