Entertainer Ellen DeGeneres made sure that the selfie –a smartphone-driven self-portrait – will continue to trend in 2014. Israel’s PointGrab, the makers of the CamMe app– which enables users to take selfies from afar – are also helping to keep the selfie hype alive with their recent win for Most Innovative Mobile App at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014 in Barcelona.
The iOS app uses gesture controls to help users take selfies from up to 16 feet away — without having to touch their device. If Ellen had use CamMe, her famous selfie could have included even more famed faces.
“An App that changes the way we take pictures forever. Utilizing clever hand gestures, this cool and ingenious app is for the new age of the Selfie!” wrote the Global Mobile Awards’ judges.
“It’s our goal to make gesture control available across all platforms, laptops, TVs and mobile,” PointGrab CEO Assaf Gad said in a statement. “CamMe is just an example of the easy and practical way gesture technology is becoming a part of every consumer-electronics user’s life.”
Meanwhile, Wibbitz was awarded the prize for Best Mobile Publishing Product or Service for its unique text-to-video technology. “The Wibbitz technology can automatically turn long text articles into short video summaries in just a few seconds. This service has successfully read and met the needs of today’s time-poor consumer,” MWC judges wrote.