mindwave
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Good Times knows when you're concentrating, sets your phone to 'do not disturb'
There's a reason we cover technology instead of create it. When we see a pair of Necomimi ears we see a opportunity to embarrass a poor intern. (Thanks for being a good sport Daniel!) Ruggero Scorcioni, on the other hand, sees a way to automatically control AT&T's Call Management system. At the company's mobile hackathon in January, he was presented with a pair of the brainwave-tracking novelties and immediately cracked it open to gain access to its precious torrents of data. The project he whipped up, Good Times, feeds readings from the cat-eared electrode to an Arduino, which then interacts with the Call Management and M2M APIs. When a significant amount of brain activity is detected, indicating that you're concentrating on something, calls are rerouted. Instead of distracting you from the task at hand, would-be interlopers simply receive a message that "this is not a good time to call please try again later." The version Scorcioni brought to AT&T's Foundry showcase this morning, in New York City, was a little more sophisticated. The Arduino was gone and the motorized ears were replaced with a MindWave from NeuroSky. The EEG monitor communicated directly with a computer running an application that triggered the do not disturb setting through the API. For now there's a static threshold for activity, which led to quite frequent fluctuation in availability. Future versions should be trainable -- making it possible for the app to recognize what serious concentration looks like for different people. For now it's just a proof of concept. For one, brain wave monitors are hardly unintrusive, but it's a glimpse at what's possible with powerful APIs and a little creativity. Check out the gallery below. %Gallery-184779%
Neurowear wants to read your mind, geotag your feelings (video)
Geotagging your photos? Old hat -- Neurowear wants to geotag your mood. The folks that brought animated cat ears to the human race is now using NeuroSky's brainwave-reading headgear to suss out your emotional state and share it with your friends. We dropped in on the group at Tokyo Game Show to take a look at an early prototype. After strapping a familiar Mindwave mobile headset to this editor's skull, a companion iPhone app sprung to life, reading off relaxation levels and assigning cartoon faces to the user's mood. The reading could then be recorded on a map, tagging how the user felt at a given location and time and allowing them to share that information with their friends. Had a great time at a new coffee shop? Now you can prove it, and encourage your social contacts to join you. It's an interesting idea, but its still a long way from hitting the app store -- the demo we were given was only a concept app, and the geotagging portion of the demonstration was simulated. It may be awhile before you can tweet your feelings directly. Need another way to express yourself? Don't worry -- Nerosky is adding a brainwave controlled tail, dubbed Shippo, to its line of cranium controlled animal parts. Check it out (as well as our quick neurotagging demo) after the break. %Gallery-166239%
NeuroSky shows off upcoming Mindwave headset, other new chip applications
We've seen plenty of applications for NeuroSky's brainwave-sensing chip already, but it looks like we're going to be seeing... more. Luckily, some of these are pretty neat. A sweat-band embedded "Thket Brain Athlete" product will allow athletes and trainers to track concentration levels through a workout or through a particular activity (a golf swing, for instance) and analyze that performance later. An iPad app (for the Japanese market, we're assured) allows you to concentrate on a girl avatar until she kisses you. Just like real life! NeuroSky itself will be selling its own Mindwave headset (a PC version of the iOS-compatible XWave) starting as soon as next month, which will be packed with a few games. Of course, the technology is still a little rough and one dimensional -- it can track attention, meditation, and blinks -- and NeuroSky is still on the lookout for the "killer app," but as it gets cheaper and more ubiquitous, we're sure to see some good come out of this nascent market. The Brain Athlete band and software should be out next month for $350, while NeuroSky's headset will retail for a much more palatable $80-$100. Check out video of both after the break. %Gallery-102931%
