You step out of the office to meet a friend in the park and you realize your phone is out of juice. What to do? You can just live with it–no one makes definite plans anymore, we smartphone ourselves right up to our destination. “Where are you?” “I’m waving.” “Oh I see you. Great.” Hang up, hug hello. If your phone runs out of juice in Boston, however, you’re in luck. A smart urban furniture company named Soofa (developed by Changing Environments, an MIT Media Lab spin-off) is installing smartphone-friendly park benches in the Boston area (there are six already), so you’ll never run out of power even when you’re outside–IRL.
Watch Sandra Richter demonstrate the iron bench with Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, below. (If she looks nonplussed, perhaps it’s because she’s already demonstrated it live for Barack Obama.) If you like what you see, Bostonians, you can suggest where you’d like to sit on a Soofa, here.
