Shake Your Umbrella for a Random Song

thhamm writes "If you happen to see people wildly shaking and dancing with their white umbrellas in the street, don't call them crazy just yet. They might just be controlling their iPod with an iBrella: "The iBrella is a special umbrella that acts as an iPod interface. One can control the iPod just by his physical interactions with the iBrella." Theres a video of it in action, too. The ideal gadget to use while driving your motorized couch maybe?"

This is old

[lecithin]

This is old. This was invented by Mary Poppins years ago.

http://clubdi.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/mar ypcover.jpg [typepad.com]

From the pic, you can tell that it was powered by linux.

Re:This is old

[gstoddart]

This is old. This was invented by Mary Poppins years ago.

Nah, Singing In the Rain [imdb.com] beat them by over a decade. :-P

The Poppins pic?

[krell]

"From the pic, you can tell that it was powered by linux."

Here's a shot from the pic (motion picture) that proves the Linux involvement with Mary Poppins: http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/cinema/4756/pop pins3.jpg [geocities.com]

pledge

[MrSquirrel]

I pledge allegiance to the united "gahhhh, stop hurting my brain by being so stupid" foundation, that if I ever see someone with one of these I will take it from them, insert it into their... dirty orifice, and open the umbrella.
It's one thing to invent a neat tech gadget or even a bizarre tech gadget with no real purpose... but an iPod-brella is niether neat nor bizarre... they've come out with so many stupid iPod accessories that this is just another piece of crap. Worse than Segway-polo!

Re:pledge

[lurker4hire]

I'll reply to you because you're near the top, but holy fuck people!

IT'S NOT AN ACCESSORY FOR SALE, IT'S AN ART PROJECT

Am I the only person who understood this right away? Please cut the end off the url and visit the main page for more info, here I'll make it easy:

proto-typen.org is a small group of students from the University Karlsruhe and from the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe.

Having been introduced to the creative and hands-on way of using mikrocontrollers and elektronics in the Seminar Showoff devices" led by Hannes Nehls and Matt Karau, many students wished to continue experimenting and designing artwork in the future.

Several objects from the seminar have been or are being displayed at the HfG, many other expositions are planned FOR THE FUTURE.

sheesh!

Re:pledge

[Stanza]

I want to rant too.

So what if someone thinks it's cool to shake thier umbrella to control an ipod? If they aren't bothering you, let them! There are wars, there are assholes, there are a million things out there that bother me, why does the concept of someone shaking an umbrella bother you all? You don't have to buy one! It's not for sale if you wanted to! Let the crazies play with thier umbrellas and bad mouth something that's actually bad!

Sheesh. It's like when an article is posted about running lin

Re:pledge

[Shizgirl]

The iBrella is a pretty dumb idea, yes.

Re:pledge

[gamlidek]

I play segway polo, you insensitive clod!

-gam

Still crazy

[QuantumFTL]

If you happen to see people wildly shaking and dancing with their white umbrellas in the street, don't call them crazy just yet. They might just be controlling their iPod with an iBrella.

Whether or not one is controlling their iPod while doing this, I still believe they can be safely categorized as "fucking nuts."

Re:Still crazy

[dr_dank]

Whether or not one is controlling their iPod while doing this, I still believe they can be safely categorized as "fucking nuts."

This moniker will still apply regardless of whether or not they're wearing a bluetooth earpiece, shouting to nobody in particular.

Re:Still crazy

[darthlurker]

If you happen to see people wildly shaking and dancing with their white umbrellas in the street, don't call them crazy just yet. In Philly they're called Mummers. And they're only allowed to do it once a year.

Re:Still crazy

[squidfood]

Whether or not one is controlling their iPod while doing this, I still believe they can be safely categorized as "fucking nuts."

Or they may be just slightly silly, but only in one leg.

great...

[steveo777]

So now it's bad luck to listen to your iPod indoors, is it?

Welcome!

[JazzLad]

You must be new here.

Re:This is unnessicary

[Amouth]

do not lose all faith.... someone saw you as Insightful

One caveat

[QuantumFTL]

I hear this product works very well, but unfortunately it currently only plays "Singing in the Rain."

