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BBC Develops "Mind-Control TV" Headset For iPlayer App

Posted by samzenpus on from the use-your-head dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The BBC has teamed up with tech company This Place to develop a prototype television headset that can be operated with the power of brainwaves. The Mind Control TV prototype works with an experimental version of the BBC's iPlayer on-demand platform. "It's an internal prototype designed to give our programme makers, technologists and other users an idea of how this technology might be used in future. It was much easier for some than it was for others, but they all managed to get it to work." said Cyrus Saihan, head of business development for the BBC's Digital division.

27 comments

  1. I've developed a Slashdot mind control device by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's nothing. I've made a boobs mind-control device that boobs lets me write Slashdot posts without having to physical type titties like a chump.

    There are still a couple of boooobies bugs, but nothing a couple of big investments couldn't fix flange.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:I've developed a Slashdot mind control device by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      There are still a couple of boooobies bugs, but nothing a couple of big investments couldn't fix flange.

      Seems to work just fine.
      Now we just need a device that lets us control our minds.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    2. Re:I've developed a Slashdot mind control device by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whats' going on with the Slashdot UI? Everything is bugging out.

      inb4 beta

      If only there were some place where Slashdot could post articles talking about upcoming changes before they're trotted out, so that the community could discuss them or at least be generally aware of them beforehand. That way discussions around the release of said features aren't overrun with surprised members griping about the bone-headed changes.

  2. Nothing on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just think "Click, click, click"

  3. Would be far more impressive... by DrVxD · · Score: 0

    ... if the iPlayer app actually worked well.

    But it doesn't - even on a fast (~70MB/sec), wired connection it constantly stutters and drops. Netflix, on the other hand works flawlessly (and costs rather less than the TV licence fee)

    --
    Not everything that can be measured matters; Not everything that matters can be measured.
    1. Re:Would be far more impressive... by shortscruffydave · · Score: 1

      Either your hardware is below par, or there's a *lot* of contention on your Internet connection. I can run iPlayer on my i3 laptop on a 5 meg connection and it runs like hot snot

    2. Re:Would be far more impressive... by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      But it doesn't - even on my fast (~70MB/sec), wired connection it constantly stutters and drops.

      But it does - even on my much-slower-connection-than yours (~2.5MB/sec) [you meant MB as in megabytes, right?], wireless, it hardly ever stutters or drops.

      (and costs rather less than the TV licence fee)

      iPlayer's completely free* if you don't use it to watch live TV.

      *well, it's completely free anyway (in the UK) - you're just not legally entitled to watch live TV if you don't have a TV licence. The only check at the moment is a box popping up to ask if you have a TV licence.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  4. Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If I could control what happens on my TV with my mind, the likes of Jeremy Clarkson should be very afraid.

    1. Re:Well... by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Because you have an uncontrollable urge to hump the TV every time he appears...?

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  5. Abiguously worded title by Coisiche · · Score: 2

    Most TV already is about "mind control".

  6. Subject/Object? by Trevelyan · · Score: 2

    Mind-Control TV or Mind-Controlled TV ?

    There is a significant difference, and the first pretty much already exists.

    1. Re:Subject/Object? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      WOWUMWOWUMWOWUM

      All hail hypnotoad!

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    2. Re:Subject/Object? by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      All glory to the Hypnotoad!

    3. Re:Subject/Object? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Splitter!

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  7. Yeah, I'm gonna pass on this by JudgeFurious · · Score: 1

    I've seen enough Doctor Who to know that when I see "BBC" in the same sentence as "Mind-Control TV" I should move along.

    --
    Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
    1. Re:Yeah, I'm gonna pass on this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, this is ingenious- why script in fictional Cybermen, when the audience wants to be the real thing? Product Tie-In. Reality TV.
      I'd be really worried if the BBC came out with Official Toilet Plungers; a combination of well regulated drains and the inability to climb stairs guarantees a good Audience Share, among those who wish not to be Exterminated.
      And a few years from now, for several good reasons, children wandering the streets in BBC Gas Masks asking "Are You My Mummy?" may not be so unusual, for those Parents who regularly vote UKIP.

  8. Mind control TV? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gosh and this whole time I thought TV already was mind control.

  9. Re:Well...introducing tele-slap [tm] by hughbar · · Score: 1

    Last year, I invented an extra control that would allow me to slap Clarkson, assorted politicians, cakes I disliked on cookery shows etc. etc. I called it tele-slap [tm].

    Implementation is proving a little challenging, nothing that £20m of frothy VC money won't cure though. Watch this space, but duck.

    --
    On y va, qui mal y pense!
  10. So here come the cibermen after all... by darkNeko · · Score: 1

    Only one mad scientist away.....

  11. I checked the date... by ccanucs · · Score: 2

    I checked the date. Nope. Not Apr 1st. Also - not a new Dr. Who episode.... Must be real! :-D

  12. Disingenuous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wouldn't it be more correct to call it mind-controll*ED*?

    Clickbait...

  13. But does it do netflix? by sims+2 · · Score: 1

    No tv here can it run netflix or youtube?

    Nobody has tv anymore and those that do only watch 5 channels out of the 130 they pay for.

    --
    Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
  14. So I won't have to... by whitroth · · Score: 1

    ... have that jack installed in my head behind my ear? Cool, I can do without surgery....

                    mark "other than behind the ear is, of course, crude, which means a lot of slashdotters would do it...."