I've been wrong about many things in my life. I was certainly wrong - thinking this would be the "it" gift of Christmas 2010 - two months later, after seeing stacks of these things before Christmas and dreams of consumer accessible neuroscience combined with a space-aged Mattel toy that would end up at college parties, and reverse engineered for other purposes in amateur laboratories - I haven't seen one anywhere (only online).

THE MINDFLEX GAME - The internet demonstrations and YouTube videos are amazing. Even in the most basic of functionality as far as neuroscience toys are concerned this devices begs to be used in some sort of Beer Pong of the Future. I foresaw drunk people sitting around in a circle taking shots bringing themselves to the brink of an aneurysm controlling and contorting a ping-pong ball through an interchangeable maze of varying difficulty with a mind reading device firmly placed on head - it gave me hope for a feasible William Gibson-esque future.

This is the type of toy had I asked for as a kid, my parents would have shut me down temporarily then picked one up second hand knowing fool well that I would have disassembled , rearranged, and tried to plug myself into a remote control car or something even worse like a microwave or TRS-80. Yeah, I was one of those type of kids - and that curiosity still peeks its head above clouds of my adulthood sometimes in a Walter Bishop meets Doc Brown type of way. I look forward for this technology to bleed into market so I can see all of amazing hacks that are possible - my mind drools. See what you can do with it : I open the challenge post your hacks and links to articles on your hacks with MINDFLEX here.

Then there is this: for those that have more advanced tastes in mind. This company makes me think of the movie "Strange Days."

Just saying: food for thought - Imagine what devices like this could do to help understand Autism or just help propel research in general. I know I have thought of two hopeful experiments and I didn't even really think that hard. Part of the problem with understanding Autism is getting a handle on understanding ways they emote and interpretation of Emoting to them. I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. Imagine what just one of these devices could do in the hands of some motivated capable people.

The same technology pops up in several different shapes and sizes like the one below. But one fact remains. The tech is here, improving over time and getting more and more accessible. This means practicality and quality are put to the test. I am hopeful for the future. But, perhaps if a computer was allowed to read my mind in an free-flowing input output fashion, the end result would most likely be similar to the Microsoft blue screen of death.

This is TJPARSONS sayin' go get yer science on!

On a separate subject- anybody else notice that internet commercials are pretty darn "water cooler". -Internet commercials are getting just as entertaining and creative if not more than the network ones. They have less confines and rules, and more interactivity potential.