In late 2010 when the XBOX 360 Kinect was released, there was a massive amount of hacking (actually embraced by Microsoft) that led to some incredibly innovative results. Some with very practical solutions and some, well, a bit more “artistic”.

At CES this year, several companies showcased their kinetic, or movement based interaction, controls that integrated with television sets and their specialized platforms and programs. While some required additional hardware, like the camera and supporting processor, other companies had actually built the camera and processor into the TV, which seems to be what consumers are looking for — if it can’t live in the “cloud” please keep the number of peripherals to a minimum. A handful of these devices even included voice activated controls as well.



While many people may recall Tom Cruise’s character in Minority Report interacting with content on large transparent screens with his hands, the good news is all of this technology does not require special effects and more importantly special gloves, which honestly reminded me too much of the NES Power Glove.


What will we see as more manufacturers release movement and/or voice based controls? With the advent of the Wii and Kinect, gaming was opened to a new type of consumer base, the casual family and friends gamers. What will be interesting is how this community gathering around a single centralized device will allow for collaborative engagement and selection of content. It is problem enough if your dog or toddler walks into the room while you are playing a Kinect game, but what happens when it is something truly important like when you’re trying to set a recording for the season finale of America’s Got Talent and your dog’s tail deletes an entire season of Top Chef? Or you are trying to change the channel to iTV and your Samsung is confused because the voice command is “Hi TV, turn channel to iTV” ? All kidding aside, there is still a ways to go for this type of technology to move from a novelty to mainstream adoption, but we are headed in the right direction.


Once we see improvement in the required gestures and recognized voice commands, there is more opportunity than just changing the channel or boxing a virtual heavyweight in a game. Some of the examples at CES show that in the not too distant future there will be advertising experiences with a ‘virtual you’ trying on different clothes, or even navigating through a 360 3D view inside and out of a new SUV. What better way to get your significant other’s opinion on how you’ll really look in those new pair of Diesel jeans or the approval of your kids for the spacious backseat with dual-screened entertainment system of the BMW X5. I mean outside of actually going to the store or dealership.

Most of the television OEMs only plan to include the voice or motion based controls in their top end models, and while consumers can add on this technology through an additional piece of hardware expect only the early adopters to embrace much of the technology as it stands today. But, by 2013 expect to be able to “clap on” or “clap off” your TV, and well much, much more.




Ryan K Manchee | Director of Innovation Strategy, MediaMind