last100 » Social

Motorola just bet the house on Android and social networking

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:52:55 +0000

On stage live at GigaOm’s Mobilize 09 conference, Motorola just unveiled a large part of its comeback strategy (there seems to be a lot of “comebacks” in the handset market at the moment) based on a new smartphone powered by Android, the Google-led mobile OS, featuring a custom UI that puts social networking at its heart.

The phone, to be called the Motorola Cliq and offered exclusively on T-Mobile in the US, and the Motorola Dext in Europe, features 3G, WiFi, a 3.1 inch touch screen, slide-out landscape keyboard, and 5 megapixel camera, amongst its specs.

The big sell, however, is the new UI that Motorola has built on top of Android and an accompanying synchronization and backup service, both dubbed Motoblur. The combined offering “is the first and only solution to sync contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more—from sources such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Gmail, work and personal e-mail, and LastFM—and automatically deliver it to the home screen”. Or so the company claims.

If that all sounds similar to the custom Android work that HTC have recently done with the HTC Hero or Palm’s Synergy, or to a lesser extent, Nokia’s home screen widget approach on the N97 or much of the overall philosophy behind handset upstart INQ, it’s because it is. While Motorola are probably onto something with Motoblur, so is much of the rest of the industry.

The social web, as I’ve argued many times before, is the killer app for mobile data. And Motorola just bet the house on it.

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Nokia dumps location-based service Friend View, falls in love with Facebook

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:20:53 +0000

During the opening keynote at Nokia World, which kicked off today, CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was at pains to point out that the handset maker didn’t view Internet “services” as an interesting side business but that it was still the future of the company.

And along with music, messaging and turn-by-turn navigation, location-aware social networking, which the company calls SoLo, and other types of location-based services are key to this future. After all, Nokia has invested heavily in GPS-related technologies and applications, the boldest example being the $8.1 billion purchase of Navteq in late 2007.

What was and still is unclear is how much of Nokia’s SoLo strategy involves building out its own social networking offerings or partnering with and supporting established social networks. With today’s announcement of a tie up with Facebook and with it the death of the company’s own ‘Friend View’, with regards to the simplest of ‘SoLo’ applications — share my current location with friends — the handset maker has seen sense and decided to do the latter.

The new application called Lifecasting with Ovi, which will soon be available for the company’s flagship N97 (see my review) and newly announced N97 Mini (a smaller and slightly cheaper version of the N97), enables users to publish “their location and status updates directly to their Facebook account from the home screen of [there] mobile device.” Photos can also be uploaded as part of a status update and friends who are logged into Facebook are presented with an accompanying Ovi map displaying their buddy’s exact location.

When Google launched a similar location-based social networking app, dubbed Latitude, as part of their Google Maps service, I used it as an opportunity to criticize Nokia’s social networking strategy as a whole and in particular their own rival offering, the now defunct Friend View.

My argument was that if you’re going to launch a mobile social network you need to be platform (handset) agnostic. Google Latitude launched on multiple mobile platforms, while Nokia Friend View was for Nokia handsets (S60) only. As I wrote at the time: “Imagine if Nokia phones could only call other Nokia phones. That’s not dissimilar to how Nokia’s social networking strategy works.”

By embracing Facebook for its SoLo ‘Ovi Lifecasting’ app, not being device agnostic is no longer an issue. Instead, Nokia is leaning more towards being ’social network’ agnostic. The voice over in the video promo for Ovi Lifecasting aludes to this U-turn with the line “lifecasting is sharing where you are, where we all are”. Where we all are being Facebook.

In the future, of course, Nokia could easily add a Twitter extension to its Ovi Lifecasting app. While, as it stands today, the tie-in with Facebook is also a clever way to get its Ovi Maps service in front of all of those extra millions of users.

In more Facebook love, Nokia also announced today an extension of its Nokia Messaging service (currently push email and IM) called Social Messaging. The plan is to develop a multi-protocol social networking app for Nokia handsets, with Facebook being the first social network to be supported. A beta of the app can be downloaded today for the S60-powered N97 and S40-based feature phone, the 6700 classic.

