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One of the most fascinating facts I learned in college was that microphones and loudspeakers are really physically the same. Well, you know those parabolic microphones you see on the sidelines of football games? You know, the ones that look like big umbrellas?

Leave it to Japanese researchers to turn that idea upside down and backwards to create a speaker system in an umbrella. And, not your tacky black Totes umbrella.

True to form, this paper and bamboo beauty is as pretty as it sounds. Four vibrating motors on the tips of the umbrella and a built-in amplifier create a sound only the person under the umbrella can hear.

Keep reading to see more pictures.

If the umbrella prototype garners enough interest, the real deal should sell for about $100. Sort of makes you want to wish for rain. —Leslie Shapiro

Gizmodo