Here are a few key takeaways:

Broadcom is Positioning Itself for Industry Dominance

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan has built the company into one of the largest and most diversified tech brands in the world. They mainly sell chips for both personal and commercial data devices, but Tan has quickly expanded the company’s scope since becoming CEO in 2015. His recent acquisitions include corporate software maker CA Technologies in 2018 and enterprise security business Symantec Corp. in 2019.

VM’s Bread and Butter is Virtualization Software

Founded in 1998 (the same year as Google) in Silicon Valley, VMware created virtualization software, a breakthrough that made it easier for servers to handle multiple programs by consolidating applications and workloads onto a smaller number of servers. As companies began to move away from managing their own servers, VM also developed cloud computing and managing platforms, eventually landing a partnership with Amazon.

VMware’s Cloud R&D Budget Will Likely Get Slashed

After previous mergers, Broadcom made the add-on companies more profitable by dramatically cutting their cost base. With CA and Symantec, the bases were reduced by 60 to 70 percent, including their research and development budgets. Broadcom expects these companies to focus on their main products instead of branching out to new segments so it can continue its strategy of actively pursuing 600 customers from the global top-1000 list. It predicts that these customers will be too large to change suppliers often, effectively making them long-term income suppliers. Other customers will be allowed to fall by the wayside if need be.

Speaking of VM’s slowing revenue growth — below 10 percent – Broadcom President Tom Krause recently said, “Is it a double-digit growth business? I don’t think so,” but he countered that it is sustainable, adding: “When I think about our model, that’s the kind of businesses we run and run very well.”

VM Has Been Bought Out Before

That sustainability is evidenced by how many times other companies have bought VMware. In 2004, storage technology firm EMC purchased it for $625 million, taking it public in 2007. In 2016 Dell Technologies acquired VM when it bought EMC for $67 billion but spun it off in late 2021. As founder Michael Dell still owns 40 percent of VM’s shares, the latest Broadcom merger would be a financial win for him as well.

Investors Like the Giant Tech Deal

When news first got out about the rumored Broadcom-VM merger, Broadcom shares jumped 25 percent the next day, signaling investor confidence in the deal. When the sale was officially announced a week later, VMware shares gained 3.2 percent and Broadcom shares earned another 3.6.

While the full implications of the merger are unclear, Broadcom definitely stands to profit by further diversifying its portfolio as the recent boom of semi-conductor chip sales will likely cool in coming months.

“Building upon our proven track record of successful M&A, this transaction combines our leading semiconductor and infrastructure software businesses with an iconic pioneer and innovator in enterprise software,” CEO Tan added in a statement.

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“At some level I knew it wasn’t a joke, but it sure sounded like one,” Lemonade CEO Daniel Schreiber told NPR. “You’re talking about the one of the three ink cartridges in every printer in the world. The idea that a company can trademark it and own it, just defied belief and I was in a state of disbelief.”

Can a corporation really “own” a color? Absolutely. There are certainly restrictions, but many companies have actually managed to to trademark a particular logo shade before. But perhaps more important than holding the patent on a specific hue is using it so effectively that it becomes synonymous with the brand. Here are some of the top companies to legally and popularly “own” their colors:

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola may very well have the most recognizable logo on the planet. Its trademarked “Coca-Cola red” is entwined with the drink in consumer minds because the company has blanketed it over all Coke-related business: packaging, marketing, merchandise, and delivery trucks.

As a color, red evokes passion, energy, and excitement, all traits the firm wants associated with its ubiquitous soft drink. However, the tint choice was originally more practical than psychological. Back in the 1890s, when Coca-Cola was founded, the soda barrels were painted red to easily distinguish them from alcoholic barrels. Once the Atlanta-based business started bottling the drink, it stuck with the red for its label, and the rest is history.

Tiffany’s & Co.

