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The £25,000 bed you can live in - and that even stops you snoring
Last updated at 00:52am on 08.01.08For those who love spending time under the duvet, it is the bed of dreams.
You could throw a party in the Starry Night "sleeping centre" with its surround-sound system and a TV projector in the headboard capable of beaming images up to 10ft across on to the facing wall.
A workaholic could also keep busy thanks to a powerful computer, internet connection and wireless keypad.
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If all you want to do is sleep in it, the bed will heat or cool the mattress before you get in.
When you are asleep, it will monitor your body movement and breathing patterns and adjust itself to stop you snoring.
Indeed, just about the only thing the Starry Night doesn't have is a Teasmade.
The bed - which will cost up to £25,000 when it goes on sale in the U.S. - is being unveiled at this week's Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, the world showcase for domestic gadgets.
Some of its features are based on military technology, including the vibration-detection system designed to eliminate snoring.
When it senses a snore, a motor in the mattress lifts the sleeping position forward by seven degrees.
The theory is that this allows the nasal passages to open and so alleviate snoring, after which the bed returns to its original position.
The vibration sensor and a mattress pressure system also measure how much a sleeper tosses and turns or how often they get out of bed during the night.
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Superbed: It even has a matress that stops you snoring
Tips on how to improve sleep quality are then offered via the computer screen.
The computer - which has an astonishing 1,500 gigabytes of memory - can heat or cool each side of the bed separately through water pipes inside the mattress.
There is also an iPod docking station and a hard disc storage system capable of holding and playing back up to 400,000 songs or 2,000 hours of video.
The Starry Night has been designed to be the hub of the home on the basis that the bed is no longer simply a place for sleep and conjugal delights.
Mark Quinn, of manufacturers Leggett & Platt, explained: "Consumers told us they use their beds for much more than sleep.
"The bed is a place for reading, watching movies, spending time with the kids, listening to music and even folding laundry.
"There are cars that park themselves and ovens that are programmed-to refrigerate and cook your food.
"But the bed has generally been a passive, inanimate object.
"It's time our bed becomes our sleep counsellor. And when we improve our sleep, we can improve our quality of life."
Lack of sleep has been associated with heart disease, obesity, ageing and even cancer.
The bed will go on sale across the Atlantic in the first half of next year.
But British manufacturers are expected to seize on the innovations to create their own versions.