Re:One caveat

[mdobossy]

Fear not.. on November 1st a new firmware is coming out that will also allow you to play a certain power ballad by Guns and Roses.

Re:One caveat

[steveo777]

Right, but I heard they may have trouble with its stability, and getting that version to last more than 30 days is out of the question. Also has trouble when the weather is warm.

Re:One caveat

[Gothic_Walrus]

It could be worse.

What if the only song it played was "It's Raining Men?"

Re:One caveat

[QuantumFTL]

What if the only song it played was "It's Raining Men?"

I'd set phasers to "kill."

Nothing to see here... move along.

[Mikachu]

It's just another silly ipod accessory. As much as I love my ipod nano, I wouldn't be caught dead with an umbrella with which to control it. Can we just quit the stupid accessories already and put that energy into improving battery life or something? Jeez.

Re:Nothing to see here... move along.

[mrxak]

It's not like Apple's making this thing. And there's only so many speaker/docks that these 3rd party manufacturers can make before they go a bit nutty and come up with concepts like this.

Re:Nothing to see here... move along.

[Goblez]

Amen, I'll be happy when the market clears out this crap. Umbrella? Next I need a control that changes the song when I flush the toliet . . . pfffffff

Re:Nothing to see here... move along.

[wiz31337]

Now you did it, you just gave another art grad another idea.

don't rain on their parade!

[roman_mir]

What would you say if this umbrela was also a solar battery? Of-course it would work better if the umbrella was used against the sun, the in the rain, but its area is big enough to make an iPod run even in stormy weather. Now, why would you want umbrella to play music at all, that's a totally different category of a story.

Re:don't rain on their parade!

[Eravau]

Um...so you could be Singing in the Rain [imdb.com] of course.

Re:Nothing to see here... move along.

[QuantumFTL]

Can we just quit the stupid accessories already and put that energy into improving battery life or something?

I'd be cool if the umbrella itself had a battery in it to give you a little extra power when you have a long walk in the rain, or maybe some kind of generator from arm movements?

Too bad about the weather though

[Recovering Hater]

because I don't think anyone is going to have enough rain to actually use this thing. At least here in the states.

Re:Too bad about the weather though

[Overzeetop]

Looks like the website owner is from Denmark, which according to wikipedia [wikipedia.org] has 170 days of rain per year.

Re:Too bad about the weather though

[Quadrature]

Obviously you've never come to Seattle [msn.com]...

Re:Too bad about the weather though

[LiLWiP]

You don't spend any time in Seattle do you??? Rains like 10 months out of the year there. Obviously there is a niche market for this. And keep in mind there are a lot of farkin morons out there that will buy stupid shite just because it is new...

Re:Too bad about the weather though

[Recovering Hater]

Obviously you never watch the weather. The rest of the country is in the middle of an incredible heat wave. Duh.

Re:Too bad about the weather though

[LiLWiP]

Use your fancy new i-Brella to keep the sun off your head! I live in Missouri which has had 10 days over 100 in the last 2 weeks... I am WELL aware of the heat wave.

Re:Too bad about the weather though

[porcupine8]

Here in Michigan it's pouring right at the moment, and we've got a severe thunderstorm watch all afternoon.

And where I lived the past three summers, Williamsburg VA, tends to average a thunderstorm every other night all summer long. From their current forecast [yahoo.com] it looks like there's no break in the pattern this year.

I called it first...

[testednegative]

and the next game is Dance Dance Umbrella Revolution.

Re:I called it first...

[Kimos]

Rain Rain Revolution?

Re:I called it first...

[Opportunist]

According to our weather forecast, it already happened.

Re:I called it first...

[steveo777]

I think Phil Collins might have beat you to it.

Take it to Dance Dance Immolation at Burning Man

[billstewart]

Dance Dance Immolation [interpretivearson.com] is "Dance Dance Revolution. With Flamethrowers. Pointed at you." (See the DDI URL for a picture by Kristen Ankiewicz.) I saw it at The Crucible [thecrucible.org]'s recent Fire Arts Exhibition. You don't get flamed every time you miss - it's more like every N times or so, and might depend on whether you or the other person you're playing against is ahead. (Oh, and you do get to wear a fireproof suit...)