The luxury jewelry brand’s robin egg blue is so recognizable that it now has its own name and Wikipedia entry. Pantone 1837 was trademarked by the firm in 1998 and is rumored to have been chosen back in the 19th century, when turquoise brooches were a favorite gift for Victorian brides to give their attendants. Whatever the history, there’s no denying that Tiffany’s has created a successful link between the aquamarine shade and a company aesthetic of elegance and sophistication.

The Home Depot

The home and garden building chain has followed Coca-Cola’s “one-brand strategy” by covering all its signage, shopping carts, and staff aprons in its trademark orange (Pantone 165 C). The beginnings of the corporation’s mahogany-hued choice had to do with the availability of cheap marketing fabric. “We painted our signs on bright orange circus-tent canvas, which cost a fraction of the more common electric signs,” says co-founder Bernie Marcus. Fortunately for the company, orange also tends to symbolize creativity, friendliness, and enjoyment, all traits that Home Depot tries to embody.

T-Mobile

As already pointed out, this company s highly jealous of its trademark bold, hot pink color, even among non-competitors. The chroma reads “youth, “ “energy,” and “fun,” all key to the enterprise’s image. Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile, which also owns fashion, broadcasting, healthcare, and tech brands, says its signature shade is “the most important element of our corporate identity.” In the United States, perhaps only the doll brand Barbie corresponds as much with bright fuchsia as T-Mobile.

UPS

Brown became the symbol of the delivery service back in 1916, when co-founder Charles Soderstrom chose a chestnut tint reminiscent of the Pullman sleeping rail cars, a company that “reflected class, elegance, and professionalism.” The brown also conveniently camouflaged dirt on UPS uniforms and vehicles. Its earthy tones are often associated with simplicity and honesty.

As a side note, effective color branding is definitely subjective to cultural norms. When UPS opened branches in West Germany in 1976, locals were offended by the brown uniforms, which reminded them of the Nazi Party’s “Brown Shirts.” The company subsequently switched its German employees into green attire.

“Owning” a color as a company means much more than simply purchasing a trademark. True ownership requires building a business successful enough to have its marketing seen everywhere. It also means using the shade to not only provide an associated link in the public mind but also to epitomize the firm’s values and message, just as companies like Coca-Cola and Home Depot have done.

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The Leeza SOHO is positioned just above an underground subway service tunnel, with a rails station next door. Though its envelope is shaped like a rounded cylinder, the interior has a dynamic layout, with the atrium twisting to create continuous convex openings all the way up to the ceiling.

“This rotation of the atrium intertwines Leeza SOHO’s two halves in a dynamic ‘pas de deus’ with connecting skybridge on levels 13, 24, 35 and 45, its glazed facade giving panoramic views across the city,” say the architects. “Leeza SOHO’s atrium acts as a public square for the new business district, linking all spaces within the tower and providing varying views due to its twisting, sculptural form, creating a fantastic new civic space for Beijing that is directly connected to the city’s transport network.”

Not only does the atrium draw natural light all the way down to the building’s lowest levels, it also acts as a “thermal chimney” with an integrated ventilation system to maintain positive pressure and keep internal temperatures regulated. The double-insulated glass curtain wall system draws outside air through narrow openings, offering strategic ventilation and protecting the interiors from Beijing’s hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters.

It’s also designed to achieve LEED Gold certification by the US Green Building Council, with features like an advanced energy management system that monitors energy and resource efficiency using pumps, fans, boilers, smart lighting, water collection, and low-flow fixtures. It’s hard to see from outside, but the Leeza SOHO tower also boasts a green roof that helps insulate the building, as well as an array of solar panels.

The architects add: “At the forefront of 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) in design, construction management, and building operations, Zaha Hadid Architects and SOHO China have implemented proven technologies to reduce the energy consumption and emissions at each of their four collaborations, totaling 15 million square feet (1.4 million square meters) of mixed-use urban space in Beijing and Shanghai.”

Everything about the tower aims to appeal to the business community of Beijing, from its prime location adjacent to public transit to its 2,680 bicycle parking spaces, shower facilities, dedicated charging spaces for electric and hybrid vehicles, and impressive views.

