Manhattan "Pod Hotel" offers beds and iPod docks

My wife and I stayed at the Pickwick in June 2006 for 8 nights on a flying trip to NYC. They were promoting the od concept then. Not every room is sans bathroom. My father, also on a lightning trip to The Apple, for or other reasons, had a bathroom in his room too. The Wi-Fi was great but you have to ring their tech support guys for a new logon every 7 days - no biggie. The Pod docking is nothing more than a clock radio with an iPod connector.
When we were there they were mid renovation. Our floor, near the top was done. They were doing the lowere floors. The lobby was in desperate need of a reno. There's two great French cafe's near by and the only truely expresso cofee we found in NYC was at the one right next door.
Plus, it's a short walk to the glass cube Apple Store.

Capsule hotels in Japan are very different. Patrons sleep in very small, confined spaces. It sounds as though the Pod Hotel offers actual rooms with communal bathrooms on each floor.

I hope these Pod Hotels are a new trend. They're pretty much just like capsule hotels in Japan, right?

oddly enough, i live almost right next to this hotel and can tell you that it's been an interesting transition watching this hotel change from Pickwick Arms to the POD hotel.

This isn't a great angle of it but the building on the left side of the street with the two American flags hanging from it is the former Pickwick Arms hotel: http://flickr.com/photos/midweekpost/70729466/