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
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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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