Are you a romantic – the type of person who drops a message into a bottle and flings it into the ocean? Do you have dreamy visions of someone seeing your message years from now and forming some kind of cosmic bond with a stranger? Designers Luca Nichetto and Lera Moiseeva are taking the message in a bottle idea into the future…and into space.

Cosmic Messenger, created for New York design and technology company Nooka, lets you record an audio message that will be launched into space to float in the vast void for all eternity.

A vaguely alien-like object inside a glass globe records your message. The designers aren’t clear about how the object would be launched into space, but an integrated 360-degree video camera would record the entire voyage.

The Cosmic Messenger beams video of its trip back to Earth to let you feel like you are in space along with your message. Until your space-bound message in a bottle travels out of range, you’ll be able to tumble and float along with it, reassuring you that your message will be out there forever, maybe even bound for some very distant shore.

The post Space Sounds: Send a Message In a Bottle Into Outer Space first appeared on Gajitz.

Figuring out the way the human brain understands and processes speech could be a huge step forward in helping nonverbal people communicate. Scientists have already made progress toward that goal in a study that analyzed the neural activity of 15 people undergoing surgery for epilepsy treatment or brain tumors. The patients wore electrodes that recorded their brain activity when listening to spoken words. Later, the team studied which types of brain activity correlated with aspects of speech like frequency and rhythm. With this data and some specialized software, they were able to reconstruct some of the sounds the patients heard.

Now, a new study measured the neural activity of patients reading words aloud and reading silently to themselves. Again, the researchers used the neural activity to pinpoint which areas of the brain were stimulated by reading the words aloud . Using this road map of sorts, they were able to decode which areas of the brain were active when reading the same words silently. Although the brain patterns differed somewhat between spoken words and internal words, the researchers were still able to reproduce some of the words the patients read to themselves. They could, in effect, kind of read the patients’ minds sometimes.

If the same type of road map were to be constructed for nonverbal people, the initial neural activity measured would have to come from speech that the patient hears, not their own speech. But according to the researchers, this should be easy enough to accomplish – as easy as figuring out how to read a mind can be, anyway. From there, measuring the neural activity of the nonverbal person could allow researchers to understand what that person is thinking.

The research results have been promising, but they are nowhere near advanced enough to build a device to do the decoding (hence our amusing depictions of mind reading helmets). Other types of brain activity still need to be decoded, and algorithms need to be fine-tuned, but we are ever inching closer to the goal of reading each other’s minds. Time to break out the tin-foil hats?

The post Hold That Thought! Researchers Learning to Read Minds first appeared on Gajitz.

Sometimes the best ideas come from places of desperation or disaster. That’s the case with goTenna, a smartphone accessory that lets you use your phone to communicate even when a disaster knocks out cell towers. The idea was inspired when, in October of 2012, Hurricane Sandy wiped out cellular communications in New York and New Jersey. Daniela Perdomo was affected by the storm and subsequent loss of communication, and she knew there had to be something she could do to make sure the lines of communication remained open in any disaster – or anytime cellular communication isn’t available.

The goTenna is a pocket-sized antenna that uses VHF radio waves to communicate with other goTenna users. It works with an Android or iPhone app; in the event that cell phone communications are lost (or when you just can’t get a signal) you send a text message via the app, which is transmitted to the goTenna device via Bluetooth. The little accessory converts the message to analog, then transmits it to a specific goTenna user or a group of users.

The little antenna can be used to send your current location to friends, which is an especially useful feature when you happen to wander off of the trail on a hike or get lost in the crowd at a music festival. Although the idea for the goTenna grew from an emergency situation, it can be useful in so many more settings. It’s a lifesaver for connecting people any time that our more conventional modern methods aren’t available.

Though undeniably useful in certain situations, the goTenna won’t exactly revolutionize communications. It’s relatively short-range with a maximum reach of 50 miles, so it’s really only useful when you need to reach someone who is already kind of nearby. The goTenna is sold in pairs, one of which will run you $150. Go in on a whole bunch of them with a group of friends and you’ll always be assured of having a support system when things get rough.

The post Smart Little Device Takes Texting Analog During Disasters first appeared on Gajitz.

It seems that since we’ve integrated our entire lives into our phones, we’re now looking for ways to further integrate our phones into our everyday lives. Products like Google Glass are letting us wear information-supplying tech wherever we go, suggesting that wearable phones might just be the next step in ever-present communication.

NYU graduate students Alina Balean and Rucha Patwardhan designed the “Smart Hoodie,” a wearable cell phone that takes communication out of the pocket and puts it into a piece of clothing. They programmed functions into the hoodie that would normally involve pressing buttons on a phone: rolling up a sleeve to notify friends or family (via Facebook or text message) that the wearer is in class, or rolling up the right sleeve to indicate the wearer is free and able to chat.

Although the project is still an experiment, the idea is intriguing for a number of reasons. In the future, it could be integrated with a smartphone to send preset messages or make phone calls to preset numbers based only on gestures. It could be used by kids to periodically check in with their parents, or even by undercover police officers to send covert messages.

The post Smart Hoodie: Wearable, Stylish, Always-On Communication first appeared on Gajitz.

We’ve all had those conversations where we just can’t seem to get a word in no matter how hard we try or how many hints we drop. In certain settings, like counseling or mediation settings, it is imperative that every person involved gets his or her fair amount of speaking time so that all of their thoughts can be heard. The Expanded Discourse project from Zoe Padgett and Gerardo Guerrero takes an interesting approach to communication equality.

The project uses inflating suits to indicate when one party wishes to talk. The inflation represents the building up of ideas and sentiments, and the need to communicate those words to the other person. A small triangular object fits into one shoulder of the suit and acts as a “talking stick,” or an indication that the person who holds the object has the floor for the time being.

When one person wants to speak, they activate the suit’s interior fan to inflate the plastic skin. Inserting the triangular piece into the shoulder of the suit allows the suit to slowly deflate as the person speaks. This provides another visual indicator – this time, suggesting that the speaker is “getting it all out” and experiencing a release as his or her emotions are communicated to the other person.

The designers suggest that the suits could also be helpful in a business setting. If you’ve ever been in a business meeting where things got a little heated and people couldn’t resist the temptation to talk over one another, the value of these odd-but-effective inflatable sumo suits should be obvious.

Maybe the suits are a little silly, but the silliness can help break down communication barriers by putting everyone on a level playing field. Even those who are too timid to speak up and jump into the conversation can have a turn to speak because the suit gives a visual cue that is hard to ignore.

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