On February 12, Warner Brothers announced a partnership with toy maker Mattel and technology co. VEIL Interactive Technologies to create the next generation of entertainment. By merging action toys and television, with the help of Video Encoded Invisible Light (VEIL) technology, Warner Brothers will soon offer the "Toy plus TV" experience starting with "The Batman" series.

The Warner Brothers - Mattel Partnership
With exclusive technology rights for 2004, WB will roll out the VEIL technology with its currently popular "Batman" animated series on Kids WB Channel followed by Cartoon Network. Mattel's new line of Batwave children's toys which is based on the series, will capture the encoded data, which will unlock new capabilities in the toys while providing more information about the show and its characters !

As a crime-fighting superhero, Batman has always been known for utilizing high technology. This is what makes his character ideal to launch VEIL enabled toys. From his high-tech Batcave, his Batmobile, Bat-Jet, Baterang, it's an opportunity for Mattel to make replicas that deliver real interactive play experience and create an extension of the TV entertainment content - for Batman's vast audience.

What is VEIL ?
VEIL or Video Encoded Invisible Light technology transmits encoded digital data as pre-determined, variation in light. This is directly built into content as graphics, storyline components & gadgets. Some of the encoded data will be "recognized" by next generation toys and will activate each toy in a different, pre-predetermined way, resulting in a co-ordinated virtual (TV) + real (gadget) experience.

A couple of years ago, we had experienced an early version of similar technology - for transferring content from Microsoft Outlook to a cellphone. The Outlook software would "flash" light on the computer monitor following a pre-determined code. And by holding the cellphone in front of the monitor, it was possible to actually transfer content. (Well most of the times !)

Future Usage of VEIL technology
Many years ago, there was a lot of interest generated in Internet appliances. Appliances which would (automatically) connect to constantly updated web-sites to get the latest information. For example, a microwave oven could actually receive the latest recipes and flash them to the user. Or a refrigerator (this is an oft-quoted "classic" example) could email the grocer when its food stocks went below a pre-set limit. While the concept is technically sound, it has not yet taken off. The reason is suspected to be the high cost of Internet bandwidth for homes. Today (many years later), there are a few such appliances in the market. And only 1 country (Japan) has "reserved" a frequency range for Internet appliances.

With the advent of VEIL technology in televison programming content, we can expect a parallel development of such appliances. Can you for example, imagine your "VEIL enabled" microwave oven picking up recipes from the currently playing "Veil enabled" Cooking Show ? Or your "VEIL enabled" refrigerator picking, storing (& later reminding you of) the latest "Exchange" offers from a "VEIL enabled" TV commercial ?

Need for Standards
Today, the televison set is the single most popular equipment in any household in any part of the world. So, a successful launch of the new generation "VEIL enabled" Batwave toys, should be followed with other product categories !

But for wide usage, there would be a need of VEIL standards so that home gadgets, gizmos as well as toys can tie up with TV programming in a universal, modular manner.

Finally, if the content of TV commercials get "VEILed", then perhaps we can expect set-top boxes to accurately monitor TV Spot with instant relay to client !