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INQ working on a mass market ‘Twitter phone’

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:35:08 +0000

Hutchison-owned INQ, makers of the Skype phone and INQ1 – dubbed the Facebook phone – is said to be targeting Twitter next, according to a Reuters report. That’s hardly surprising considering the rise in popularity of the ‘micro-blogging’ site and the large amount of media attention the service has garnered here in the UK, one of the primary markets for the INQ1 via mobile network “3″, which is also a subsidiary of Hutchison.

“This can really help open up and drive Twitter use on mobile when usage becomes part of your data package like on the PC”, Frank Meehan chief executive of INQ tells the news service. One again the proposition to carriers is that a low cost ‘Twitter phone’ would help to drive data usage and retention amongst mass consumers not just those who can afford a traditional ’smart phone’.

On that note, Marc Allera, director of sales and marketing at 3 UK, tells Reuters that the data usage via social networking services for customers of the INQ1 is three to four times higher than from other phones and is likely on par with Apple’s iPhone, a considerably more expensive device. Sixty five percent of INQ1 users are said to be using Facebook on a regular basis and fifty percent using Windows Live Messenger: “On usual smartphones the Internet experience is in no way close and their price is 3-4 times higher.” Again, I’m not too surprised.

In my recent review of the INQ1 I concluded by saying:

I don’t have any stats to prove it, but I’ve long believed that 90% of mobile phone owners probably only use about 10% of the device’s features. That’s unlikely to be the case with the INQ1, which not only concentrates on three of the most popular web services – Facebook, Skype and Windows Live Messenger – but integrates them in a very practical and intuitive way.

Whether or not Twitter alone warrants its own handset is another matter, and I suspect that any new divice will incorporate additional social networks and other web services as is the case on the existing INQ1, and instead will be largely differentiated by marketing alone and, perhaps, a different form factor. A QWERTY keyboard would be a welcome addition to a INQ Twitter phone, although perhaps I’m just old school. Kids around these parts don’t seem to have any problems conversing via T9 on a traditional number pad.

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XBox 360 to support Twitter and Facebook. Who’s the biggest social network on TV now?

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:56:12 +0000

Facebook on XBox 360

For a long time now, Microsoft has made the rather lofty claim that the company’s XBox 360 was the biggest social network on TV. For the most part that was in reference to XBox Live – the games console’s online service – and its integration with Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft’s cross platform Instant Messaging service (Windows, Mac and mobile). Yesterday, however, Microsoft announced at E3 that the XBox 360 will soon be adding support for two competing social networks – Twitter and Facebook – making the XBox 360 undoubtedly the most socially networked set-top box, but not necessarily a Microsoft-owned social network the biggest one on the television. I’m not sure how Windows Live Messenger user numbers and Facebook’s compare in terms of cross-over with XBox Live membership but it’s nonetheless significant that Microsoft has chosen to embrace two competitors.

Interestingly, the Facebook integration won’t be one way. Not only will XBox 360 users be able to access a Facebook application providing the usual functionality (status updates, view friends’ news feeds, photos etc), but XBox Live will also incorporate Facebook Connect so that various activities can be posted back to Facebook e.g. in-game screen shots and footage. The User Interface for the Facebook app could do with some improvement, reports Gizmodo, which isn’t surprising considering that the social network’s feature set is fairly extensive and is rooted firmly in the PC, making designing the perfect “ten foot” UI challenging.

In comparison, Twitter’s minimum core functionality looks much better suited to the TV (see screen shot) and, accompanied by the XBox 360 gamepad’s thum-board QWERTY add-on, could work quite well. Both services to be supported through a software update “this fall”.

Twitter on XBox 360

Other XBox 360 announcements yesterday of interest to last100 readers included improved Netflix functionality with full on-screen access to the service’s movie and TV show catolog, support for music streaming service Last.fm, and 1080p High Def content (download and streaming) through XBox Live’s newly branded video store now called “Zune”.

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A glimpse into the Nokia N97’s Facebook app (screen shots)

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:05:12 +0000

Six months prior to its scheduled release, influential tech blogger Robert Scoble dubbed Nokia’s upcoming N97 the “ultimate Facebook phone“. And as impressive as the device promises to be, that seemed just a tad premature, especially as the handset maker was reportedly still working out how deeply it should integrate a rival’s web service into its flagship phone. The competition wasn’t going to stand still either.