It’s also close to the new Beijing Daxing International Airport, which is currently in the process of opening. The Fengtai business district is considered integral to Beijing’s plan to accommodate growth without impacting existing networks of infrastructure.

The exterior of the tower is a bit subdued compared to many of the firm’s typically fluid, dramatic, and sculptural works. But step inside, and there’s no question as to who designed the Leeza SOHO. Check out Zaha Hadid’s ultra-thin concrete pavilion, architectural 3D-printed chairs, kitchenware collection and, of course, the Beijing Daxing airport.

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At its peak in 2015, Forever 21 made $4.4 billion in revenue. Today, it’s facing bankruptcy. But what does the franchise’s quickly falling fortune mean for the rest of the fashion industry?

Founded in 1984 in Los Angeles by South Korean immigrants Jin Sook and Do Won Chang with just $11,000 in savings, Forever 21 was an instant hit. Just a few years later, stores were opening all over the world, cultivating a devoted following by selling the latest trends at rock-bottom prices. Want a tank top for $1.99? A knockoff of a high-end design for less than $20? Forever 21 was the place to go.

The Changs became billionaires, and by 2017, they were determined to expand more aggressively than ever before. They bet their business on their own optimism that their brick-and-mortar stores would continue to draw in customers despite declining in-person sales throughout the industry and the slow death of the American shopping mall. It didn’t pay off. The company is now $500 million in debt, closing many of its stores, and prompting speculation that the entire fast fashion sphere is soon to follow.

At the core of Forever 21’s business model is a lightning-fast supply chain dependent on the both rapid-fire development and approval of new (and often stolen) designs and the cheapest possible labor to produce garments of highly disposable quality. And with awareness about pollution, climate change, and human rights violations rising in the public consciousness, it’s tempting to argue that we’re all finally waking up to the true toll of fast fashion.

Of course, that toll is almost incalculable. Forever 21 is just one of many major fashion brands that use sweatshops to manufacture their garments, with workers facing long hours and unsafe conditions for very little pay. In one of the worst consequences to date, 1,100 factory workers were killed when the eight-story Rana Plaza garment complex collapsed in Bangladesh in 2013.

Then there’s the environmental impact. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development considers fashion to be the second most polluting industry in the world, after oil. That’s because the production of clothing not only uses a whole lot of water, it also produces a ton of toxic contaminants. Consumers are encouraged to buy cheap garments, wear them just a few times before they fall apart or become outré, and then toss them in the trash.

One promising factor in Forever 21’s decline is the rise of resale and rental fashion. Companies like Poshmark and ThredUP offer consumers an easy way to sell and shop for secondhand goods, while Rent the Runway, Le Tote, and Armoire are among the services allowing members to swap out their entire wardrobes every month for a small fee.

But fast fashion likely won’t die with Forever 21, if the brand doesn’t manage to bounce back from its bankruptcy proceedings (which it may still). ASOS, Fashion Nova, and other retailers prove that the demand for it is still plenty high, especially when their business models are built with fast-fulfillment e-commerce in mind. The retail industry is shifting as consumers seek an experience that’s more centered upon shopping from the comfort of home, with physical locations emphasizing immersion in the brands’ unique identities rather than the task of sorting through endless racks.

Does Forever 21’s downfall portend the end of fast fashion? If only. Unfortunately, contemporary culture is still fixated on instant gratification, and there are plenty of people who can’t or won’t spend more than the absolute minimum to get their trendy fashion fix. But one can hope that as Generation Z grows ever more vocal about climate change and injustice, they’ll start pushing the rest of us toward better practices, and corporations will have no choice but to follow.

