Filed under: Feature, TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Winter Olympic Games, Neurosky, Mattel, Star Wars, Mouse Trap, Mind Flex, Electroencephalography, Brain, Emotiv, IPG Lab
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU: MOVE IT WITH YOUR MIND
Scott Susskind from the IPG Lab using the Neurosky headset while playing Neuroboy
A few days ago, I was introduced to Neurosky’s brain-computer interface technology. In essence, Neurosky’s unit senses brain activity noting general levels of attention and meditation. The unit then translates this activity to move objects in the real world or in a game on a computer screen. Yes, that’s right. You can finally move things just by thinking about it.
Here’s the long and short of it. The user wears a headset that looks very similar to a common pair of headphones. The technology uses what’s called electroencephalography to record brain signals. In the common medical sort, a conductive gel is used to facilitate the collection of these signals. In Neurosky’s case, they use one patented dry-active sensor for getting the job done.

Most recently, this technology was showcased at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, allowing users to control the intensity of a light installation just by focusing their attention.
Neurosky’s technology has also been successfully implemented in a variety of other successful applications including games like the Star Wars Force Trainer in Summer ‘09 and Mattel’s Mind Flex which launched over the holidays.
Star Wars Force Trainer
The Star Wars Force Trainer allows the user to lift a ball using the “force” otherwise known as attention in this case.
Mind Flex
The Mind Flex upped the complexity a bit by allowing the user to move a ball through a maze very reminiscent of the game Mouse Trap. Both games quickly sold out.
Neurosky’s main competitor is another northern California company named Emotiv. Neurosky seems to have the head start in the product launch department with their two best-selling games. They also sell their headset with a few software applications at $199. Emotiv, by comparison, offers their product at $299. Their headset alternatively features 14 wet sensors that require the application of a saline solution.
The applications of this technology could be endless. In addition to sensing attention and meditation, the headset can also sense blinks. Imagine controlling the lights in a home with a blink of an eye. If they can just figure out how to sense a nose wrinkle, I can finally get my I Dream of Jeannie on.
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
Amazon is offering the Kindle for PC application in an attempt to attract and retain customers as pressure from other e-readers builds. The software allows consumers to purchase and read e-books on their PCs, Apple iPhones or iPods as well as the various versions of Kindle. Amazon soon will roll out a version for Macs. InformationWeek(11/10)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Blu-ray Disc, Christmas Carol, Disney Digital 3D, DVD, Jim Carrey, Netflix, Reed Hastings, Sony
Theatres equipped with RealD’s 3D cinema technology brought in over half of the total box office or nearly $16 million for “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” shot in Disney Digital 3D, according to the company. The movie, which stars Jim Carrey as Scrooge, earned an estimated $31 million during its opening weekend. (Cynopsis 11/9)
In a bid to sell living room electronics and spur buzz for “Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs,” Sony Corp. is offering the movie for free to U.S. buyers of its Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players starting Monday. (AP11/8)
The studios have put the screws to Redbox and Netflix in order to get them to take new releases at a later date. Redbox has sued many of the big studios but Netflix is taking a different tack. During the company’s most recent earnings call, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings acknowledged the impact that cheap rentals were having on DVD sales and said that “if we can agree on low enough pricing for delayed rental, it could potentially increase profits for everyone.” (Paidcontent11/6)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Apple, Best Buy, Blu-ray Disc, Consumer electronics, DVD, Microsoft, Microsoft Courier, User interface
Two still mythical tablet devices, the Microsoft Courier and the Apple Tablet, are probably the hottest and most coveted devices that do not yet officially exist. To further fuel the anticipatory gadget lust, Gizmodo has scored an in-depth look at the former’s user interface and overall design. (Mashable 11/4)
While DVD sales and rentals have slowed, entertainment-industry executives are turning to the Blu-ray format as the saving grace for home entertainment in the near-term. Sales of Blu-ray players have spiked 112% this year, and consumer-electronics giant Best Buy expects to sell 18.6 million Blu-ray players next year. Variety (11/3)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
Is the DVD really on its way out? Following a partnership announced earlier this year which made CinemaNow downloads available on Best Buy’s retail site, the electronics chain announced plans to license and deploy Sonic’s Roxio CinemaNow technology and services platform to make on-demand digital content delivery a standard feature on connected consumer electronics devices sold throughout its U.S. stores, including PCs, connected TVs, set top DVRs, Blu-ray Disc and mobile media players. Sonic licenses new movies, TV shows, indie films and catalog titles, often day-in-date with their DVD release. Best Buy will be paying CinemaNow a fee along with a percentage of the service’s revenue for powering the service. CinemaNow also handles the back-end support for Blockbuster’s streaming video rental service. (Cynopsis 11/4)






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