Global Mood Ring for the Tech Age
The mood ring is so…yesterday. It was okay when we all lived in our isolated little micro-spaces, but with instant universal connection at a touch or tweet, we need a global mood device.
And now we have one: an Arduino-powered, twitter parsing LED light that reflects the current human state of mind/emotion. And you can build your own for under $100.
Lest you think this is some simple, vague measurement--the light transitions between eight distinct colors:
RED=Anger
YELLOW=Happiness
PINK=Love
WHITE=Fear
GREEN=Envy
ORANGE=Surprise
BLUE=Sadness
BLACK=Evil
An Arduino connects directly to any wireless network using a WiFly module, bypassing computers. It constantly searches Twitter tweets for words and phrases with emotional content--called “sentiment extraction”--and collates/analyzes the data, which is then translated into a color.
“Moodies” could be sorted out by geo-spatial location and show sentiments of countries, cities, neighborhoods, offices or households. A mere novelty, you think? Sure, it’s a great party game. But enthusiasts claim the lamp is much more.
One feature is a flashing rather than simple display of color, alerting you to some major world event that has caused widespread and intense emotional reactions. Disasters or threats of war cannot catch you by surprise. The event could also signal something good. A major peace treaty would elicit a flashing Yellow. A startling upset in the World Cup might produce Orange. The marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton will surely strobe a deep Pink.
Stock market investor? The global mood light could serve as a barometer to guide financial decisions.
For overwhelmed news junkies who find it hard to keep pace with everything, you are tipped off to major happenings as they unfold.
You have the day off? If your light is glowing Green or Red, you might want to hunker down in your pad. Yellow or Pink, get out and start looking for love in all the right places.
In fact, we might even change the passion of the world by tweeting words, videos and photos that are uplifting and positive. As each person is affected, it would have a snowball effect. “What the world needs now is love, sweet love” becomes a work-in-progress. Beware. Everything is a two-edged sword. Terrorists, pessimists, and sociopaths might try to exploit a location or even the entire world, but surely in this battle of Righteousness vs. Evil, the good guys will prevail.
Follow Technorati