This isn’t a new gadget per se, but it’s a neat new technology that I thought HyperGadget readers would be interested in. Here’s a bit of a Reuters article published today:
British and American computer scientists have developed artwork that changes according to how the viewer feels. Special software picks up facial cues and adapts the colour and brush strokes of the digital image.
“The program analyzes the image of eight facial expressions, such as the position and shape of the mouth, the openness of the eyes, and the angle of the brows, to work out the emotional state of the viewer,” said Dr John Collomosse of the University of Bath in southwest England.
So the art changes to reflect your changing mood — in real-time, which is pretty cool. (Though I hope all the art isn’t just the same picture drawn in different palettes, as the above photo suggests.) One just needs a desktop computer and webcam for the software to work.
Blogger Walter Derzko notes that “Down the road this could lead to other objects that are more empathetic towards humans; robots, computers etc,” which makes sense. I would love for them to apply this technology to music — create mp3 players that play music based on one’s mood. That’s the way I listen to music anyway, so an mp3 player that does this for me would be cool. 
[More: The original article, published in the UK on Aug 5th.]