New entrant INQ has since brought to market a low-cost handset that many have dubbed ‘the Facebook phone‘ as it tightly integrates the social network into the device’s messaging and contacts application. Similarly, Blackberry recently beefed ups its own Facebook application, while Palm’s betting much of its comeback on the Palm Pre’s “synergy” feature, which sees Facebook and other third-party web services become an integral part of the phone’s functionality.

On that note, with just a few weeks before the N97 is set to debut, Nokia have published an interactive demo of the phone’s User Interface, including a walk-through of some of the features of the included Facebook application. Screen shots and comments below.

Status updates

Nokia Facebook app: update your status

You can both update your status and view your friends’ status updates/news feed. Judging by the icons a the top of the screen, you can also see any messages in your Facebook Inbox, as well as friend requests and ‘pokes’.

Publish photos

Nokia Facebook app: publish photos

You can upload a photo to Facebook either via the N97’s camera or from a photo already stored in the phone’s image library. Additionally, you can give the photo tags, a title and choose which of your Facebook photo albums to publish it to. You can also view any of your friends’ photo albums.

Events

Nokia Facebook app: view events

You can view any upcoming events on Facebook that you’ve been invited to…

Nokia Facebook app: respond to invites

… and indicate if you’ll be attending …

Nokia Facebook app: add event to calendar

… including being able to add that event to the phone’s own calendar app

You can play with the interactive demo of the Nokia N97’s User Interface here.

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Palm Pre aiming to be THE Facebook phone – social networking still mobile’s killer app

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:47:31 +0000

(Credit: Jamie Gonzalez via twitpic)

I’ve written many times before that social networking, and Facebook in particular, is the killer application for mobile phones. It’s what’s driving take up of mobile data and the adoption of higher end so-called smartphones. The mobile networks have taken notice and jumped on the social networking bandwagon, heavily promoting access to Facebook as a key feature, and handset makers are doing the same.

RIM has been targeting consumers with an ad campaign that features the Blackberry’s Facebook application.

Ditto Apple with the iPhone.

And there’s INQ, a new entrant whose first device, the INQ1, has been dubbed ‘the Facebook phone‘ based on its deep integration with the social networking site.

Heck, even Nokia, despite creating its own competing social networking offerings, is starting to embrace Facebook through a prominent widget on the home screen of its upcoming flagship device, the N97.

The Palm Pre, however, looks to have taken Facebook support to the next level with its ‘Synergy’ feature, which builds the phone’s address book and messaging functionality, in part, around the social networking site (along with other third-party web services).

On that note, a leaked photo taken of the set for an upcoming Facebook television ad campaign puts Facebook at center stage – literally – signaling that the handset maker is going to market the Pre as the Facebook phone, perhaps by claiming that it has out innovated its rivals in terms of support for the near-ubiquitous SNS.

(via CNet)

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BlackBerry address book integrates Facebook, apes Palm Pre’s “Synergy” and INQ1

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:01:11 +0000

A new version of the Facebook for BlackBerry application has been released that offers better integration with the social networking site. Two standout features: a user’s friends list is kept in sync with the handset’s built-in address book – Facebook avatars show up as called ID, for example – and notifications from the social networking site are “pushed” to the phone’s home screen. Other features offered, not all of which are new, include:

Send/receive message or wall posts, pokes and friend requests.
Update your status, view and comment on your friends’ status.
Share photos from your BlackBerry smartphone with tags/comments and post to Facebook with just one click.

It’s not surprising to see BlackBerry (RIM) continue to improve their Facebook application by offering better integration with the social networking site: I’ve long suggested that social networking, and Facebook in particular, is the killer app for mobile, and RIM were one of the first to recognize this when they begun featuring Facebook in their ad campaigns as the company strove to break into the consumer smartphone market.

Having said that, BlackBerry isn’t the first to link the phone’s address book/calendar with the social networking site or to “push” Facebook notifications directly to the handset. INQ are selling their low-cost ’smartphone for the masses’, the INQ1 (see review), based on similar functionality, and Palm’s upcoming Pre running webOS also offers deep Facebook integration as part of a feature called “Synergy”.

