A new way to watch TV debuts. InAiR from SeeSpace uniquely places Web content inline with the consumers’ TV viewing experience, creating a completely new dynamic medium. Further, there is no second screen to juggle. InAiR combines Emmy-award-winning design expertise and next generation technology to create a rich, dynamic, animated viewer interface using the main TV screen and the space between the screen and the viewer. A demonstration video is available bellow. “Viewers don’t want to watch TV in isolation any more. They want context: graphics, information and social engagement. Today, there is no easy way to display this content without the second screen,” said Nam Do, co-founder and CEO of SeeSpace. “We had to crack both the design and the technical challenges to deliver InAiR, a completely new kind of viewer interface. InAiR makes use of the entire viewing space in front of the TV, and creates a new medium of combined media like nothing people have interacted with before.”
The InAiR experience is designed to work with any existing TV, including regular 2D, 3D and 4K Ultra HD. The only hardware needed is the InAiR Smart HDMI Adapter. Consumers simply plug this extension cable into their TV and set top box and can start enjoying InAiR Augmented TV straight away. Turn any iOS or Android mobile device – including smartphones, tablets and smartwatches – into a track pad type controller by downloading the free InAiR app. With no menus to navigate or buttons to press, viewers intuitively use their thumbs to swipe and scroll through content overlaid on the screen. InAiR also supports gesture control through Kinect or Leap devices, giving viewers a true “Minority Report” experience. The SeeSpace patented InAiR Engine intelligently identifies relevant Internet and social content based on what the viewer is watching on TV and deliver it to the TV screen in real time. InAiR uses the vast amount of readily available free content to enrich the viewing experience today, and plans to make additional premium content available in the future via media partnerships. Leading up to the product availability announcement, an API developer’s kit will also be made available, further extending the possibilities of InAiR’s user experience.
InAiR has been developed by SeeSpace, a start-up founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Hollywood entertainment experts. The founding team comprises Nam Do, founder of neuro-technology pioneer Emotiv, and Dale Herigstad, four-time Emmy-award-winning designer and veteran creative director in television for 35 years. The founding team is completed by Jerry Gramaglia, President of eTrade, CMO at Pepsi and chairman at Acxiom; and Anne-Marie Roussel, former Microsoft and Sharp TV executive and Gartner VP.
InAiR will be available for preorder for $99 via a Kickstarter campaign launching this month, with ship dates expected in the second half of 2014. For a live InAiR demo, come by SeeSpace booth #75007 in the Eureka Park area of the Venetian. SeeSpace was founded in 2013 by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Hollywood entertainment experts to reinvent the way we watch TV. The company’s flagship product is InAiR, a multi-dimensional viewer interface for Augmented TV. InAiR is the first viewer interface to blend TV and video content with relevant content from the Web, displaying it inline, in a completely intuitive way. There is no second screen to juggle – InAiR uses the main TV screen and layers in additional sources of content to enrich the connection between the screen and the viewer. Visit SeeSpace.co to sign up for more API information.