Most of us these days work in buildings and hardly see what the weather is like outside until we step out for lunch or head home for dinner. Since tracking the weather on the Internet isn’t exactly the most interesting activity around, why not pick up the Ambient Forecasting Umbrella that leaves the guesswork to gypsies and quacks, relying instead on Accuweather.com for your area’s weather forecast? This unique umbrella not only shields you from the bitter wind and rain, it also comes with a built-in wireless data radio chip that retrieves the weather forecast from the aforementioned site.

Whenever a prediction of rain occurs, the bottom of the handle will start glowing in a blue color. It pulsates according to the probability of rain – for example, a 60% probability of a downpour will result in a single pulse per second, while a 100% certainty will make the handle pulsate up to a hundred times a minute. This works great just before you leave the office building as all you need to do is check with your umbrella as opposed to walking up to the nearest window (which is a rarity these days being in an office crammed with cubicles) and lifting the blinds.

Some might argue that the Ambient Forecasting Umbrella isn’t exactly the smartest device on the planet as one only uses it in the event where a downpour is imminent, but you never know when the bright sun will hide behind a company of gloomy looking clouds these days. Of course there is some validity in that argument, but it is still neat to place a number to the possibility of rain instead of judging by plain guesswork. We have no idea how much the Ambient Forecasting Umbrella costs, but it shouldn’t come with too high a premium over ordinary umbrellas.

Product Page