Slashdot Mirror
OCZ's Brain Mouse Hits the Store
John Roller writes "Three months to the day since Slashdot originally received word that OCZ's "brain-mouse" — the Neural Impulse Actuator was ready for shipping, the first in-depth review of the device containing pictures of the retail packaging along with several videos have arrived on the internet.
Overclock3D.Net got the first look at the device, and although it's still early days, they managed to play a game of "Pong" using only brain power.
The article is only part one in a month-long log of using the device, but it's extremely interesting to see what the people who have pre-ordered the device can expect from it when it arrives on their doorsteps shortly."
I am all for freedom from keyboard hunch
Hurrah? O.o
This sounds interesting, at least. I wonder if it works on linux. Seriously. Does it work as a standard HID device?
Show this to your friends and family that don't know what a real hacker is
They're Pinky and the Brain, yes Pinky and the Brain;
One is a genius, the other's insane;
Two laboratory mice, their genes have been spliced;
Before each night is done their plan will be unfurled;
By the dawning of the sun they'll take over the world;
Their twilight campaign is easy to explain;
To prove their mousy worth, they'll take over the earth;
They're Pinky, They're Pinky and the Brain Brain Brain Brain Brain Brain Brain Brain Narf.
Here endeth the sermonizing.
If someone read my mind they'd deserve every ounce of psychological trauma they received.
Seriously though, this device has nothing to do with mind-reading. It's not even capable of reading brainwaves like an EEG machine. It's just measuring electrical signals to muscles on your face.
End of lesson. You may press the button.
This looks really neat, really promising, and is very exciting to see. It does make me think of a few questions though...
From TFA: "Heading down to HQ, I knew the device would have limitations, but the little kid in me was imagining it granting me near-psychic powers. Unfortunately, after several hours of trying and still only being able to control one input, those limitations look to be greater than I thought. That being said though, I have every confidence that had I played with settings and kept the thing on my head for a few hours a day, I would learn to master more of the inputs and utilize them during gameplay. So if you are looking at buying the nia, I urge you to realize that you are buying a heavily scaled-down version of what you have envisaged." (emphasis mine)
Hmm, given that it lasts a couple of years with continuous martial arts training to establish a process approaching a near optimum with regards to 'naturally given/wired' I/O I still believe that it is appropriate not to be optimistic indeed.
CC.
TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
I wonder if this would do any good for Stephen Hawking and others afflicted with ALS?
cars have these things at your fingertips on the steering wheel in newer models; one doesn't need to look away from the road to find a knob, or even take their hands off the wheel. Check out a showroom for details ;)
Perhaps it should be call a 'head mouse', or 'face mouse', as 'Brain Mouse' is misleading.
The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
"Stop winking at me!"
"I'm not - I'm trying to send an email!"
Seriously though, decades of keyboard and mouse usage have given me superhero-like fingers when compared to none computer users. Will extended use of this give me a face like a body builders chest?
Try these links instead: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/475/1/ http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38413
Health Insurance Quotes
For those interested in whats inside the OCZ NIA, AnandTech has a product teardown available
Anyone else have specific info on whats inside, etc? First thought that comes to me is, I want to make one myself!
Teardown Article:
http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=452
Picture Gallery:
http://www.anandtech.com/Gallery.aspx?id=123
That's a bit like putting a thermometer next to your PC and saying, 'Today we can only tell if it is hot or cold, but someday, we may be able to read every bit on the computer using only the thermometer!'
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
-1 bitching about missing mod option.
[signature]
Now that people don't need to keep their hands on the inputs at any time, I can see revolution in internet porn coming our way.
This thing is probably Very Nice (if it wasn't slashdotted) but I'd want to pass the raw output to my own data analysis algorithms. Why should it just be a gaming device? I guess it can double as a sleep rythm detector, or maybe I can tune it to work with me, instead of the other way around.
Any sufficiently advanced libertarian utopia is indistinguishable from government.