Hasta La Ideas

Israeli designer Dor Tal has designed a set of gadgets that monitor data generated on social networks to help users predict the future and take action ahead of time (+ movie).

Dor Tal’s Future Control project imagines a personal horoscope built on your data that could predict everything from when you’re most likely to go to the gym, to what mood your partner is going to be in when they get home.

Dor Tal‘s concept works in two ways. The first requires the user to download an app on to their smartphone that scours social networks for any data generated about the user, or other people and organisations that might affect them. An algorithm then detects any patterns of behaviour that could be forecast ahead of time. The more accounts the user adds, including credit card information, Google, Apple and Facebook, the more intelligent the device becomes.

“When it identifies a predictable action, a recommended response for solving the problem or enhancing the experience is calculated and presented,” explained Dor Tal.

The second part of the project is called Predictables: two devices that present that data to the user. The first uses a pico projector, which displays a timeline with a series of floating bubbles indicating actions the user can take.

The colour scheme highlights how far in the future the action might be: green indicates behaviour days ahead, where as red tells the user these actions should be taken today.

If the user is moving around, the same display can be projected on to the their hand via a smartwatch. Both displays utilise gesture control, allowing the user to interact with the display with his or her hands.

“One interesting aspect of the interaction, similar to what happens in the Back to the Future films, is that the predictions continuously change as the user acts and reacts in present time,” said Tal.

Future Control was part of Tal’s graduation project from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. The designer wanted to explore our obsession with trying to predict the future.

“From the movement of the stars to modern technology, man has searched for patterns that can indicate the imminent future,” explained Tal. “The biggest challenge of this project is to create the forecasting algorithms, but I believe this will happen sooner than expected.”

The post Smartwatch by Dor Tal monitors social
networks to predict your future appeared first on Dezeen.