January 17, 2006
Mood Phone Concept
A mood phone could be the next big thing. Duke University student John Finan's idea for a device that would analyze emotional cues in phone conversations has the attention of Motorola in a collegiate competition, according to The Herald Sun.
"Contestants required to show that their ideas are technologically feasible. But Finan thinks it could be, and that it could be especially valuable to people who, like his story's protagonist, have Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism.
People with the condition often don't understand emotional meanings in spoken words that we normally learn to interpret from vocal inflections and other nonverbal cues.
Software incorporated into the phone or in a computer that conversations are routed through would analyze the cues and flash color-coded lights on the phone, in the user's peripheral vision. A red light could indicate annoyance, for example, or green a jest."
Related, sort of:
-- Getting emotional with text - Gizmoz's messaging platform provides a new way for people to communicate using 3D characters animated by text, voice and emotion.
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