Air Show HD – A New App To Share Your Pictures

There’s an exciting new company just getting going here in Research Triangle Park called Splitmo.  Splitmo is focused on building applications that take advantage of the growing capabilities of Apple TV and iPad to share screens and move content between screens.  Splitmo was founded by Rob Witman, an entrepreneur who recently moved here from the Bay area.

The first application from Splitmo is in the App Store now and is called Air Show.  Air Show allows you to share and modify photos, create slideshows and share it all with your friends via social media.

If you have ever used the built-in Photo app on the iPad or iPhone, you know that it lacks any sort of meaningful capability for showing your photos on a big screen.  You can basically start slideshows and let them run, pushing them to the TV.  Air Show gives you full control by providing a console to build and manage the content while your friends look at the finished product on the big screen.

Creating a Slideshow

The screen is broken up into two main areas:  The Presentation area at the top and the Picture Gallery at the bottom.

You browse the pictures from your gallery just like you would in the Photos.  You tap the image and it is automatically added to the current slideshow.  Two taps and it adds it to the slideshow and shows it on the TV.  You can also touch, hold and drag an image straight to the TV and drop it on.

As you add images to the slideshow, you can re-arrange the order as you see fit.  Once you have the slideshow the way you want it, you can save it for viewing at a later time with a name you so choose.  The free version of the app will let you save up to three slideshows.  Plenty to try it out and see if you like it.

Doctoring images

For any image in the slideshow, Air Show has some cool image modification capabilities.  You can pinch the image on the screen to enlarge or shrink it.  As you pinch, you can see the changes both on the iPad screen and on the TV.  Very cool.

Air Show also has a laser pointer that you can use to highlight a particular portion of the image.  So if you and your friends are sitting around the TV, you can put the highlighter over the image and call attention to a spot on it.

Last but not least is the ability to annotate a photo with a caption of your choice.  Select the photo from the slideshow, touch the magic wand icon and up pops a screen for you to enter your caption.

Sharing

Finally, Air Show gives you the ability to share any of your doctored photos with friends by using the integrated Twitter and email capabilities of the device.  It works just like any other iOS application. Nothing new to learn here.

If you have an Apple TV and want to use it to share pictures at a party or with a few friends and family, Air Show is a really cool app to check out.  I found it easy to use and understand, with enough features but not too many.  Far and away it’s most compelling idea is the ability for the presenter to control the experience while the observers just enjoy the show.  It’s a peek into the future of where we are headed with multi-screen home entertainment.  I’m excited to see what the guys at Splitmo come up with next.

Here’s a video to give you a better idea of all that the app can do.  Rob is a great narrator, so watch it for no other reason than that.

You can get it from the App Store now, and it’s free!  Go get it and get showing.