A thought on computer control...

Last week I was invited to speak, along with a colleague, at an UCISA event in Huddersfield on the LSE's trials and tribulations of a rapid roll-out of Windows 7 and Office 2010 to our 1000 plus student and teaching room PCs. If you're interested, you can see our presentation here.

But that is not my reason for writing. It was while I was on the train from Kings Cross that I downloaded the new Wired Magazine app for the iPad. As electronic magazines go, this surely sets the gold standard: a beautiful interface, a clear and elegant design - akin to the paper based magazine - that the iPad renders superbly. The best bit, however, is all the 'secret' mulit-media content accessed by rotating the iPad or tapping on the various icons. This month I was able to explore the film sets of Aardman, creators of that dynamic plasticine duo Wallace and Gromit, in glorious 360-degree panoramas.

But even that is not the reason for my post today. No, it was an article in Wired on a new way of interacting with computers that caught my attention. A San Francisco based company called Emotiv has designed a way to literally control a PC by thought! Now part of me gets a little (or even a lot!) worried by that. The other part thinks Wow! this must be the future of computer interaction. The device uses 'neuro-signal acquisition' - a set of sensors to tune into electric signals produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expressions and then connects wirelessly to most PCs. Their website suggests that the technology can be used to translate one's thoughts and emotions into art and music, to add a whole new dimension to playing games, and to get true insight into the effectiveness of marketing and advertising. There is of course, one other dimension where Emotiv should be able to help - in creating life-changing applications for the disabled. That could be a "thought keyboard" or innovative ways to control peripherals or even wheelchairs! And this is something that AACT4Children, the charity I am a Trustee of, should think about getting into.

So you would expect the Emotiv EPOC (their headset product) to be hugely expensive. Because it is still in development and requires other developers to work with it, they are selling this incredible technology for just $299! The downside - it seems to be only available in the US. Otherwise I think I would have placed my order today! I think this kind of technology, along with the camera/sensor/action recognition systems being developed by the Gaming industry (see Microsoft's new Kinect and of course the Wii), is the future. The days of the mouse and keyboard are clearly numbered.