LAS VEGAS - A Sacramento native might very well change the way people enjoy TV, and it could happen as soon as summer of 2012.
Alvir Navin, co-founder of San Francisco-based tech start-up Flingo, showed just how he and the rest of the 13 people that make up the company want to make television watching a more interactive experience during the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Flingo has been working on a technology that would integrate with television programs as they are airing on any supported network.
TV viewers, by either using a Flingo-enabled television or through a Flingo set-top box, will be able to use Facebook and Twitter directly from the television itself to inform friends what show they're actively watching as they watch it.
The technology also syncs with devices such as an iPad using the company's own app to allow for viewers of the same show to communicate together while the show is airing. Should a person change the channel, the iPad app will sense this and update itself to sync with the newly-selected show.
Navin points out that while Flingo is a nice and social way to interact with fans of certain television programs, the technology should perform very well for those watching sports and local news.
"In both cases they're very tight localities of people that are very interested in things that are happening local to their environments," he commented. "So to be able to give those people a chance to interact will be fantastic."
Currently Flingo has partnered with companies and program providers such as FOX, Showtime, Sanyo, Warner Bros. and A&E.
Nevin says the company is also working with cable providers and various local television stations to make it available for all sorts of national, regional, and local television shows.
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