All Posts Tagged With: "forecast"

The umbrella is one of those tools we’ve created that serves a specific purpose so well it’s damned hard to ever improve on it. Over the years people have tried to make the umbrella better. Use of the “umbrella” type device can be found in references dating as far back as the 16th century and pictures from the 18th century look very much like umbrellas of today. It’s one of those devices that’s virtually impossible to improve upon beyond the basics of style and size.

Until now. The Ambient Forecasting Umbrella (thanks to modern technology) not only serves the traditional purpose of protecting you from the sun or the rain but it can also forecast the weather and tell you if you need to take it along with you. Using a built in wireless receiver it gets a daily weather forecast from Accuweather.com and the blue LEDs will flash when the forecast is for rain or snow. How cool is that? The LED’s even flash according to the percentage chance of precipitation, so if there is a 100% chance of rain they will flash quickly vs. more slowly for a lower chance.

I might have to get one of these. Many times I’ve hit the parking lot of Cubeville in the morning and looked at the sky wondering if I should take the umbrella with me, only to decide not to and end up getting drenched when I came back out. Now maybe I can pawn that decision off on the umbrella. It’s available from ThinkGeek Electronics
for a mere $99.99, maybe a bit pricey for an umbrella but just think how cool your gonna be.