Mind-bending: Controlling your Windows PC with your brain is possible (and the hardware is already on the shelves)

• Headsets which can probe your brain for commands hit the shelves
• Researchers expect technology to take off as inventors and enthusiasts find new ways to use kit
• Prepare to control your house, computer and phone with nothing more than your brain (and a headset)

By Eddie Wrenn

PUBLISHED: 12:34 GMT, 10 May 2012 | UPDATED: 16:17 GMT, 10 May 2012

First we had the keyboard and mouse.

Then smartphones popularised the touchscreen movement, and then hardware like the Xbox's Kinect system made gesture controls feel like  second-nature.

Now we are getting ready to enter the world of thought-control, with headsets that can read our minds now available for as little as £300, and the software to turn our dreams into actions starting to take shape.

Kevin Brown, senior inventor at IBM, works to bridge the gap between emerging technology and the practical applications they can offer society.

Already he is working hard to make everyday tasks easier through mind control, using headsets such as the commercially-available Emotiv Systems headset.

The Emotiv headset retails for $299 and can simply be plugged into any recent Windows machine to begin working, with apps and games - including Angry Birds - being adapted by enthusiasts to run with simple mind controls.

Kevin, who has been an IBM for 16 years, said: 'The current headsets can already pick up a range of sensory input from our brains, and this will only improve over time.

FULL STORY: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2142340/Mind-bending...