April 27, 2024

Google Acquires Flutter Hand Gesture Detection App for OS X

Posted October 3, 2013 at 12:49am by iClarified · 10653 views
Google has acquired Flutter, an app for OS X and Windows that uses your computers webcam to detect hand gestures.

Flutter is Kinect for OS X. It uses HAND GESTURES detected via built-in webcam in your device to play, pause and skip songs & videos in iTunes, Spotify, Rdio, MPlayerX (most recent version), VLC (more recent version), Ecoute, Quicktime, Keynote, YouTube, Netflix, Pandora, and Grooveshark.

Google confirmed the acquisition to TNW saying, "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."

Flutter says users will be able to continue to use the app, and stay tuned for future updates.

Features:
- Play/Pause your music & videos using simple hand gestures (palm gesture)
- Go to Next Song (thumbs right) or rewind to Previous Song (thumbs left) (Note: First thumbs left gesture takes you to beginning of song. Another thumbs left performed quickly jumps to the previous song)
- Works via your webcam -- no additional hardware necessary
- Works best from 1-6 feet distance from webcam
- Works even when Spotify, iTunes, Rdio, and other apps are playing music/video in the background or are minimized

You can purchase Flutter from the App Store for $4.99.

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