2022-Now / Fluid
Natural motion controls for apps and screens.
Fluid started because I saw touchless control as an essential future interface and Microsoft would not fund it internally. Built-in cameras and computer vision AI were finally good enough to make it work in real time.
Touch stops scaling
Anything larger than a tablet starts to make touch feel wrong. TVs, public kiosks, digital menus, large displays, 3D content, games, learning, shopping, and couch-distance media all want a different interaction model.
The benefits stacked up quickly: hygienic public screens, accessible control at a distance, large-screen computing, and 3D-native interaction without controllers or wearables.
Motion plus voice felt like the obvious answer: natural control at a distance, using the camera people already have.
Distance needs an interface
Dirty public screens were the COVID-era wedge, but the idea was bigger than hygiene. It was accessibility, usability, new use cases, media control, large-screen computing, and native 3D interaction on 2D displays.
No controllers. No wearables. No extra cameras. Just the webcam.
A motion layer for the web
The first direction was 3D shoe interaction for ecommerce. The broader opportunity became more interesting: a motion layer for manipulating the web itself.
The current direction is a Chrome browser extension for touchless browsing, articles, Netflix, YouTube, and media controls, with a path toward richer 3D interaction.
A wedge beats a demo
A good wedge matters. The platform-sized idea can be right and still need a smaller, cleaner entry point.
The product needs to feel useful immediately, not like a demo of the future.
Pre-launch thesis
Fluid is pre-launch and being repackaged around the browser extension thesis.
The long-term idea is still a motion OS: motion plus voice as a first-class interaction model for the surfaces touch and remotes never solved.