Date:22/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/bline/ew/2006/05/22/stories/2006052200070100.htm

Back Mixing it up

There you are, twiddling your thumbs or crossing your fingers, waiting for your loved one to respond after an argument. Both of you are still too angry to talk to each other, and you hear a beep! One new SMS for you: "Sorry!"

Nice, but there is still more, right? Something that is more than itsy-bitsy pixels stacking up together to make up the words "I am sorry, too!" but of course, you don't want to talk as yet?

You should try something like the MoBeeline (http://www.mobeeline.com) to see if it fits the bill, when it goes mainstream. The designers of this concept are Chang Soo Lee and Hyejoo Lee, students of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University.

MoBeeline allows you to send your emotion to a friend, and once she receives it, her phone will access a Bluetooth controller and display an emoticon or change a pattern or change the colour of part of her shirt or her handbag.

So, here you go: load the MoBeeline sender, send the instruction "love" to your loved one's mobile phone, and her shirt pocket will display a heart. That is one better than a simple SMS but conveying the message all the same.

Whether your better half will enjoy broadcasting the fact that you had a disagreement can be the basis of your next argument!

N. Nagaraj