Social TV tech company Umami released two significant new features for its second-screen app, just in time for its self-imposed deadline of Sunday’s Academy Awards broadcast.
The one that could lead to all kinds of fun and non-verbal communication between friends is FreezeFrame, which allows users to instantly capture an image from the TV show they’re watching and share it via Facebook and Twitter, instantly and in real time. Ideas that immediately come to mind are sending a grab from Big Bang Theory to a sibling, or publicly posting a particularly awkward shot of a politician from the opposing party. On a more productive note, FreezeFrame also could be used to share and save images of actors, cars, recipes, products or other items of interest. Or it could be used for promotions like a competition that is entered by posting an image from a sponsor’s ad.
Umami sees potential in immediately adding grabs from The 84th Academy Awards to the social tapestry of gossip, criticism, and fashion cheers/jeers with which viewers always augment the telecast, which is why the company set today to release the updates.
Dishboard is the other new feature of the Umami app. It’s a social TV dashboard that tracks the conversation occurring around a TV show as it unfolds and visualizes it with real-time infographics. The app also automatically identifies the most popular links and tweets that are trending around a show.
This new version of the app builds on Umami’s existing capability to recognize and sync with live or time-shifted TV, and then to deliver related content.
“TV is the ultimate lean-back, visual medium, and we’ve always felt social TV should mirror these characteristics,” said Umami TV co-founder and CEO Scott Rosenberg. “With this update, we’re making the conversation around TV more visual, fun and relevant for viewers.”
Launched in November, Umami uses proprietary audio fingerprinting technology to sync continuously to programming from all major broadcast and cable networks. It then provides rich, program-related content, conversation and more in a fun, living room-friendly experience.
Parent company Umami Co. was founded in New York City in 2010 and released its eponymous app in November 2011. It previously received $1.65 million in seed funding from NEA, Battery Ventures and industry angels.
Related links:
Press release – http://tinyurl.com/89wkzvc
