BCI2000 Software Lets Your Mind Control Computers

Of course, to do that you'll need some way to get EEG data out of your head. You could get an Easy Cap (scary website: http://www.easycap.de/easycap/e/products/products.htm#15 and http://www.easycap.de/easycap/e/prices/price_list.htm because Europeans alike to put the price on a different page from the product info) or go to eCrater: http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=4734120 ...where you can also buy a neurofeedback-enabled teddy bear to clutch during compile cycles (for real): http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=4733183

Unsurprisngly, decommissioned systems are quite cheap on eBay.

Emotiv http://www.emotiv.com/developers.html offer a similar (14 electrode) device for $299, but only with a simplified SDK. If you want the full data you will pay more. Much more. Discussion of this, with issues familiar to many on HN: http://www.emotiv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7 I'm not sure why the fuss, given that you can get a lot of other EEG stuff for much less than you might imagine, but the Emotiv product does look good and suitably modern compared to the traditional caps.

I don't like the BCI2000 website much, but here's the list of compatible hardware: http://www.bci2000.org/BCI2000/Features_Hardware.html software & sources is apparently free on registration. Windows only for now, Linux and Mac coming soon.

...man, sometime I wish we could mrkup HN posts like on Metafilter...oh well, enjoy!