GlideTV Launches Navigational Device for Over-the-Top TV

Pleasanton, Calif.-based start-up, GlideTV, has launched its first product: a navigational device for people who have connected their PC to their living-room TV and who would otherwise have to interrupt their lean-back viewing experience by using their PC keyboard and mouse to navigate their OTT programming selections. Dubbed the GlideTV Navigator and priced at $149 (the company says that it is carried by various online retailers serving the US and Europe), the palm-sized device is billed as combining the functionality of a keyboard, a mouse and an AV remote. According to the company, it comes with a charging station and a USB wireless receiver (to plug into the PC), and is compatible with Windows, Apple Mac, the Sony PlayStation 3, and any set-top box that supports standard mouse and keyboard HID devices. "Up to now, consumers who wanted to connect a computer to the TV to take advantage of digital content had to bring office equipment to their living room, making the experience bulky and cumbersome," GlideTV founder and president, Chris Painter, said in a prepared statement. "With the Navigator, GlideTV brings simplicity to accessing Internet-based entertainment and ushers in a new era for computing in the living room."

According to GlideTV, the Navigator--which won the 2009 Best of Innovations Award at CES--is compatible with a range of popular media applications, including Windows Media Center, Apple iTunes, Boxee, Apple Front Row, SageTV, and Firefox and all other Web browsers. Features listed by the company include: a clickable touchpad, mapped to the TV screen, that enables precise cursor control, one-thumb scrolling, and single- and double-click selection; backlit AV buttons to control volume and playback; directional buttons for two-axis navigation; dedicated Esc, Enter, Back and Function keys to control applications; an on-screen keyboard (Windows only; requires download); an integrated search menu with links to Google, Amazon Video On Demand, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube and various other services (Windows only; requires download); and a rechargeable battery.