OC3D Exclusive: OCZ prepares Neural Impulse Actuator for shipping next week
- Thread starter Gink
- Start date
name='Jaster' said:
i have just registered as well. Been tracking this thread for some time. It is the most up to date around. Jaster a really big thanks goes out to you for sharing your info with the masses. have a virtual pat on the back from me...you should ask OCZ if they want somone to head up their marketing team!
I hope it come in stock soon especially for you as i cant wait to see your review...?
all the best simon
Stop it you lot your making me blush...Look guys im in a position where I can inform people...and I dont mind doing it...there are real people who will benefit from this in terms of quality of life...and I really hope it does...Ive been really interested in the advancements in this area for a long long time, going back to when I had my first EEG at 8 years old, its interesting to see this kind of technology make an impact, and quite frankly i'm surprised so many people have picked up on this with absolutely no input from OCZ themselves...
just one thing
STOP THANKING ME...I see it as my duty to the betterment of mankind
just one thing
STOP THANKING ME...I see it as my duty to the betterment of mankind
exiledduke
New member
@Jaster: Whoa, peace my britannic bretheren, I meant no offence to you, nor much to OCZ... it's just... well due to your recent posts... It seems that the etailers are to blame for this BS
EDIT: Thank you so much for taking the time to post this information and facilitate the communication that OCZ is failing to come up with.
ADDENDUM: I may havec come down hard on OCZ, and it is not warranted. I am actually an OCZ Fanboy... OCZ 8800 GTX, OCZ Mouse, Trifecta 2gb (x2), OCZ GameStream PSU, PCP&C Silencer 750 Quad, 4x2gb Sticks of Reaper Ram... They should buy Ideazon next... Ideazon boards by OCZ... sweet...
EDIT: Thank you so much for taking the time to post this information and facilitate the communication that OCZ is failing to come up with.
ADDENDUM: I may havec come down hard on OCZ, and it is not warranted. I am actually an OCZ Fanboy... OCZ 8800 GTX, OCZ Mouse, Trifecta 2gb (x2), OCZ GameStream PSU, PCP&C Silencer 750 Quad, 4x2gb Sticks of Reaper Ram... They should buy Ideazon next... Ideazon boards by OCZ... sweet...
No probs...I wasnt aware OCZ had even ventured into graphics cards...but your right...miscommunication on this product may well be the undoing of it...I'm just awaiting OCZ marketing offering me a job...and if any one from OCZ is watching this thread (and by the way I noticed a post on the OCZ forum pointing to this thread, cheeky mofo's), then I have a nine month old who i'm willing to test this product with (should yeild interesting results, until he starts beating me at pro-evo i'm sure i'll find hours of amusement, and no its not child abuse, its the evolution of the species)....but anyways....I'll keep you updated....
Praetorian
New member
To put that in perspective, roughly how many orders has your company had?
17 Orders to date however there has been 4 cancellations, and 3 came in the end of last week and the pre order confirmation email that we have been sending out to the orders over 10 clearly states that back orders will be completed in date order earliest date to latest date. And that we thank you for your patience...what more can we say...at least our company doesn't charge for pre-orders until we ship the goods...which makes things easier for the guys in sales...most of our sales are trade for older parts...schools...government...that kind of thing...I couldn't even guess at how many orders companies like play and ebuyer have taken...probably thousands...at least we have a good "straight talk policy"...
Praetorian
New member
Hmmm I probably would have been better off ordering from your company lol. Well if my Play.com order hasnt been dispatched by the time you get your second batch I'll probably switch.
Hi Everybody,
sorry to keep you waiting for an answer here but I got some good news for you now ;-)
First of all, check out the first NIA article on our forum:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38413
Within shortly OC3D will post a review as well.
Selected customers will have limited stock within shortly as well!
I will keep you updated within the next couple of days.
sorry to keep you waiting for an answer here but I got some good news for you now ;-)
First of all, check out the first NIA article on our forum:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38413
Within shortly OC3D will post a review as well.
Selected customers will have limited stock within shortly as well!
I will keep you updated within the next couple of days.
