A Singapore-based startup has created an interactive app allowing users to identify and purchase products broadcast on their TV or video screens simply by ‘shaking’ their phone.
The ‘HEY! Shake’ app uses patent-pending technology – named AirSense – to detect sound patterns in audio tracks and identify what video users are watching.
Launched in early-August, the app has already been ranked as one of the ‘hottest’ on iOS Apple Store & Google Play Singapore, despite still being in pilot testing.
The app could potential revolutionise a user’s viewing experience, as a simple “shake of the phone” could enable someone to buy the same outfit as their favourite TV actor.
Inventor of the technology running the app, Nanyang Technological University’s Associate Professor Wen Yonggang states:
“Not only can our technology make video social again but also interactive by allowing product placements and relevant information to be directly accessible to the viewer with just a simple shake of the phone”.
Mr Yonggang is also the Director of the Innovation Lab at NTU’s School of Computer Science and Engineering and created the app in partnership with the school’s associate company Cloud Wings.
The startup is first focused on its home country of Singapore. Cloud Wings’ Head of Product and Business Development, Xia Ye, states the technology could be part of Singapore’s transition into a ‘smart nation’.
“As long as there is a display screen and speakers, our technology can work seamlessly”.
Concerning commercialisation, the team behind HEY! Shake plan to expand into three sectors: advertising, home-shopping TV and virtual coupons.
The startup hopes that “Shake Fever” will spread across Singapore, as the app’s technology scales up to include all displays screens, inclusive of those at bus stops and movie theatres.
