There have certainly been gizmos to surface throughout the years that react in some form or fashion to rain, but Jean-Jacques Chaillout and colleagues at the Atomic Energy Commission in France are fantasizing about using those diminutive droplets of water to actually power useful creations. After using computer models to find out just how much energy could be created by rainfall landing on piezoelectric materials, they determined that between 1 nanojoule and 25 microjoules of energy could be generated per drop. Granted, that won't keep a WoW gamer crankin' through the eve, but it could be used in everyday sensors that just need a smidgen of power in order to beam back results or data to ground control (or Major Tom). So yeah, these may not work so well in Death Valley, but we hear Amazonia could really benefit.

[Via NewScientist, image courtesy of ABC]

Dutch Umbrella -- a startup focusing its efforts in and around the city of brotherly love -- is looking to take the idea of courtesy umbrella rentals to a new level by incorporating RFID tags and marketers. Currently, the firm has landed eight partners that will toss logos on the stark white umbrellas and utilize the tantalizing tracking information that gets recorded each time a rainy day encourages patrons to grab some cover. Merchants are required to pony up $100 per month in order to receive the marketing intelligence, and can then use it to determine where umbrella carriers go once the downpour begins in order to better position future ads. Unfortunately, we tend to hear that It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but there's probably not much truth to that.

[Via DailyWireless]

Apparently, Lenovo kept enough staff on board to create the 2008 Olympic torch, as the firm's Cloud of Promise design was recently selected over 300 competing themes and will be "carried by torchbearers around the world in the Olympic Torch Relay preceding the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games." With Lenovo being a China-based firm, the company's chairman (Yang Yuanqing) stated that it was "an honor to have its torch design chosen," and oddly enough, that wasn't the only cloud-related Olympic news coming out of Beijing. Reportedly, meteorologists will be utilizing a process known as "cloud seeding" to force rain out beforehand and subsequently clear the filthy skies and alleviate the purported "50-percent chance of rain during the opening and closing ceremonies." Of course, this isn't exactly a push to become a greener society or anything, but at least the HD feeds from around the area will look a bit better during the competitions.

Read - Lenovo designs Olympic torch
Read - Cloud seeding in China

We've got flowers that have seen fire, and now we're seeing ones that brave the rain, as Asahi Kasei's plainly-named Rain Sensor spends (quite literally) half its time perched outdoors awaiting those sprinkles. As you might expect, this two-part device consists of a mountable rain sensor that resides outside and connects wirelessly to the indoor monitor in order to alert you when it begins to drizzle. Presumably aimed at those who frequently leave their car windows down or wet clothes on the line, this little fella belts out a friendly jingle whenever its drop-sensing partner feels the water. Although there's always the "look out the window" approach, this device does indeed save you from focusing intently on what's happening outside in order to determine precisely when the first drop falls, but even if it doesn't seem worth the ¥3,980 ($33) asking price to you, be sure to click on through for a live demonstration anyway.

[Via Plastic Bamboo]