Flutter Editor's Review

Play, stop, start, pause and control your multimedia playback with this cool multiplatform utility

Microsoft’s Kinect is hot right now.  Controlling your game console, and multimedia equipment – which the Xbox also doubles as – with hand gestures is pretty cool. Many PC owners would love to be able to do the same thing – control their PC with their body.  Well, now with Flutter, a web cam and your PC, you can do just that – but only with your multimedia apps. Flutter allows you to control playback of your favorite media with some of your favorite aps. Let’s check it out to see if it’s going to become part of your PC toolbox.

Flutter uses gestures detected by your web cam to play, pause and skip media. Flutter supports YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, Grooveshark, iTunes, Netflix, among others.  If you’re an Apple Keynote user, you can also control your slide show presentation with hand gestures.  The cool thing is that Flutter  works even when the app you want to control isn’t in focus, and is playing media in the background.

App Pro’s: Multiplatform, works with iTunes, WMP, WinAmp and Spotify, YouTube,

App Con’s: Doesn't work with all apps, needs to be integrated at the OS level, requires a web camera, doesn’t work from long distances

Conclusion: Flutter is an interesting app; but not one that I think will last long. Maybe I’m too old to get it; but with an effective range of 1-6 feet, I can’t see how taking my hands up away from the PC and waving them at the screen is easier or better than controlling media playback with a keyboard or mouse.

I can see where this would be really awesome at say a party or perhaps in a business setting where  you were playing a slideshow with Keynote and wanted to control the app that way.  However, I can see things heading way south after a DJ says, “put your hands in the air..!” I’m just sayin’...

Flutter  is coming out with additional gestures  and with support for additional apps. We’ll have to see how well this gets adopted, but until then, while really cool, I am going to stay firmly planted on the fence.