Yahoo! is not dead yet. Last August, Yahoo! announced a new initiative to bring the Internet experience direct to your television. At CES, Samsung will be offering a lineup of HDTV’s that will incorporate the Yahoo! widget engine.
From the announcement at CEPro:
Samsung will soon be offering a line-up of HDTVs that offer the Yahoo! Widget Engine, which will enable TV watchers to interact with a set of “TVWidgets”.
The Internet-based service will be available on select flat panels in the spring of 2009. These TVs will also be on display at CES 2009 at Samsung’s booth (11033). Samsung is also prepping the world’s thinnest LCD that’s between 0.256 to 0.276 inches thick.
The TV Widget service is called “Internet@TV – Content Service.” It offers a range of widgets that include:
The content and services offered will grow to include video streaming and other popular internet services, according to Samsung.
Users can access the service by connecting the HDTV to a home network via the built-in Ethernet port or using an optional Wi-Fi USB dongle. Developers will be able to develop and deploy TV Widgets with the open-platform Widget Development Kit (WDK).
“This new interface allows [viewers] to interact and connect with many of their favorite Web services on a personal level,” says Boo-Keun Yoon, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Division at Samsung Electronics.
“It’s frankly way beyond just passively watching broadcasts and is no doubt the future of TV.”
Over the past several years, there have been many attempts by various companies, including Microsoft, to bridge the gap between your television and the Internet. The use of Yahoo! widgets to bring you popular website content direct to your television has a significant amount of appeal.
Perhaps we are finally getting to the point where the Internet is more than just for computers and game consoles. Of course, it will be interesting to see how all this increased Internet usage will play out against download limits being set by various ISP’s.
