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Yeah these machines are really cool, I cant wait for the day where we can wear such devices and use them as remote controls for our cars and everything. Just imagine an app on your phone connected with such a device that allows you to write articles and send sms right from your brain, simply amazing....
Doesn't it also mean that we're so vulnerable on the security level? That we may need brain encryption methods?
arithma wroteDoesn't it also mean that we're so vulnerable on the security level? That we may need brain encryption methods?
True, this means we can be having "brain data hacking" technologies i.e. you can hack the data coming from brains wearing such devices. Maybe sending and receiving data would even have it's own protocols for sending data between the brain reader and other devices, something like BTTP (Brain Text Transfer Protocol) and so they would create BTTPs for more secure transactions between the brain and other devices :p I dream allot :P
Ironically, I wanted to post about this topic a while ago, but thought better of it because of the pictures included (alert: don't open this link if you're queasy): http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2010/09/detecting_words_from_brain_signals.html

Seeing that the technology is based on microECoG electrodes (more about this here), i.e. you have to take the patient's agreement to place them in their brain after removing part of their skull, and they're analyzing the signals well before understanding them and they're not controlling them, there's no "brain data hacking" involved... Yet, that is. You need to have the hardware not only capable of reading the brain signals (relative to individuals), but also able to write back to them. Maybe in a year or two.

@AymanFarhat: Beware what you wish for:
XWave EEG Brain Computer Interface for Your iPhone/iPad:

The XWave is an EEG interface from PLX Devices (Sunnyvale, CA) that works with iPhones/iPads as a controller for games, meditation training, and potentially many other uses not invented yet. The actual EEG is NeuroSky's eSense dry sensor, which the company has been licensing to other companies in order to push the technology into consumer hands.



The plastic headband, which costs around $100, has a sensor that presses against the user’s forehead and communicates with a free XWave iPhone application that then shows your brain waves graphically on the iPhone screen. As you focus your mind on a task the graphics are changed — a ball may move higher for instance, or your state of relaxation may be indicated by changes in a pulsating color, which moves towards blue as you become more relaxed.





Brainwave detection is powered by an NeuroSky eSense dry sensor, which provides a brain-computer interface (BCI) to sense even faint electrical impulses in the brain and convert them to digital signals that are sent to the iPhone. Previous applications of the NeuroSky technology include computer games and toys. In XWave an algorithm is applied to the brain rhythms to convert them to graphical representations of attention and meditation values.

XWave enables you to manipulate a number of other iPhone graphical applications and objects in games using only your brain waves, providing your rating in attention or meditation is high enough. At present you cannot text or browse the web using XWave, but you can use the device to train your mind to relax and focus on command. The list of applications for the device is likely to grow rapidly.

The XWave is meant to be used for entertainment, but can be applied to any other practical use, perhaps even as a controller for an assistive device for the disabled.
Youtube video related subject can be found here.

Also:
Compose Beautiful Music With Just Your Thoughts

The world's next great musical work of art may come from someone who can't strum a guitar, let alone move altogether, thanks to composer Eduardo Miranda from the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research (ICCMR) at the University of Plymouth. An instrument he invented allows paralyzed people to play music using only their thoughts.



The device consists of a specially developed EEG system. Users are trained to focus on a repeated stimulus, pushing a button, for example, which allows the system and the user to associate particular brain signals with specific tasks. The device detects the unique pattern in the EEG associated with the particular stimulus, and can trigger a musical note or melody when the pattern is detected. The user can even change the intensity, like pushing the button harder, by varying the intensity of attention.

So far, Miranda and his team have only been able to successfully develop a four button system, but it is certainly enough to create music and could prove to be therapeutic for patients with brain and spinal cord injuries.

Check out the video of the system at work, set to the soundtrack of Beethoven who also made beautiful music with a severe impairment.

Youtube related video can be found here.
@mesa117, yeah that XWave EEG Brain Computer Interface is freaking awesome! Just imagine an app on your phone that would run the music track that you are thinking of or based on your mood while the phone is in your pocket, lots of other cool apps can be born out of such a technology or imagine controlling moving or flying devices like this right from your brain via Bluetooth or other means of wireless communication. People around you would simply freak out :P

Btw we can buy this??
AymanFarhat wrote@mesa117, yeah that XWave EEG Brain Computer Interface is freaking awesome! Just imagine an app on your phone that would run the music track that you are thinking of or based on your mood while the phone is in your pocket, lots of other cool apps can be born out of such a technology or imagine controlling moving or flying devices like this right from your brain via Bluetooth or other means of wireless communication. People around you would simply freak out :P

Btw we can buy this??
Seeing that it was intended to be used to promote Sega mind-controlled video games, yes they're intended for public use and you can buy it. Where you can buy it, no idea.

PS: Check out these YouTube videosfor the Sega mind-controlled games with XWave EEG BCI.
arithma wroteDoesn't it also mean that we're so vulnerable on the security level? That we may need brain encryption methods?
In the Future? Maybe. Right now? Not so much, these devices are currently made to help people "talk" using their brain, and not like scavenge the data inside.... But just like ac1d said
ac1d wroteSci-Fi ===> Decades later:Science Fact
So who knows, maybe in the future, we will be vulnerable and need Ayman's protocol :P hehe

That is one cool application mesa !