Media and entertainment startups are certainly a dicey area of innovation, and in hearing pitches Tuesday morning, I wondered if they’ve read the news recently. In a short series of demonstrations at DEMO 2012 on Tuesday in Santa Clara, we heard someone pitch, “we’re trying to do for videos what Instagram did for photos,” several video chat clients that sounded remarkably like Airtime (which isn’t exactly on the upswing), and a startup that investors said could face the same revenue problems as Groupon.
However, MoveEye was an example of a startup that applied interesting technology and ambitious aspirations to the television, aiming to change how users control their dipslays by getting rid of the computer mouse or the television remote.
MoveEye combines Google-esque glasses with gestural behavior software to allow users to point to the television screen or desktop computer and control the interface without actually touching it. While the product isn’t yet commercially available and has patents pending, the company has goals to get rid of the need for a keyboard or mouse and revolutionize 3D content.
Several other companies are tackling similar things, and wearable technology is a big theme right now. There’s Google Glasses, the wearable technology that integrates with the company’s services, Microsoft’s Kinect, which works to turn a user into a game controller, and Flutter, which lets users control apps like iTunes or Spotify with gestural recognition.
MoveEye has ambitious goals, for sure, but the investors seemed interested and if it succeeds, it’s easy to see how the product would have a wider application than tv remote control, as the company’s competitors have proved.
