Samsung's Gesture-Operated TVs May Soon Switch On Your Living Room Lights How's this for an 'Internet of Things' -- a new crop of Samsung television sets may soon allow for gestural operation of other nearby devices, too.
By Geoff Weiss
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
The misplaced TV remote may need not ever be found.
Samsung is honing motion sensor technology for a new crop of smart television sets that can reportedly operate with the mere flick of a finger.
The gesture-operated devices, which could launch as soon as 2016, may also let users control other household appliances, too -- such as switching on lights or turning on nearby stereo systems.
The startup behind these developments, VTouch, is currently in talks with Samsung, its chief executive, Kim Seok-joon, confirmed to The Wall Street Journal.
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The technology works with finger movements that are interpreted through programmed cameras, which then send out signals to a network of connected devices, he said.
"It will be a new interface that drops the usage of cursors, allowing the user to point to objects that exist beyond the TV screen."
VTouch software could represent a more groundbreaking innovation for Samsung's television division than the vast, curved sets it unveiled at CES. TVs accounted for 17 percent of the company's fourth-quarter revenues, The Journal reports.
While Samsung's current web-connected TVs feature hand-waving commands that can turn up the volume and search through menus, VTouch technology deepens accuracy by tracking both user hand and eye motions to filter false commands.
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