iLounge

Leading up to the Oscars, Umami has added two major new social features to its TV companion app for iPad users: FreezeFrame and Dishboard. Umami is a “second-screen” iPad app designed to allow TV viewers to easily see relevant background information while watching their favourite shows. The app can automatically recognize what a user is watching from major television networks by listening to the TV and display relevant information including rich show info including cast bios along with one-click access to official show pages, fan sites and Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia pages. Version 1.2 adds a new FreezeFrame feature that allows users to instantly share and comment on an image of what they’re seeing on their TV screen via Twitter or Facebook, allowing users to share their favourite moments, actors, recipes, products and more in real-time while they watch. The update also adds Dishboard, a new social TV dashboard that allows users to visualize conversations occurring around their favourite TV show as it unfolds, collecting the most popular links and tweets that are trending around a show and allowing users to share what they’re interacting with while they watch. Umami for iPad is available from the App Store as a free download.