Re:I called it first...

[Exuder]

Mary Boppin' Poppins?

Huh?

[desideria]

I'm sure on a technical level, this is a great idea, but how many days of the month does anyone use their umbrella? I doubt this will succeed commercially.

Re:Huh?

[nbannerman]

You've obviously never lived in Wales or Scotland ;)

Re:Huh?

[Hannah E. Davis]

Or Vancouver, Canada -- it rained for a month straight this past winter. Literally.

Re:Huh?

[porcupine8]

Perhaps it will result in the return of the parasol. I've carried an umbrella to stay out of the sun before, but I don't do it too often b/c you get funny looks. This could be a huge new trend!

Honestly, though, I think the bigger impediment to success will be the fact that the volume goes up and down every time you turn a corner. Or worse, in the wrong mode it can make you change tracks.

Let me get this straight.

[SocialEngineer]

You have to turn around to adjust volume. How in the heck is that useful? "Oops, sorry hun, my music is too loud, looks like I'm going to have to turn around and go back to work."

Re:Let me get this straight.

[SocialEngineer]

Doh, scratch that. Looks like you can just rotate the umbrella itself. Still, I wonder how many people are going to forget that important fact while using it :)

Re:Let me get this straight.

[uab21]

Perhaps this one should have gotten the big foot icon... or the 'because you can'. It's wonderfully useless technology, and if you can't handle the idea of experimenting with odd or different interfaces and technology and marvel at others doing so, then why are you reading slashdot?

Seems kind of like the Wii controller with an umbrella attached, and maybe mated with mouse gestures from Opera...

Is it really useful? Probably not, but people have spent more money on less useful things before.

That's what it's all about

[krell]

"You have to turn around to adjust volume"

I think the portable music player business has more than matured if they come out with a device where you control it by doing the Hokey Pokey.

I see another Batman movie coming on. Waaaa!

[krell]

Forget Heath Ledger as the Joker. It's going be the Penguin blasting William Hung songs out of his umbrella all the way.

Worst /. Story Ever!

[eno2001]

This has less validity than a Darl McBride's claims about Linux. What moron thought this was news?

Useful?

[AugustZephyr]

This looks impractical. It might be useful to buy the umbrella and cut the handle away from the rest of it. The idea of an interface device like that is cool, but the attached umbrella is obtrusive. Maybe if they made an iPod glove that not only controlled the scroll wheel but could also control the pod with hand gestures...

At last! Someone fixed the iPod's interface!

[Quiet_Desperation]

Thank you, baby Jesus!

Yeah, yeah... I like to drive my car from the back seat using rope, duct tape and a broomstick.

slim down the UI

[serial_crusher]

I'd totally buy it if they just put in regular control buttons in the umbrella handle.

Let's be serious here

[Opportunist]

I can see a lot of the accessoires for the iPod being useful. Belt clips, other ear plugs, uh... did we have Belt clips already?

But an umbrella? Let's be serious here, there's only so much you can milk out of an iPod enthusiast, no matter how much he loves Apple and their style. It would have been sufficient to actually print the logo on the umbrella so he can show his corporate identity perfectly matched to his iPod, but controling it with the umbrella is just plain silly.

There is only so much you can slap

Re:Let's be serious here

[slashrogue]

note that Apple isn't making this product (why would they?). Makes me wonder if a company could sue or otherwise take legal action on another company for making shitty third party devices that make their own device look bad.

Madness

[gigne]

When will the iPod accessory madness end?

It astounds me that there are so many accessories. What next? iPod remote control in your shoes? I see how explaining why you are tapdancing down the street may be amusing, though.

As if the little white headphones were not obvious enough to thieves. Now I have a giant umbrella saying "I have an iPod, steal me".

I can't imagine anyone wanting to but this. It's not good for walking indoors with, and even in the UK it doesn't rain enough to justify it's use. The

Re:Madness

[gigne]

heh. Should have guessed really.

