In January, Yahoo and Intel plan to show off their new Yahoo Widget Channel at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which plans to bring online interaction and social networking capabilities to digital TV watching. The Yahoo Widget Channel will showcase the ability to view Flickr albums with friends while watching television, serve targeted ads to the end user and order videos on demand via Yahoo.
From Stephen Shankland at CNet :
For Yahoo, it’s establishment of the Widget Channel, a software foundation that can house programs for browsing photos, using the Internet’s abundant socially connected services, watching YouTube videos, or digging deeper into TV shows–and through which Yahoo will be able to show advertisements. For Intel, it’s a foothold in an industry whose microprocessors have typically been cheaper, less powerful, and less power-hungry.
I really like the idea of being able to interact with the television to find statistics and updates on sports games, dig deeper into instant replays or do product research after watching a commercial. Along with Yahoo, Microsoft has been pushing Interative TV also, and part of this initiative has been positioning Windows Vista as an entertainment center and universal household informational tool.
More from Cnet’s High hopes at Yahoo, Intel for Internet-enabled TV
