(Business 2.0) – MIND (CONTROL) GAMES

Strap on a headset from San Jose startup Neurosky, focus intently, and the needle jumps on the "Attention" dial on your laptop screen. (We tried it. It works.) Technologically speaking, it's similar to brain-monitoring equipment. But if gamers get their hands--er, heads--on the finished product, they'll soon be aiming with their eyes and attacking with their thoughts. CEO Stanley Yang is working with Dance Dance Revolution developer Red Octane and others to add basic brain-op features to new games. The first, Yang says, will be unveiled by year's end. -- M.V.C.

ULTRACHEAP PREFAB HOMES

Talk about a major price reduction: Palo Alto-based Global Homes International aims to slash homebuilding costs to less than $10 per square foot and sell prefab houses in underdeveloped regions of the world. Backed by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla (and led by ex-General Magic CEO Marc Porat), the startup plans to mass-produce modular walls and floors using local materials and labor, then mix and match parts for different sites and uses. The company will build a prototype later this year, along with several more in Katrina-damaged Biloxi, Miss. Says Porat, "You should be able to show up in the morning, build a house, and move in at night." -- M.V.C.

SKIN SCANNERS

Imagine leaning your face into a scanning machine and in two minutes reading a chart that shows where UV damage is worst, where wrinkles are forming, and which pores need unclogging. While not yet available to consumers, such a device was unveiled in March by San Jose-based BrighTex Bio-Photonics. Called Clarity Pro, it relies on fluorescence spectroscopy, used in chip fabs to inspect wafers. BrighTex founder Raj Chhibber expects to sell 100 units this year to doctors and cosmetics makers, then go after the consumer market with an at-home device and seek FDA approval for a skin cancer application. -- ELIZABETH ESFAHANI

HD EVERYWHERE

Picture yourself sitting behind the dugout, watching Derek Jeter crack a game-winning homer. Now imagine capturing that moment on your camcorder or even a cell phone, in high-def video you can watch on the flat screen at home. That's the vision of Ambarella, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., which has developed a new chip that's optimized not just for taking 16-megapixel photographs but also for capturing HD video while consuming less power than today's digicams. -- OM MALIK

THE $300 STUDENT LAPTOP

Forget the eMac. A consortium of tech heavy hitters thinks it has just the thing to bust open the market for student PCs: a speedy and durable little laptop that will sell for about $300. Project Inkwell, backed by Intel, Microsoft, SanDisk, and others, says the machine will be roughly the size of a paperback book and will sport blazingly fast boot-up times, basic word processing, and Web connectivity. Design firm Ideo has already produced a prototype, dubbed Spark. Inkwell is courting school districts across the country and estimates the potential market at more than $20 billion. -- M.V.C.

Michael V. Copeland, Elizabeth Esfahani and Om Malik contributed to this article.