Re:Madness

[lazarusdishwasher]

Could this be used to play music that matches the tempo of the exercise you are doing? I would think that synchronising the music to the exercise might help prolong exercise, plus you would know you are running too fast if you hear flight of the bumble bee.

I Much Prefer . . .

[beadfulthings]

I think I'll hang on to my preferred umbrella. Purchased in Montreal a couple of years ago, it is of a bright rainslicker yellow and proclaims in large block letters, MERDE, IL PLEUT. I can retire beneath it to listen to my iPod or do whatever else I feel like doing. Much better.

Ah.

[Black Parrot]

So it wasn't a signal to shoot [wikipedia.org] after all.

one.... his...

[Oo.et.oO]

i LOVE the writing on teh intarweb!

Wheels!

[psxman]

Next comes the steering wheel iPod interface! The next time you see someone swerving over the road, they're not drunk, they're just changing songs!

What is the world coming to?!?

[fractalVisionz]

Obviously, the people have not run out of novel ideas, including myself. Therefore, I propose a new iPod interface:

The iPod Shopping bag.

Never again will the choice of paper or plastic be boring with the new iPod shopping bag. It comes in two style, paper and plastic, and a built in speaker to allow the other customers to know you are cool.

Speaker and Power Specs:
Paper:
-- 8" Paper sub cone to really drive the deep bass, down firing, makets your food groove too!
-- 1" Paper directional tweete

Re:What is the world coming to?!?

[hollowedOut]

I know it's not EXACTLY what you had in mind, and I was sure I had already seen this on slashdot as part of the ongoing iAccessories parade, but this pretty much does all the horrible things that you listed above, but at least it isn't disposable...and for some reason it's just as ridiculous. I give you:

iPod Shoulder Bag with Integrated Speakers [gizmodo.com]

Better would be a "baton" that controlled an IPOD

[GodWasAnAlien]

Best for listening to iDRM data would be a "retractable baton", as suggested for the MPAA/RIAA by some.

Neat hack idea...

[HalfOfOne]

So if you shake it more than three times, does it scold you for "playing with it"?

All these negative comments-What's with you all?!

[TomMorrisey]

Some enterprising geek showed some impressive technical skills and ingenuity and put together a fun little hack that's cool, but not really useful. What's with all these posts talking about how this is overbranding on steroids, how stupid the idea is, and how no one is going to want to use it. I don't think the guy who made this is trying to become a millionaire off his idea, I think he just had a funny idea and decided to see if he could pull it off. People should be: A.) Laughing a bit. B.) Congratulat

iPod interface?

[LoudMusic]

iBrator [flamingmailbox.com]!

Unfortunately it doesn't really exist and it's not an iPod interface, but I could see someone hacking such a device into existance. And it selling well.

Re:iPod interface?

[ff3j]

Apparently someone did decide to make it... http://www.ohmibod.com/ [ohmibod.com] Crazy, huh?

Re:iPod interface?

[LoudMusic]

Apparently someone did decide to make it... http://www.ohmibod.com/ [ohmibod.com] Crazy, huh?

That's the coolest thing I've seen for the iPod ... holy shit!

The New iShower

[IflyRC]

For the person who loves to sing in the shower, attach your iPod to the new iShower shower head. By switching from stream to massage you can control your iPod and listen to music through the mono 6 inch waterproof speaker embedded in the shower head. Includes ziploc bag for iPod storage during showering. Don't wait, order today!

What category does this fall under again?

[RagingFuryBlack]

News for nerds, or stuff that matters? I really don't think that an IPod umbrella is what us nerds need, as we're normally indoors anyways. I also highly doubt this is mission critical in a world sense. It must be a slow news day or /.'s datacenter increased their prices again...

Silly? Of course!

[monkeyhouse]

Silly? Of course.
Unnecessary? Definitely.
Madness? Possibly, but unlikely...
Impractical? No kidding.

Why does it matter?

Here's a group of guys who decided to geek out and make a ridiculous little interface to a ubiquitous gadget for the hell of it. Does the fact that it's for the iPod make it any worse than, say, any of the toys we see on ThinkGeek?

