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Top News

• Día de Internet en Llodio (16 - 18 May)
Pileus is going to attend "Dia de Internet (The Day of Internet)" in Llodio. This is the Internet cerebration event hosted by Basque Government Spain.


• Campus Party, Spain (Summer 2008)
Pileus is going to attend Campus Party (Spain): one of the biggest electronic entertainment events. The event is scheduled in this summer at Valencia Spain. More details will be reported on this news and Campus Party website soon.


• キーマンズネット - 5分でわかる最新キーワード解説 (April 16, 2008)
Pileus was intoroduced on キーマンズネット "5分でわかる最新キーワード解説" by Recruite. Read the article: 「インターネット傘パイレウス」ってなんだ？！


• Next No.5 - Mindblowers and Danish publicities (April 4 - 6, 2008)
Pileus attended to Next No.5: Mindblowers. This event was the Nordic Exceptional Trendshop held at Århus Denmark hosted by InnovationLab. Pileus also got interviewed during the event by TV2 Nyhederne, DR Radio Harddisken and more.

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Pileus: The Internet Umbrella

Pileus is an umbrella connected to the Internet to make walking in rainy days fun. Pileus has a large screen on the top surface, a built-in camera, a motion sensor, GPS, and a digital compass, and it provides two main functions; A Social Photo-sharing and A 3D Map Navigation.
The photo function is connected to a major web service "Flickr". A user can take photo with a camera on the umbrella, and pictures are uploaded to Flickr in two minutes with context tags via a wireless Internet connection. User can also enjoy theirselves watching photo-streams downloaded from Flickr with simple operation of wrist snapping.

. Detecting a location data from GPS, it shows a 3D bird view around the user. User can walk-through a city comparing the 3D views and real sights, and the map is always updated by GPS and a digital compass. As it has a large screen, it create virtual reality but not immersive.

Now these two functions can be switched by simply fliping a switch. As a future direction of its development, putting a context data on the Internet (e.g. geo-tags on photos), it will be able to provide social local-navigations, social local-ads, and real-time in-place communications. The product aims to provide an augmentation of everyday life synchronizing information on the Internet and the real place.

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Pileus in Tokyo

Share it on DailyMotion (Full) and YouTube (Edited)

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Prototypes

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Design Team

What is the origin of the name?
"Pileus" is an ancient Latin word originally meaning skullcap, and now used as technical worlds for a cloud that appear above a cumulus at meteorology [1] and a cap of mushrooms at mycology [2] . The project uses this word for both metaphors of a physical umbrella (mushroom cap) and cyber network services (overlaid cloud).



This project has started as an academic research of Media Design at Keio University Okude Lab in Spring 2006. Now Pileus LLC spined-off to develop its business.

• Sho Hashimoto (Pileus LLC, Co-Founder) - Left
Sho is a master's student of Keio University Okude Lab. He is the most tech-geek in the lab, and his software gadgets has been introduced at a major japanese news paper and a magazine. He is mainly building an architecture of the system and developing Pileus' software and network. See his blog to know his background.


• Takashi Matsumoto (Pileus LLC, Co-Founder) - Right
Takashi is an interaction designer. He has been working in unique UI design projects of mobile gadgets. He earned Ph.D. in Media and Governance (Media Design) in 2008, a master's degree in Media and Governance (Media Design) with summa cum laude in 2005, BA of Environmental Information with summa cum laude in 2003 from Keio University. He is mainly directing the production and developing Pileus' hardware. See an interview of WMMNA to know his background.

Now the umbrella is a only prototype and we are making an effort to make it a commercial product.
We are open for offers including the following. Please contact us for more detail.

• Research & Development partnerships
• Investments
• Rental of prototypes

Pileus LLC (Pileus合同会社)
+81-50-5539-8199 (Skype-in)
info(at)pileus.net

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Archives of Events & Publications

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© 2006-2007, Pileus LLC / Keio University This product uses the Flickr API but is not endorsed or certified by Flickr