Umbrellas can be bulky and difficult to store (especially when wet), but if you've just about had it with walking around under a handheld canopy on rainy days, never fear: the Air Umbrella is here.
Designed by Je Sung Park and Woo Jung Kwon, the Air Umbrella is little more than just a collapsible handle. But there's some smart tech happening in that little stick. It draws in air from the bottom, then forces it through a showerhead-like nozzle at the top, creating an air-powered barrier with enough force to repel raindrops. And of course, power settings can be adjusted accordingly for varying levels of precipitation.
Would you use an air-powered umbrella? I'm known for not charging my phonbe often enough; I'd probably let the batteries die and end up caught in the rain with a dead umbrella. Check out more pics on Yanko Design. Link (via PSFK)
Very few of the products they show are actually based in the same reality that the rest of us are in.
That "smart tech happening in that little stick" is literal magic. The amount of force that will need to put out will have to be as much as the rain/wind coming down upon you. A little rough math will tell you that this concept, while pretty, is ridiculously unfeasible.
however this would not remove the "bulky and difficult to store" aspect with respect to a conventional pocket umbrella....