Wearable technology has gone from fitness
wristbands to Google Glass to brain-sensing headbands that can help people clear their minds of distractions. The Muse headband provides
wearers with an image of what their mind is doing by measuring brainwave
activity.
The Muse uses neurofeedback, biofeedback
made up of real-time displays of electroencephalography (EEG), to show brain
activity and stress levels. A smartphone app lets wearers see what their mind
is doing and provides calming exercises to practice.
“For me, neurofeedback and meditation generally
feels like a gentle hit of coffee,” wrote Gregory Ferenstein, who tested the
device for an article for VentureBeat. “My inner voice silences, an incessant need to rush melts
away, and I just do things. Neurofeedback is one of the best things I do for my
productivity, and the Muse makes it fairly easy to do regularly.”
While many see the benefits of increasing
focus and decreasing stress, the next trend in wearables could lead to
location-based advertising. The idea is to combine the technology to monitor emotion
and health data with real-time activity to deliver instant advertising.
“Your Google Glass knows where you are,
what you’ve been searching for, and, of course, the kind of pictures you’ve
been taking,” wrote Chris Matyszczyk in CNET.
“Add brain-scanning technology to that and the whole caboodle can become simply
a part of you.”
For the record, Google currently forbids
advertising on Google Glass.
