News from all over - Las Vegas

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.

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.

The bed - which will cost an estimated $20,000-$50,000 depending upon which options you choose - 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. 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 bed is a place for reading, watching movies, spending time with the kids, listening to music and even folding laundry. ...

"It's time our bed becomes our sleep counsellor. And when we improve our sleep, we can improve our quality of life."
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