About this project
$177,873
1,393
Extended Goal: Added Features @ $200K
We have now surpassed the $150K goal to add streaming to the list of features. And if we reach the $200K level, we will also add an Extra HDMI input and Preset Apps to InAiR. Thanks for the continued support for this project.
What is InAiR?
InAiR brings you the world's first Augmented TV experience
With InAir plugged in, your TV becomes an Augmented Television. You can turn any ordinary television into a new and wonderful medium, filled with rich and dynamic information from the Web. InAiR uses your TV screen and layers in additional content from the Web and social media.
InAir works with any standard television. And InAir works with any 3D TV.
When activated in 3D mode, the layers of Internet content appear to be positioned in front of the screen and can be dynamically manipulated by the viewer. These foreground layers of information appear to be holograms, and floating "in air" (and this is where our name came from).
The following video will allow you to get a glimpse of the 3D vision of our product, where the interface and content appears in layers in front of the screen. You can select a preferred 3D method by clicking the settings button on the lower right of the screen. This demo can be viewed in anaglyphic mode using common red/cyan 3D glasses, or you can view in the "side by side" method on a 3D TV.
But is is important to note that the same dynamic, layered experience can work in 2D mode on any television. The interface and UX of inAiR were designed to simulate dimension whether that experience space is "inside" the TV (in 2D mode) or extended into the room (in 3D mode).
Are you frequently using your laptop and television at the same time? Many of us are multi-tasking: watching TV, and at the same time surfing the Web for information, purchasing things online and communicating on social networks. By designing a centralized platform, InAiR creates a single viewing experience.
We care a lot about quality. And we have high standards for creating a rich experience: smooth animation, layering, and clean simple graphics. Our interface is very simple to use, and is designed with gesture in mind, for touch gesture on smartphones and for hand gesture.
What about the hardware?
InAiR is a smart HDMI cable. You simply plug InAiR between your TV and your set top box. InAiR connects to your wifi, with no complicated setup process. Simply “plug and play.”
What can InAiR do?
InAiR intelligently identifies what you are watching on TV, automatically gathers relevant Internet and social content, and then processes and places these layers of Web information in front of your TV screen in real time, on demand. InAiR can use the vast amount of readily available free content on the Internet to enrich your viewing experience at launch.
Examples of InAiR content
This example demonstrates how InAiR can take an existing mobile app (Formula 1) and ports it into your InAiR viewing space. You can watch important information such as positions of the cars, live timing, and onboard camera, inline with the main program. and you don't have to look up and and down between the TV and mobile screens.
Documentary
While watching documentary programming, many of us like to have access to more information. This example shows the possibilities of projecting 3D models into the room to navigate and explore. It also demonstrates the way InAiR can access open web information such as Wikipedia and other relevant sites on the Internet. In this example it's the NASA website and its library of photographs.
Movies
In this example, InAiR has found links to information about a movie (Skyfall), soundtracks and artists, and also special information about a Jaguar appearing as a product placement in the film. Viewers can also navigate feeds from their favorite social networks.
Sports
If you watch sporting events, you will be able to display relevant stats while you keep watching the game. This could be players’ stats or game highlights.
News
When watching an interesting news story on TV, have you ever wanted to check out what your favorite newspaper or blog has to say about that topic? InAiR can help you do that without having to turn on your computer. You can compare TV news with relevant articles and information right on your screen.
Other examples:
Information-on-demand TV commercial
Notifications
How do you navigate InAir content?
You can navigate InAiR content in a number of ways:
1. Touch gestures: simple swipes on your mobile device
The InAiR app will be available for free on iOS, Android and Windows, allowing you to turn your smartphone, tablet or smart watch into a remote control. The screen of your device acts like a trackpad and simple gestures will allow you to navigate the InAiR content presented in 3D or in 2D, without having to look at the mobile screen in your hand.
2. Hand gestures: when paired with Kinect or Leap Motion, hand gestures can be used to manipulate the content onscreen, providing a Minority Report-like experience.
Easy set up
InAiR also offers a wifi functionality that automatically connects to your existing wifi network. You do not need to own a “Smart TV” - even a traditional non-connected TV can connect to the Internet and receive additional content via InAiR’s wifi capability.
InAiR is powered via its USB connection to your set-top box, so there is no need for an extra electrical outlet nearby.
For developers
A great deal of information is, of course, freely available on the open Internet for pairing with your TV viewing.
But also, with our API, you will be able to view additional premium content via our developer community. Our API/SDK was created to help application developers easily create content that is best suited for our InAiR interaction space. No more separate app developments for each different TV platform out there. With InAiR, you develop once and your app will work with any TV on the market.
What we have achieved so far
Development timeline since we started:
We started out with this:
And this:
Then we came to this:
And now we have this:
And this:
Why are we asking for your support?
Our goal is to introduce InAiR TV to the early adopters on Kickstarter, because we believe they are the thought leaders and trend-setting community. We would like your involvement, whether to provide feedback or to create cool apps/content that will take the InAiR augmented television experience to the next level, opening a new frontier for Television.
We need your help to be able to build out a larger team to work on all fronts of the product, from design to engineering, from SDK to app store.
We also need your support to get to the next stage of manufacturing and production.
We are a group of very hardworking people, whose aim is to bring you a new and expanded TV experience. We will keep you updated often on our progress.
Thank you very much and we do appreciate your support!!!
FAQs
Do I need a special TV?
