Ever since Apple acquired PrimeSense, the company behind Microsoft Kinect, we have been hearing rumours of a gesture based interface for the Apple TV. A new patent filed by Apple suggests that the hands free control will not only deal with navigation, but also be available within apps and games.

The patent details a projector, which emits laser beams and a sensor, which detects the reflected rays and uses the time difference to locate your hand. The device creates a “pseudo-3D” image of the hand and detects gestures to drive the interface. An example is the cover flow menu (in the image below), which can be set into flow with just a wave.

What is interesting is that Apple has mentioned it specifically that this technology can be used as a game controller replacing joysticks.

User movements detected by means of system 20 control an interactive computer application, such as a game, in place of tactile interface elements such as a mouse, joystick or other accessory.

The patent also mentions that the target of tracking needn’t be the hand and that any object can be 3D mapped, which might be a hint to the magic wand remote which Steve Jobs dreamt of.

The Apple TV 4 is scheduled to be launched next month at the WWDC, 2015. We do not expect this gesture based navigation to make its way to it, but is surely something to look forward to in future iterations of the set top box.

Read some previous reports of the hands free control of Apple TV. And if you are interested, you can go through the patent filing here.

Read more on the Apple TV 4.

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If you’re a power consumer of media, it is highly likely that you have multiple audio and video devices at home. One of them is probably Apple TV and that’s why you’re here.

But maintaing a half dozen devices in your living room isn’t easy. Finding the right remote, turning the power on for each device, switching between sources on your television can all be really cumbersome. And that is exactly where onecue comes in.

onecue integrates all the devices in your living room into one central hub and that includes not only the media devices like set-top boxes and speakers, but also the lights, drapes, thermostats and switches.

Surprisingly enough, it doesn’t come with any remotes either. Instead, it packs a motion sensor similar to the Microsoft Kinect, which needs to be placed somewhere from where it can track you. Now, all you need to do is show custom hand gestures and onecue picks them up and transforms it into the desired action.

onecue was created to offer a central control with a single interface, giving you the power to interact with your devices using simple touch-free hand gestures.

With onecue your home is smarter. A single motion is all it takes to turn on your entire media environment (TV, Cable box and AV receiver). No more juggling remotes!

onecue will ship early next year and is up for pre-order right now. Those ordering now can save a generous 35% bagging the sensor for just $129 instead of $199.

You can read more about onecue here or pre-order it here.

Early 2015 is the same time when the next Apple TV and Apple’s similar service, the HomeKit is expected to make appearance.

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You are probably already familiar with Motion Tennis for Apple TV, an app that brings Wii-style gaming to Apple TV. Thanks to Rolocule Games and its award-winning rolomotion technology, your iOS device turns into a tennis racket while the grand slam tournament takes place on your television via Apple TV. You can read our in-depth review of Motion Tennis here.

Celebrating yesterday’s Djokovic’s great victory in Wimbledon (as well as last week’s Independence Day…), Rolocule has reduced the price of Motion Tennis from $7.99 to ZERO, so go and grab your free copy of the game now, as this amazing offer may not last long.

Watch this video to learn more about Motion Tennis.

Rolocule is currently in the process of adding some final touches to its next motion powered game, Dance Party. Their rolomotion technology has been vastly improved and the developers are boasting console quality precision and performance for their new release.

Dance Party is a multiplayer game where users can dance along with an on-screen artist while your iPhone or iPod touch analyses how well you’re doing. The best dancer wins, but all users will get a count of the calories they burned during the last dubstep.

In short, its a mix of game, dance and workout:

Dance Party is set to be released on the App Store in the second half of July but you can already sign up here for an early free access.

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You might remember our huge coverage (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3) of iOS games that allow dual screen AirPlay mirroring with Apple TV, turning your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch into the controller, while the HDTV becomes the game arena. However, there is an app that not only does dual screen mirroring but actually brings motion gaming to your iOS device using Apple TV. Here is a complete review of this one-of-its-kind game, Motion Tennis for Apple TV.

As you might have already figured out, Motion Tennis turns your iPhone or iPod touch into the tennis racket while the grand slam tournament takes place on your television via Apple TV.

Swish your hand in the air and give your wrist some exercise to score aces in this spectacular game. The developers at Rolocule promise “the most immersive tennis experience ever on iOS”. But does it really live up to all the hype? Let’s see.

Getting Motion Tennis connected to the Apple TV

The first thing you need to know before purchasing this 8 bucks game is that you have to own an Apple TV to make any good out of it. Don’t expect to start an idle match directly on your iPhone while travelling or in the bedroom, because there is no provision for an in-device display of the gameplay.

Unlike other dual screen games, AirPlay is not just an optional feature in Motion Tennis, but rather the only way of playing the game – you won’t be even able to have a glimpse of the home-screen without connecting to an Apple TV.

The process of connecting to the Apple TV is as usual and fairly straight forward. Pull up the Control Center -> tap on the AirPlay button -> choose the Apple TV -> toggle on Mirroring.

Once you set up mirroring and fire up the app, you’ll see large banners on the Apple TV and their miniature versions on your iPhone or iPod touch, prompting that the dual screen gaming has been activated. A few taps into the game, a short tutorial and some calibration and you’re holding the virtual tennis racket similar to Nintendo Wii games.  At the same time, the beautiful 80 ft. court pops on your television.

