>From the CNN website, something to think about...
http://cnn.com/TECH/9609/18/mind.drive/index.html
New product lets your brain drive the PC
September 19, 1996
Web posted at: 12:10 a.m. EDT
A new technology from a California company enables people to
command machines just by thinking.
It's called MindDrive, from a company called "The Other 90%
Technologies Inc." They're planning to sell the product as
entertainment software through more than 400 computer retail
outlets.
Say you want to get the sensation of skiing down a mountain.
MindDrive lets you accomplish that through a computer. The
software senses physical data through a small monitor attached to
the user's finger.
It doesn't actually read thoughts. Rather, it senses the
physical results of one's thoughts, and reads them in detail.
It is similar to more expensive programs developed by the
Pentagon and NASA for training pilots.
But CEO Ron Gordon said his San Raphael, California company
started entertainment software since the technology cannot yet
stand up to more demanding tasks.
MindDrive can be applied to pinball or bowling, or fib, a game
that's closely akin to the polygraph, or a lie detector machine.
The result of seven years of development, MindDrive is about to
go on the computer peripheral market at $149.95 a copy.
The 10 initial games and other software products are priced from
$24.95 to $39.95.
The small circuit box connects through a serial port to any IBM
compatible computer with 486 or higher capacity.
Currently it can only read direction or intensity, but research
on the product is continuing.
One of The Other 90% Technologies' partners is Walt Disney Co.'s
Miramax studio, a company that sees a big future for the
MindDrive at the box office.
"This does for us what any great movie does," said Mark Gill,
president of marketing for Miramax Films. "It's original, and
different, and thought provoking."
Gill said Miramax may use MindDrive to develop short films whose
plot and outcome are controlled by viewers' thoughts. Such a
movie could debut on the internet in early 1997, he added.
The Other 90 Percent, with a capitalization of about $5 million,
derived its name from physicist Albert Einstein's observation
that humans use only about 10 percent of their brain power.
c 1996 Cable News Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