If it takes being silly to come up with an idea (which, if you think about it, isn't really a bad I/F -- just a silly implementation of it), then I say g

now the jokes

[rhfixer]

As Monkey said: Silly? Of course. Unnecessary? Definitely. Madness? Possibly, but unlikely... Impractical? No kidding. Anyways, it plays "Singing in the Rain" as the first song when you power/open your umbrella.

Boom!

[jrmiller84]

Maybe they'll get struck by lightning... and then they'll dance just like Bono and wear horrible sunglasses. Or die. Pick your poison.

So if you left your ipod jacket at home

[kinglink]

Seriously how many more of these things do we need? we have them for jackets, car stereos, pants, chairs, hats and cellphones.

Next thing we'll see, is Ipod shoes, Ipod ipods (yes for that double ipod audio) and Ipod codpiece, for when your getting it on with your lady and need to hear "Oh Yeah", and ipod nose puppy.

Seriously people, the Ipod is cool and sleak, your products are not!

Re:So if you left your ipod jacket at home

[geekoid]

Nike has iPod shoes.

iPod iPods sounds promising.

Re:So if you left your ipod jacket at home

[kinglink]

I tried to be as ridiculous as possible. I can't believe I failed.

sheep that conform

[ZivZoolander]

ahh finally a device a trully freethinking-treehuggin-starbucksdrinkin-ipodsheep can have that will set fianlly set him self apart from all lthe umbrellatoting-freethinking-treehuggin-starbucksdr inkin-ipodsheep oh wait a minute...... people forget that your nolonger an individual if you look like the next yuppie. but at least we can spot them easier. just remember i had an mp3 player before you know what an ipod was

Perfect Example.

[liquidzero4]

This is a perfect example of the old saying "Just becuase you could doesn't mean you should!!!!!!!!!!!) This alsmost as bad as the Toaster/Radio I say At JCPenny the other day.

Re:Perfect Example.

[geekoid]

toaster/radio seem like a great way to get a radio into your kitchen without taking up any extra space. Unless the tuner is the up/down arm of the toaster.

"Useless" iPod stuff, "No" Zen Vision stuff....

[THESuperShawn]

Come on. The iPod is a great product, but for people who don't want to deal with Apples DRM, the Creative Zen Vision M is the "killer app". You can get everything from your toaster to your dog outfitted with an iPod zip connector, but I can't get crap for my Zen Vision. That's just not fair! At least release the specs for the Zen Vision connector so I can try to make or convert something to use with it! Before you make another "dog shaped speaker with blinky lights" for the iPod, how about making something

Re:"Useless" iPod stuff, "No" Zen Vision stuff....

[geekoid]

Buy something usefull.
I suggest an iPod.

iPod has millions of users, so it will be easier t recoup RnD and production expenses.

I am going to make a kitty speaker for the iPod and make MILLIONS!

Re:"Useless" iPod stuff, "No" Zen Vision stuff....

[THESuperShawn]

"Buy something usefull.
I suggest an iPod."

When Apple removes the DRM restrictions (per my original post), I may consider it.

Until then, I'd skip the iPod Kitty Speakers and patent an iPod spellcheck.

Usefull = Useful

It could be worse ...

[Qetu]

http://www.ibuzz.co.uk/ [ibuzz.co.uk]

No need for a full PlayStation 2 and Rez Trance Vibrator to have that "buzzy" feeling anymore ...

Is it April 1st?

[SilverJets]

I checked the calendar, it is not April 1st but this still looks fake to me. Unless someone shows me one in a store I am not going to believe this to be anything more than a joke. Take a look at that "award" on the front page...."Winner of the Award 2005". Winner of what award?

It's fake.

Oblig. Dilbert

[vaughanf]

Gaah!! The stupidity is leaping off the screen and burrowing into my brain!!!!

Against all odds

[bky1701]

Apple interfaces just got stranger.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

[freaker_TuC]

If I tap my shoes hard enough against eachother; my player might fall out of my pocket and it'll press STOP or FORWARD automatically; beat that ;)

The difference in this interface and the umbrella is ..
I always have shoes on me when outside; but never an umbrella !

Would be bad anyways to learn/have a seperate interface when the sun shines, when its raining, when skating, when driving, .....