Meta unveiled a wristband it’s been developing for years that allows wearers to control computers, tablets, and smartphones without touching them.
Why It Hits: Big Tech would love to make the act of scrolling and typing a thing of the past. While most of the attention is paid to riskier ventures involving brain-interface chips, Meta’s use of electrical signals in our muscles could give it an edge with the average consumer (i.e., those who don’t want open-skull surgery).
Between the Hands: Soon, we may all be able to use our computers like Tom Cruise in Minority Report.
It works by reading “the electrical signals that pulse through your muscles when you move your fingers” — a technique called electromyography, or EMG.
These signals are developed by neurons in a person’s spinal cord and connect directly to the muscle fibers in their forearm — a signal so strong it can be read outside the body.
And because these signals are created by commands from a person’s brain, the device can pick them up even before any actual movement occurs. That means it can almost function without movement — just the intention of it.
Reading that intention could potentially allow wearers to complete tasks faster than they could physically, since the device would be operating almost at the speed of thought.
The Future: While experts note that EMG has been around for decades, it’s Meta’s innovations in AI that now make it possible to create a device like this. Dr. Thomas Reardon, the Meta VP behind the wristband and the inventor of Internet Explorer, collected signals from 10,000 volunteers and ran them through a neural network to identify patterns — essentially creating a baseline for how the device responds to each wearer. Over time, individual devices will become more attuned to the people who use them.
Prediction: With Dr. Reardon already teasing that Meta will likely fold the wristband tech into existing devices, Meta’s first true computer device could be a mix of its smart glasses and the wristband.
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