I was TOTALLY PSYCHED (yes, all caps) a few months ago when a co-worker told me about UmbrellaToday.com - a website where you can type in your zipcode and receive a simple Yes or No answer to the question "Will You Need an Umbrella Today?" The best part was you could sign up for a mobile alert that would (allegedly) send you a text at a specific time in the morning so you could prepare for your day meteorogically.
So, blah blah blah, a month later the fatal flaw of UmbrellaToday.com emerged. While the service accurately predicts the Yes/No answer, the text delivery was totally and utterly unpredictable. I signed up for 7am updates, which is apparently code for "send me something at some point before noon." The text I received today during a meeting (around 11:45am) was enough to send me over the edge.
Mashable hailed UmbrellaToday.com as a "million dollar idea" when it came out - and I get that. Imagine this as an iPhone app that "found" you every morning so you could get the right updates even on the road, or an iGoogle widget - it's so ridiculously simple that it's genius. It just doesn't work.
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