When researchers at Emory University implanted a device in a paralyzed man's brain that let him move a cursor across a computer screen using only his brain signals, as the Associated Press reported last October, the medical and scientific communities were astonished.

But Yuri Maldini, the CEO and founder of Tidal Wave Communications, was not surprised. For nearly eight years, he has been perfecting a similar communications technology, one that he believes will shape -- perhaps even define -- the way we interact in the post-PC era. "At the intersection of the brain and miniature computing devices," says the soft-spoken engineer, "lies the future of communications."

Mr. Maldini's San Francisco-based startup will soon introduce one of the most improbable and ambitious products to come across the Red Herring's radar screen in years. Improbable because it seems to come straight from the pages of a William Gibson novel, ambitious because it will force consumers to rethink -- quite literally -- the way they communicate. Tidal Wave's first product, code-named Orecchio -- Italian for "ear" -- gives users a new way to compose and transmit electronic mail. (The company is working on enabling it to receive email.) Orecchio is constructed around a new communications protocol called Telepathic Internet Data Exchange, or TIDE. Developed by Mr. Maldini, TIDE is designed to act as a bridge between the human brain's impulses and a variety of Internet-based computing functions. "I've always viewed the mouse and the keyboard as intrusive intermediaries," explains Mr. Maldini. "We want to eliminate these obstacles and create a more seamless interaction between man and machine."

See the Herring's first-ever reference to William Gibson.Get the background on the thin-client hype.

While there's a plethora of new, thin-client devices that help people connect to the Internet without using a PC, Orecchio goes to the next level of "thinness" and portability. And Tidal Wave is pursuing the email market, a segment slated for explosive growth. Forrester Research projects that the number of U.S. households with Internet access, most of which have email accounts, will climb from 8.7 million in 1998 to 48.6 million by 2002.

With trial users in Fremont, California, raving about the product's ease of use and convenience, a war chest of cash for a splashy launch, and an impressive list of development partners, Tidal Wave has only begun to surge.

FIT TO BE TIDEMr. Maldini realized early on that email would be the killer app to prove the concept of TIDE. "Rather than type, why not dictate or, better yet, just think your email?" he says. "And once you've dictated or thought it out, why not send your email directly from the source: your brain?"

That's pretty heady stuff. With Orecchio, users can compose an email of up to 240 characters through dictation or mental visualization -- and then transmit the message telepathically to an email address that they similarly either dictate or think. The user wears a small unit resembling an elaborate hearing aid nestled between the ear and skull. The device, which acts as the "client," houses Tidal Wave's communications technology. Lying flush against the skin, Orecchio's sensors pick up brain impulses, digitize them, and then transmit the packets of information to the designated IP address. For storage, users must depend on their own memories of what they've sent.

According to "Surreal" J. Neil Weintraut of 21st Century Venture Partners, which hopes to invest in the young company, "The revolution will not be televised! It's going to be sent in email! Everybody's going to surf this tidal wave!"

Mr. Maldini, whose unusual name reflects his Estonian and Sicilian heritage, honed his engineering skills in the late '80s at the Tallinn Technical University in Estonia's capital, where he studied radio and communications engineering. Back then, trade embargoes led to a scarcity of good computer equipment behind the Iron Curtain. The situation's effect on his republic's competitiveness, Mr. Maldini recalls, "was like showing up at a gunfight with only a knife. We had to be resourceful and write elegant code that could compensate for the poor hardware."

ROLLING ESTONIANIn 1989, impatient with the inadequate conditions and well versed in "all computer languages," as he puts it, Mr. Maldini took advantage of post-glasnost freedom to accept a research fellowship at the California Institute of Technology, where he studied problems arising from the intersection of neurobiology, electrical engineering, computer science, and physics. After only 18 months he became a naturalized U.S. citizen and was recruited as a civilian analyst by the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). There he conducted analysis of acoustic information on undersea foreign-sensor, surveillance, and weapons systems. While Mr. Maldini says most of his military work remains top secret, he is willing to reveal that the idea for Orecchio was hatched from the 256-bit encrypted communications systems he implemented during the Gulf War and in Mogadishu, Somalia. It was not long before he was contemplating commercial applications and tinkering with early Orecchio prototypes in his spare time. Apparently this entrepreneurial bent runs in his family. His maternal grandfather invented the windshield wiper, and his great-uncle, a confectioner, cooked up the first jawbreaker-style hard candy (later commercialized under the Gobstopper brand).