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Founded in 2016, GrokStyle is a San Francisco-based company that allows users to take photos of furniture, upload them to a visual search engine, and receive a list of matching items that can then be purchased online. It’s easy to see why this technology is useful to shoppers: virtually all of us have, at some point, spotted an amazing piece of furniture in person or in someone else’s photographs and wished we could own something similar. It’s the next logical step in the age of accelerated consumption, taking a whole lot of time and effort out of the process of identifying things we like and later acquiring them for our homes.

For Facebook, the appeal of GrokStyle lies in its artificial intelligence technology. The company is investing heavily in AI and computer vision, as well as its “Marketplace” (the built-in furniture shopping search engine connecting individual sellers to buyers in their areas). It’s easy to see how the acquisition could add another layer of functionality to Marketplace, but the technology behind the process could potentially be used in other ways, too. It’s not too far off from the sort of facial recognition tech Facebook is already working to develop, mapping data points in photographs to find matches within its sprawling databases.

No terms of the deal have been released as of yet, though GrokStyle has indicated that it will be winding down its operations without acknowledging Facebook’s involvement.

“We founded GrokStyle to reimagine the retail experience,” reads a message on the company’s website. “We built state-of-the-art AI and visual search technology to help consumers readily find, explore, and decide on purchases. We partnered with major retailers, demonstrated revenue lift with our technology, and improved the lives of consumers across the globe. We are incredibly proud of what we have built — and believe we have only scratched the surface of what is possible with computer vision.”

“Today, we are excited to share that we are moving on as a team. Our team and technology will live on, and we will continue using our AI to build great visual search experiences for retail. As part of this next chapter, we are winding down our business.”

Earlier this month, Facebook purchased the team behind blockchain technology company Chainspace, suggesting that it’s pushing forward with reported plans to build a cryptocurrency that would have a steady value relative to a global currency like the United States dollar. This “talent acquisition” was carried out for an undisclosed sum, but we do know that the startup was in the middle of seed funding when key members of its team got hired by Facebook.

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An Ideal Union

The CEF chose MAD for their highly touted project based on their reputation for creating highly imaginative, award-winning designs that pushed the limits of possibility. MAD’s impressive portfolio overflows with remarkable projects, reflecting visions for the future in both building technology and unique forms. Some of MAD’s most famous undulating creations include an orb-like apartment block in Paris, a George Lucas-founded museum that resembles a spaceship, and an opera house in northeast China that evokes the feeling of being on the deck of a massive interstellar vessel.

Choosing the Perfect Site

After meeting with MAD, CEF’s 74 members decided to build their conference center on the rocky terrain of the Yabuli Mountains in Northeastern China — the snow-covered region where they’ve been hosting their annual meetings for years. It was also agreed that the project’s design would reflect the dramatic natural landscape surrounding the site, and that the structure itself would be situated along the axis of a mountain.

Conference Center Specs

In addition to a library, standard studios, and conference rooms of all sizes, the 174,354-square-foot, four-story Yabuli Conference Center will boast an impressive 1,000-seat auditorium, along with a more intimate 350-seat venue. The sleek exterior rises only 79 feet, creating an exotic oyster image against the majestic mountaintops: softly rounded, snow-white, and dramatically unobtrusive.
A huge skylight beams down on the central entrance hall, which itself separates assorted conference rooms. The skylight symbolizes the brilliant minds that share bright stimulating ideas during lectures and conferences. Guests can enter the conference center at either the ground level or the first floor, both of which blend the insightful interior design with the stark beauty of the surrounding snow-kissed mountains.

Unique specially crafted windows have been strategically placed on all floors so visitors can gaze out on endless panoramic views of the contiguous natural vistas around them.
The interior architecture of the Yabuli Conference Center rivals the exterior façade in terms of both imagination and creativity. The walls are symmetrically sculpted and effortlessly follow the flowing lines of the building’s exterior. The soft shades of ivory that dominate the interior create a calm, tranquil ambiance, while the winding, transparent white stairways inspire clear thinking. Rich brown accents perfectly frame these boundless shades of pale.

