This week’s Science issue (6 October 2006: Vol. 314. no. 5796, pp. 76 – 77) provides a wonderful account of Jeff Hawkins: "Mobile computing pioneer Jeff Hawkins has had a lifelong fascination with brains. Now he’s trying to model the human cerebral cortex—and he’s created a software company based on his ideas".
You can read about Jeff Hawkins’ start-up Numenta here.