Push the Future

Ambient Technologies is offering far more than a penny for your thoughts with a new application that can translate thoughts into speech. Imagine what this means for people suffering from ALS (i.e, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking) and a wide range of neurological disorders who have much to say - and now a new way to say it.

Here’s a schematic from www.theaudeo.com showing how it works:

The ability to connect brains and computers has applications in medicine, robotics, defense, security and everyday software. Stretch this a bit further and it’s easy to imagine the effects on retail, marketing, gaming, education, polling, social networking, dating, criminal justice and rehabilitation, training, psychotherapy…anywhere brains and computers meet.

Which is what Microsoft is readying itself for, as evidenced by a patent filed on their behalf in 08.07. They’re working on EEG brain scanning technology that reads only the cognitive patterns of a computer user (filtering out non-cognitive activity). Microsoft’s goal, as stated on its research site, is “…to create brain-wave detection devices costing less than $100 per computer, this could very well lead to a revolution of sorts in PC capabilities.”

Factoring in emotional states of computer users is what researchers at Tufts University’s Human Computer Interaction are investigating. They’re working with infrared technology to visualize varying levels of blood oxygenation and their corresponding emotional states, similar to what functional MRIs yield, without having to lie stationary in a tube. Instead, fNIR headbands are worn in real-life environment.

“New evaluation techniques that monitor user experiences while working with computers are increasingly necessary,” said Robert Jacob, computer science professor and researcher. “One moment a user may be bored, and the next moment, the same user may be overwhelmed. Measuring mental workload, frustration and distraction is typically limited to qualitatively observing computer users or to administering surveys after completion of a task, potentially missing valuable insight into the users’ changing experiences.”

While the work being done at Tufts is still in the investigative stages, there’s a mind-reading EEG headset that you can buy now (I knew you wanted one!). Developed by NeuroSky the headsets will largely be used by gamers at first, however applications with robotics, space vehicles, and prosthetic devices are being played with as well. My guess is that requests for Wii on gift lists might just be replaced by NeuroSky’s MindSets by the 2008 holiday season - let the countdown begin!

If you can do it, or send a group from your organization, I highly recommend the Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT)’s Leadership Training in Beijing this August. If you’re interested, contact Chandran Nair [cnair AT global-inst DOT org] by the end of March.
Download Brochure

The YLP is designed for anyone with leadership potential, is interested in globalisation and development issues, and wants to work for positive solutions, regardless of his or her nationality, industry or subject discipline. Normally, participants are from 28 to 45 years of age.
The course is ideal for individuals who:
• Are poised for rapid career progression
• Have demonstrated leadership ability and need international exposure
• Have worked in demanding management positions in a global organisation
• Are at the stage in their careers where a posting to an overseas location under unusual circumstances is likely
• Have worked in a multi-disciplinary and multicultural team
• Are proficient in English and have a working knowledge of one or more other languages
• Have a growing understanding of the role of business in society in a globalised world
• Have an interest in how leadership in Asia will need to evolve to meet the challenge of the next 25 years
• Desire to complement formal business training such as an MBA with experiential immersion learning
• Are flexible and adaptable, with a curiosity for the different

Chandran Nair, Founder and Chief Executive of the Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT), is one of our speakers for PUSH 2008: The Fertile Delta. GIFT is based in Beijing, and its work is focused on sustainable business (and, by definition, social and environmental) for Asia, offering “Honest Inquiry. Asia’s World View. Ideas to Action.”

GIFT has an inspiring program for training Global Young Leaders, which had its beginning at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2005. Its next project takes students and executives to business opportunities in Cambodia:

Today is The Return of Super Tuesday, the big primary to see whether we get any closer to knowing which of the Democratic candidates will go up against John McCain in the general election. There are big, exciting, important things happening all over the world as we speak, and analysis I’m eager to share, but what’s really got me going tonight is a new super-slick research tool, Zotero.

Conducting research is a little bit like laying out the patterns of your thought process, in all of its associative glory. For all the research I do, I’d be hard pressed to recreate how I discovered an important idea, innovation or person; mostly it feels like I’m scurrying down rabbit holes without knowing what I’ll find or when I’ll resurface. But now it looks like I’ll be able to capture all my activity in one place with Zotero.

Produced by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, this tool puts the best of both disciplines together in one sweet online application (but that can be used offline as well). It’s a Firefox extension that lets you drag and drop pages or references, take notes, link to any desktop document, and store related links, PDFs, images and entire web pages all in one place. And ever so considerately, it automatically records and stored citation references of your sources. I’m looking forward to using it, and expect it will become a part of my regular self-management system.

Zotero’s been launched in its 1.0 phase, with expectations for a Zotero server to hit in 2008. This 2.0 application will make digital research collaborative, allowing recommendations and feeds for new resources to be shared. As they say on their site, it’s supposed to be research, not re-search. I call it b-u-tee- ful!