SuperRoach
New member
Great news to see images of the box - the most important part is that it mentions that it is powered via usb 2.0 - you know what tha means, you can buy international without worrying about the plugs and adaptors! Makes me a happy camper 
Hi Guys,
Since I have noticed several questions here about what etailers will receive products of the first batch I will give you some info: in the UK you can expect the usual suspects such as Overclockers and Ebuyer, in the US Newegg is a save bet.
I want to point out that we are talking limited quantities here so if you have a backorder it doesn’t necessarily mean you receive one, depending on where you are in line but I hope I will see some OC3D members getting lucky on the first batch ;-)
Here is also some additional information on the nia for you:
How does the NIA work?
The nia (Neural Impulse Actuator) works by reading neuronal discharges in the brain, that is alpha, beta and gamma brain waves, electro-oculogram components (the positional differential between the front of the retina and the retinal pigmented epithelium which changes relative to the eye orientation) and electro-myograms (the neuro-muscular signals along with the electrical discharges resulting from the depolarization of the muscle cells).
Those are the three major components that are contributing to the signals that are captured. The raw signals of three separate inputs are then amplified and streamed into the PC using a high speed USB 2.0 protocol. Of course, the signals that are picked up by the sensors are what is called "mass potentials" or "mass discharges" of all factors that are contributing at various amplitudes and levels. This makes it necessary to digest the signals into the individual components, which is done using some quite sophisticated mathematical operations including Fast Fourier Transformation.
On the software level, we moved away from a single-threaded program to a fully multi-threaded version that can operate either in text mode (when on the desktop) or else ports directly into the DirectX platform using the DotNET framework. The beauty of this is that because of the thread level parallelism, the signals that are converted into key strokes are seamlessly integrated into the game play, moreover, since the threads are given low priority compared to the actual game play, they will not compete with the actual game for CPU resources. That means that critical computations necessary for the game play will always be executed first, since it really does not matter whether there are a few microseconds delay in the computation of the key strokes that are executed for user input.
The biggest advantage of using the nia over a mouse is that the actual reaction times are about 30% to 60% shorter than what one can realistically achieve with a mouse. The reason is that any mouse click requires processing of the retinal signal by the visual cortex, then relaying the result to the motor centers at the substantia nigra in the brain and finally through the spinal cord out to the peripheral nerves that innervate the finger muscles. This process takes on average some 200 milliseconds, whereas for example an eye-lid reflex is in the order of 50 to 100 milliseconds and the advantage becomes very tangible in game play since many of the actions are triggered by natural reflexes. This type of reflex-based gaming is what most of the pros are using, however, it takes them several years of practice to get to this point whereas with the NIA, reflexes are taking over within a few minutes or maybe hours of getting accustomed with the setup.
Muscle or brain activity?
This is an interesting question. Originally we had been trying to separate the different signals into the different components and then assign specific functions to each. As it turns out, however, this is not really how it works. Just think about how you walk. Is it the muscles that make you walk or is it the brain or is it the spinal cord? Or even the bones? If you take away one of these components, the system on't work anymore, classic examples are paraplegics, MS patients or individuals with Parkinson's disease. Or somebody with a broken leg. We found that it is always a combination of different factors that trigger or suppress a specific action. In other words, you have EMG, EOG and EEG signals and the permutations of the different combinations are the actual output. Of course, some of the signals are more specific than others or just easier to learn. Everybody can squint the eyes or look left and right or clench the jaw and that is a good way to start. In reality, however, those crude signals become pretty irrelevant after a while, in fact, I have given demonstrations where I was talking (which includes a lot of jaw and tongue movements) and I can selectively filter out these signals on what I believe is a brain wave level so that they are not in the way of my game play. What it comes down to is that depending on the individual user and level of experience, different signals will become more prevalent than others, but as a rule of thumb, cerebral signals will take over where originally muscle signals were used. When I say cerebral, that also includes the sympathetic / parasympathetic system, in fact, that particular component appears to play a major role.
What’s new?
There have been many attempts in the past to use similar devices but most of them were doomed because the signal breakdown was not good enough, which necessitated the "brute force approach" of using for example only the muscle signals.
