In 2009, Yahoo! launched a pretty cool product known as Connected TV, which is built on the venerable Konfabulator widget platform. Basically it allows users with compatible TVs to access Internet-enabled widgets for stuff like stock updates, weather tracking and even Twitter. Now, you can get your hands on even more compelling technology.
For a primer on what Connected TV and Yahoo TV widgets do, check out this video:
More Hardware Partnerships and TV Widget Providers
Yahoo has already had partnerships in place with companies like LG, Sony, Samsung and VIZIO to bring TV Widgets to their Internet-connected televisions, and they are expanding that relationship to include more VIZIO products (including the next wave of XVT Series models) as well as ViewSonic. Yahoo will also be working with companies like Sigma Designs and MIPS to bring TV Widgets and Connected TV options to embedded devices or chip architectures that are used throughout the consumer electronics industry.
Having a device that supports TV Widgets really doesn't mean anything unless those widgets can provide cool content. TV Widgets are already available for services like Amazon Video On Demand, Pandora and CBS, plus social sites like Facebook and Twitter. Yahoo is also announcing recently signed partnerships with a ton of big-name content providers including:
CNBC: The CNBC TV Widget enables viewers to interact with CNBC's real-time stock quotes direct from the NYSE and NASDAQ, with real-time watch lists to track favorite stocks and other key analytics, all while still watching TV.
NBC.com: Users can view NBC's show schedule and full-screen photo galleries, and catch up on favorite shows with up-to-date recaps, cast bios and more.
Napster: Subscribers can browse, search, preview and listen to Napster's entire catalog of music on-demand, as well as enjoy custom radio stations, playlists and Billboard charts.
RadioTime: Create your personal selection of music from up to 100,000 radio stations.
Sky News TV: Delivers breaking news by text and images to users' TV sets. It includes seven categories of news: top stories, UK news, sports, business, world news, showbiz and politics.
Dailymotion: Access one of largest web video sites in the world through your TV.
The Weather Channel: Enables consumers to stay up to date with the current conditions, the five-day forecast and access regional radar, all accessible in a simple interface with the ability to look up and save multiple locations.
Betfair: The world's biggest betting community provides sports enthusiasts with an online entertainment experience to enhance their sports television watching in the UK.
My-Cast Weather: Provides animated Nexrad radar, hourly to seven-day forecasts, StormWatch, cloud information and more across the United States.
Widget Development Kit Finally Gets a Public Release
The Yahoo Widget Development Kit (WDK) has finally been fully released to the public. This means that individual developers or larger content providers can offer their own content through the TV Widget platform.
While the big names are great to have, if TV Widgets and Connected TV in general is going to be anything more than just an unused option that comes with your shiny new TV, it needs to have compelling third-party content. Yahoo has a history of strong developer relationships, so hopefully they'll foster the WDK platform to encourage innovation and adoption.