精通“读心术”的可穿戴设备有市场吗？

    加藤表示，她的公司迄今已募集了约750万美元。去年，它计划募资500万美元，最后募得600万美元。演员艾什顿•库彻也是公司的投资者之一。在他的努力下，哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）的情景喜剧《好汉两个半》（ Two and a Half Men）在一集中提到了一个类似Interaxon的公司。他们的另一部分资金来自于众筹网站IndieGogo的一次募资活动。当时，他们计划募集15万美元，最后实际筹得了13.7万美元。

    今年的消费电子展上，人们光是为了试试“缪斯”就得等上一个小时之久。加藤估计，展会上的预订销售将有75%的转化率。她说：“一旦人们试过它，就会想买。”“缪斯”还赢得了公司采购。加藤拒绝透露这方面的具体数字，但表示员工援助计划已预订了这台设备，用来帮助那些在压力、注意力及整体健康上有问题的员工。

    注意力不集中的儿童可能也是一个市场。2003年的相关研究表明，基于EEG技术的训练可以作为治疗注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）的零用药疗法。

    不过，之前类似的设备并没有取得成功。Zeo就是一台也能通过获得EEG读数帮助人们获得更好休息的设备。据2010年发布的一份美国证券交易委员会（SEC）的文件称，睡眠产业是一个价值高达320亿美元的行业，而Zeo的股权募资达到了1230万美元，几乎是Interaxon募资额的两倍。不过这家公司最后却倒闭了。它失败的一个原因在于，人们不太理解它。那些对睡眠的监测精度稍逊、同时又能测量其他活动的监控器，比如Fitbit和Jawbone's Up，削弱了Zeo的市场。

    加藤表示，用户教育是Interaxon面临的最大障碍。

    市面上有多种EGG产品，包括那些由NeuroSky, Emotiv和 Mindwave等公司开发的产品。不过加藤深信Interaxon与众不同，因为它做到了垂直整合——甚至连它的算法都是内部开发的。这个算法非常复杂精巧，足以适应各种睡眠模式、情绪和盗汗的情况。

    加藤表示，今后的研究还将拓展功能：“等到我们开始拓展缪斯的功能后，这些应用就会提供给缪斯的使用者。”每根头带都将带有一个软件开发包，可让第三方开发者在此基础上进行深度开发。

    这项技术所创造的各种可能性可能会给专业人士和创意工作者带来更深刻的改变。改善注意力本身可能就足够了，但微软公司（Microsoft）的思维领导力主管凯莉•琼斯最近在《赫芬顿邮报》（Huffington Post）上撰文表示，消费者现在要求“智能启动”的技术——也就是那种知道看电影时电话不应该响、赶完工期软件更新提示才会跳出来的技术。

    换言之，未来的技术应该能读懂人们的心思。Interaxon希望这种说法既是一种比喻，也能成为活生生的现实。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    The company has raised about $7.5 million to date, Garten says. It closed a $6 million roundlast year, on an offered $5 million. One of its investors is the actor Ashton Kutcher, who worked references to a company resembling Interaxon into an episode of the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men. Another part of their funding has come from an IndieGogo campaign, where it beat its $150,000 goal by $137,000.

    At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, people waited as long as an hour just to get a chance to try the Muse device. Garten estimated a 75% conversion rate for pre-order sales at the show. "As soon as people try it, they get it," she says. Muse is also already generating corporate sales. Garten declined to share specific figures but says that employee assistance programs are pre-ordering the device to help staff with stress, attention, and overall wellness.

    There may also be a market for inattentive children. Research from 2003 has shown that EEG based training can serve as a drug free alternative for treating ADHD.

    Still, similar devices didn't deliver. Zeo was a device that also took EEG readings of people to help them get better rest. The sleep industry is a $32 billion industry, and Zeo had $12.3 million in equity funding, according to a 2010 SEC filing. That's nearly twice what Interaxon has. But the company shut down. One reason it failed? Because the public didn'tunderstand it. Less accurate sleep monitors that also measured other activities, such as the Fitbit or Jawbone's Up, undermined Zeo's market.

    User education, Garten says, is the biggest hurdle Interaxon faces.

    There are a number of EEG products on the market, including those by the companies NeuroSky, Emotiv, and Mindwave. Garten believes that Interaxon is different because the company is vertically integrated -- even the algorithms, which are sophisticated enough to accommodate for different sleep patterns, moods, and sweat, are developed in house.

    Further research will extend its functionality, Garten says. "As we start to expand what Muse can do, those applications will be provided to Musers." Each headset will come with a software development kit to allow third-party developers to build upon that foundation.

    For professionals and creatives, the possibilities the technology creates could be game changing. Improving attention alone could be enough, but Microsoft's Head of Thought Leadership Kelly Jones recently wrote on Huffington Post that consumers are demanding technology that's "Intelligently On" -- technology that knows a movie is no time for a phone to ring and a software update notification that can wait until you've met your deadline.

    In other words, future technology ought to read your mind. Interaxon hopes that such a statement is as much literal as figurative.