Pleasanton, Calif.-based start-up, GlideTV, last week announced the release of a beta Mac OS version of its GlideTV on-screen keyboard (OSK) application. The latter, which can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.glidetv.com, is designed to work with the company's recently launched GlideTV Navigator, a navigational device for people who have connected their computer to their living-room TV and who would otherwise have to interrupt their lean-back viewing experience by using their PC keyboard and mouse to navigate their over-the-top programming selections (note: for more on the GlideTV Navigator, see the article published on itvt.com, October 14th). According to the company, the combination of the new OSK software, the Navigator and a Mac Mini "creates an elegant Web browsing solution for any living room." "It was a natural evolution for GlideTV to embrace this community and optimize our simple yet elegant control solution to the Mac platform," GlideTV co-founder and president, Christopher Painter, said in a prepared statement. "With all the great movies and TV shows now available from sites like Hulu and iTunes, the Mac Mini is an ideal living room entertainment platform for anyone in the Apple community."

According to GlideTV, the $149 GlideTV Navigator, together with the new Mac OSK, offers Mac users a "complete control solution" for the living room that includes:

• A clickable touchpad, whose sensitivity has been optimized for the Mac OS, with precise cursor control, one-thumb scrolling and single- and double-click selection.
• Programmable buttons which enable users to send specific applications level commands using Apple's Keyboard Shortcuts.
• An on-screen keyboard.
• Links to popular applications and Web sites, including iTunes, Hulu, Firefox, Safari, Facebook, Apple Front Row, Skype, and Flickr.
• Dedicated Esc, Enter, Back and Function keys to better control applications.
• Dedicated media playback buttons.