News from the rapidly growing area of user research technology:
- MIT Technology Review reports that Omron, a Japanese electronics company, recently demonstrated software that can detect and measure smiles. Applications may include smile detection sensors in digital cameras. I see a clear connection to potential emotion measurement systems for user and market research.
- New Scientist reports on Microsoft's patent for "Using electroencephalograph signals for task classification and activity recognition" aka mind reading. Actually, the patent is for a method to filter EEG signal readings. The solution can be applied during usability testing as a non-obtrusive method to measure user reactions. There's a link to the patent itself for those interested in the legal and technical details.
