Remember OneCue, a media control device which we reported a while back? It lets you control all your living room devices including Apple TV, DVD/DVR, AV receivers, Philips Hue, Xbox and Nest, without even touching your remote and just by using gestures.

Three months down the road, they’ve acquired a new name — SingleCue and just released an app which brings similar technology to Macs. It is called ControlAir.

As you might have figured out by now, it enables touch-free control of audio, videos and other media on your Mac. ControlAir uses your Mac’s camera to track your hands and takes the appropriate action based on various gestures.

ControlAir is simple to use. Just raise your index finger in front of the Mac’s camera and move your finger left or right to navigate between the play/pause, skip, rewind and volume controls. To select a function, air-click by lowering and raising your finger and mute by placing a finger to your lips in a “shush” motion.

Developers claim these gestures to work from upto 5 feet away from the device.

ControlAir is compatible with any Mac having a front camera and running OS X 10.9 or later, and works with a variety of media apps like iTunes, QuickTime, Netflix, Spotify, Rdio, VLC, Vox and still more to come.

The best thing is that ControlAir accepts gestures even if the media apps are running in the background, so that you can have a truly touch free experience.

Although ControlAir is now available only for the Mac, this is a peek into what we’ll be seeing with the SingleCue – Apple TV combo, when it launches this spring.

So if you’ve been waiting for a genuine gesture-based touch-free interface for your Apple TV, this is the best step forward.

You can read more about the app here and get ControlAir from the Mac App Store for free.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post SingleCue teases gesture-based Apple TV controls with ControlAir Mac app appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

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.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post onecue lets you control your Apple TV with hand gestures appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.