The word “hack” has been repurposed to the point of meaninglessness, but Netflix’s “Hack Day” continues to churn out strange(r) things.
According to their company blog, it’s “a way for [their] product development team to take a break from everyday work, have fun, experiment with new technologies and collaborate with new people.”
The latest experiment? Mind control.
MindFlix is a headband remote control for Netflix operated by slight head movements and, no joke, thoughts. Employees Ben Hands, Steve Henderson, Andy Law and Sagar Patil reengineered a Muse headband — which analyzes brain signals in order to improve meditation — to help you scroll through episodes of The Crown without the inconvenience of moving any muscles below the neck.
As Variety notes, “The company typically tends to publicly highlight the wackier ideas that won’t likely be part of any actual Netflix product any time soon, but … Netflix’s first foray into virtual reality came after engineers toyed with the idea of a VR app at a hack day in 2014.”
Since remote controls (and the losing of them) have been a scourge on families from their inception, we’re hoping Netflix has the foresight to put this into production.
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