Image Credit: Flutter
Google
is planning to beef up its gesture-based interface offerings with their
latest acquisition. Startup company Flutter hails itself as the “Kinect
for OS X” and offers an app in the Mac App Store. Flutter uses the Mac’s camera to detect simple gestures to control music and movies.
Though both companies have confirmed the purchase, neither has
revealed the specific terms of the deal – including the purchase price.
Flutter says they’ll continue their research into gesture-based
interfaces while at Google, and at the moment their app is still
available in the Mac App Store.
“When we started three years ago, our dream to build a ubiquitous and
power-efficient gesture recognition technology was considered by many
as just ‘a dream,’ not a real possibility,” reads a statement on the Flutter website.
“Today, we are thrilled to announce that we will be continuing our
research at Google. We share Google’s passion for 10x thinking, and
we’re excited to add their rocket fuel to our journey.”
A Google spokesperson also confirmed the deal,
saying: “We’re really impressed by the Flutter team’s ability to design
new technology based on cutting-edge research. We look forward to
supporting and collaborating on their research efforts at Google.”
Available for both Mac and Windows PCs, Flutter uses the webcam to
turn gestures into actions. Currently users only have three gestures
they can use to play, pause, go forward or go back when listening to
music or watching movies. Flutter works with a number of popular
entertainment apps, including iTunes, Rdio, Spotify and VLC.
When paired with a Google Chrome
extension, Flutter also allows users to pause, play or rewind videos on
Netflix and YouTube. A thumb pointed left rewinds or goes to the
beginning of the track or previous track; a thumb pointed right advances
the video or goes to the next song. Holding a flat palm towards the
camera pauses and restarts the content.
Flutter requires the webcam to stay on while the app is in use, but
the company says the snapshots gathered from the camera do not leave the
computer. Flutter does store snapshots of the most recent gestures in
case the user reports an error, such as a skipped song when they sneeze.
According to sources who spoke with GigaOm,
all six of Flutter’s employees will be heading to the Googleplex in
Mountain View, California. Flutter’s co-founders, Mehul Nariyawala and
Navneet Dalal, have worked previously with Google.
There are currently few official details about this deal, but it’s
assumed Google has plans to begin implementing gesture-based controls
into their platforms. Some Android devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy
S4, already have similar controls built-in to the device. As touted in
their commercials, Samsung’s gesture controls let users wave their hands
over the device to navigate through pictures or scroll through an
email. With Flutter’s technology built into Android, Google could bring
this functionality to even more devices natively. Google may also decide
to pack Flutter’s algorithms into their line of Chromebooks, which run
their cloud-based operating system Chrome.
Last year Flutter’s co-founders showed off their app working on an
iPhone and discussed plans to extend their algorithms to be able to
understand subtle facial cues, such as smiles or frowns.
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