The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, but when it comes to staying dry in the big city, strong winds are what should be discussed. Rainmakers, Totes Umbrellas has designed the first umbrella to combat the near gail force winds found whipping through most metropolitan concrete corridors. Wind resistant up to 70mph and designed to automatically spin to align itself and face it’s foe. The Senz Umbrella is the proud winner of the 2007 RedDot Design Award. Now if we can only convince the George Costanzas of the world that umbrellas are in fact not “free at all coffee shops…”

Buy for $55.

I cannot stress to you more the importance of “backing up.” I don’t mean as you pull out of your garage or what you tell a stripper to do in Vegas. I am talking about getting into the life saving habit of backing up your computer’s hard drive as often as you dream about poking holes in your boss(yes, at least once a day…killer). I recently lost my family, friends and girlfriend to a horrible serial killer named “Kernel Panic”, he erased their memory and I may never fully recover from the thought of ever seeing their beautifully photo-shopped faces ever again. Please, let their memory(or lack there of) be a lesson to you and rush out and buy a back up hard drive today.

Take this beautifully designed drive from Western Digital. The “WD My Passport Essential” is perfect for pretty much anyone. With 320 gigs of capacity. USB 2.0 connection and a super slim housing that slides right into your shirt pocket. Don’t put it there though…nerd. This drive will surely save your life when Murphy, gremlins, Kernel Panic, Major Pain, General Nuisance or any number of amnesia inducing suspects strike again. At $200, aren’t your loved ones worth it? Don’t answer that.

Buy for $200

Sony has just introduced a camera that automatically assumes you are going to take a lousy photo…snap! They have introduced a new technology we could have really used during our last presidential election, dubbed “intelligent scene recognition” (iSCN), this technology allows the camera to analyze shooting conditions and automatically select the optimal settings for the best photo results. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T300 features include a 10.1 megapixel chip, an end to end 3.5-inch touch screen, a 5x optical zoom lens, Super Steady Shot image stabilization, high sensitivity settings up to ISO 3200 and a Bionz processing engine. Wrapped in a very pleasing housing, this camera will at least make you look gorgeous by association.

Buy for $400.

Eco-Friendly design house Brave Space Design has created this functional and stylish book shelf that clearly looks Tetris inspired. Well, like the game play of Tetris, this shelving unit was designed to make best use of every inch of surface space. From over-sized coffee table books to your favorite Star Wars figures, there is a spot on these shelves for them to call home. Made of 100% rapidly renewable bamboo and spanning nearly 7 feet tall by 9 feet wide, there is plenty of space for those books you will never get around to reading but look cool owning.

Buy for $2,950.

Ah the ubiquitous iPod, so many hours upon hours of good times rolled into a shiny, metal card case. It is nearly a perfect invention….nearly. Nothing sucks worse than being on a long flight or a day at the beach and running out of juice for everyone’s favorite conversation avoidance system. True electronic portabilty will perpetually be a distant dream until someone figures out how to get a teeny-tiny nuclear reactor in an iPod. Until that day arrives, there is the iPod Turbo Charger. The perfect back-up energy source for power players everywhere. One AAA battery gets you one full charge…easy.

Buy for $24.95

Seems like someone got a little excited about the all-new SL heading our way and leaked these images before their time. Or at least that is what Mercedes-Benz would have you believe. More likely they are simply using us bloggers to help create buzz for their flagship SL. Whatever the case may be, this car is hot. Nothing says “I am happy with my penis size” like the timeless elegance and performance of a jet black SL. With a much more modern refresh to the front end and McClaren inspired gills on the side, this car screams nothing… but whispers a great game. Inside, expect all the creature comforts naturally associated to a premier brand, with an over-sized navigation screen, redesigned instrumentation and leather wrapped goodness.

One trip to places like William-Sonoma or Sur La Table and you will find a bounty of gadgets invented to make the process of de-corking a bottle of wine easier or more efficient. From a CO2 injecting needle to to an apparatus resembling some mid evil iron maiden, clever minds are always looking to reinvent the wheel. The French have never felt the need to refashion what has been working perfectly for centuries and the classic cork screw is no exception. Yes, opening a bottle of wine properly takes some practice, but when you do it correctly, you look trés chic and as smooth as chocolate mousse. Hand crafted and packed in an elegant wooden box, this party starter makes a great house warming gift or perfect addicion to your maison. Vive la tradicion!

Buy for $25

Staying in tune is probably the single most important requisite for anyone playing in a band. It does not matter how hot your licks are or how great your songs may be, if you are out of tune, you pretty much suck. Stopping mid-performance to bend down and tune your guitar is also not the most inspiring of rock moves, unless you are Radiohead. They seem to be able to get away with anything. Well, salvation is at hand, literally. The “N-Tune Onboard True Bypass Chromatic Tuner”… whew! is the worlds first guitar tuner located right on your knob. No, not that knob dufus, your volume knob. Just pop the knob up to adjust the note and pop it back down to set your volume. Simple. Comes in a variety of colors to best match your ax.

Buy for $100

Ok, I realize it’s mid-January and this is our second post in 24 hours related to summer fun activities. I guess the fact that I have been freezing my ass off for about two months now, has me longing to bathe in some warm rays and swim in a warm pool of sun kissed waters. I will dispense with my obsessive compulsive fears of swimming in public pools filled with any number of bodily substances and bravely tout the virtues of the “largest swimming pool in the world.” This puddle is huge, I mean ridiculously ginormous! Spanning 2o acres and 1,000 yards long (yes, the old “longer than 10 football fields” analogy) with a deep end of 115 feet, we are looking at 66 million gallons of salt water fun. The city of Algarrobo, Chile is the proud home of what Guinness Book of World Records confirms as the largest pool in the world. Check out more pics after the jump.

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