Boundaries between TVs & Computers Disappearing
Televisions with Internet-Based Applications
Yahoo! Inc. is paving the way toward a brave new technological world where the lines are blurred between the desktop computer and the living room television console. Yahoo! and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. have unveiled a new line of televisions with Internet-based applications.
These televisions, which will begin to be made available to the public in the spring of 2009, may be the harbinger of what will become the standard in television technology, much in the same way that color television started to became the standard in the U.S. in the 1950's.
Samsung, Yahoo! and TV Widgets
"Through this partnership, we can combine the Internet benefits of user choice and personalization with Samsung's leading product innovation and global reach to deliver a new experience to users around the world," said Patrick Barry, vice president of Connected TV at Yahoo! in a press release.
The new line of televisions will feature a Javascript and XML based application called a "TV Widget." Consumers will be able to interact with the TV Widget interface by using a remote control. In this way they will be able to access information and interact with Web sites and services such as YouTube™, eBay®, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! Weather, among others. The television sets will be able to connect with the Internet via a built-in Ethernet port or wirelessly through a Wi-Fi USB dongle.
Toshiba and Internet Enhanced TV
Samsung is not the only player in the Internet television game; Toshiba has also announced plans to release a new line of televisions sets with the TV Widget. Users of Toshiba's Internet enhanced television sets will be able to access the popular social networking site, MySpace.
"People now want to easily find and enjoy their PC and Internet-delivered content on all their screens," said Enrique Rodriguez, Corporate Vice President, Connected TV Division at Microsoft, in a press release. "Toshiba's integration of Extender for Windows Media Center technology in their products will deliver rich experiences including the aggregation and intuitive navigation of content or the blending of information and services from the Web."
Yahoo! has developed several different widgets for the upcoming Internet televisions, including those for The New York Times, CBS and Twitter. Yahoo! and Intel have also released a "Widget Development Kit" for designers, meaning that there are sure to be plenty of new widgets to come.
Noteworthy Moment in Television Technology History
This is a significant moment in technology history. Just as readers may have grown up hearing stories from their grandparents about the days before television was in color, they may also one day tell their grandchildren about the days before there was Internet.
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