Today, the Loop goes on sale for $100.

Far from a universal remote, the Loop is intended specifically for home theater PCs (HTPCs), the PS3, or AppleTV. The remote has just four buttons and a scroll wheel, but its extremely fluid in-air mouse makes it simple to browse webpages and icon interfaces.

You can see our vintage demo video here in which Adam tests the remote. Note that internal sensors determine mouse position, not line of site infrared as in the Wiimote.

The Loop requires an RF USB dongle to function, so don't expect to use it for every home theater component you own. But it still might be worth its $100 price to get the mouse and keyboard out of your lap.

Hillcrest Labs Introduces the Loop™ Pointer: In-Air Mouse for TV

- Before Father's Day, Award Winning Product Now Available to Consumers -
- Targeted to Consumers who Connect their TV to a PC or Mac® -
- Available for $99 via Amazon.com or www.hillcrestlabs.com/loop -

Rockville, MD – June 15, 2009 – Today, in time for Father's Day, Hillcrest Labs launched its award-winning Loop™ pointer to be sold directly to consumers. The Loop pointer is a unique Freespace® mouse that lets users control an on-screen cursor with the flick of wrist. The Loop pointer is designed to be used by the growing number of consumers who connect their PC or Mac® to a TV.

According to data derived from a recent Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) ® report, there are now more than 7 million US households that have connected a personal computer to their home television sets (1). With the Loop pointer, these consumers now have an engaging new way to search, browse, and navigate the Web or their home media content on TV.

The Loop pointer's distinctive design is round and ergonomic including just four buttons and a scroll wheel. Originally developed as a concept product to showcase Hillcrest Labs' Freespace in-air pointing and motion control technology, the Loop pointer is available to consumers for the first time for just $99. Consumers can purchase the Loop pointer at www.amazon.com or www.hillcrestlabs.com/loop.

"As our flagship Freespace product design, the Loop pointer has captured the imagination and interest of most people who have used it," said Dan Simpkins, CEO and founder of Hillcrest Labs. "Although today we are introducing our first product directly to the public, at our core, we remain a software and IP licensing company."

"Hillcrest Labs is recognized as one of the most innovative developers of motion control technology and graphical user interfaces for television," said Colin Dixon, principal analyst at the Diffusion Group. "Their new Loop pointer is a simple, elegant product whose unique design will make it a great conversation piece in the living room, dorm room, lecture hall, or board room."

Examples of Applications and Uses

To use the Loop pointer, consumers simply plug a small, USB 2.0 transceiver that comes with the device into a compatible computer or device. As with a conventional mouse, no special driver software is required for use on a PC or Mac. Device applications include:

• Mouse for TV: For consumers who connect a PC-to-TV or Mac-to-TV, the Loop is an in-air pointer that offers the industry's highest performance. Users can relax comfortably on a couch, hold the Loop pointer in any position, and control their favorite online video sites, photo sites, music sites, and more. Using the standard on-screen keyboards that are included with the Windows or Mac operating systems, people can enter search terms, passwords, and more.

• Presenters: Executives, professors or other PowerPoint™ users now have a far more useful and eye-catching tool for use with keynotes, company presentations, or lectures. The Loop pointer also makes it easy to switch between presentations, web pages and other applications, all while walking around the conference room or lecture hall.

The Loop pointer can also complement the following products:

• KODAK Theatre HD Player: Owners of the highly acclaimed KODAK Theatre HD Player can use the Loop pointer as a fully functioning alternative controller to interact with pictures, videos and music, and more.
• PS3™: The Loop pointer is not a game controller for PS3, but it can be used as a complementary device to navigate the Internet using the PS3's web browser.
• Apple TV: While Apple TV does not support mouse controllers, consumers who use aTV Flash, from Fire Core (version 3.6), will be able to use the Loop pointer to navigate content on the device and the aTV Flash web browser.

Freespace Technology

The Loop pointer incorporates Hillcrest Labs' patented Freespace technology. Attributes of the Loop pointer that are made possible by Freespace technology include:

• High Accuracy/Precision: The Loop is a highly precise pointer which allows users to point to individual pixels on a high-resolution screen.

• Orientation Compensation: Regardless of the orientation of the device in space (e.g. pointing at the ground, turned sideways, etc.), Freespace generates intuitive cursor motions on the screen. MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) sensors combined with Hillcrest's proprietary software enable consistent control of the device from any position – standing, sitting or reclining.

• Adaptive Tremor Removal: Hillcrest's technology can distinguish between intentional and unintentional movement, including natural hand tremors. Instead of filtering out the entire range of human tremor, which would reduce the accuracy of the pointer, the Loop pointer dynamically measures each individual user's specific tremor and unintentional movements and removes them.

• No Line-of-Site: Unlike conventional Infrared devices and optical motion-sensing devices that require "line-of-site" operation, the Loop pointer uses RF (radio frequency) technology, so users do not need to point directly at the computer or TV screen. This gives users greater freedom to move around at a range of up to 30 feet. It also means that the PC or Mac could be stored in a media cabinet while in use.

