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Intel demos software that reads your mind

You may one day in the not-extremely-distant future control your computer and other devices just by thinking.

At Intel's Tech Heaven event in Manhattan on Wednesday, the company demonstrated software under development that can tell--under very controlled circumstances--what a person is thinking by reading brain waves. The chipmaker has been working with Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh to develop software and an interface to convert brain waves scanned from MRIs into something recognizable by computers.

Though still in the early research stages, the technology looks promising to researchers. In a preliminary test conducted by Intel Labs … Read more

Samsung Bada handsets outed in Russia

During a developer conference in Russia, Samsung gave attendees a glimpse of four upcoming handsets that will run on the company's own mobile platform, Bada. On the presentation slide shown above, four handsets priced lower than the Samsung Wave were pictured. Few other details were available, though it appeared that models with slide-out QWERTY keyboards are in the pipeline.

Announced during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) back in February, the Wave is currently the only device to sport the in-house operating system. It was also during MWC 2010 that the company mentioned that Bada was meant for midrange devices, … Read more

Toshiba eyes nuke alliance with Gates start-up

Reuters

Toshiba is in talks with a company backed by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to jointly develop advanced nuclear reactors, the Japanese electronics maker said Tuesday.

The Japanese electronics maker, which is also the world's No. 3 chipmaker behind Intel and Samsung Electronics, added it will restart plans to build a factory to make NAND flash memory chips as the global economy recovers.

Toshiba, which owns U.S. nuclear firm Westinghouse, said it was in preliminary talks with the Gates-backed firm TerraPower to develop so-called traveling-wave reactors, which are designed to use depleted uranium as fuel and thought to hold … Read more

Is Google Wave getting Buzzed?

If Google Wave eventually fails to live up to the promise and hype that accompanied its launch at Google I/O in May 2009, consider its demise an inside job.

Arguably one of Google's biggest announcements of last year, Google Wave appears to be an afterthought among the tech trendsetters after the launch of Google Buzz in early February. Privacy concerns mostly laid to rest, Google Buzz is actually doing much of what Google Wave promised: collaborative discussion, media sharing, and social networking within an e-mail-like framework.

So what are Google customers and users to do with two Web … Read more

Mediocre MIDI

MidiRunner is a basic program that allows users to create MIDI files and play other audio file types. Although the program may have some useful features, its disastrous interface undermines any potential assets.

MidiRunner seems like a straightforward program. Users can play a variety of MIDI instruments using an external keyboard, the computer keyboard, or a virtual keyboard. That part worked well enough, although the virtual keyboard is frustratingly tiny. The program separates the keyboard, playlist, and control panel into three toolbar-like modules, which were cumbersome to navigate and littered with tiny buttons and text. Although we were able to … Read more

Survey: iPad demand beats early iPhone demand

As consumers await Apple's iPad, a new study from market analyst RBC and ChangeWave Research has revealed that the demand for Apple's tablet currently outpaces the original demand for its iPhone. MacRumors first reported on the story.

According to the survey, which was mentioned in a research note to clients by RBC analyst Mike Abramsky, 13 percent of the 3,200 folks surveyed said they were likely to buy an iPad when it's released. According to ChangeWave, initial iPhone demand was at 9 percent prior to the launch of the original iPhone.

Perhaps more importantly, the survey … Read more

The 404 Podcast 519: Where we're too fat to fit through 7 Windows

Now that Chalentine's Day is over, we're back and ready to tackle the big news of the weekend: Windows Phone 7, the new mobile operating system just announced last Monday at a press conference at the Mobile World Congress 2010. Jeff is naturally apathetic toward the new OS after moving on to the Palm Pre, but the rest of the industry is excited about the proprietary PC client used to sync your phone to your PC--no more ActiveSync! Check out CNET's Crave blog for more info.

Today's episode asks the tough questions on all our minds: would you rather sign your dog up for Twitter or get a Nickleback tattoo on your forearm? Mattel will soon release a device that enables puppies to tweet out over 500 programmed messages that correspond to a motion sensor on a plastic collar tag. Using special software and a USB receiver, Puppy Tweets sells for $30 and will be available this fall.

Keep those sticker pictures coming! We're nowhere close to running out of stickers and tattoos, so send us a SASE if you want your own handful of 404 shwag, and don't forget to send pictures to us of where you stuck them (hopefully in a location with high visibility) to the404(at)cnet(dot)com!\

Finally, head over to Sugar Rock Catwalk for more fashion tips, courtesy of Ms. Erin Lee and Ms. Lani Nguyen!

EPISODE 519 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Mysterious media player

We like the idea of QWave in theory; it's an extremely lightweight media player that lets users instantly play audio files instead of waiting for a program like Windows Media Player or iTunes to load. Unfortunately, the program's lack of documentation and virtually nonexistent interface make it confusing to use.

We installed the program and then attempted to launch it. This produced a dialogue that asked if we wanted to "Add QPlay to menu." We weren't sure exactly what menu it meant, but we clicked yes. Because the publisher's description mentions an icon in … Read more