Toronto-based startup InteraXon, maker of the Muse brainwave-sensing headband, had a very interesting potential suitor, according to a source close to the startup speaking to TechCrunch. Specifically, Google came calling, but InteraXon isn’t necessarily interested in being acquired by the search giant, our source reports. A recent profile of InteraXon from the Financial Post provides a… Read More
Plenty of companies are experimenting with thought-reading gadgets, and in the cluttered South Hall here at CES, we came across the folks from InteraXon showing off their Indiegogo-funded “Muse brain-sensing headband.” It measures EEG signals from four forehead sensors and two tucked behind the ears, and sends those brain measurements to other gear via Bluetooth. InteraXon has developed an app suite for mobile devices to showcase the headband’s capabilities, including thought-controlled games and brain tracking, exercise and fitness software for improving cognitive function, memory, attention and for reducing stress. That’ll come bundled with any purchased units, but an SDK is also available for third-party developers to explore other possibilities.
They had a demonstration set up on the show floor, so we thought we’d sit down and take it for a spin. The headband was flexible and surprisingly comfortable, and with a bit of fiddling, we were good to go. One monitor showed brain activity on a couple of complicated graphs, while a scene on a second monitor grew busier as our concentration increased. Watching one graph react to blinking was pretty cool, and once concentration levels reached over 85% on the animated scene, it started to snow. While this obviously isn’t very relevant to any potential applications, it was fun to watch the hardware clearly working as intended. You can check out our shots of the headband in the gallery, or check out the video of us trying it out below. Unfortunately we were only allowed to use it for a limited time — the demonstration was in danger of breaking due to this editors’ massive brain.
Samsung’s Galaxy devices, like the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2, have been selling like hotcakes ever since they were released. If you’re a hardcore Galaxy user who enjoys listening to tunes on your device, but hate to carry around your phone wherever you go, then you may want to take a look at what Samsung announced today.
The Samsung Muse allows the user to transfer music from their Galaxy device to the Muse through a Muse Sync application that can be downloaded via Google Play. Once you have your music synced to the Muse, you can proceed to take it wherever you like and leave your phone behind. Although, if I were going out for a jog, there’s no way I wouldn’t take my phone with me just in case I need some assistance while I’m out.
The Muse offers up to six hours of play time, 4GB of memory and can be picked up for $59.99. When you consider how much cheaper the Muse is compared to an iPod, we could certainly see Samsung Galaxy owners picking up one of these devices if they absolutely don’t want to take their phone with them while they work out.
Despite the increasing number of roboticmusicalacts, I’m still always tickled by the idea of a band that does away with the human element, and puts robots in their rightful place – to entertain their masters. The latest robot musician – a mechanical bass-playing ‘bot.
Engineering student James McVay created the MechBass as his honors project at New Zealand’s Victoria University. The robot uses a set of four individual bass strings along with a motorized pick wheel to jam out its tunes.
A linear-motion system moves a pitch-shifter that frets the strings by applying pressure to them, and a servo-controlled damper mechanism can stop the strings from vibrating quickly. Optical pickups then capture the sounds, and send them to an audio circuit and amplifier.
The whole system is controlled using MIDI signals and an audio programming language called ChucK, so it can play pretty much any tune that can be played on a bass. A custom controller board using an ATMega328 processor acts as the bridge between the software and the hardware.
But don’t just take my word for how cool this thing is. Here’s a video clip of MechBass pounding out the intense bassline of Muse’s Hysteria.
While I don’t know if it’ll be replacing Flea in the Red Hot Chili Peppers anytime soon, I’m still totally impressed by MechBass’ musical talents.
Check out complete details on the build here (PDF).
If you have yet to use Adobe Muse, then you might want to give this particular software a chance now, as this new tool has been made available to Creative Cloud subscribers, allowing graphic designers to create websites without the need to write any code. In fact, Adobe has just introduced a spanking new version of Muse which will comprise of built-in support for contact forms, not to mention folks who are well versed in Japanese, too, will be able to take advantage of this language version. The new support thrown in for built-in contact forms enables one to easily add, configure, and style contact forms right there and then within your website designs. This basically means there is no need to embed any more HTML code from third party online form providers, and the folks over at Adobe are the Muse product team promising to deliver an even more extensive range of content management capabilities straight into the product via tighter integration with Adobe’s site hosting platform, Adobe Business Catalyst. Check out the video above to see what a snap it is to work with contact forms.
Not only that, one is able to add and link to downloadable files of any type including .PDF, .ZIP, .DMG, and .EXE, not to mention support for HTML5 animations created using Adobe Edge.
Adobe’s subscription-based software service is three months old and the outfit is rolling out the first of its regular updates to the Creative Cloud set of applications. Alongside a new preview of Adobe Edge (now Edge Animate), added features to Adobe Muse highlight this round of improvements — set to go live for members at 12:01 AM EDT tonight. The app that allows users to create websites without writing a line of code now includes custom contact forms, links to downloadable files (PDFs and such) and the option of using HTML5 animations from Edge and other programs. Other tweaks range from align / distribute and ruler guides that you’ve grown accustom to using on the fly in Creative Suite to a few FTP and publishing enhancements.
Also included in the news is that the company plans to roll out select new features to the regular ol’ Creative Suite offerings ahead of the annual release schedule to Creative Cloud subscribers. Some of the newfangled features that will arrive in CS7 will arrive early for those who opt for the membership route as each product team sees fit. For example, a file-packaging feature for Illustrator that was previewed recently is on its way soon. In order to get the entire truckload of new tech that the aforementioned release stands to haul, though, you’ll have to wait until the entire lot hits in properly licensed form. Sound like the kind of early access you’d enjoy? Well, those looking to switch from the normal CS license model (CS3 and later) can join the Cloud for $29.99 per month for the first year instead of the usual $49.99 until August 31st.
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