The BBC are reporting today that a US/Australian firm Emotiv has developed a headset which:
reads electrical impulses in the brain and translates them into commands that a video game can accept and control the game dynamically
This is the headset in action:
The headset is due to go on sale later this year for around $299.
I wonder though if there are more worthwhile uses of this technology. I’m thinking particularly of applications for people with disabilities…
The BBC is reporting that there will very shortly be a plugin for Skype which acts as a lie detector by analysing:
audio streams over a Skype call in real time and illustrates the stress levels of the other person
Most of my PodLeaders podcasts are recorded Skype conversations – this could add a whole new dimension to the interviews!!!
Om Malik announced today he is leaving his job at Business 2.0 to setup a new business.
Robert Scoble let slip that he is leaving Microsoft to join a startup, at a bloggers dinner the other night.
Tara Hunt announced last week that she’s leaving Riya to go out on her own.
Ben Metcalf has left the BBC to start something new.
Chris Messina posted a couple of months back that he was leaving Flock to go out on his own.
I’m sure there are others I have left out.
Of course no trend would be complete without its exception – Niall Kennedy announced he was leaving startup Technorati back in February and subsequently joined Microsoft!
It seems that all over good people are on the move, primarily from (reasonably) secure jobs into the great unknown that is startupsville! Is there something in the air?
If you have seen the movie Being There with Peter Sellers, you know the scenario – ordinary Joe gets mistaken for pundit and everyone hangs on his every syllable.
Too far-fetched you say? Never happen? Well, thanks to posts by Jeremy Wagstaff and Dennis Howlett today, I came across a real life example of just this situation happening to the BBC!
Somehow the BBC mistook a taxi driver for Guy Kewney – the editor of NewsWireless.net – they had scheduled Guy to do an interview on the verdict handed down in the Beatles vs. Apple Computer case. However, they interviewed a taxi driver instead. The look on the taxi driver’s face when he is asked the first question is hilarious!
What is even funnier, however is how everyone in the BBC took everything this “Guy” said as gospel!
You couldn’t make it up (unless you are Being There’s author, obviously! And there’s even some dispute about that).
See the interview here.
UPDATE:
Ben Metcalfe (who works for the BBC) points out in the comments that the taxi driver in question wasn’t a taxi driver but was, in fact, there for an interview! See Ben’s post for more.