ABC's Rising Star lets Windows Phone users vote in the media madness

Starting tomorrow night on ABC in the US, a new show looks to bring live voting to the masses via their connected devices. The show Rising Star, which premieres Sunday, June 22 at 9PM ET, is similar to American Idol, but it lets the audience be the judge through a first-time ever technique of live voting. The process works through various apps on iOS, Android and yes, Windows Phone.

During the show, when a performer takes the stage, a 90-foot wide interactive wall separates them from the audience that way you only hear their voice. Users then decide whether they love or hate a performance by swiping to the right (for yes) or left (for no) on their smartphone or tablet. As a bonus? Your face may appear on that interactive wall during the broadcast.

Gimmicky? Perhaps. But we're glad to see Windows Phone users will be able to take part in this somewhat groundbreaking form of entertainment. How well it all works, of course, remains to be seen. And too bad there's no Windows 8 app.

Watch the above how-to video for an idea of how it will all work, or download the app below to get started!

Will you be watching tomorrow night?

Thanks, everyone, for the tips!

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Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.