Instant Expert: Yahoo! Connected TV

by Dean Evans at Saturday 21st February, 2009 at 10:00 am [0 comments]

What is Yahoo! Connected TV?

It’s a technology platform based on the Yahoo! Widget Engine that’s being built into the newest Internet connected HDTVs. It will enable these HDTVs to display selected web content (I.e. weather info, stock reports, news headlines, your Flickr photo stream) via simple onscreen applications or ‘widgets’.

The Yahoo! Widget Engine has its origins in a piece of Mac software called Konfabulator. Yahoo! bought the technology in 2005 and re-launched it as Yahoo! Widgets for Mac and Windows computers.

The Yahoo! Widget Engine now forms the basis of Yahoo!’s Connected TV initiative, which extends this XML/Javascript widgetisation to TVs.

How do Widgets work?

As Yahoo! explains, its widgets are “as rich, varied, and useful as your favourite sites on the Web, reinterpreted for TV”.

Rather than try to replicate a full computing experience on a TV, Yahoo! Widgets are designed to be simple, unobtrusive and optimised for TV viewing.

On a compatible HDTV (I.e. one with Internet connectivity via an Ethernet port or Wi-Fi USB adapter), pressing the Widget button on the remote control brings up a Widget Dock.

The onscreen Widget Dock enables you to select and activate a variety of widgets from Yahoo! and other partners, including:

• CinemaNow
• eBay
• Flickr
• MySpace
• Netflix
• Twitter
• Yahoo! Finance
• Yahoo! News
• Yahoo! Video
• Yahoo! Weather

New Widgets can be added to the Widget Dock via the Widget gallery. These small applications sit on top of whatever you’re watching and can be dismissed with a button-press.

Need a demo? Watch LG Canada’s Frank Lee showing off the Yahoo! Widget Engine in the video below.

Who’s supporting Yahoo! Connected TV?

Several companies have announced that the Yahoo! Widget Engine technology will be integrated into their HDTVs for 2009, including: Samsung, Sony, LG and Vizio.

In terms of software, the Yahoo! Widget Engine is an open platform. Yahoo! has released a Widget Development Kit (WDK) to enable developers to create new Widgets using Javascript and XML, HTML and, ultimately Flash.

The Mac/PC version already has thousands of available Widgets including games, clocks, Internet radio players, shopping apps and prettied-up RSS feeds.

What are people saying about it?

“The collaboration with Yahoo! lets viewers go one step further. This new interface allows them to interact and connect with many of their favorite Web services on a personal level. It’s frankly way beyond just passively watching broadcasts and is no doubt the future of TV” – Boo-Keun Yoon, Executive VP of the Visual Display Division, Samsung Electronics.

“Internet-based content is driving the evolution of home entertainment. Our new networked Bravia models deliver streaming videos, access to digital files, and real-time information that transforms the television into a true multimedia hub” – Patrick Lapointe, director of television marketing, Sony of Canada Ltd.

“LG’s new NetCast Entertainment Access capability broadens the user experience to include not only entertainment content, but also up-to-the minute news, stock information, weather updates, photo management and more by simply using the TV’s remote control” – Peter Reiner, senior vice president, marketing and strategy, LG Electronics USA.

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