Last April Denmark-based start-up The Eye Tribe demonstrated prototype eye-tracking technology for mobile devices. Its system bounces infrared light off the user’s pupils; that’s not particularly new; The Eye Tribe’s twist is using existing processors in a device to process the tracking data.
This month, the company began taking orders for a US $99 developers kit; the company hopes that the kit will turn out to be a holiday 2013 stocking stuffer for the developer in your life. For 2013, the kit will just be available for Windows tablets (photo above); coming in early 2014, the company says, will be the Android kit (photo below).
The company doesn’t expect to see its infrared attachment hanging off of every mobile device; rather, it plans, by getting developers to start working with its technology, to have a head start when device manufacturers decide to build infrared systems into their products.
I tried out a prototype of the technology in April (see video, above). It was definitely fun; we’ll see if app developers can make it useful.
Photo: The Eye Tribe
A correction to this article was made on 30 September 2013.
