Know what old-timey rocking chairs are missing? iPad docks. That's about to come to an end thanks to the iRock.

Micasa Lab

Know what old-timey rocking chairs are missing? iPad docks.

That’s about to come to an end thanks to the iRock, a $1,300 rocking chair with a built-in iPad dock and speakers. Oh, and it recharges your iPad while you rock back and forth. An hour of rocking can recharge the third-generation iPad up to 35% of the battery’s capacity.

“But the iPhone 5, fourth-generation iPad and iPad Mini all use the new Lightning connector! This rocking chair is useless!” you blurt out. Calm your nerves, friend. An adapter for the newest generation of Apple portables will be included with your purchase.

The chair is being developed by Micasa Lab in Zurich. According to the company:

iRock is nothing less than a power generating rocking chair. As long as you rock you charge you iPad or your iPhone. The chair itself is inspired by traditional rocking chairs and we designed it to resemble the classic, proven designed old rocking chairs. What we have added to the design is a generator that transforms the movement into power. We have equipped the iRock with an iPad stand and a set of build in speakers in the back rest. The amount of technical gadgets we have learned to depend on has increased dramatically the last couple of years. The iRock is an product that explores how furniture can interact with technology and actually support the power for this technology. Movement is energy and to collect as much of this energy as possible is one of our future challenges. The laws of physics dictates how movement and friction constantly creates a vast amount of energy that in most cases are lost. iRock is a[n] attempt to collect some of this energy and put it to real use. If you use iRock for 60 minutes you can recharge an iPad 3 to 35%.

The iRock chair is currently in development with no firm ship date. The estimated price, per Micasa Lab’s site, is 1,300 Euro, yet the homepage says $1,300. Just start saving, basically. It’s a rocking chair with an iPad dock, speakers and a self-charging mechanism. Money should be no object here, right? It’s made of Swedish pine and will be available in five different colors.

Product page: iRock [irocknow.ch]