Mind Pool

Mind Pool - Physical feedback of a user's brainwave activity presented in real time.

This certainly brings to mind the thought of a still pond and that thoughts create the ripples.

iPad app measures brainwaves to see if couples are a good fit

The Tokyo Game Show had one company that showed off an iPad application that measures the brainwaves of a couple to see if they are a good fit.  This short video clip does not go into any detail about what brainwave measurements are taking place.  I wonder if it might be trying to see how similar the brainwaves are, as I have heard that couples can have their brainwaves synchronize, though I question how detailed the instrument for measuring brainwaves that they are using can get.  I wouldn't be surprised if instead they are measuring the part(s) of the brain that are responsible for things such as attraction.  Couldn't that just be verbalized instead?

Mapping the Mindful Brain

Episode 259 of the Buddhist Geeks podcast interviews Dr. Judson Brewer about his work of studying the effects of meditation on the brain.  The podcast also discusses meditators using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to get immediate feedback on their practice.  There's also discussion on using this to test the various products out there to see how effective they are.

Ariel Garten - Redefining Consciousness

Ariel Garten discusses the meshing of brainwaves, computers, and games, explaining how they might be used to better "know thyself."  One interesting idea is the use of gaming to help children with attention deficit disorder - a game that is controlled based on the brainwaves of the player, giving awards for keeping focused.  The video shows a game for the iPad that is controlled with a brainwave reader.  It's interesting to see other potential games like this, as the only other game I can think of that came close to this was the Journey to Wild Divine.

A Smartphone Brain Scanner

Milab at the Technical University of Denmark used a Nokia N900 and an Emotiv EEG headset to have data from a brain processed and displayed on the phone. The raw data can be passed along to a storage device or computer for further processing. A brief synopsis can be found at the Milab site and a brief article can be found at Singularity Hub.

It would be interesting to have this record what happens during meditation, especially with something like Holosync that leads you through the different brain wave stages. Of course, the program is not located on the Android Market and probably not on Apple's App Store.

Awareness, Consciousness, and Technology

Technology can make us unaware of what we are doing, yet at the same time can potentially lead us to be more conscious. Sounds True: Insights at the Edge looks at the interaction of things such as cell phones, social media, awareness, consciousness, and presence.