Love 'em or hate 'em, emoticons — those ubiquitous smiley and frowny faces that have conquered the end of all sentences outside of Harper's magazine — are part of our vocabulary now. Artist/designer Mauricio Melo decided to take them to the next level of communication with his poorly named Web Are You? networked emoticon device, a desktop accoutrement that you can use to quickly transmit your mood to anyone on the planet — no e-mail required.

The idea is that you hook up one device to your PC at work (or wherever), with another one jacked into a network near your significant other (since it's hard to imagine anyone else caring about your mood that much). Since the devices are preprogrammed to work together, all you have to do is press an icon on one of the devices, and the same one lights up on the other. Awww… your boyfriend's feeling blue? Could be a good time to send him some pictures of your cat. You can also just use one device and tell it which face to light up via text message or e-mail.

It doesn't look like the WAY? device has been fully commercialized yet, so you probably won't be able to get one unless you talk to Melo directly. When you do, can you ask him what that last face is supposed to represent? Is that confusion? Melancholy? Someone sewed my lips together? What?
— Peter Pachal

Mauricio Melo, via Übergizmo