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Wednesday December 27, 2006
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For all the benefits that umbrella's bestow upon the human race, they are created with one glaring flaw. It doesn't matter how gigantic, or water repellent the umbrella is, if you leave it at home you are going to get wet. Ambient Devices is hoping to remedy that flaw with the Ambient Forecasting Umbrella.
As endearing as the Weather Channel may be, it's not exactly TiVo worthy material. The Forecasting Umbrella does away with the need to catch the weather on TV or online by letting you know with a simple glance whether it will be needed. An LED in the handle of the Ambient Forecasting Umbrella pulses according to the chance of precipitation by means of a data-radio in the handle that receives information from AccuWeather.com. If the chances of rain are 60 percent then the umbrella handle will pulse once every second. But if you see it pulsing a hundred times a minute then that means there's a 100 percent chance of rain, and stuffing the umbrella in your bag is a given.
It is true that getting weather information for any given day is easier than ever, but it's undeniably convenient having an umbrella that lets you know it's needed. The Ambient Forecasting Umbrella is still in development, but I eagerly anticipate the day it gives me an advantage in the war on weather.
Post by Andre Bermudez
Posted By:
Gearlog
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January 2, 2007 8:15 PM
Ambient temp should also be displayed with % relative humidity, dry bulb, wet bulb, and barometric pressure. Rising and declinine BP are representative of predictable clear and cloudy weather respectively.
A solar PV, wind, or hydro recharger to maintain battery charge would need to function during cloudy weather when the LED frequency blinks maximum.
January 3, 2007 3:14 AM
A nobel idea for those absentminded people who pay no attention to the weather forecasts nor watch the news and always get caught in the rain with no umbrella. However, wouldn't a separate device that attaches to the inside of the door be more helpful? Perhaps it would give more specific information for that day and have hooks where umbrellas could be hung. I would love our cell phone carriers to offer us free text messages for rain forecasts and maybe emergency reports like storms,etc... like they do for our monthly phone bill.
January 5, 2007 1:37 PM
This would be exceptional if it was BluTooth enabled. Then your umbrella could call you and ask you to take it with you today!
July 9, 2008 4:27 PM
Ok... so I thought to myself, yeah... I gotta get me one of these! Well I should have gotten a clue when Ambient Changed owners and my 2003 Stock Orb couldn't be customized like I had configured it in the past.
First thing I noticed, is that you can only specify major citys in the us, not your specific Zip Code. Ambient claims that making that an option would skyrocket the price... mind asking me what its worth and giving the consumer a choice? How about offering a premium package like they do with the Weather Beacon, or Stock Orb? Nah... they already made that decision for you! Well, even though I live in NJ... NYC doesn't always get the same weather we do... so the concept of a customized reminder is shot unless you live in a city that Ambient deemed as a city they service. I get reception... just cant specify my zip.
Second thing is that this thing blinks, not glows. You better hope you don't come across someone with a bad case of epilepsy on a rainy week. Why week?
Third thing... this umbrella doesn't tell you the weather for the day, but for 8 days! Not only that... but you cant tell which day is which by the blinks... so you end up checking the weather forecast anyway because you cant decipher it from the blinking which is supposed to tell you if it will rain anyway!!! Excuse me, but doesn't this defeat the entire purpose of the device on the umbrella to begin with! I wouldn't mind paying a larger amount of money for an umbrella that is supposed to save you the time and effort of checking the weather... if it actually worked! They could have put a barometric sensor in the umbrella... my Timex Watch has one, and it can predict rain fairly accurately and in real time! BRILLIANT!
So the concept is great, but Ambient lacks the brilliant engineers and quality control to turn out a potentially awesome and useful product.
I e-mailed Ambient support with these concerns and all I got was the advice to return the product if I wasn't happy with it. I'll keep it as I need a Big Honking umbrella... but I wouldnt buy another. I probably won't bother to replace the "C" battery when it dies.... What a blunder!