“Internet” Equipped Umbrella Warns You About Rain
Posted July 31, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
You know that old expression about making a fortune by building a better mousetrap? It turns out a North American firm has figured out a way to alter a product you probably never knew needed any improvement – the lowly umbrella. For years, you lugged one of them around if there was just the possibility it might rain. But thanks to a company called Ambient Devices, you no longer have to guess when the showers will come – because the bumbershoot is programmed to tell you.
The new fangled umbrella contains the ability to access a wireless Internet signal. When the forecast is for rain anytime over the next 12 hours, the handle lights up to warn you to take it with you before you leave home or your office. If the light is just barely pulsing, all you’ll get is brief showers. But if you get a more intense illumination, be ready for some potentially violent and heavy downpours that ironically may make you not want to go outside at all.
Ambient Devices is a company that believes it’s possible to embed wireless access to the Internet into everyday products, creating intelligent gadgets that can do more than what they were originally created for.
But don’t light out for one just yet. The new battery operated smart umbrellas are only available in the U.S. for now and require a zip code and a call to a special phone number to get them activated. There’s no word on when they might hit the market north of the border, but they’re capable of predicting snow as well as rain.
Still, unlike your current rain gear, you likely won’t want to lend this one to someone in your office, let the wind get at it or leave it on the subway. It sells for a whopping $140 U.S., which is a lot considering Michael Kuss’s advice is free and just as accurate.
Besides at that price, you might not even want to get it wet, which would certainly defeat the whole thing.
See other ‘improved’ products from the company
Photo courtesy Ambient Devices