No. InAiR works with any existing TV, whether it is connected to the Internet or not. Our content can be displayed in 3D if your TV is 3D-capable. But use of the 3D format is entirely optional, it works just as well with regular, 2D TVs.-
How
are you serving up relevant content?
We have a patented InAiR content recognition engine, based on our own algorithms, which intelligently identifies relevant Internet and social content with what the viewer is watching and delivers it to the TV screen in real time. InAiR engine also allows you to search for specific terms while still watching your TV program, effortlessly through our simple track-pad app.
- Can I engage with other viewers / create a co-viewing experience? It’s up to you -- and it depends on what you are watching with whom. If you are watching a program on space exploration with your kids, you can use the InAiR interface to bring up Internet-based models of spacecraft’s and planets to show them details. If you are watching a sports game with your friends in the US, you may want to stay connected with your friends in Europe (time zones permitting!) by bringing up your Twitter feed on the same screen. On the other hand, teenagers watching the evening news with mom won’t want their Facebook timeline displayed on the TV screen…it’s your choice, you can switch InAiR on and off as you wish.
- What
content does InAiR support?
InAiR brings all the freely available Internet content in front of your TV screen -- including graphics, information and social engagement. For example, you can view a course map while watching a golf tournament, see actor or player profiles while watching a game or movie, and keep an eye on Twitter or Facebook, without interrupting the TV viewing experience.
- What
TV network is compatible to inAiR?
inAiR is compatible with ALL networks television, in ALL countries. Whether you are with Comcast, Cable Vision, Direct TV in the US or Sky, Canal + in Europe, inAir works with any TV content, live or on-demand.
- Who
are your competitors?
Currently, there is no other product like inAiR on the market. However, we imagine that tech consumer companies like Apple, or TV manufacturers like Samsung could have R&D projects underway to develop a similar interface. They would have a definite financial advantage over our little startup, but our combination of hard-to-find talent and ability of execute nimbly and quickly gives us an edge.
Risks and challenges
We have worked hard over the past year to bring you the first Augmented TV experience of its kind. We have already locked in our key partners for product and manufacturing design, and for suppliers, and we are in the manufacturing design process. We are close to starting production for inAiR.
However, our past experience as entrepreneurs has taught us that there are always risks in moving from prototype to manufacturing, then from low volume to high volume production. Then there are also inventory management, tooling, manufacturing processes, etc..
We do appreciate your support and are excited to move to the next stage in bringing you a great Augmented TV experience.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
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No. InAiR works with any existing TV, whether it is connected to the Internet or not. Our content can be displayed in 3D if your TV is 3D-capable. But use of the 3D format is entirely optional, it works just as well with regular, 2D TVs.
-
We have a patented InAiR content recognition engine, based on our own algorithms, which intelligently identifies relevant Internet and social content with what the viewer is watching and delivers it to the TV screen in real time. InAiR engine also allows you to search for specific terms while still watching your TV program, effortlessly through our simple track-pad app.
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InAir does not record viewer data, it only captures (but does not store) samples of what you are watching only for the purpose of channel matching. Here is how it works:
- First, InAiR will intermittently send a sample of audio/screen capture to our server where we use it to do channel matching. This is for us to understand which channel you are on so we can find things on the Internet that is relevant to the program you're watching.
- Second, our server automatically generates "keywords" that relevant to each channels at any point in time.
Third, we then stream these "keywords" to the InAiR in your home so they are on your screen.
- Fourth, you can use these "keywords" to view relevant web content (for example: news, images, web search , etc). This "action" is done directly from the InAiR device by your TV, not on our server.
- To be clear, InAiR does not record your activities at any point in that process. The only data sent from your location to our server are audio/screenshot images of what is on your TV screen. Once the audio/images have been matched, we delete them from the buffer and wait for the next ones, which are only triggered when you change channel. -
It’s up to you -- and it depends on what you are watching with whom. If you are watching a program on space exploration with your kids, you can use the InAiR interface to bring up Internet-based models of spacecraft’s and planets to show them details. If you are watching a sports game with your friends in the US, you may want to stay connected with your friends in Europe (time zones permitting!) by bringing up your Twitter feed on the same screen. On the other hand, teenagers watching the evening news with mom won’t want their Facebook timeline displayed on the TV screen…it’s your choice, you can switch InAiR on and off as you wish.
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InAiR brings all the freely available Internet content in front of your TV screen -- including graphics, information and social engagement. For example, you can view a course map while watching a golf tournament, see actor or player profiles while watching a game or movie, and keep an eye on Twitter or Facebook, without interrupting the TV viewing experience.
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None. You decide when you want inAiR to serve up complementary content and we do not store any data relating to content being watched by individual users.
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Yes, inAiR works with any tv content, live or on-demand. inair can plug into anything, enhancing the content experience of anything connected to the back of your tv.
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At present, the second screen experience (i.e. looking at a tablet while watching TV) isn't very satisfying. It divides the viewer’s attention, and requires the user to keep looking up or down. In fact, independent research shows that up to 25 percent of the viewer’s attention is lost when consumers engage with a second screen during programming. This isn't good for consumers, the cable network or the advertiser. InAiR is disrupting the second screen model by being the first viewer interface to blend TV and video content with relevant content from the web without juggling a second screen.
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Currently, there is no other product like inAiR on the market. However, we imagine that consumer tech companies like Apple, or TV manufacturers like Samsung could have R&D projects underway to develop a similar interface. They would have a definite financial advantage over our little startup, but our combination of hard-to-find talent and ability of execute nimbly and quickly gives us an edge.
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Funding period
- (60 days)