Cooliris is an application that transforms your browser into a cinematic way to discover the Web. Available for Mac, Windows (Beta) and the iPhone, it is a three dimensional visual browser of the content on the web. A large number of sites are supported including Google Images, Flickr, YouTube, Amazon.

When installed, Cooliris adds a button in your browser which switch your view into full screen to navigate content. All the setting are managed on Cooliris’s website and should you want to save your favourites you will need to register with Cooliris. In addition, Cooliris has been developed to allow developers and publishes to integrate Cooliris into the sites and web applications via media RSS feeds.

At first sight, this is one beautiful application. Great attention has been given to the design of navigation, menus and animations when browsing the content. You navigate the content by either using your mouse drag or by keys moving from one item to another. Search is included so should you want to see the latest offerings on amazon or particular pictures on flickr this very easy to do.

There’s been a long tradition for developers to create full screen applications but none have stuck around and there may be a reason for this. There seems to be great deterrence from any application that takes full screen control over what we do. We are used to multitasking, ie doing/monitoring many tasks at once; whether this be browsing the web or keeping an eye on the latest messages on AIM or Twitter. Cooliris seems to have been designed more as a Media Centre rather than an extension to your browser, something to enjoy when you are at least 10ft from your computer. On the other hand, the menus, navigation style and controls are very much designed for mouse and keyboard. This leaves us slightly confused as it probably will many users out there. Whilst being a great tool to show off to your friends, including the iPhone app, it is hardly something you may find useful on a day to day basis. On another hand if this is the beginning of a Media Centre application for your computer connected to a large HD TV screen utilising motion detection or some form of innovative remote control interface and considering that our media is being increasingly stored in the cloud, could Cooliris be the beginning of an interesting new way to enjoy online content?

In any way you if you own a mac you should definitely take Cooliris for a spin. We would love to hear your thoughts.

Platform: Mac, Windows (Beta), iPhone
Version: 1.9
Cost: Free
Developer: Cooliris, Inc.
Download
[xrr rating=4/5]