????加藤表示，她的公司迄今已募集了約750萬美元。去年，它計劃募資500萬美元，最后募得600萬美元。演員艾什頓?庫徹也是公司的投資者之一。在他的努力下，哥倫比亞廣播公司（CBS）的情景喜劇《好漢兩個半》（ Two and a Half Men）在一集中提到了一個類似Interaxon的公司。他們的另一部分資金來自于眾籌網站IndieGogo的一次募資活動。當時，他們計劃募集15萬美元，最后實際籌得了13.7萬美元。

????今年的消費電子展上，人們光是為了試試“繆斯”就得等上一個小時之久。加藤估計，展會上的預訂銷售將有75%的轉化率。她說：“一旦人們試過它，就會想買。”“繆斯”還贏得了公司采購。加藤拒絕透露這方面的具體數字，但表示員工援助計劃已預訂了這臺設備，用來幫助那些在壓力、注意力及整體健康上有問題的員工。

????注意力不集中的兒童可能也是一個市場。2003年的相關研究表明，基于EEG技術的訓練可以作為治療注意力缺陷多動障礙（ADHD）的零用藥療法。

????不過，之前類似的設備并沒有取得成功。Zeo就是一臺也能通過獲得EEG讀數幫助人們獲得更好休息的設備。據2010年發布的一份美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的文件稱，睡眠產業是一個價值高達320億美元的行業，而Zeo的股權募資達到了1230萬美元，幾乎是Interaxon募資額的兩倍。不過這家公司最后卻倒閉了。它失敗的一個原因在于，人們不太理解它。那些對睡眠的監測精度稍遜、同時又能測量其他活動的監控器，比如Fitbit和Jawbone's Up，削弱了Zeo的市場。

????加藤表示，用戶教育是Interaxon面臨的最大障礙。

????市面上有多種EGG產品，包括那些由NeuroSky, Emotiv和 Mindwave等公司開發的產品。不過加藤深信Interaxon與眾不同，因為它做到了垂直整合——甚至連它的算法都是內部開發的。這個算法非常復雜精巧，足以適應各種睡眠模式、情緒和盜汗的情況。

????加藤表示，今后的研究還將拓展功能：“等到我們開始拓展繆斯的功能后，這些應用就會提供給繆斯的使用者?！泵扛^帶都將帶有一個軟件開發包，可讓第三方開發者在此基礎上進行深度開發。

????這項技術所創造的各種可能性可能會給專業人士和創意工作者帶來更深刻的改變。改善注意力本身可能就足夠了，但微軟公司（Microsoft）的思維領導力主管凱莉?瓊斯最近在《赫芬頓郵報》（Huffington Post）上撰文表示，消費者現在要求“智能啟動”的技術——也就是那種知道看電影時電話不應該響、趕完工期軟件更新提示才會跳出來的技術。

????換言之，未來的技術應該能讀懂人們的心思。Interaxon希望這種說法既是一種比喻，也能成為活生生的現實。（財富中文網）

????譯者：清遠

????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.