In Time for Academy Awards Telecast, Companion TV App Umami Debuts First Real-Time Sharing of a TV Program's Images

In Time for Academy Awards Telecast, Companion TV App Umami Debuts First Real-Time Sharing of a TV Program's Images

"FreezeFrame" Tops List of New Umami Features Designed to Make Social TV Even More Visual and Relevant to TV Viewers

NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Buoyed by the extraordinary social success of this year's Super Bowl and Grammy Awards, New York-based startup Umami TV (http://www.umami.tv) today unveiled major enhancements to its free companion TV app for the iPad that are designed to make the conversation around TV more visual, fun and accessible for TV viewers.

"FreezeFrame" allows users to instantly capture and share images from the shows they're watching with their friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. Not unlike Pinterest for the Web, users can now share imagery of their favorite moments, actors, recipes, products and more, in real-time, while they watch.

Needless to say, this first-of-its-kind social TV function is tailor-made for the fashionistas who will follow the best (and worst) dressed on the red carpet at this year's Oscar ceremonies on ABC-TV this Sunday, February 26.

In addition, Umami is announcing "Dishboard," a new social TV dashboard that visualizes the conversation occurring around a TV show as it unfolds. Users can see how many people are talking about the show with real-time infographics. The app also automatically identifies the most popular links and tweets that are trending around a show. With this release, Umami is also enabling users to share what they're interacting with while they watch.

"TV is the ultimate lean-back, visual medium, and we've always felt social TV should mirror these characteristics," explained Umami TV co-founder and CEO Scott Rosenberg. "With this update, we're making the conversation around TV more visual, fun and relevant for viewers."

Launched in November, Umami uses proprietary audio fingerprinting technology to sync continuously to live or time-shifted programming from all major broadcast and cable networks. It then provides rich, program-related content, conversation and more in a fun, living room-friendly experience.

About Umami Co.

Founded in New York City in 2010, and backed by NEA, Battery Ventures, and prominent angel investors and advisers, Umami (http://www.umami.tv) develops products that enhance the consumer TV viewing experience, while streamlining the branded creation of these experiences for TV networks and content owners. The company, led by digital media veterans from TV Guide, Comcast, AOL and CBS, recently launched its first product, Umami TV for iPad, available for free in the App Store. Umami is a Japanese loanword referring to the fifth taste that loosely translates to "savory" or "enhanced." Available media assets:

Screen shots of "FreezeFrame"
http://www.ereleases.com/pic/Umami-FreezeFrame.png

Screen shots of "Dishboard"
http://www.ereleases.com/pic/Umami-SocialDishboard.png

Contact:

Peter Himler
Flatiron Communications LLC
phimler@flatironcomm.com
516-729-6461
Twitter: peterhimler

This press release was issued through eReleases(R). For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Umami

Umami

Web Site: http://www.umami.tv

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