If you’re an umbrella user, you’ve probably been hit with this dilemma: sure, it’s sunny outside now, but will it still be sunny ten hours from now when you’re standing at a bus stop, trying to get home from work? If you take the umbrella and it turns into a 90°F sunny day, you look like a fool. If you leave the umbrella at it turns into a rain-drenched 65°F day, you look like a very damp fool.
Now Ambient Devices has come up with a solution, in the form of their Ambient Umbrella, which can alert owners when rain is in the forecast. The umbrella automatically receives weather data from Accuweather.com via Ambient’s own InfoCast network: when precipitation appears in the forecast for the next 12 hours, the umbrella’s handle illuminates, letting owners know they really ought to consider taking the umbrella along, even if it’s bright and sunny right now. If the handle is giving off soft, intermittent pulses, users can expect light rain; rapid, intense flashing indicates a possible thunderstorm.
“This product proves a point: it’s possible to make many types of information as accessible and intuitive to use as time on a clock, without needlessly repetitive Web site navigation or device complexity,” added David Rose, CEO of Ambient Devices. MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte—currently well-known spearheading the One Laptop Per Child project—is on Ambient Devices’ board of directors.
The Ambient Umbrella features a high quality “gust buster” dual canopy, operates for a year or more on a single C-cell battery, and can be activated via the Ambient Devices Customer Service phone line.
The Ambient Umbrella should be available through national retailers for $125. Or, you could just stick to looking out the window.
