Blog of Mr. Tweet

On Tuesday, we asked what apps and twitter clients are you tweeting with and received so many great responses! We appreciate the hundreds of comments and we’ll be expanding the list to include some of the great Twitter clients you recommended. I’ve had a blast trying out your recommendations!

Using Your Brain As A Twitter App

What if you could tweet with just your brain? What if you could type out a message as you’re thinking it? CNN has published a story about Adam Wilson, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin, and his supervisor, Justin Williams, whom developed a way to tweet using electrical impulses generated by thought. It’s currently trending on Twitter as the “Brain-Twitter” project.

Wilson wrote the code for the software in a matter of days. By March 31st, Wilson had sent the first tweet using Brain-Twitter.

Now before you get all excited about tweeting with your brain, Wilson and Williams hope to use Brain-Twitter to help those that are paralyzed better communicate. It’s currently not available for purchasing or downloading. According to CNN,

“These are people who have ALS, like Stephen Hawking, or they have a brainstem stroke, or a high spinal-cord injury,” Williams explained. “There is nothing wrong with these people’s brains. It’s a normal person, locked into a lifeless, useless body.” (The British physicist Hawking has ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.)

What’s really interesting is the way that Williams thinks Twitter may be an invaluable solution for the communication needs of paralyzed patients,

“Their first interest is in being able to communicate in a normal fashion, and at a distance.”

Twitter is simpler than e-mail, he said.

“If I am locked in and I want to e-mail someone, the format is all wrong. You have to be able to select recipients and group them, copy, paste, send. … We don’t think about that much as normal people, but it can become unmanageable. Twitter takes care of all those things. They just have to get [the message] to a location where people can come and find it,”

What Do You Think About Brain-Twitter?

We’d like to know what you think of Brain-Twitter.

• Would you want something like this for personal use?
• Do you think this is frivolous or unnecessary?
• What other uses do you see for Brain-Twitter?

I think it’s a really amazing and unique way to use Twitter in the medical field. The Albion and Poke have introduced a unique way for businesses to use Twitter with BakerTweet, but Brain-Twitter can help to make Twitter a lot more accessible to completely new audiences.

Let’s discuss it in the comments!