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Everyone who lives in a moderately wet climate has complained about the traditional umbrella design at least once in their lives. In fact, during a particularly nasty torrential downpour last summer, I remember cursing my umbrella's metal rods for snapping in half on my way home from a local grocery store.
Thankfully, there are many brave innovators who hope to reinvent the umbrella for our benefit. Though some designs are well-priced, practical, and durable...others are not. The following three designs showcase umbrellas that, in my opinion, don't quite make the cut.
1. Air Umbrella
Initially, I couldn't even determine whether this device was an umbrella. For starters, there are no metal poles or canopy, and the only thing protecting users from the rain is a "force field" of air.
The Air Umbrella resembles a plastic rod, with a lithium battery that powers a motor and fan. The user simply pushes a button on the rod, and a stream of jet air flows out from the motorized tip.
Further details of the concept are few, considering it was just successfully...