Onecue Brings Kinect-Like Motion Controls to Apple TV, Other Devices

We're still waiting on Apple to start implementing its own motion controls into Apple TV (if they ever come at all), but in the meantime, other companies are already stepping in to fill the gap with third-party devices. Among the most notable is Onecue, which will let you control your Apple TV and other devices with simple gestures of your hands when it's released in early 2015.

Much like the Kinect that accompanies Microsoft's Xbox entertainment system, Onecue is a sleek black device that sits in the general vicinity of your television and reads the room for movement. Once it finds it, it picks up on specialized gestures for commands such as changing the channel or lowering the volume (and the video below even shows it going so far as to open the blinds into the narrator's techy house).

Judging from the video, there's a huge range of Bluetooth- and Wi-Fi-enabled devices the Onecue can connect to, although there's enough commands on display that learning how to use the thing must feel like participating in a beginner's sign language course. It's a universal remote at heart, but it points to a future where we may not need little plastic planks covered in buttons to control the various units in our entertainment centers.

Again, seeing something like this built into Apple TV isn't far beyond the realm of imagination. Exactly a year ago today, we reported that Apple confirmed that it had purchased PrimeSense, the Israeli company responsible for designing the technology behind Microsoft's original Kinect. Apple hasn't incorporated the tech into any of its recent releases, but it's possible we could see some form of it in the long-rumored upcoming refresh for Apple's diminutive entertainment system.

Tired of waiting for a rumor? You can pre-order Onecue for your existing Apple TV for $129.99.

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