When is an interface simple? Is it when it is invisible or very obvious, even intrusive? From the time TV was created, watching TV is considered as a static activity. TV audiences have very limited choices to interact with TV, such as turning on/off, increasing/decreasing volume, and traversing among different channels. This paper suggests that TV program should have social responses to people, such as affording and accepting audience’s emotional feeling with the growth of technologies. This paper presents HiTV, an Emotionally-Reactive TV system using a digitally augmented soft ball as affect-input interfaces that can amplify TV program’s video/audio signals. HiTV transforms the original video and audio into effects that intrigue and fulfill people’s emotional expectation. ACM Classification: H5.2 [Information interfaces and presentation]:

One of the problems with mobile media devices is that they may distract users during critical everyday tasks, such as navigating the streets of a busy city. We addressed this issue in the design of eyeLook: a platform for attention sensitive mobile computing. eyeLook appliances use embedded low cost eyeCONTACT sensors (ECS) to detect when the user looks at the display. We discuss two eyeLook applications, seeTV and seeTXT, that facilitate courteous media consumption in mobile contexts by using the ECS to respond to user attention. seeTV is an attentive mobile video player that automatically pauses content when the user is not looking. seeTXT is an attentive speed reading application that flashes words on the display, advancing text only when the user is looking. By making mobile media devices sensitive to actual user attention, eyeLook allows applications to gracefully transition users between consuming media, and managing life.

We present ECSGlasses: wearable eye contact sensing glasses that detect human eye contact. ECSGlasses report eye contact to digital devices, appliances and EyePliances in the user's attention space. Devices use this attentional cue to engage in a more sociable process of turn taking with users. This has the potential to reduce inappropriate intrusions, and limit their disruptiveness. We describe new prototype systems, including the Attentive Messaging Service (AMS), the Attentive Hit Counter, the first person attentive camcorder eyeBlog, and an updated Attentive Cell Phone. We also discuss the potential of these devices to open new windows of interaction using attention as a communication modality. Further, we present a novel signal-encoding scheme to uniquely identify EyePliances and users wearing ECSGlasses in multiparty scenarios.