At ONI and during a brief stint at the National Reconnaissance Office -- an agency whose existence wasn't even public until September 18, 1992, when it was declassified by the deputy secretary of defense -- Mr. Maldini came to know many world-class engineers and communications experts. Among them were Lance Chesterton, a former CIA employee who has worked with intelligence satellites, and Seamus O'Melveny, an ex-member of the U.S. Air Force's 249th Intelligence Group and an expert in information warfare countermeasures. In fact, Mr. O'Melveny was a member of the air force team that jammed Iraqi radar systems moments before the first Gulf War air raid on Baghdad. Mr. Chesterton, now Tidal Wave's chief technical officer, and Mr. O'Melveny, its chief operating officer, joined Mr. Maldini in January 1998 when he formally founded the company and secured his first round of funding: $9 million from an undisclosed investor in the defense industry.

With money in hand, Mr. Maldini quickly amassed a group of engineers and spent most of 1998 giving his technology a consumer look and feel. He retained Ulf A.M. Nilsson, a Swedish product-design expert (who designed the stick shift of the new Volvo cars) to make the ear unit "sleek, sexy, and unobtrusive," in his words, and solidified licensing agreements with Internet service providers, an email software developer, and a leading speech-to-text recognition software firm (Tidal Wave demands that prospective partners and customers ink an ironclad confidentiality agreement until the product's official launch). According to a source at a large midwestern ISP, "The bidding for exclusive agreements has been fierce. We view this as a new way to add value and attract new customers."

EAR AND LOATHINGBut along with the apparent fervor for Tidal Wave's product, there is also a fair amount of skepticism. Clarence Madison, managing partner of the visionary venture capital firm New World Associates, says, "I know crap when I see it. This is crap." He believes that the product works reasonably well in a closed environment like the Fremont trial but will not scale to multiple end users.

Juan Man, president of the Man Group, a research firm, agrees with Mr. Madison and also voices a fashion objection. "The technology is too slow for commercial use right now," he says. "And from a cosmetic standpoint, nobody will want this carbuncle hanging off the back of their ear."

Mr. Chesterton of Tidal Wave admits that "the technology was buggy at first, particularly in the area of thought-to-text translation," but he says that both the thinking and dictating functions have reached "almost zero latency." The thought-to-text transcription technology is approaching 90 percent accuracy, he says, adding that users who are reluctant to send emails without first reviewing them can download their messages to any infrared-capable personal digital assistant, like the Palm III.

"You'd be amazed, though," says Mr. Maldini, "how quickly you adapt to dictation on the fly. You just need practice and confidence." And as a matter of convenience, Orecchio users don't have to dial in to their ISP every time they want to send an email. Users maintain a persistent Internet connection for a flat monthly fee of less than $10. ISPs will also act as the primary sales channel for the product. By the end of this year, says Mr. Maldini, Orecchio will be able to receive messages; future features include a Web browser, a word processor, and built-in scheduling software.

Mr. Maldini and his colleagues concede that one of their greatest challenges will be to change the way people think about communications in general. Regarding critics who observe that many of Orecchio's functions are available on smart phones and two-way pagers, Mr. Maldini responds, "Those devices will shrink and then disappear. They're already moving from your hand into your head."

After an afternoon in Fremont, this reporter came one step closer to understanding the appeal of Tidal Wave's incredible vision. Test users in a regional bank could be seen quietly dictating in the hallways, only a few of them silently moving their mouths. At a telemarketing firm, the average user has been "thinking" about six to eight emails a day, according to the company.

Of course, consumers are fickle, particularly when technology meets fashion, but according to DeForrest Buck, editor of the trade publication Wearable Computing Trends, "The product is a bit cumbersome, but Tidal Wave could really take off if these ear pieces become hip. Hey, I think baggy jeans look stupid, but they do sell."

Like most entrepreneurs, Mr. Maldini is brimming with confidence. He plans to launch the product commercially before this year's holiday shopping blitz and says "several large Japanese electronics firms" have already signed on as partners, giving Orecchio entrйe into consumer-electronics channels.

When asked how large the telepathic communications market may grow, Mr. Maldini falls silent. He stares vacantly for several moments out his office window and then says, "I just sent you an email with my answer."

Upon returning to our office, we find the response waiting: "It's going to be huge," reads the email. "Simply huge."