Freespace technology can also be licensed by companies as a complete hardware and software platform to create peripheral devices that accurately track motion with six degrees of freedom. Companies that have licensed Freespace for use in their products include: Eastman Kodak, Logitech, UEI, and ZillionTV. In addition, Hillcrest Labs licenses a broad set of intellectual property including more than 40 issued patents, out of more than 190 filed by the company.

Loop Pointer Specifications

• Diameter: 4.8 inches (approximately the size of a CD or DVD)
• Width: 1.2 inches
• Weight: 4.9 ounces
• Color: Black with silver buttons
• Connectivity: USB 2.0 antenna with built in RF (radio frequency transceiver)
• Power supply: 2 AA batteries (included)

To order the Loop pointer, consumers should visit www.amazon.com or www.hillcrestlabs.com/loop. For more details about Hillcrest Labs, visit www.hillcrestlabs.com.

[Hillcrest Labs]

The Hillcrest patents referenced in the action against Nintendo are secondary patents relating to user interface details and compensation techniques, whereas Movea’s Gyration patents are central to the usage model, i.e. using sensors to detect human motion and control graphics on a screen. Gyration was the pioneer in developing fundamental motion sensing technologies and IP, and was a core enabler to Nintendo and Hillcrest, both of whom had entered license arrangements with Gyration to enable their products.

PRESS RELEASE: Hillcrest Labs Issues Statement About Legal Action Against Nintendo and the Wii

August 20, 2008 – Rockville, MD – Hillcrest Labs issued an official statement about legal action that the company has taken today against Nintendo(R) for patent infringement. The statement is as follows:

Hillcrest Labs has filed a complaint for patent infringement with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington, D.C., and a separate patent infringement suit in the U.S. District Court in Maryland against Nintendo(R) related to the Wii(TM) video game system.

Hillcrest's patents at issue are U.S. Patent Nos. 7,158,118, 7,262,760, and 7,414,611, which relate to a handheld three-dimensional pointing device, and U.S. Patent No. 7,139,983, which relates to a navigation interface display system that graphically organizes content for display on a television. Since 2001, Hillcrest Labs has pioneered technology that allows consumers to interact with digital media on television using motion-control and pointing techniques. The company holds 29 patents in this area worldwide, and has filled for more than 100 related patents.

Leading consumer electronics companies, not all of whom have been disclosed publicly, have already licensed Hillcrest's technology for use in their products. While Hillcrest Labs has a great deal of respect for Nintendo and the Wii, Hillcrest Labs believes that Nintendo is in clear violation of its patents and has taken this action to protect its intellectual property rights. Given the current status of the filings, the company will not disclose any additional details about the matter at this time.

Information about Hillcrest Labs and its products are available at www.hillcrestlabs.com

This thing is amazing. The video really demonstrates it better than I can, but I honestly believe this is the way everyone will control their TV in the future. You won't see any Hillcrest branded equipment or services, but both equipment manufacturers and carriers will be able to use the interface and hardware to replace their current, lousy setups.

The interface is intuitive, simple, and just makes sense when dealing with the amount of content digital cable and satellite delivers these days. Rather than having to push arrow buttons through hundreds of channels, everything is arranged visually. You use both hand movements and a scroll-wheel to browse your content and adjust the volume, and it immediately feels natural. As for the remote, it's way better than the Wiimote. You don't need a sensor bar, you can hold it any way you want, and the learning curve is about 10 seconds.

Just watch the video and get ready to hate your standard remote. –Adam Frucci with video by Richard Blakeley

Our previous hands-on with this made it seem pretty robust, but their display here just screamed vaporware. Here's hoping that's not the case. –Adam Frucci

CES 2007 [Gizmodo]

Instead of scrolling through your onscreen guides with the up/down/left/right buttons like you do now on your TiVo/Media Center, you can use the scrollwheel on the Loop like you would a PC. This means you get to your destination faster and more accurately. Just like a mouse for navigation is better than just using a keyboard, this is better than using a standard button-based remote.

But the remote is only half the story.

Hillcrest Labs is also focusing on its own in-house DVR software. Designed to work on set-top boxes like your cable receiver, thin-client PCs, or even regular home theater PCs, the DVR software looked actually pretty nice, and has similar functionality to Windows Media Center that we've been using for a couple years now. It's way beyond the usability that the lousy $9 Comcast HDTV DVR rental we're currently "using".

There's a web browser, photo viewer, music playback, video playback, and even On Demand support, along with the standard DVR features of playing back live TV and recorded TV. Hillcrest told us that they've secured deals with some major manufacturers/service providers, and they should be rolling out this software on machines sometime in 2007. Presumably with The Loop remote as part of the bundle.

When asked, Hillcrest told us that the motion-sensing technology could be adapted to standard-looking remotes with your regular amount of buttons on it, but that's up to market demand and what the service providers like Time Warner or Comcast want to do with their box.

All in all, a pretty promising idea which boils down to letting you mouse around a DVR interface using a remote instead of a mouse. And if they can get Comcast to replace the craptastic Motorola DVR? They'd get a hug and a kiss from every subscriber in the nation. – Jason Chen