Vlingo adds a Virtual Assistant to your TV

LAS VEGAS--Vlingo, the virtual assistant app for all major mobile platforms, today announced that it's making its way into televisions.

Not just a voice-controlled remote for changing channels and volume, "Vlingo for Smarter TVs" can help you browse and discover new content by simply talking into your mobile device. For instance, you could ask Vlingo something like, "what comedies are playing tonight?" Then, the app would trigger your TV to pull up a listing using the database of programming made available by cable providers. Or, you could simply tell Vlingo, "watch 'The Price is Right.'" And you can guess what would happen next.

Also, according to Vlingo's reps, the app can even understand commands to record programs, rent or buy movies, and update Facebook.

For now, getting the Virtual Assistant onto your TV looks like it'll take a partnership between Vlingo and your cable provider. Once that happens, you can download the app onto your mobile device, and use it as a voice input for controlling your TV. In the future, I'd love to see the Virtual Assistant makes its way onto televisions via media centers like the Roku box or Google TV, but for now Vlingo has no imminent plans to develop such applications.

As yet, we haven't gotten any specific launch details for the Vlingo Virtual Assistant for Smarter TVs, but according to Vlingo President and CEO Dave Grannan, we can expect to see it hit the market in the U.S. and Europe sometime this year.