Picture this, you're suddenly caught in the rain and completely lost. What do you do? You open your Pileus Internet Umbrella and start singing a little Rihanna. That's what. The umbrella is connected to the Internet and has a large screen on the top surface, a built-in camera, a motion sensor, GPS, and a digital compass. It was started as academic research of Human-Computer Interaction Design at Keio University Okude Lab, but it has turned into a business and the students are working on making it ready for the commercial market. Right now the umbrella provides two main functions outside of the usual water protection: a social photo-sharing device that's pretty to look at and 3D map navigation, so you just have to do a little map search and you're back on track.
The umbrella's 3D map navigation is powered by Google Earth and can share a 3D bird view around the user. Users can walk-through a city comparing the 3D views and the real world around them, and the map is always updated by GPS and a digital compass.
To check out more photos of the umbrella and learn more about it, read more
The umbrella's photo function is connected to Flickr, so a user can take photos with a camera on the umbrella, and pictures are uploaded to Flickr in two minutes with context tags via a wireless Internet connection.
I have never owned an umbrella and this doesn't convince me to buy one, as I'd end up in the middle of nowhere googling the sugar sites and not getting myself any less lost. Although I'd have fun doing that, I'd be a ton less productive.
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Anyone else think it would be very distracting to look at the umbrella for directions? I'd run into people and traffic. Why not just ask for directions?