The new headbands we are using embrace sensors based on carbon nanofibers that are about 100 times more sensitive than older technology. This allows for a much wider dynamic range and also to pick up signals that were completely masked in previous approaches and that makes the use much more intuitive and easier.
The second issue regarding acceptance is that using the extra workload of decoding brain signals almost requires a separate co-processor and that was something that nobody had. The alternative is the multi-threaded approach on an SMP (symmetric multiprocessor) platform where the workload can be toggled between the different cores depending on the thread priority in the application workload. In other words, there are minimum hardware requirements that should be met. Especially with the older version we had and that was running over a serial RS232 interface, single core systems would easily choke, for example, it was easy to play Unreal Tournament 2004 with the first generation nia as long as there were not too many enemies but as soon as it got crowded, the "command decoding" started lagging and if you try to shoot in a first person shooter game and the system waits until the scene is less crowded, then you are dead by the time anyway. The new hardware and software largely solve this issue but there is definitely an advantage to play on a multiprocessor / multi-core platform. In other words, two years ago, the PC technology would not have been advanced enough to see a real advantage of using the nia, and we believe that this is a golden window of opportunity to come out with it now.
There is also the issue that brain research has advanced but we are not too concerned with the dissection of the signals into specific origins of neuronal / muscular groups, rather, as mentioned above, it is the synergism of all physiological activities that is the critical signal we are trying to read and understand to the point where we can use it.
Replacing the keyboard / mouse?
Playing computer games with the nia as opposed to a standard keyboard is different, meaning that the user needs to forget some of the learned habits and to acquire a different set of skills in order to interface with the computer. The nia takes just a few steps to configure and gamers can be literally up and running in your favorite game in a matter of minutes. Just like there is conventional memory and muscle memory, the user will also develop nia memory and within a short period of time, the body will remember the reactions it underwent to achieve the desired actions on the computer.
In fact, a keyboard is a poor comparison, it is more like a joystick and that should probably give you a more global answer to some of the questions you had with respect to applicability. Would you type with a joystick? Probably not. Have you played Flight Simulator with a joystick? Let me tell you, it is nothing compared to flying a helicopter just with your nia.
Since I have noticed several questions here about what etailers will receive products of the first batch I will give you some info: in the UK you can expect the usual suspects such as Overclockers and Ebuyer, in the US Newegg is a save bet.
I want to point out that we are talking limited quantities here so if you have a backorder it doesn’t necessarily mean you receive one, depending on where you are in line but I hope I will see some OC3D members getting lucky on the first batch ;-)
Here is also some additional information on the nia for you:
How does the NIA work?
The nia (Neural Impulse Actuator) works by reading neuronal discharges in the brain, that is alpha, beta and gamma brain waves, electro-oculogram components (the positional differential between the front of the retina and the retinal pigmented epithelium which changes relative to the eye orientation) and electro-myograms (the neuro-muscular signals along with the electrical discharges resulting from the depolarization of the muscle cells).
Those are the three major components that are contributing to the signals that are captured. The raw signals of three separate inputs are then amplified and streamed into the PC using a high speed USB 2.0 protocol. Of course, the signals that are picked up by the sensors are what is called "mass potentials" or "mass discharges" of all factors that are contributing at various amplitudes and levels. This makes it necessary to digest the signals into the individual components, which is done using some quite sophisticated mathematical operations including Fast Fourier Transformation.
On the software level, we moved away from a single-threaded program to a fully multi-threaded version that can operate either in text mode (when on the desktop) or else ports directly into the DirectX platform using the DotNET framework. The beauty of this is that because of the thread level parallelism, the signals that are converted into key strokes are seamlessly integrated into the game play, moreover, since the threads are given low priority compared to the actual game play, they will not compete with the actual game for CPU resources. That means that critical computations necessary for the game play will always be executed first, since it really does not matter whether there are a few microseconds delay in the computation of the key strokes that are executed for user input.