A spokesperson for MAD recently boasted: “While humble in its presence, it does not lose the dynamic atmosphere of northern China – integrated with the sky, the ground, the snow, the forest, and the mountains.”

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The tech co-working space is part of a 250,000-square-foot building called the Green Manufacturing Center. More specifically, New Lab is in Building 128, a former ship factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Since September of 2016, the innovation hub has occupied 82,000 square feet of the manufacturing center.

In 2011, when the building was first considered for the home of New Lab, it was a hollow, rusted shell of America’s manufacturing past. Today, it is a collaborative space for fabricators and tech entrepreneurs in the fields of artificial intelligence, design, urban technology, wearables, life sciences, robotics, nanotechnology, and interactive architecture. It is also one of the few hubs in New York City for hardware technologies, despite the fact that there are numerous software incubators in the area.

Home to 50 companies and 350 workers, New Lab is comprised of offices, industrial facilities, 3D printers, CNC milling machines, metal labs, wood shops, a paint spray room, a kitchen, a café, and an event space. The high-caliber tools and machinery necessary for product manufacturing can be as costly as $150 an hour, so it’s easy to see how budding entrepreneurs stand to benefit from sharing equipment and materials.

“Our vision is that New Lab will be a supportive and collaborative working environment for designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs — people trying to accomplish really hard things — not in Silicon Valley or at MIT but right here in Brooklyn,” said Scott Cohen, the Co-Founder of New Lab, a couple of months before the space opened.

Although it is a space for advanced technologies, it does not fetishize tech, nor does it feel like a big Apple store. Instead, the industrial characteristics of the building are left as an acknowledgement and sign of respect to the past. The original concrete floor has been retained, as have the steel structure and the gantry mechanisms hanging from the ceiling 70 feet above.

Designed by DBI and Marvel Architects, New Lab’s interior walls and frames are almost entirely black and white, using technicolor furniture and plants to emphasize communal spaces, workstations, and lounges. The first floor has an event space, conference room, lounge, colorful cubicles, and a kitchen. On the second and third floors, you’ll find a collection of catwalks and walkways leading to studios, laboratories, and offices. As a tech co-working space, it strikes a careful balance between the collaborative and the private. It took 10 months and $30 million to redevelop, with about $18 million of that in private investment.

At New Lab’s ceremonial opening in the summer of 2016, Terreform ONE founder Mitchell Joachim called the space “a cathedral to design and thinking.” Other New Lab members include EcoSystems Brand, Honeybee Robotics, Nea Studio, StrongArm Technologies, and 10xBeta.

The Green Manufacturing Center expects 16,000 workers to visit the area daily by 2020. Currently, about half that number work there, including those at New Lab. The city itself hopes that tech co-working spaces like New Lab will be able to both draw and retain entrepreneurs, preventing it from becoming a home for only the monied few.

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“We were very excited about Spectacles and by the initial reception, and because we were so excited I guess we made the wrong decision,” said Spiegel in a November 2017 earnings call. “We were balancing the trade-off with unit economics, of course, that come with hardware, but ultimately we made the wrong decision based on the early traction and ordered a lot of long-lead time parts, and ultimately weren’t able to sell as many Spectacles as we thought we’d be able to based on the early adoption.”

Spectacles, Snap’s first foray into hardware, debuted in the fall of 2016 as the company sought to rebrand itself as not an app creator, but a camera maker. The company expected the glasses to be a hit and strategically placed them in vending machines in cities like San Francisco before making them available to the general public online for $130 each. But sales were surprisingly sluggish, and by October 2017, Snap was stuck with hundreds of thousands of unsold pairs. Spiegel says that they only managed to sell about 150,000 — a figure that represents a mere 0.8 percent of Snapchat’s total userbase.

The failure of Spectacles isn’t Snap’s only problem. For a while, Snapchat’s photo and video sharing platform was completely unique, only displaying each “snap” temporarily to create a more ephemeral social media experience. Facebook saw its potential and offered to buy the budding brand for $3 billion. When Snap turned them down, Facebook simply shrugged and added the same functionality to its Instagram property. Facebook even copied Snapchat’s filters (playful modifications overlaid atop photos and videos) and rebranded them as “lenses.”