The gameplay

Raise the iPhone above your head to serve the ball and the game starts with a smash. Of course, the automated second player will have the green ball flying back to your side. Use the device just as a bat and thrash it back in any direction or height you want.

As you would expect, your TV avatar would replicate your gestures. Fortunately, you don’t have to do any of the running up and down the court. You’ll be automatically placed at the best positions and all you have to do is decide the side and type of the shot you need to play.

You already know the rules and point system, no surprises there. The real eye popper is the different kinds of shots you’ll be able to execute just using your wrist movements – you can do standard, slice or lob shots depending on the angle at which you hold the device.

Once you score the game point, your performance is measured in stars and, more importantly, you get an approximate count of the calories you just burned while playing the digital tennis. Obviously it is not accurate, but to know that you’re contributing to your health and not just wasting time with silly games, it’s hilariously comforting.

The game has single player, survival and multiplayer modes. The first one lets you rally with the ‘A chip’ of your iPhone and has various difficulty modes. The survival mode is analogous to the endless modes and goes on till you lose a point. Finally, in multiplayer mode you can ask one of your friends to join you in a doubles match against the CPU.

The verdict

To be honest, Motion Tennis scores the most by being unique and nothing like anything else we’ve ever seen – no complaints there. However, the gameplay as a whole feels buggy or, more correctly, a bit automated, at most times. Your digital form seems to play the perfect shots even if you completely screw up the swing or timing. Sometimes you shoot to the right and the ball bounces to the left and gets you a point.

Also, you hardly score any outs or faults while the guys on the other side of the net has plenty of them. Overall, it all seems a bit biased for me.

Motion Tennis is a great app to be showcased when you have some friends over or to test the power of your iDevice – Apple TV combo. But you won’t find yourself playing it everyday nor will it replace your gym.

It sure shows a lot of potential to grow into a more realistic game someday in the future and when that happens, it’ll be undoubtedly a must buy.

Get Motion Tennis for Apple TV from the App Store ($7.99) and try it out yourself.

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Infuse never fails to amaze us. If you’ve gone through my first review of this awesome video player, you might remember that we concluded it as one of the finest in its class. Supporting almost all known formats on Earth, smooth streaming from network devices, a plain flat iOS 7 based design and an elegant solution to the subtitle problem, we thought Infuse had reached as far as a media player could. But with the latest update Infuse 2.2.2, FireCore raises that bar still higher.

Here are some of the major highlights:

• New gestures for easy control of videoplay: similar to Android phones, you can now scroll vertically on left side to change the brightness and on right side to control the volume. Two finger tap to play/pause and swipe horizontally for fast forward / rewind 30 seconds.
• Orientation lock for those movie-on-the-bed times.
• Import subtitles from other apps. I generally use Subtitles.org to search them directly within the app. But importing them from Skydrive or other apps will be useful if you’re a cloud person or are using other srt sources. Infuse 2.2.2 also lets you choose from a list of subtitles, instead of automatically pulling the one with the same name. Now THAT, I like!

In addition, they’re bringing a handful of other improvements and bug fixes too.

• Added retina artwork for browser upload screen
• Improved handling of Metadata Fetching setting for remote TV Shows
• Improved performance for Dolby Audio (AC3) when passthrough is disabled
• Improved AirPlay stability
• Resolved issues with lock screen images for videos with embedded thumbnails
• Resolved issues with resume position after connecting or disconnecting HDMI adapter
• Resolved issue where device wouldn’t enter sleep mode while a movie was opening
• Resolved floating crash when disconnecting HDMI cable
• Added option to clear all metadata
• AirPlay in background now works correctly for local files after pausing or resuming playback
• Higher resolution for posters on iPad in landscape
• Numerous localization improvements
• Other performance and stability improvements

Infuse 2.2.2 is available as a free download from the App Store, but the premium pack needs a worthy $4.99 in-app purchase. As usual, for previous owners, this will of course be a free update.

Read our review of  Infuse 2.

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Apple has always had this thing for acqui-hiring established companies for their future products and patents, rather than starting things from scratch. They did it with Siri and countless others till the recent taking over of flash storage maker Anobit in Israel.

Now, the same source which reported the latter news, have some info on Apple’s latest venture. According to the Israeli media Calcalist, Apple has acquired PrimeSense, the 3D sensor providers for Microsoft Kinect. You might remember one of our earlier posts where we discussed a similar rumor in July. Though the news was later declined by the representatives, official declarations in such secret deals often doesn’t carry much truth. This is proved by the more compelling reports flowing in now. As per the new reports, PrimeSense was acquired by Cupertino for about $345M as opposed to the previously speculated $280M.

Apple has already patented their own 3D sensing and imaging platform as seen in the above picture and this PrimeSense acquisition is probably aimed at boosting or hastening their plans. On the other hand, age old rumors of Apple’s own television set are getting hotter and hotter. Reading things together, we can expect/hope Apple to release the speculated iTV soon. And that too, with gesture controls and movement tracking like in Kinect or something entirely different with Apple’s own charm, one can never tell!

As expected, PrimeSense has again decided to keep us in the dark with the below reply to TheNextWeb’s query.

PrimeSense is the leading 3D technology in the market. We are focused on building a prosperous company while bringing 3D sensing and Natural Interaction to the mass market in a variety of markets such as interactive living room and mobile devices. We do not comment on what any of our partners, customers or potential customers are doing and we do not relate to rumors or re-cycled rumors.

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