The biggest advantage of using the nia over a mouse is that the actual reaction times are about 30% to 60% shorter than what one can realistically achieve with a mouse. The reason is that any mouse click requires processing of the retinal signal by the visual cortex, then relaying the result to the motor centers at the substantia nigra in the brain and finally through the spinal cord out to the peripheral nerves that innervate the finger muscles. This process takes on average some 200 milliseconds, whereas for example an eye-lid reflex is in the order of 50 to 100 milliseconds and the advantage becomes very tangible in game play since many of the actions are triggered by natural reflexes. This type of reflex-based gaming is what most of the pros are using, however, it takes them several years of practice to get to this point whereas with the NIA, reflexes are taking over within a few minutes or maybe hours of getting accustomed with the setup.
Muscle or brain activity?
This is an interesting question. Originally we had been trying to separate the different signals into the different components and then assign specific functions to each. As it turns out, however, this is not really how it works. Just think about how you walk. Is it the muscles that make you walk or is it the brain or is it the spinal cord? Or even the bones? If you take away one of these components, the system on't work anymore, classic examples are paraplegics, MS patients or individuals with Parkinson's disease. Or somebody with a broken leg. We found that it is always a combination of different factors that trigger or suppress a specific action. In other words, you have EMG, EOG and EEG signals and the permutations of the different combinations are the actual output. Of course, some of the signals are more specific than others or just easier to learn. Everybody can squint the eyes or look left and right or clench the jaw and that is a good way to start. In reality, however, those crude signals become pretty irrelevant after a while, in fact, I have given demonstrations where I was talking (which includes a lot of jaw and tongue movements) and I can selectively filter out these signals on what I believe is a brain wave level so that they are not in the way of my game play. What it comes down to is that depending on the individual user and level of experience, different signals will become more prevalent than others, but as a rule of thumb, cerebral signals will take over where originally muscle signals were used. When I say cerebral, that also includes the sympathetic / parasympathetic system, in fact, that particular component appears to play a major role.
What’s new?
There have been many attempts in the past to use similar devices but most of them were doomed because the signal breakdown was not good enough, which necessitated the "brute force approach" of using for example only the muscle signals.
The new headbands we are using embrace sensors based on carbon nanofibers that are about 100 times more sensitive than older technology. This allows for a much wider dynamic range and also to pick up signals that were completely masked in previous approaches and that makes the use much more intuitive and easier.
The second issue regarding acceptance is that using the extra workload of decoding brain signals almost requires a separate co-processor and that was something that nobody had. The alternative is the multi-threaded approach on an SMP (symmetric multiprocessor) platform where the workload can be toggled between the different cores depending on the thread priority in the application workload. In other words, there are minimum hardware requirements that should be met. Especially with the older version we had and that was running over a serial RS232 interface, single core systems would easily choke, for example, it was easy to play Unreal Tournament 2004 with the first generation nia as long as there were not too many enemies but as soon as it got crowded, the "command decoding" started lagging and if you try to shoot in a first person shooter game and the system waits until the scene is less crowded, then you are dead by the time anyway. The new hardware and software largely solve this issue but there is definitely an advantage to play on a multiprocessor / multi-core platform. In other words, two years ago, the PC technology would not have been advanced enough to see a real advantage of using the nia, and we believe that this is a golden window of opportunity to come out with it now.
There is also the issue that brain research has advanced but we are not too concerned with the dissection of the signals into specific origins of neuronal / muscular groups, rather, as mentioned above, it is the synergism of all physiological activities that is the critical signal we are trying to read and understand to the point where we can use it.
Replacing the keyboard / mouse?
Playing computer games with the nia as opposed to a standard keyboard is different, meaning that the user needs to forget some of the learned habits and to acquire a different set of skills in order to interface with the computer. The nia takes just a few steps to configure and gamers can be literally up and running in your favorite game in a matter of minutes. Just like there is conventional memory and muscle memory, the user will also develop nia memory and within a short period of time, the body will remember the reactions it underwent to achieve the desired actions on the computer.
In fact, a keyboard is a poor comparison, it is more like a joystick and that should probably give you a more global answer to some of the questions you had with respect to applicability. Would you type with a joystick? Probably not. Have you played Flight Simulator with a joystick? Let me tell you, it is nothing compared to flying a helicopter just with your nia.
