Google Buys Flutter: Motion Controls Coming To Android?

Google Has A Flutter

Google has just had a flutter - on Flutter.

The search giant has purchased the San Francisco-based start-up which builds motion control systems for use in phones and laptops.

Flutter - a Y Combinator start-up - had previously released limit applications of its motion control tech, which let users use their webcam and their hands to control apps including iTunes, Spotify and Rdio by waving in mid-air.

The company announced the acquisition on its website and said it was "thrilled" to be working with Google.

It has raised hopes that motion tracking or gestures might have a role to play in future iterations of Google's products - though whether that might be Gmail, Android, Chrome or Google Glass, or none of the above, is unknown.

Google has not revealed details of the deal, such as how much it paid for the company.

Flutter said on its website that it would continue to support its current app:

"When we started three years ago, our dream to build a ubiquitous and power-efficient gesture recognition technology was considered by many as just "a dream", not a real possibility. Since then, we have strived to build the best machine vision algorithms and a delightful user experience.

Even after we launched our first app, we didn’t stop our research; your enthusiasm and support pushed us to continue to do better. We’re inspired everyday when we hear, for example, that Flutter makes you feel like a superhero — because any sufficiently advanced technology should be indistinguishable from magic, right?

Today, we are thrilled to announce that we will be continuing our research at Google. We share Google’s passion for 10x thinking, and we’re excited to add their rocket fuel to our journey."

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