It's happened to us all. One minute you're just vegging out, letting the gentle glow of your TV wash over you, and then the next thing you know a computer is sucking away all your attention. Let MetaMirror play mediator.
The concept, developed by the Irish studio Design By Notion, makes your tablet and TV complement each other, instead of letting them be adversaries for your attention. Basically, MetaMirror will rebroadcast the TV you're watching on a device of your choice, overlaying it with contextual information to satisfy your Internet-age urge to dig just a little bit deeper.
That means, for example, that you could look up and buy ingredients during a cooking show, or get track and artist info while watching a musical performance, with handy links to TicketMaster, AllMusic, and iTunes all within index-finger's reach.
Design By Notion says that the emerging technologies of searchable, connected TVs and fiber optic internet, as well as the ubiquity of touch screen TVs, put such a marriage distinctly in the realm of possibility. Of course, for this type of thing to make sense, the cable companies and broadcasters would have to be on board. And why would they bother? A whole new frontier of advertising!
MetaMirror has the potential to combine tagged video objects with new forms of advertising, generating revenue for 3rd parties in a way which is more attractive to viewers and altogether more seamless. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but surely this is next-generation television marketing?
But hey, waitaminute, where am I going to turn for distraction once my tablet is just an interactive extension of my TV's ads? Maybe some separation isn't a bad thing. [DesignByNotion via Core77]