During my brief visit to the Engadget trailer at CES, Jacob Schulman suggested I track down the Snapstick box. Unfortunately I never managed to find the company, so we’re swiping his hard work instead.
Snapstick is currently a prototype set-top device, although a deal’s been inked with D-Link, designed to channel web content onto one’s television. Like countless others. But Snapstick takes a somewhat novel, if currently kludgy, approach by running a stripped down, custom version of Ubuntu to be accompanied by a VLC client for remote control. In English, the small box is basically a Linux computer that’s operated via iOS screensharing: Browse a web page on your iPad, launch the embedded video fullscreen on your TV. Snapstick’s OS and apps are also tricked it out with some dedicated hooks and a Firefox extension as well. But to get a full sense of how this device operates, you should hit Jacob’s video at Engadget. (And that “snap” motion to launch content onto the screen will surely lead to the destruction of many pricey devices… How about an icon or gesture instead?)
Because Snapstick is a full-on computer, with a presumably legit desktop browser user agent string, it’s less likely content providers will have a means of blocking web video as they do with Google TV. (Which Google doesn’t fight…)
Sounds like Snapstick is heading into beta testing shortly and they hope to launch for under $200 in the near future.
Click to enlarge: