Sunglasses are cool and fun and I'm told they're even practical in certain parts of the world. However, the big problem is that if you are talking to someone who is wearing sunglasses, you can't see their eyes. And therefore, you can't see a lot of their expression.

Until now. Simply attach a pair of plastic eyeballs sticking up from the frame of the sunglasses. The shades will include sensors that can visually detect movement in the muscles around the eyes and convert these movements into emotions (surprise, smiling, frowning, eyes closing out of boredom). The sunglasses will then control the eyeballs, making them pop open, leap up, frown, or close their eyelids and fall limply down your cheeks.

Those who insist on using sunglasses to hide their expression (e.g. policemen, security guards) could hack the microcontroller in the shades to generate random emotions.
-- kropotkin, Feb 03 2004

//hack the microcontroller in the shades to generate random emotions// "Drop the gun! You're under arrest!<wink-wink>"
-- half, Feb 03 2004


Two-way cameras with LCD displays? The wearer sees a darkened version of the outdoors, everyone else sees the wearer's eyes...
-- phoenix, Feb 03 2004


"Do all policemen make that expression just before doing strip-searches?"
-- Letsbuildafort, Feb 03 2004


A lot of people wear sunglasses to hide their expressions. i.e. poker players
-- yabba do yabba dabba, Feb 03 2004


How about a pocket-sized controller that lets you tell them what to show? If you can organize the emotions on a linear spectrum, it can just be a little slide or a thumbwheel. (+)
-- Etymon, Mar 01 2004


You can't organize all emotions on one linear spectrum.
-- yabba do yabba dabba, Mar 01 2004


No, of course you couldn't organize all emotions that way, but you'd have to cut down the number the eyes could display just to make it controllable. How about this: a thumbwheel that adjusts from "happy" <---> "sad", and then you can push the wheel sideways in one direction for "surprised" and the other direction for "angry."
-- Etymon, Mar 04 2004



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