Sound-sensitive table tells you who's dominating the conversation

As if you didn’t already know. These “Reflect” tables have built-in microphones and they light up depending on who’s talking, for how long, and probably some other metrics. While the idea is kind of cool, it’s really very ridiculous as well and I seriously can’t imagine these any place but possibly in a committee room in Congress or something.

It’s supposed to fade into the background, but if that’s the case why are they using bright, candy-colored lights? Why not have subtle, diffuse white light fade in near the person? And of course, scoring a conversation might be counter-productive in the first place. [via MAKE]