“’Yahoo! Connected TV”, is a Smart TV

Smart TV

Smart TV, which is also sometimes referred to as "Connected TV" or "Hybrid TV", , is the phrase used to describe the current trend of integration of the internet and Web 2.0 features into modern television sets and set-top boxes, as well as the technological convergence between computers and these...

 platform developed Yahoo!

Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...

 based upon the Yahoo! Widgets platform. Originally announced on August 20th, 2008 at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco as the Widget Channel, it integrates the Yahoo! Widgets Engine with a new television oriented user interface to enable internet connected applications to run and display on a 10-foot user interface

10-foot user interface

In computing a 10-foot user interface is a software GUI designed for display on a large television with interaction using a regular television-style remote control."10 foot" refers to the fact that the GUI's...

Development

Yahoo began porting the Konfabulator Widget Engine to an embedded Linux platform in 2007 as part of a joint venture with Intel corporation that resulted in an announcement of the Widget Channel in August of 2008.

On January 4, 2009 Yahoo! And Samsung

Samsung

The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...

 announced that select models of Samsung’s new flat panel HDTVs would support the new TV Widget service.

On January 7, 2009 Yahoo! Followed up with a broader announcement of distribution partnerships with major television manufacturers Samsung

Samsung

The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...

, Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

, LG Electronics

LG Electronics

LG Electronics is a global electronics and telecommunications company headquartered in Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea. The company operates its business through five divisions: mobile communications, home entertainment, home appliance, air conditioning and business solution...

, and Vizio

Vizio

Vizio is a privately held producer of consumer electronics, based in Irvine, California, USA. It was founded in October 2002 as V Inc. Vizio's major partner in the consumer electronics arena is AmTran Technology, a Taiwan-based OEM/ODM that manufactures more than half of the televisions sold...

, with only a peripheral reference to Intel.

The following year, January 6, 2010, additional partnerships with Hisense

Hisense

Hisense is a multinational electronics manufacturer based in China. It is a state-owned enterprise with publicly traded subsidiaries.The Hisense Group comprises two publicly traded companies, Hisense Electric Co Ltd, listed on the Shanghai stock exchange and Hisense Kelon Electrical Holdings Co...

, ViewSonic

ViewSonic

ViewSonic Corporation is a manufacturer and provider of visual technology, specifically CRT monitors, liquid crystal displays, projectors, plasma displays, HDTV technology, and mobile products, including Mini and All-in-One PCs and wireless monitors....

, MIPS Technologies, and Sigma Designs were announced at CES 2011 bringing the Yahoo! Widget Engine to more televisions and consumer electronics platforms.

In September 2010 Yahoo! And the Vestel Group announced a partnership to deliver the platform that was now renamed to Yahoo Connected TV, to Europe. Also later in September Toshiba announced Yahoo! Connected TV support on several models of their televisions.

WDK

Development of TV widgets is enabled via the Yahoo! Widget Development Kit or WDK, available for download from the Yahoo! Connected TV website.

Widget Distribution

TV Widgets are distributed post sale of the television, via the Yahoo! Connected TV Store, scheduled for launch in Fall 2011. The store claims to reach 135 countries, and enables widget distribution to millions of TVs from Samsung, Sony, Vizio, and Toshiba.
All Transactions are processed by Yahoo!, and widget prices range from 99 cents to 99 dollars, with developers getting 70% of the revenue after taxes and currency exchange.

See also

• Smart TV
  Smart TV
  Smart TV, which is also sometimes referred to as "Connected TV" or "Hybrid TV", , is the phrase used to describe the current trend of integration of the internet and Web 2.0 features into modern television sets and set-top boxes, as well as the technological convergence between computers and these...
  
  
• Interactive television
  Interactive television
  Interactive television describes a number of techniques that allow viewers to interact with television content as they view it.- Definitions :...
  
  
• Internet television
  Internet television
  Internet television is the digital distribution of television content via the Internet...
  
  
• TV Genius
  TV Genius
  TV Genius is a United Kingdom-based software company that specializes in TV search engines, TV recommendation engines, and EPG development. TV solutions are provided across TV, mobile, web, set top boxes and devices like Playstation and Nintendo Wii. The company works with television operators in...
  
  
• WebTV
• Home theater PC
  Home theater PC
  A Home Theater PC or Media Center appliance is a convergence device that combines some or all the capabilities of a personal computer with a software application that supports video, photo, music playback, and sometimes video recording functionality...
  
  
• Tivoization
  Tivoization
  Tivoization is a coined term to describe the creation of a system that incorporates software under the terms of a copyleft software license , but uses hardware restrictions to prevent users from running modified versions of the software on that hardware...
  
  
• Apple TV
• Boxee
  BOXEE
  Boxee is a cross-platform freeware HTPC software application with a 10-foot user interface and social networking features designed for the living-room TV...
  
  
• Roku
  Roku
  Roku , is an American, privately held, consumer electronics company that sells home digital media products. The Company is based in Saratoga, California.- Company profile and products :...
  
  
• XBMC Media Center
• Hillcrest Labs
  Hillcrest Labs
  Hillcrest Labs invented Freespace motion-control technology and the first motion-controlled remote for television. Freespace allows users to control images on a screen by using natural motions, allowing for a new way of interacting with television content...
  
  
• Kylo (web browser)
  Kylo (web browser)
  Kylo is a web browser developed by Hillcrest Labs for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Initially released in 2010, the Kylo web browser features a 10-foot user interface, with large fonts and buttons that make it easy to see from across the room, making it especially suitable for use with a HTPC ...
  
  
• Google TV
  Google TV
  Google TV is a Smart TV platform from Google. It was announced on May 20, 2010, at Google’s Google I/O event and was co-developed by Google, Intel, Sony and Logitech...
  
  

External links

• Yahoo ConnectedTV http://connectedtv.yahoo.com
• Intel Consumer Electronics http://www.intelconsumerelectronics.com