Intel Wants to put a Chip in Your Brain

Justin Kerr — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:25:23 -0600

Anyone who follows Intel closely knows that they don’t just pump out high end CPU’s, but they actually dedicate entire teams to “pie in the sky” ideas of what future technologies might look like. This could be anything from an x86 cluster of CPU’s to render video, or in this case, using your brain to control a computer. It may sound farfetched, but its something Intel and its researchers have been actively studying for sometime now.

Currently scientists are focusing on how the brain reacts when interacting with a computer, and then learning ways to interpret this data to execute commands on the machine. The idea here is to allow your thoughts to take over for your mouse and keyboard. Intel is of the belief that an implant would make this easier, though I’m not entirely sure how many volunteers they are going to get with that idea. “Eventually people may be willing to be more committed… to brain implants" said Intel’s Vice-President of future Technology, Andrew Chien. "Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your thoughts”

You may have your doubts, and so do we, but it might interest you to know that researchers have already made significant strides in the field of reading brain patterns, and have already identified certain words such as “bear” that cause everyones brain to react in a similar manner. “I think human beings are remarkably adaptive,” said Chien, “If you told people 20 years ago that they would be carrying computers all the time, they would have said I don’t want that, I don’t need that. Now you can’t get them to stop. There are a lot of things that have to be done first but I think implanting chips into human brains is well within the scope of possibility”. Chien speculates we will be lining up for implants as early as 2010.

Are you comfortable with this idea?

(Image Credit: howstuffworks.com)

The Touch Enabled Interface You Thought You Knew May Soon Change

Bart Salisbury — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:23:43 -0500

It’s become obvious that computing potential is currently outpacing the ability to manipulate it. The roadblocks at present are the keyboard and mouse. The keyboard is an easy example, with it being adopted without modification from the typewriter, where the QWERTY version, at least, was designed to slow the typist down. The mouse presents another set of problems: it works mostly in two dimensional space, and offers only limited input--from one hand only.

The quest, then, is on to develop a snazzy human interface that works as effectively as the one that runs the USS Enterprise (D Class) on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Microsoft has been playing with the idea of a next generation mouse, which captures information from the whole hand rather than the odd finger or two. And, of course, there are the touch-screen efforts which populate a number of mobile devices, most prominently the iPhone/iPod Touch.

But are current touch screens the solution? R. Clayton Miller says there is a better way.

Miller has advanced a notion for revising our conceptualization of the touch screen with his 10/GUI project. He contends that the touch screen as used is too limiting to work effectively as a mainstream computing solution. He argues instead for a touch-screen input pad (sort of a super-sophisticated Wacom table) that pairs with a monitor, and makes use of input from all ten of your fingers. (No word on toes just yet.) Sort of a macro version of a Nintendo DS: input on the bottom screen and watch it play out on the top one.

Miller also argues that present windows-based paradigm for organizing information will also have to be replaced. He suggests instead something he calls “Con10uum.” Con10uum is a sequence of linear windows, each context sensitive, that offer a more systematic means of managing and interacting with on-screen information.

What’s the future hold? Perhaps a typewriter hardwired to a cathode-ray tube as seen in the movie Brazil. Or you could build your own, as MaximumPC’s Alex Castle did back in April. Still, it might be worth a moment of your time to check out Miller’s video presentation of his vision of the future of the human-computer interface.

Image Credit: R. Clayton Miller

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Intel Wants to put a Chip in Your Brain

The Touch Enabled Interface You Thought You Knew May Soon Change