ABC and MTV were both first-movers on the iPad. Another breed of app is meant to be a companion to appointment TV viewing. Co-viewing apps provide information supporting what's on screen or aggregate social-media chatter, the real-time, digital sibling to water-cooler conversation about popular TV shows. "The point of the app is to restore a sense of being in an audience, in a group," said Declan Caulfield, CEO of Starling.
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A new Israeli company is taking apps even further. A harbinger of that change is Israeli start-up AttracTV. Its applications called "vidgets" get viewers involved with what they're watching, and turn veg-out time into a stimulating interactive experience, says Israel 21c. Vidgets are a small screen pop-up that instantly provides viewers of say, a basketball game with statistics like their team's standings and even instant replays. A vidget can be an on-screen interface for Twitter, which parses tweets from other users watching the game. AttracTV could very well turn out to be one of those wildly successful, far-reaching Israeli start-ups, like ICQ.