The Toyota Collaboration Center has developed a wheelchair that works with a Brain Machine Interface (BMI) that can react to a user's thought in 125 milliseconds. Toyota hopes that this research will eventually lead to helping rehabilitation patients.

Simplistically described as "mind reading" technology, brain wave analysis is a technology that has been in research for years. The simple way of explaining it is to compare it to voice analysis, which works with a single (sound) wave. Brain wave analysis consist of tracking many more waves (the subject in the photo seems to have dozens of sensors) at once and interpreting the brain activity.

Basically, the system is trying to match a brain pattern with recognizable pattern that it was taught before. Overtime, it can also get better at recognizing the "thoughts" or "intent" of the user. Toyota claims to achieve a 95% accuracy (that's really good) with basic wheel chair commands , but we would love to try one when the time comes - hopefully before we really need one of those.

This is an interesting WIFI development as we can't seem to find a WIFI hotspot (paid or otherwise) when we *really* need one. In the UK, BT is turning 2500 ATM machines into paid WIFI hotspots. These ATMs are mostly located in restaurants and that means a good seat for WIFI users.

But that's not it: BT customers will be given a limited WIFI allowance that will allow them to use these hotspots. iPhone users will be given an unlimited access. The normal price is £5.88 for 1.5 hours or £9.79 for 24 hours.

If you wonder, BT does not own the ATM machines. Instead, they will pay some royalties to cashbox, the company that do own them.

You thought that Blu-ray movies are extremely strict when it comes to making copies, but here comes news that an updated version of the Blu-ray standard will make limited copying possible from next year onwards: most of all discs released after Q1 2010 ought to enable one full-resolution copy, better known as a Managed Copy. These videos will be writable to Blu-ray or DVD discs, while others might opt to save it onto a Windows Media DRM-compatible file. You will need new players to support this feature though, so don't go around whopping for joy just yet especially when you've dropped serious coin for a Blu-ray player in the past.

This seems like a bold claim, but that is what Opera is displaying on its web site. It might just be a new version of their browser that features new guts that would be faster and more web 2.0/Ajax friendly, but really you guess is as good as ours at this point. Come back on Monday to see what's so wonderful in Operaland.

eBook lovers, Amazon has started shipping the Kindle DX, its larger 9.7" wireless eBook. For those who completely missed the boat, we have published the specifications, some comments about the pricing and most importantly a review of the Kindle 2, its smaller sibbling with which it shares many features. This is a must read if you're even remotely thinking about ordering a Kindle device.

Our Kindle DX review is coming soon!

How do you know when you're getting charged way too much money for something? When there's a display on the brochure of course! Obviously, the price of the boats justify lofty means to promote them, so that's OK, but still, it is amusing to see where these displays end up. We have not checked the Lamborghini brochures for a couple of month, but they might be next.

The Tokyo Tower Main Observatory is currently configured to display the “Milky Way Illumination” that will boast a whopping 10,000 blue lights which are guaranteed to wow just about any onlooker. The blinking lights will definitely make you feel as though you could reach out and touch the Milky Way, where there is a near infinite amount of stars twinkling in the faux sky. This unique illumination will run until the 12th of next month, so make a beeline to the Tokyo Tower if you happen to be in Japan's capital anytime soon in order to catch the wonders of such a beauty.

While the iPhone has had its fair bit in the limelight when it comes to coasters, here's another set from Meninos that will feature icons of Photoshop, Dreamweaver, After Effects and InDesign among numerous others to create a bunch of coasters where geeks congregating around your dining table are able to relate to. At least you can separate the chaff from the wheat whenever someone comes up to you and ask, ” Why do you have intials on your coasters?” The Designer Coaster Set has been set at $25.

Google is on its way to put eBooks up for sale before 2009 is over, and looks set to eat into Amazon's territory. Currently, the Internet search giant already enables people to look for and read extracts from books through its Book Search service, alongside links to book stores such as Amazon and Waterstone’s, where those who are hooked on such a short read can place orders for print and electronic versions of the titles. Google will allow publishers to price their own titles, a move that is unlike what Amazon has been doing with many publishers, selling eBooks at less than cost price. It would be interesting to see how Google's participation will affect Amazon's sales - is the pie going to expand, or will Amazon going to have to settle for a smaller slice?

Darth Vader's got your back in the form of the Back Buddy, looking like the cutest version of the Dark Lord of the Sith, ever. Measuring a less-than-intimidating 3-feet, Vader will be hanging off your back just in case your Force sensitivity drops and you fail to detect an incoming threat from your six. This is officially licensed Star Wars merchandise, and you can wow everyone in the new school term by placing $39.99 pre-orders for the Darth Vader Back Buddy while waiting for it to ship this August.

As bloggers, we definitely can't live without RSS feeds since these are one of the most efficient ways to check out whether our favorite press sites have new news to be posted or not. As for ordinary folks, RSS readers are also essential to know who has recently updated their blogs or not, making it kinda an addictive affair at the same time. The RSS Icon Pillow is something cute for the well-informed geek, allowing one to take a quick nap right in front of the computer - just make sure that drool doesn't end up on your keyboard in the process. At $15 a pop, this is one of the cuter, geeky stuff to bring home - something light for a Friday morning.

Can't think of a dress to that cocktail party where you want to impress anyone who lays their eyes on you? We don't think you can go wrong with the LumiTop Sophia, a shimmery white dress that offers a luminous effect to light up your surroundings - who knows, you might look like an angel to somebody in the room? No idea on whether LED technology is at play here, but it will definitely make you the most outstanding person in a party - unless someone else turns up in the same dress, of course. There must be a battery pack somewhere to power this thing, now where could it be hidden?

Sony is reportedly slashing ties with 1300 suppliers in a bid to reduce production costs for this fiscal year. The non-official information has been obtained by Nikkei business daily from "unnamed sources".

This is not a surprising move, but we think that the timetable for change has been accelerated because of the recent loss posted by Sony. What will happen, we think, is that Sony will challenge its designers to use and re-use less parts across its product line. Reducing the number of parts (which range in the tens of thousands now) is a key component of cost-reducing costs.

That goes from economies of scale, to reduced processing work, to negotiation power, to storage and so on... there are implication all over the place. It works for Ikea, so it should work for Sony :)

We know that the Kindle design has room for a SIM card, which means that it could be used in GSM networks around the world. A recent newsletter from Amazon titled "Territory Updates" explains how publishers can set territory restrictions on sales for their titles (by default, there is no restrictions).

The Kindle Nation Blog sees this as a sign that Kindle is going global soon, and they might very well be right. By now, Amazon must have worked out its distribution model and has created enough buzz to start negotiating with wireless carriers worldwide.