Google buys webcam gesture app Flutter for $40 million
Flutter, the app that lets you control music and movie playback using gestures picked up by a webcam, is to continue life as a Google product. The innovative app is the latest acquisition by the search giant, and comes just three years after the company was founded in San Francisco, California. Flutter is extremely upbeat about the purchase, seemingly keen to reap the benefits of the Google marketing machine.
Flutter CEO Navneet Dalal announces the acquisition on the Flutter website.
So what could all this mean? At this stage it is mere speculation, but there is certainly scope for Flutter's webcam driven gesture technology to be incorporated into a future version of Android or used as a touchscreen alternative for Chromebooks.
A Google spokesman told me: "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".
In the meantime it is still possible to download the app and use it to control apps such as Spotify, VLC and iTunes in OS X and Windows.
How Flutter Works?
Key Features of the Flutter App
- Play/Pause your music & videos using simple hand gestures (You need to just show palm gesture to your Mac)
- Go to Next Song (using thumbs right) or rewind to Previous Song (using thumbs left gesture)
- Works via your webcam, which means you don’t need not spend on any additional hardware
- Works best from 1-6 feet distance from webcam – I have found this to work from even a further distance, as long the web can see your gesture, it works!
- Works even when Spotify, iTunes, Rdio, and other apps are playing music/video in the background or are minimized.
Below are some of the features which are planned for future releases
- Volume Gestures
- YouTube and Other Web Apps Support
- Additional gestures in the work: Like Songs, Mute, Volume Control
As of now, Flutter is available for Mac and Windows PC and has already been featured in the MacApp Store.
Currently with just an 8-member team (full timers and interns), they have done a great job and all the innovation happens from Flutter’s SF downtown office.
The Flutter team have filed some patents for the gesture technology. Have a look at thisTechCrunch demo cum interview with the Flutter co-founders, Navneet Dalal and Mehul Nariyawala about how Flutter works and what are the founders’ future plans with the app.
I think this app has got a lot of potential and there are endless number of areas where this gesture-powered technology can make wonders and make impossible, possible. What do you think?
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