What's going on inside that head of yours? That's nobody's business, of course -- except, perhaps, for companies planning to roll out games and gadgets with supposed "brainwave-reading" capabilities. Among them is Sega Toys in Japan, which makes Brain Trainer, a portable electronic device with various mind-expanding exercises that retails for about $30. Last week Sega announced it will incorporate bio-signal-reading technology from San Jose-based startup NeuroSky into unspecified products. While NeuroSky's technology is available now, don't expect to find mind-reading toys or videogames at Toys 'R' Us just yet. That's because NeuroSky's technology is aimed at manufacturers and developers, and it will take awhile before products incorporating the technology reach the market. NeuroSky sells a systems-development kit incorporating a sensor that picks up bio-signals, which are processed into digital signals. A manufacturer can incorporate the sensor into a headset of its own design. The sensor is dry (read: no icky gels), and only one sensor is needed to pick up the signals. Sensors like NeuroSky's pick up physiological signals, not just brainwaves, so overblown claims of "reading your thoughts" should be taken with a grain of salt.
And such sensors don't necessarily work equally well on every individual, something that becomes apparent when various people try to produce commands -- say, to move a robot forward. "I have noticed it's a little more challenging for some people than for others," says Ted Larson, a founder of OLogic, based in Los Altos Hills, California.
