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Snapstick in action in CNET headquarters on an iPhone 4 and TV monitor.(Credit: James Martin/CNET)
A startup called Snapstick is introducing its spin on Internet TV today that it hopes will compete heavily with Apple TV, Google TV, and other set-top boxes.
The demo video shows a person holding an iPhone who then "flicks" the content toward a TV screen. The TV suddenly begins playing the same content.
But Snapstick isn't itself a set-top box or software that miraculously siphons videos from the iPhone to the TV. At this early, private beta stage, it's a software platform that can help your TV stream Web content like videos onto its screen. Although your Web-enabled device is important, it's only as a convenient, familiar controller you can easily operate to browse and collect Web content from your favorite Web sites. The iPhone, laptop, and so on stands in for a specific remote or keyboard that's common to set-top boxes like Roku and other systems like the Google TV.
Snapstick's real argument is the software. One portion is responsible for streaming Web content to the hardware component that then pushes the content to the TV screen. A second portion communicates over a Wi-Fi network with whichever device or devices you deem the controller.
Although you can control the Snapstick software from any Web site, the team showed us an iPhone app that simplifies the process. Thanks to the accelerometer, you can also trigger the Snapstick software to start streaming Web content with a firm flick of the iPhone, the motion that gives the company its name.
If it's not a set-top box, what is it?
Since Snapstick isn't a product yet on sale to the consumers, it's hard to name the form it will take. The company is only now starting to show the product to potential partners. After that, it could become embedded within existing devices like Blue-Ray players, TVs, or possibly even a set-top box. Snapstick also hopes to license its software to existing set-top box manufacturers. At present, Snapstick created a separate box for demonstration purposes. It contains a router, which handles the actual Web streaming, then pushes content to the TV screen through an HDMI cable.
Cables and cords have long turned TV monitors into passive second screens, and Snapstick is no different. Its Internet engine accesses public Internet content and simply displays it on your TV screen--that goes for Hulu, and Skype. You better believe we tested CNET videos, too.
Of course, unlike Google TV, which attempts to seamlessly intersperse the experience of viewing Web content alongside standard and cable TV channels, Snapstick's only aim is to offer potential customers the Internet portion of the solution.
We've got more photos and analysis to come, so check back for updates.
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