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Brain to Brain Communication Marks the Beginning of the Age of Superheroes

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 01:50 PM PDT

Something believed to be possible only in science-fiction flicks, brain to brain communication has now become a reality. The successful test that was performed recently had a person from India send greetings to three people from France.

The thought that the greetings were transmitted using nothing more than the brain (and possibly a bit of hi-tech) is exciting, but at the same time really terrifying. Fortunately, no one is going to enter your mind without your consent anytime soon, as the experiment that took place in a lab in India was computer-mediated.

Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Director of the Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, explained how the entire experiment was possible: “By using advanced precision neuro-technologies including wireless EEG and robotized TMS, we were able to directly and noninvasively transmit a thought from one person to another, without them having to speak or write. We believe these experiments represent an important first step in exploring the feasibility of complementing or bypassing traditional language-based or motor-based communication.”

More precisely, the sender that was located in the Indian lab had to translate the letters of the words “hola” and “ciao” (apparently the researchers involved in this project had no idea what the French word for “hello” is) into binary code. Upon doing so, a brain-computer interface based on an EEG cap was used for entering the code into a computer. The binary code was then e-mail to a lab in France, where a similar interface, this time based on transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), put the letters together and transmitted the numbers into the recipients’ brain.

Some argue that this is in fact a hands-free telegraph, as the whole experiment relied on faking visual stimuli. However, as neither voice, nor text input were used, this can be regarded as brain to brain communication. It remains to be seen what applications the scientists will find for the non-intrusive brain to brain communication. For the time being, lets just hope that no one evil gets their hands on this technology.

Details about the brain-to-brain communication experiment can be found in the paper that was published in the journal PLOS One.

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Google to Offer GPS Support and Offline Music on Android Wear Devices

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 01:03 PM PDT

Google Android Wear GPS Support and Offline Music Playback

Android Wear smartwatches are far from being perfect wearables, but for the time being Google intends to improve their functionality. GPS support and offline music playback will be offered in the form of updates in the coming months.

Moto 360 went on sale today for $249.99, and hands-on reviews are already available on major sites. That sounds like great news, as this was one of the most anticipated wearables this year, but this Android Wear device is not without downsides. The most prominent one must be the poor battery life, and while that can be slightly improved through future updates, Google’s main focus now is on providing current and future Android Wear smartwatches with GPS support and offline music playback.

David Singleton, Engineering Director, Android Wear mentioned in a blog post published today what you should expect soon on an Android Wear smartwatch near you: “First, we’re bringing offline music playback and GPS support to Android Wear. Go for a run or bike ride with your Android wearable and leave your phone at home. You’ll be able to listen to music stored on your watch via Bluetooth headphones. And if your watch includes a GPS sensor, you can track your distance and speed too.

The second update will enable downloadable watch faces, so you can customize the visual design of your swatch’s home screen to show the information you want to see most—like your calendar or fitness sensors. Developers will soon be working on watch faces, making them available on Google Play.”

If I’m not mistaken, Pebble had downloadable watch faces from the very beginning, so Mountain View is a bit late at that. Still, it’s great to see that the company offers some degree of flexibility and that it encourages developers to work on new watch faces.

As for the GPS functionality, that’ll definitely prove useful when working out. I really hope that such fitness tracking apps as Endomondo will be adapted for Android Wear, even though their developers didn’t show much interest for wearables.

The Android Wear line will soon grow larger, as other anticipated smartwatches will join in. Asus Zen Watch, LG G Watch R and Sony Smartwatch 3 will prove in the near future what Android Wear is capable of. Obviously, each of these will come with unique features, in order to guarantee some differentiation.

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