Yahoo, Intel Bring Widgets to the TV

Written by Ryan Lawler

Wednesday, August 20. 2008 at 04:35 PM EDT Post a comment

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Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) and Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) have teamed up to allow developers to build widgets that bring Internet functionality to TV screens.

Under the partnership, which was announced at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) today, the companies are establishing a framework for developers to build rich Internet applications, or "widgets," that can be viewed on a TV screen while users watch their favorite programs.

The widgets will be powered by Yahoo's "Widget Engine," and will allow third-party developers to create applications based on Javascript, HTML, XML, and Adobe Flash technology.

Intel and Yahoo have signed up a number of companies to develop third-party TV widgets, including Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI), CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY), MTV Networks , Joost , Samsung Corp. , and Toshiba Corp. (Tokyo: 6502).

The new TV widgets will take advantage of functionality enabled by the just-announced Intel Media Processor CE 3100, a new system on a chip (SoC) developed for Internet-connected consumer electronic devices such as DVD players or advanced set-top boxes.

The new Intel processor will begin shipping next month to CE companies such as Samsung and Toshiba.