Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Emerging Tech
  3. News

Facebook acquires a startup that has built a mind-reading wristband

Luke Dormehl
By

Facebook has acquired CTRL-Labs, a New York-based startup that has developed tech for controlling computers using decoded neural activity and the wave of a hand. Because, you know, who wants to bother using their mouse and keyboard to “like” posts or comment on someone’s holiday photos?

According to CNBC, the deal was worth between $500 million and $1 billion. A Facebook spokesperson told the publication that it spent under $1 billion. CTRL-Labs was founded in 2015 by Thomas Reardon, the creator of Microsoft Internet Explorer. It describes itself as an “applied research neuroscience company.”

Recommended Videos

“Technology like this has the potential to open up new creative possibilities and reimagine 19th-century inventions in a 21st-century world,” said Facebook Vice President of AR/VR Andrew “Boz” Bosworth in a statement following the acquisition. “This is how our interactions in VR and AR can one day look. It can change the way we connect.”

Related

CTRL-Labs has developed a wristband that decodes electrical signals from neurons in the spinal cord. It makes it possible to control interfaces or smart devices with Jedi-like hand gestures. Its prototype device allows users to carry out feats like typing 200 words in a minute without touching a keyboard.

CTRL Labs Oreilly Demo

“I could certainly see a future where people are wearing this device all day, and that it’s the thing that is used to interact with people’s phones, the lights in their house, and the radio in their car,” Adam Berenzweig, director of R&D at CTRL-Labs, told Digital Trends last year. “After people are used to it, it’s easy to imagine that people will [wonder why they need a keyboard or mouse at all] when they’re sitting at their computer.”

At Facebook, CTRL-Labs will be part of Facebook Reality Labs, the division of the company dedicated to building augmented reality glasses. According to CTRL-Labs’ website, “CTRL-kit is currently in preview for select developers. Join our early access list to start integrating neural interfaces into your projects soon.” We fully expect that Facebook’s purchase will change the planned rollout a little bit.

Still, now that Facebook is fully embracing hardware through devices like its Portal smart cameras it doesn’t seem out of the question that a commercial release of this device will take place in the near(ish) future!

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Luke Dormehl
Luke Dormehl
Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Prosthetics that don’t require practice: Inside the latest breakthrough in bionics
most advanced hand prosthetic

Paul Cederna dreams of a hand for every occasion.

“I can imagine somebody that has this entire suite of hands,” he said. “They’re a farmer, and they’re working on their tractor and welding and harvesting the corn -- and they’ve got this heavy-duty hand that is incredibly durable, which can open and close and lift heavy, heavy things. But the farmer also happens to be a pianist. When they go inside, they put on another super lightweight hand where the fingers spread and move really fast. All this hand needs to do is to push piano keys to play the piano.”

Read more
Scientists make artificial and biological neurons communicate over the internet
Cognitive Dissonance

Despite the continued assurances of pioneers like Elon Musk, the idea of a biological brain interfacing with a computer still sounds like science fiction. But scientists in the U.K., Switzerland, Germany, and Italy are here to remind you that it really isn’t. In a recent experiment, the researchers fired up a working neural network that let biological and silicon-based artificial brain cells communicate with one another over an internet connection.

At present, it’s still early stages for the project. The experiment involved cultivating rat neurons in a laboratory that were used to signal to nanoelectronic synapses, called memristors, built by the University of Southampton. The spiking biological neurons in Italy were then transmitted to artificial neurons located in Zurich. The reverse communication was also carried out. The result was a simple demonstration showing that artificial and biological neurons can be made to communicate bidirectionally and in real time.

Read more
WhatsApp will be ad-free because Facebook has a better plan to make money off it
WhatsApp

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Facebook has shelved its plan to bring ads to WhatsApp Status -- a monetization move that had seemingly been under development for about two years and was also reportedly responsible for the departure of both of the instant messaging app's original founders. The team tasked to figure out the most optimal method for incorporating ads inside the messaging app was broken up too, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ.

The report caught many by surprise. After all, WhatsApp has, on multiple occasions, confirmed that ads were coming to the app and even previewed what they will look like at the Facebook Marketing Summit last year. More importantly, Facebook earns most of its revenues from its ad network and expanding it to WhatsApp was one of the ways the social network was expected to cash in on its hefty $22 billion investment.

Read more