New, Improved Umbrella Design Might Make Life With All of You Less Miserable

I didn't mind last week's rain so much as I minded people hitting me with their umbrellas. We've had the same crappy umbrella design taking up too much airspace, whacking our heads and poking our eyes for too long.

Well, no more, says entrepreneur Stephen Collier. He's designed Umbrella 2.0, The Atlantic says:

The Rainshader, as the thing is called, is meant to protect the user from the elements while also sitting low on the head -- so it's less apt to block the vision of the people around you. (Collier got the idea for the Rainshader at last year's Grand National horse race, after a soggy day spent umbrella-warring with the rest of the crowd.) Its shape -- tubular rather than round -- minimizes both the eye-poking and the water roll-off that can occur with traditional umbrellas. 

The Rainshader is, to be sure, nerdy-looking: It is effectively a nylon mullet. But what you sacrifice in chicness, the umbrella promises, you will gain in karma. The thing's cut-away front -- meant to mimic the design of a motorcycle helmet -- offers the user cutouts where needed (in the front, for vision) and coverage where coverage is preferable (in the back). [The Atlantic]