Over at IEEE Spectrum is an article on the company Thync, which announced on Wednesday a plan to bring brain altering wearable technologies to the general consumer.
Thync appears to be a start-up based on technologies from Arizona State University, and from the press release:
Thync’s technology platform comprises neurosignaling algorithms, hardware, software and biomaterials. The company is integrating the most advanced aspects of neuroscience and consumer electronics to create a new category of products that give individuals access to their own capabilities, without the need for chemicals or supplements.
Although the IEEE article mentions transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) generally, the papers at Thync's site focus on transcranial ultrasound specifically. There's more information from William Tyler, one of the co-founders of Thync.
In addition to the DIY tDCS, Thync are competing with companies such as the Focus headset, aimed at gamers and TCT, although articles from the BBC and Wired have been slightly more cautious about the current applications.
The Thync website has a collection of press releases and research papers, and there is also a collection of article summary links.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 12 2014, @03:47AM
This technology sounds very interesting, but I need to know what operating system these devices run.
If it's Linux, then I'm afraid I'll have to turn it down. Linux is known to be susceptible to infection by systemd. I, for one, will never let systemd run on any hardware that interfaces with my brain in any way.
I don't want my brain to be scrambled as if it were a binary log file.
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Sunday October 12 2014, @05:23AM
It'll probably turn people into the monkey in the beggining of "Lawnmower Man"!
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday October 12 2014, @05:34AM
I am not so worried as the previous poster about what they are passing through my cranium, but just the fact that they think they can know that this a good thing that one ought to do! Neuroscience is not the same as Neuromania, the idea that what we know is reducible to the brain. Because, actually, we have no idea how the brain works. We are still at the level of Broca's area, only now with MRIs mapping blood flow rather than having to wait for someone to have an iron bar propelled through specific parts of their brain by a steam explosion. So I am going to trust these people who have the most advanced science on their side. I remember a 1902 Sears catalog my family had. It was, in fact, a replica printed in the 1970's. But it was days of amusement. Prices back then! Wow! But then there were all the "belts" using this new fangled thing called "electricity" to "trans-testicular stimulate" men to, well, it actually didn't do anything, except sell what was to be know as viragra, which may actually work, as contrasted with Thync's products. Ow! Ow! Stop shocking me! No, I did not sign a non-derogatory statements clause with you, like I did with Rocaa Labs (bastearts!). Or at least I don't think I did. Don't think. Oooh, wow, look at all the pretty lights! This is the best thing since LSD!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 12 2014, @06:29AM
The NSA wants you to wear one.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday October 12 2014, @09:56AM
We sure made a lot of progress since the first mind-altering, wearable technologies, such as short skirts or stockings.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday October 12 2014, @04:01PM
Don't forget yoga pants and bikinis
One big problem these companies face is scammers. They're going to have a ton of fun competing against gray market imports that have no wires connected at all just to look extreme, and the guys who sell magnet bracelets and the crystal necklace/earring sellers.
Its interesting I haven't heard anything about this from home experimenters... so basically you're trying to sell a 1 mA controllable constant current source, thats it? For $250? And its about as electronically complicated as a LED driver, without the "expensive" LED?
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday October 12 2014, @12:17PM
Always mount a scratch monkey.
http://edp.org/monkey.htm [edp.org]
systemd is Roko's Basilisk