Data for the next quarter revealed that the number of new daily Snapchat users had fallen by two-thirds, and it’s been in a kind of downward spiral ever since. In fact, the users that are still active on Snapchat are primarily using it to just message each other directly.

There’s also the fact that despite its increasing revenue, Snap is spending significantly more money than it’s taking in. The company lost $443 million last year, partially because it locked itself into expensive cloud contracts with Google and Amazon in hopes of drastically boosting user growth (something that has yet to actually happen). In an attempt to protect its new features from the likes of Facebook, Snap has also adopted a highly secretive company culture, warning employees that they could face jail time for leaking information. Of course, the leaks are still coming. And where other companies involve their investors and advertisers in their plans, Snapchat remains tight-lipped. None of this has left investors particularly excited about its future.

Do you still use Snapchat, or have you gotten bored with it? Would you ever wear Snap’s Spectacles?

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Four Magnificent Stories

Upon entering THE KRANE, visitors are greeted by a reception area on the ground floor. Right above that is a meeting room called the “GLASS BOX,” which offers a 360-degree panoramic view that’s sure to inspire magnificent ideas and make them soar. Atop this think chamber is an inviting spa that boasts a glass wall and two tubs for visitors to relax and absorb the enchanting vistas in. Møller once described the environment around THE KRANE as “an immersive, multi-sensory experience…the integration of sensations – sight, sound, and stemning (the Danish word for ‘atmosphere’).” The fourth story, which has simply been dubbed the “KRANE ROOM,” is comprised of a lounge and terrace covered in Dinesen Douglas outdoor planks.

Black On Black

Few designers have the vision or courage to create art that only focuses on one color — especially if it’s a non-color like black. But Kastbjerg and Møller insisted that the crane’s coal-loading history be reflected in the redesign so that visitors would give the exterior just as much attention and appreciation as they’d give the interiors. Furnished with handcrafted furniture and accessories by local artisans, THE KRANE’s high-end decor is nothing if not a master class in craftsmanship, style, and quality. Commenting on the minimalist black-on-black interior, Møller states: “Black plays a pivotal role in muting and minimizing visual distractions so people feel almost enveloped in the interior. There are hundreds of different shades of black. Depending on the time of day, you can see so many subtle nuances.”

Awesome Accents

To complement the black beauty of THE KRANE, a mixture of leather, wooden, stone, and steel embellishments have been scattered throughout its interiors. The furniture on each level was made-to-order to match the structure’s theme and dimensions. Dinesen Douglas planks cover most of the floors, ceilings, and walls, all of them finished with an exclusive mega-black oil, which itself adds an air of intensity to the atmosphere. Only in the conference room are the planks lightly colored and refined with lye and white oil.

Perfect For Work & Play

Each floor of THE KRANE was specially constructed to meet various needs. Business transpires in the conference room, with a breathtaking view of the ocean and harbor outside. The sleeping quarters accommodates two and features the best and most lavish Danish designed furniture. Visitors receive a personal concierge, who personally picks them up at the airport and remains on call throughout their stay. A personalized assortment of wines and bubblies are sure to end the evening on the ideal note. The spa, which is lined with stone from top to bottom, sports two large baths and a marvelous glazed glass wall for a window on one side. Luxury amenities include Wi-Fi, a flat screen TV, air conditioning, heating, and a projector.

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No matter how hard they try, no manufacturer seems to make a business-friendly suitcase where your clothes are ready right when you arrive – and you never know what you will (or won’t) find when it comes to a hotel dresser or closet.

Suitcases are one of those items that have remained almost exactly the same for many decades, with few significant upgrades in the meantime. The addition of wheels was a good start, but why not take it a little bit further? Luggage designs that make travel easier by organizing clothing in a neater and tidier way would be helpful for many travelers, especially those who need to change into something that looks sharp immediately upon arrival at their destination.

