 I love using different off-the-wall ways to interact with my computer. I was very early adopter of the Oculus Rift and I am what seems to be one of the like 30 people that actually bought an OCZ Nia. Also known as the OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator. So when I saw that the Mio from Thalmic Labs has arrived, I got pretty excited. This device will theoretically allow me to control tons of things on my computer and on my phone through the use of my arm muscles and movements. Awesome, but does it live up to the hype or will it largely be forgotten like the Nia? Stay tuned to find out and if you like pterodactyls stay subscribed to Linus Tech Tips. Save on select Intel Core i7 processors and 730 series SSDs with instant rebates during Valentine's week February 14th to 21st 2015. Click now to learn more. To start off, we'll take a closer look at the physical unit. Along with the small teal Bluetooth adapter and teal micro USB cable, you have the Mio itself. It looks very sci-fi inspired overall and comes in either white or a black design. The band is expandable between 7.5 and 13 inches depending on your forearm circumference using the sizing clips and it weighs about 93 grams overall. On the inside is packing an Arm Cortex M4 processor, a bunch of stainless steel EMG sensors and a 9-axis IMU containing a 3-axis gyroscope, a 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis magnetometer. For feedback for the user it also has dual indicator LEDs and a haptic feedback vibration which has modes for short, medium and extended sensation duration as I call it or just long for normal people. The setup process for the device is pretty straightforward. Download the software off the Mio website, load up the getting started guide, plug everything in, run the firmware update which you'll probably have, name your device and follow the instructions on how to put it on which is essentially just put it around the widest part of your forearm. Once you're done getting your Mio properly situated, you have to wait a few minutes for it to heat up. Literally, the sensors will heat up from your body heat and once you've done all that you'll have to do the sync gesture and then you're good to go. Right off the bat, Mio is ready and able to work with a variety of apps including things from PowerPoint and Adobe Reader to Netflix and VLC but you can download hooks for other apps from the Mio market. While the market already has some good additions like Windows Media Player and a multi-browser control hook, there are some issues as well. For some applications there are multiple hooks, some of which clearly don't work and it would be nice if this was cleaned up in the future. Also some of the gaming hooks like Minecraft are a little silly in my opinion. I was excited at first but make a fist to attack? I'm really not excited to make a fist over and over and over again for hours while I dig a tunnel under my buddy's castle to fill up with TNT. Which brings us to actually using the device. The controls for each app are usually independent but there are some similarities between them. Wave left is usually just rewind or back. Waving right is usually fast forward or next. Spreading your fingers is usually a start or stop signal. Making a fist and using it for a dial light control like possibly volume or making a fist and doing something serious like attack in Minecraft. Now you might be asking yourself, hold on a second, what about all the things I do throughout the day with my hands? Like chopping vegetables or using a mouse or... You know, no problem. Usually the Mio will be locked so random gestures and your day to day movements won't be sending inputs to your say computer, phone or maybe tablet. And unlocking the Mio is as simple as tapping your index finger and thumb together. This is where you may have already guessed it, the trouble starts. For much of my testing I used music players because the effects of the Mio's input would be easily apparent even if I wasn't sitting at my computer if I used speakers. And the biggest issue with the Mio in my opinion and the reason why I had to stop using it in the first place is the poorly implemented unlock feature. To put this into perspective, I'll start off with using my Mio on my desktop computer. I was pouring myself some cereal about 10 feet away from my computer. The act of opening the box and pouring the actual cereal first unlocked the device, then changed the volume, changed the song and then stopped playing the music altogether. Then pouring the milk, started the music again, changed the song again, changed the volume again. Not exactly smooth and to get a little bit more intimate, I had to go to the washroom about 20-25 feet away. Wiping changed the volume and pulling my pants up changed the song. So next I figured let's try the Mio out on my phone. You can use it to play air guitar, 2048 or to control a music player. But once again, there were some challenges like one time I went out for a run. Throughout my workout the Mio was constantly unlocking and locking again, which meant it was vibrating on and off the whole time. Luckily, due to how I held my hands, it didn't really detect any other inputs unless they were intentional. So the overall experience wasn't too bad, but it definitely drives my point home further about the lock function. So in conclusion, I'm not all that sold. Not for $200 at least. I tried using this as an all-day device, but found it to be very annoying very quickly every time. Thalmic Labs needs to do some serious work on gesture recognition, especially for locking and unlocking. I mean, Armin van Buuren was able to use it pretty well for his concerts apparently, but he had a dedicated programmer following him around and tuning it specifically for him. This isn't exactly a luxury most of us have. Hardware is hard. Hardware startups have been trendy lately, but it is just as difficult as ever to pull off. Especially since the challenge of tightly integrated software and firmware along with your hardware is something that has been notoriously bad on a lot of these crowdfunded projects. So as per usual, using the finished product had the effect of wetting my appetite as opposed to satisfying my desire for a solid arm-mounted motion controller. What I will say for it is that this is a very compelling first attempt, and Thalmic Labs has definitely caught my attention enough for me to watch for future firmware and software updates, and even maybe some hardware iterations that will hopefully fix some things like overall improving the experience. If there's anything that I'd like to say to the development team, it would be that I think stopping unintentional inputs needs to be a priority, and I wouldn't be surprised if they resorted to a hardware iteration that added a two-stage lock of some sort, keeping the tap gesture for frequent use and adding voice control or a hardware button to ensure that inputs stop entirely when needed. Speaking of inputs and outputs, we use XSplit every week for the WAN show, which I have to actually host in a couple of hours, and so does he, and with his voice like it is today, that is not going to be that easy. So XSplit is a new sponsor for us, and honestly, they're one that we welcomed with open arms, because aside from our show, XSplit powers countless livestreams and recordings around the world, and with the recent release of XSplit V2, you can experience powerful new production tools that have been built to meet the needs of today's content creators, whether you're a professional, you know, like us, a first-timer, or just looking into making like tips and tricks videos for friends so you don't have to drive out to their house to fix something for them. XSplit allows you to create professional quality live broadcasts and video recordings with their simple intuitive interface, and you can easily manage guests through Skype, hook directly into your games via GameSource, and it even lets you easily stream and record your gaming moments with GameCaster, which has an easy-to-use in-game overlay to manage all of your streaming and recording settings. So if you're interested, head over to xsplit.com slash Linus to check out what they have to offer and claim your free XSplit license. Their free license gives you everything you need to start streaming and recording in HD, so pick yours up today. Guys, thanks for watching. Like this video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it, leave a comment if you feel bad for Luke's poor voice, and I made him work even though he kind of sounds like he's dying and that, as always, click the link in the video description if you want to support us. You can get a cool t-shirt like this one, you can give us a monthly contribution, if you want to contribute to the Get Well Soon Luke Fund, also known as Linus will actually take most of the money, and also change your Amazon link to one with our affiliate code, so we get a small kickback whenever you're buying Mio armbands or whatever else it is you want to buy on Amazon. Thanks again for watching and as always, don't forget to subscribe.