Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently developed a device that allows a person to maintain a semi-conscious state between wakefulness and sleeping.

Why it matters: There’s now a working “sleep interface,” in the form of a device that allows humans to have a small amount of control over their own consciousness.

Credit: MIT

The state between awake and asleep is called hypnophagia, and some experts believe that by controlling the amount of time we spend in it, then interrupting the mind before it can completely fall asleep, we may be able to take advantage of certain cognitive associations we’ve never been able to before.

The way it works: A person puts on the glove and then makes a fist, as they begin to fall asleep they naturally loosen their grip. Once Dormio detects the person is moving from hypnophagia into sleep, it interrupts them with by playing a prerecorded reminder.

MIT has only tested the device with a handful of participants, but the outlook is promising. That is, if you’re into hacking the human brain with scientifically created sleep-interrupting techniques.

The Next Web’s 2018 conference is just a few weeks away, and it’ll be

Hands-on: Ricoh’s Theta S 360-degree camera makes everyone a photo bomber

Life-logging continues to be a trend at CES , with more cameras and apps than ever designed to record your daily activities and display them in unique, interactive ways. We went hands-on with Ricoh ‘s latest rendition of its 360-degree camera, the Theta S , to see how 360-degree imaging might play into our everyday lives.

Currently, it seems 360-degree photos and videos are often limited to sports photographers and travel. What Ricoh has done is to make it easy for people to take photos of any instance – birthday parties, football games, absurdly crowded conferences during a particular January week in Las Vegas – and allow anyone to interact with the scene.

The Theta S is made up of two half-spherical lens that shoot 190-degree images each at 12.4 megapixels. The extra 10 degrees on each side help the images accurately stitch together the photo for a seamless circular image.

Theta S also shoots full HD videos so you can rewatch a particular moment and browse around things you may have not seen in the first viewing. In our demo, Ricoh president Jim Malcolm showed us a video of him snowboarding in Colorado, which you can swipe around and observe different angles of the scenario, such as how his face changes during different parts of the slope, or looking ahead and behind him as he makes his way down the mountain.

With 360-degree photos and videos, virtually anyone becomes a photo bomber. Sure, this could raise security and privacy concerns in the future, but in social settings like CES, it’s actually quite amusing to look around the room to see what else was going on in the moment you’re focused on smiling for the camera.

During our demo, a bystander also interrupted our session and asked Malcolm how to best use 360-degree imaging in his profession of real estate. Malcolm recommended he take clients to showings with the Theta S and send them the images they take after the viewing to relive the visit, allowing them to explore parts of the home they may have missed in the initial walkthrough.

As companies continue to invest in 360-degree imaging, I asked Malcolm if he foresees spherical lens technology shrinking enough to fit inside a smartphone. He says that is a possibility Ricoh is definitely not ruling out.

“It’s only a matter of time,” he says, as he compares the Theta S and his iPhone 6P together.

“When you look at the Theta S, what really powers it are the lens, internal memory and batteries. These are components that already exist in a smartphone, so we’re definitely excited to see how this is incorporated in the near future.”

The Theta S is available today for $350 . The device comes with 8 GB of internal memory, which should amount to about 1,600 images or 65 minutes of HD video.

Microsoft and Wacom team up to create an ultimate stylus that works on all PCs

Microsoft’s new Windows Ink platform was probably the biggest feature coming in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update , but one big piece of news was left out of the keynote presentation at Build 2016 : Microsoft and Wacom are partnering to create a new ‘universal’ stylus than can work on all pen-enabled PCs.

Keep in mind this isn’t the first time Microsoft has partnered with Wacom, which created the Pen on the first two Surface generations. Microsoft then switched to N-Trig technology (a company it now owns ) on the Surface Pro 3 and later generations to reduce latency and build a thinner screen, but not everyone was happy about the change.

The new device should offer the best of both worlds, combining both Microsoft and Wacom’s active pen technology, and compatible with both standards. Wacom, for its part, hopes that the pen will “help to bolster broad consumer demand for digital pen and ink.”

It’s good move for Microsoft too, especially since the Apple Pencil was released. Its tilt sensitivity and super-low latency made it a popular choice for artists.

N-trig technology was more focused on note-taking than art, and some designers and artists would rather use their Wacom tablets over a Surface Pen because of their added precision. If Microsoft and Wacom’s new stylus includes any sort of tilt sensitivity and provides multiple tips for different textures, they could provide the ultimate digital art solution.

In any case, it’s clear ink will be a much more important part of Windows going forward – Microsoft modeled some of its Ink workplace features after its old Courier concept , and it wants to harness Cortana and intelligence to make the stylus much more useful.

We’ll have to wait a while to see it the new pen though. Microsoft says the device will arrive “this holiday season.” Hopefully that hints at some major hardware news later this year; a Surface Phone , perhaps?

Don’t miss: Everything Microsoft announced at Build 2016: Day 2