Technology startup Skakash LLC announced today the launch of its face recognition iPhone app that allows users to recognize actors and celebrities while watching TV, simply by pointing the iPhone’s camera at the screen. Skakash, the “Shazam for celebrities” app, debuts in a crowdfunding campaign on the leading Indiegogo.com platform.
“We brought face recognition technology from the security arena to the entertainment playground,” said Skakash’s founder and CEO Moshe Greenshpan. “We’ve identified a great need among American TV viewers to get an instant answer to the most common question - what’s this actor’s name?” Greenshpan added.
Skakash’s matching process quickly displays the celebrity’s name and biography, allowing the user to focus on the show rather than being distracted while searching for more info on Google or IMDB.
Saving the user the trouble of manually chasing the right frame, the face recognition app automatically captures the celebrity’s face from the screen.
The Skakash app is offered as a part of the company’s crowdfunding campaign. “In addition to the obvious reason of raising R&D funds, Indiegogo is a great starting point to build a community of fans and users from scratch,” explained the founder of the self financed company.
With second screen technology on the rise, Skakash has the potential to become a widely used second screen app that interacts with its users, adds value and enhances the TV viewing experience overall. A recent Nielson survey showed that 41% of smartphone and tablet owners using their devices while watching TV every day.