Psychic Factory has come up with an idea that is so obvious one has to wonder why no one else has done it. To be sure, if they put it into production their will be problems to solve – like how to keep clothes neat when this wheeled contraption may not travel entirely upright, or how to lock the drawers from coming open in transit. But packed full enough with locking drawers, this dresser suitcase design would make accessing and organizing clothes a lot easier.

Regardless of the small fixes that would be required to make this road-ready, the core concept is sound: a series of dresser-style drawers that simply slide out of the front of the suitcase, and a pull handle that doubles as a hangar-friendly bar from which you can suspect suits, coats and so forth in the open air and wrinkle-free.

A suitcase that basically acts as an entire mobile closet might even be nice for apartment dwellers who don’t plan to stay in one place for too long. If you’ve already stripped down your belongings KonMari style and only own exactly what you need, why not skip the big bulky furniture and go with something like this instead?

If you like this portable closet ideal, check out the suitcase that transforms into shelving on the go.

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Whether a waterless washing machine would work is probably the single biggest question one would have about such a device, but the idea behind it is hard to argue against. After all, who would not want to skip the hassle of heading to the dry cleaner each time for those few dress-clothing items that require special care?

According to its designer, Minsung Bae, a combination of humidity, ionization, ozone and air pressure can kill bacteria and remove stains clinging to a shirt – in practice, one has to wonder what the mechanism is for removing these dirty elements after finishing a cleaning cycle.

“The suit cover comprises two inflatable layers between which the clothing is placed. First of all, the O inside the cover is converted to O (ozone), effectively killing all the bacteria on the clothing. Then the fabric is blasted by pressurized air from tiny perforations in the panels to remove any dirt and detritus. No detergent or external water source is required.”

What would be really neat: a timer feature that would allow one to wear the warm and finished product in the morning, to get that feeling one has when putting on a freshly-dried pair of pants or newly-pressed dressy shirt. Power supply, waste management and some other technical details look like they have yet to be resolved, though, in addition to these other potential accessory functions.

The best part, if it works as it should: you could take these self-contained dry-cleaning containers on the road with you, and set them up in your car or hotel room to do your dirty work while in the middle of an extensive business trip. Wheels along the bottom and a pull-out handle on top make it perfect for air travel, in theory, assuming it does not constitute a too oddly-shaped (and high-tech) piece of over-sized luggage according to the TSA or specific airline.

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Like something from a 1920s science fiction short story, these sleeper pods are as futuristic as they come – and they should be at thousands of dollars a piece. Touted as the ultimate at-home-or-at-work nap solution, these might seem gimmicky but they also look very comfortable – not to mention space-saving.

These “Energy Pods” by MetroNaps play on the fact that a bed at work is unthinkable but sleeping on a couch is not terribly comfortable – they fill a kind of social/technological void for “fatigue management solutions” in what, in reality, is a common practice: sleeping at work either for short periods or during long-haul overnight work shifts.

Whether or not these sleep hubs will make their way to the mainstream or remain luxury items for CEOs with too much money to spend remains to be seen. They are certainly conceptually intriguing but might turn out to be more hype than a real way to get a power-nap on the job.

“The zero gravity position, specially composed sleep music, gentle wake sequence of programmed lights and vibrations…  All features of the EnergyPod are designed to help you relax. The EnergyPod is powered by firmware developed around a simple principle: a 20 minute nap is beneficial for well-being and productivity. Features include a status indicator that communicates when the EnergyPod will next be free, and usage tracking to optimize facility management.”

“A napping facility should not only be functional, but also aesthetically fit in your workspace. Our design is stylish and timeless. The classic EnergyPod comes in white and grey, but we can customize to any colour, to match your work environment. The countour of the EnergyPod takes pressure off the cardiac system with the elevation of the feet and relaxes the muscles of the lower back with a slight bend in the knees. “

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