I’ve been a fan of Ambient Devices for a while – I’ve got an Ambient Orb on my desk that turns different colors based on the temperature outside. This morning – after a smelly run on Sunset in LA to the parallel universe that is Beverly Hills and back to the hotel – I noticed that Ambient had just released the Ambient Umbrella.
I love it. I know of a bunch of different companies that are working on integrating the Internet with a wide variety of every day products. Some of the applications are simple while some are complex – many of them will radically change the way we interact with our “computers.” And the really smart ones will make the underlying platforms available to anyone. Remember – It’s the API, Stupid.