Mind readers!

Wired: This app lets you control Google Glass with your thoughts!!

“Right now, they have identified 18 different kinds of brain waves that could be used as commands. But for the purposes of the initial demo, just two commands have been focussed on — ones that essentially signify “yes” and “no”, for the purposes of the app. Anyone wearing it needs to concentrate in order to command Glass to take a photo. A display line appears, and it will move upwards as the wearer concentrates. When it reaches a bar at the top, you know the photo has been taken. Keep focussing, and the line will raise up to a second bar to publish the photo on social media.”

Update: Having looked into this a bit more, it does seem like a fun gagdet to play around with. It’s using NeuroSky’s MindWave hardware. However I couldn’t find out how much you can actually get out of this advice, meaning what else it can pick up. It analyses electrical activity of the brain via EEG, but only promises to detect differences between a calm (‘meditative’) or concentrated state. It is this tech that essentially drives the control in the article above, picking up on the concentrated state. On a side note, apparently this kind of device is being sold in Japan to drive a set of cat ears that a person can wear. Depending on emotional state, the ears will droop down or straighten up!

Emotiv Systems appear to provide a more complete package. Their sensors are more expensive ($500 plus), but promise to interpret up to 7 emotional states, mental commands and facial expressions. Combining all these could make for a truly compelling alternative computer input system.

Related to this is the concept of Imagined Speech, where a person is thinking a word inside their head without actually saying it. The American military has invested four million dollars (which is probably peanuts) into projects that attempt to recognise these brain patterns for providing more instantaneous communication on the battle field.