Clik is a new platform launching today that investor Fred Wilson says is “bordering on magic,” and the best way to describe it is to walk you through how it works, using YouTube as a demonstration.
I downloaded the demo app from Clik on my iPhone and launched it. It instructed me to go to ClikThis.com on my computer, which after a few moments displayed a circular QR-looking code (right). The app (left) asked to point my phone’s camera at the computer screen:
The instant the camera framed the code (even haphazardly framed), the website began playing a YouTube clip on my computer (below right). The app transformed into a remote control of sorts (left), allowing me to play, pause and “scrub” the clip, as well as select other YouTube clips:
When I hit “pause,” the video on the computer screen paused in under a second. (My phone was on 3G, not WiFi, for testing purposes.) When I switched clips, it took about a second to load and play. I could control the volume and well as “scrub” forward and back. The response time was fast enough for the phone to act as a remote control: surprisingly fast, in fact.
Clik is offering this technology as a development platform to enable third-party apps to seamlessly sync devices to any screen with a browser. Users boot up the app, scan a code on a browser, and they take control of the screen. It even allows multiple people to scan into the same screen, sharing control in a social setting.
“The beauty of Clik is both its simplicity and ability to bring almost any content to any screen, anytime,” said Ted Livingston, CEO of Clik. “For consumers, there is no new box to buy, and no extra software to install. With apps built inside Clik, consumers can instantly take control of their friends’ Smart TV and start watching videos, playing games, or listening to their favorite music – you’ve really got to experience it to believe it.”
Major cable and satellite providers (and TiVo, too) sync their second-screen apps with the TV screen over WiFi, via technology in the set-top box itself. But Clik would allow, for example, someone to navigate to a browser on their Google TV and sync an app to control the TV. Or conceivably, the Clik technology could be embedded inside connected TV apps themselves, making it easy to “scan into” a synchronized experience. Clik doesn’t require registration or activation codes, just a quick scan.
Clik is the product of the same folks who created the Kik Messenger, the mobile instant messenger application. Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson — who is an investor and sits on the company’s board — is effusive about Clik. “The ability for highly personal mobile devices, like phones, to easily take control of computers, TVs, cars, and other expensive and complex devices is one of the most important megatrends in technology right now,” he said. “Clik’s approach to this problem is novel and slick, bordering on magic. You have to see it to believe it. It’s a game changer.”
We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, give it a try yourself by downloading the demo app here and punching ClikThis.com in a browser. Then tell us what you think in comments…