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Flutter, a California-based start-up, has released its unique gesture-driven media control application of the same name in the Mac App Store. Flutter lets you control music and video playback in iTunes, Spotify, VLC, and Quicktime with hand gestures recognized through your computer’s webcam.

To start playback, all you need to do is hold your hand up with your palm facing forward to your webcam. The same gesture will pause playback.

Here’s a demo video showing how Flutter works:

Only a single gesture is recognized to start and pause playback so far but more gestures to skip and like songs and mute and control volume are coming soon according to the app’s description. Flutter will also gain compatibility with additional applications and sites, including YouTube, Netflix, Pandora, and Hulu.

Though Flutter is still in alpha and isn’t considered a final, bug-free and fully-tested product, it works pretty well. If you’re a fidgeter like me though, you could find yourself stopping and starting music playback more often than you intend but it’s a useful and unique app nonetheless. It’s a little unnerving knowing that my iMac’s webcam is on all the time while Flutter is running but my paranoia is a separate issue altogether.

Flutter has been available for download directly from the company’s site for a few months now but it just debuted in the Mac App Store a couple of weeks ago. It’s currently free to download though this won’t last once new gestures are added and it becomes compatible with more apps, so I definitely recommend you get it now if you have a Mac running OS X 10.6 or higher with a webcam. Though it has limited functionality right now, Flutter is one of those apps that makes you feel like you’re living in the future.

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  Entertainment
  

  Flutter

  Last Changed:

  4 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (67)

  Version:

  0.5.54

  Mac OS

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