• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Expense Manager Services

Getting a handle on Unmanaged Spend through Expense Manager Services

  • Home
  • Babcock Advisors
  • What We Do
    • Our Process
    • Telecom
      • Telecom Invoice Audit Service
    • Merchant Services Cost Reduction
    • 5 Top Reasons for Outsourcing Human Resources Functions
    • Payroll Services
  • Who We Are
  • Blog

06.19.19 telecommunications

Comcast Now Lets You Control Your TV With Your Eyes

Seven years ago, telecommunications heavyweight Comcast recruited Tom Wlodkowski to make the company's services more accessible to people with disabilities.

Wlodkowski came with an impressive list of accomplishments: He'd run AOL's efforts to make the internet more functional for people with visual and physical impairments, and launched a number of services like AIM Relay, which let people who are deaf or speech-disabled place phone calls. He’s also blind, which meant he knew firsthand some of the challenges that people faced when trying to control a television with a standard remote control.

At Comcast, Wlodkowski built a team dedicated to accessibility. They developed the cable industry’s first voice-guided TV interface, and created a dedicated support center for customers with disabilities. So when Wlodkowski’s team was approached by a Comcast board member, whose sister had ALS and couldn't use Comcast's standard remote, the challenge fell to them: How could they give her more control of her TV?

Remote rethink

Wlodkowski’s team began researching. They found that many people who had lost their fine motor skills—whether from degenerative conditions or paralysis—used eye-tracking devices to interface with their computers. These devices shine an infrared light into your eyes and follow the movement of your pupils, like a cursor on a screen. It lets someone use their gaze like a mouse. To "click," they can either linger on a particular icon or set the device to "blink mode," where closing the eyes registers the click.

Wlodkowski brought these accessibility devices into the lab and, after some experimentation, created a web interface that pairs with them. Comcast customers can visit the interface in a web browser, log in with their Xfinity credentials, and pair their accessibility device to an existing set. Using the special interface, a viewer can control their television with their eyes.

The new web-based remote recreates Comcast's X1 interface, which collates everything on your TV, and in some cases, connected home devices. It offers controls for traditional TV channels and on-demand media, plus apps like Netflix, Pandora, and YouTube. It can also talk to Xfinity Home services, which can control smart locks and connected thermostats installed in the home. Now, Wlodkowski says, people will have the option to manage all of that with their eye-gaze software. Users can manage basic TV functions—changing the channel, searching for a movie, adjusting the volume—or more complex tasks like unlocking the front door, all by moving their eyes around the screen.

An eye-controlled remote may seem to serve a small niche, but Wlodkowski likes to think about accessibility tech as driving broader innovations for consumers. Most people won’t use the new remote today, but building these kinds of products could make new interactions possible for everyone later on. He points to voice controls, which first arose to serve the needs of the blind community decades ago. “Now look at what voice has become. It’s a mainstream product,” says Wlodkowski. “Inclusive design makes better products for everyone.”


Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/comcast-eye-tracking-tv-remote/

Tags: accessibility, Comcast, gear, Television

sidebar

Blog Sidebar

account_balance

Lower Merchant Processing Fees

In a time like this, reducing expense shouldn’t be an afterthought…it should be a top priority.

That’s why we’ve come up with a service that’ll help you minimize your fees today…without switching payment processors.

More Here

chat

Telecom and Data Expense Services

We help reduce telecom and data expenses

Using a combination of exceptional people, highly structured audit processes and reporting systems. All without switching providers.

More Here

assignment_ind

5 Top Reasons for Outsourcing Human Resources Functions

Save time, money and headaches with a human resources outsourcing solution that has the flexibility to fit your needs perfectly.

More Here

work

What We Do

You can Improve profitability Two Ways, Increase Revenues or Lower Costs.

Our Expense Manager Services are focused on helping you increase profitability, through Fixed Cost Reduction.

More Here

Recent Blog Posts

Personal loans can help in a crunch. But read this before you apply

April 28, 2020

Personal loans can help in a crunch. But read this before you apply

Hundreds of French academics sign letter asking for safeguards on contact tracing

April 27, 2020

Hundreds of French academics sign letter asking for safeguards on contact tracing

Nintendo reveals 160,000 accounts were breached

April 27, 2020

Nintendo reveals 160,000 accounts were breached

How Can We Reduce Costs For Your Business?

Let's start talking about reducing your costs and growing your profits. Step one is to let us know how we can help.Contact Us

Footer

Babcock Advisors

604 14th Ave North West
Suite 200
Kasson, MN 55944

Phone: 507-208-8881