Friday, January 16, 2009
Yahoo! has designed a Widget Engine that allows TV viewers to access a wide range of information, all from the convenience of their TV screen. During CES last week, Yahoo! showcased the weather widget on a Sharp widget-enabled television.The Widget Channel was created by Yahoo! and Intel and can work on televisions as well as LCD TV/DVD combinations.
WebTV is nothing new, but as far as I know it hasn't become a huge thing. I mean people still prefer surfing on their laptops or desktops, right? You can do that while you're watching TV. But if you could just have a sidebar widget on the TV then you've opened multitasking up o a whole new level. And so now instead of being called WebTV it has been named ConnectedTV by some.
Since the Connected TV will be controlled with just a handy remote control, rather than the set top box and keyboard, and will have many new features to it, is it more likely that the concept will appeal to users this time around?
TV Widgets will be installed in a handful of broadband-capable high-definition televisions and set-top boxes made by Samsung Electronics, Sony (SNE), VIZIO, and LG Electronics, slated to ship in the spring.
If anything this shows how Yahoo! is boldy moving forward in rebuilding their own business foundation.
[Screenshot from Samsung Connected TV demo]
Labels: connected tv, yahoo
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