neurowear

Mind-reading headphones pick music based on your mood

It's late afternoon. It's warm out and you're ready for a nap. You put on your Mico headphones and, as your eyelids droop, your headphones select a soothing mix of Kenny G, Enya, and Air Supply. An electroencephalograph sensor sits on your forehead to help the device scan your brainwaves and interpret your mood. Soon, you're off to la-la land.

Mico works with an app. The headphones relay your mood to the app, which then selects songs from its database of mood-tagged songs. It would be really cool if you could think "Spinal Tap" and then have Nigel Tufnel rip off a guitar solo, but that's out of the technological realm for Mico -- for now at least. Currently, it can only figure out if you're stressed, sleepy, or focused.… Read more

The 404 1,231: Where time is brain (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Check out our interview with B.O.B. and Big Boi for their new game, "Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel."

- Mico headphones let your brainwaves choose the music.

- Google Images adds filters for animated GIFs.

- Detroit doctors link garbled texting as first sign of a stroke.… Read more

Give a wag to Tailly the wearable tail

This is probably one of the most bizarre projects we've seen on Kickstarter: a wearable tail called "Tailly" that wags according to the wearer's emotions.

The tail, which hangs on a belt with sensors on the inside, reacts to the wearer's heart rate, wagging furiously when users are excited and swinging slowly when they calm down. We're picturing it for cosplay and costume parties, or maybe as a children's toy.

According to the Tailly Kickstarter site, one "could even wear Tailly on a date and express your true feelings through the wagging tail. Even better, your partner could also wear one... to add a level of subconscious communication between the two of you." Hey, we're not judging here. … Read more

Muse brainwave-reading headband: Mind control for all

As a child, I used to concentrate really hard on things like pencils and pebbles, trying to get them to budge with the sheer power of my mind. It never worked, but technology is getting us a little closer to the mind control dream. The Muse brainwave-sensing headband from Interaxon is a step in the right direction.

The Muse uses two sensors on the forehead and two behind the ears. You wear it positioned kind of like a pair of glasses. It measures your brainwaves and sends the information to a smartphone or tablet. Viewing that data in real time can show you if your mind is wandering, if you're relaxed, or if you're in a state of intense concentration.… Read more

Mind-controlled robot tail lets you wag when happy

So you've got your cat ears, your cat suit, and everything else you need to transition to another species. What's missing? A thought-controlled robot tail, of course.

From Neurowear, the makers of Necomimi robot cat ears, comes this concept for a mechanical tail that moves according to the user's emotional state. There's a brainwave-reading sensor, also used in Necomimi, that can be hidden under your hat.

As seen in the ridiculous vid below, your tail will wag when you see a bunch of pretty flowers, or an attractive Frisbee player in the park.

And, no doubt, fresh kitty litter. … Read more

Robotic cat ears for humans, an ears-on test

When you see a cat or dog, the wagging tail or arched back can immediately tip you off to the animal's mood. Can technology make it as easy to read people?

That's the idea behind the Necomimi, a pair of brain-wave sensing robotic cat ears made by Japanese company Neurowear. The fuzzy motorized ears are built atop headset technology created by San Jose, Calif.-based NeuroSky. It relies on electroencephalography from a single sensor placed on the forehead to read a person's brain waves and communicates with a nearby PC or Mac with a wireless USB plug-in to determine if a person is focused or relaxed. If the wearer is focused, the attached ears stay erect. When relaxed, the ears face down.

Earlier this year, Neurowear made a cutesey video of the ears that became a small hit on the Web, generating 1.6 million views (a lot of people could probably identify, as the girl in the video checks out an attractive guy, and her robotic ears move). Neurowear's original intent was to make only one pair, but after the gimmick attracted so much attention online, the company decided to produce a line of robotic ears.

Tansy Brook, a spokesperson for NeuroSky, visited CNET headquarters in San Francisco earlier this month to show off the third prototype of the ears and give me a chance to try them on. … Read more