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Gravity, a really nice Twitter app lands on Symbian S60 phones

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:00:05 +0000

At last, smartphones running the Nokia-led Symbian S60 OS have a native Twitter application. And a very slick one at that.

Gravity is supported on phones running S60 version 3, including my own Nokia E71, as well as the latest touch-friendly S60 version 5, which powers the Nokia 5800 (aka the Tube) and the upcoming N97.

The app supports a host of features, including…

Tweet, reply, DM, follow & unfollow, create favourites, search, and auto-update
Tabbed view of your Timeline, Replies, Messages, Friends
Setup and use as many accounts as you want at the same time
Twitter-Search section with multiple search tabs and Twitter Trends
Post pictures via TwitPic
Open URLs from any Tweet

The end result is a very powerful yet user-friendly Twitter app, and one that is better in many ways than Twitter’s own website and the many iPhone Twitter clients out there. It’s also proof that S60 apps can be as polished and easy to use as those on Apple’s iconic device, and along with the recent S60 native YouTube client, sets a new standard for third-party S60 applications. Now somebody just needs to create a decent S60 Facebook app.

Note: You can follow me on Twitter here.

Symbian-Guru’s video demo after the jump…

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Hands-on review: INQ1 a.k.a. the ‘Facebook phone’

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:32:03 +0000

Over the last week I’ve been playing with the INQ1, the so-called ‘Facebook phone’. Designed by the same team behind mobile carrier 3’s original “Skype Phone” (see last100’s coverage), like its predecessor, this fairly nondescript 3G candy bar slider masks plenty of innovation on the software side.

Integrated into the handset, for example, is Facebook, Skype and Windows Live Messenger, along with various widgets, such as Yahoo Weather. Just don’t call it a smartphone, says the company. Instead, the INQ1 is billed as a low cost device, designed to appeal to a broader and, perhaps, younger market than existing smartphones from the likes of Apple, RIM, Nokia and HTC.

Facebook, Skype and Windows Live Messenger

At its heart is the INQ1’s Facebook integration, which goes a little deeper than rival handsets. Along with a standalone app that resembles the social network’s mobile website, the phone’s camera software is capable of uploading directly to Facebook, and a user’s friends-list can be imported and synced with the INQ1’s address book. The latter feature opens up a world of possibilities. For example, when receiving a call, if available, the contact’s Facebook profile picture is displayed on the screen. Additionally, Facebook messages, pokes and friend requests are delivered automatically to the phone’s in-box, just like an SMS text message or ‘push’ email. In practice, this all worked a treat, and in many ways, makes staying up-to-date with friends and family through Facebook on the INQ1 feel more intuitive than on the desktop.

The INQ1’s Skype client replicates the basic functionality of its older desktop sibling, with a few notable caveats. While Skype-to-Skype calls are permitted, along with IM, Skye-Out (calling regular phone numbers using paid-for Skype credit) is only available for international calling, presumably at the request of “3″, the only carrier that currently offers the INQ1. Like-wise, there’s no support for Skype-In or video conferencing. That said, similar to the device’s Facebook support, Skype contacts can be imported into and kept in-sync with the phone’s address book, from which you can see a contact’s Skype status, initiate a call or start an IM conversation. Any IMs or call requests received, even while Skype is running in the background, are pushed directly to the phone, again just like an SMS or regular call.

In my testing, Skype call quality, while varied, was certainly good enough for social calls, which is exactly how the INQ1 is intended to be used, and the ability to see a contact’s status and, optionally, exchange a few IMs before calling, is very appealing.

Windows Live Messenger works in much the same was as the IM functionality of Skype on the INQ1. Once again, Messenger contacts can be synced with the phone’s address book (displaying online status, initiating an IM conversation etc.)

Pre-empting the Palm Pre

One really cool feature shared by the INQ1’s Facebook, Skype and Windows Live Messenger, is the ability to converge contact data from all three services, along with the phone’s own address book. This involves manually linking any duplicate contacts on each of your friend lists, so that, for example, the INQ1 will know that “Joe Bloggs” on Facebook is the same “JBloggs” on Skype, and so on. This is very similar to how the upcoming Palm Pre’s ‘Synergy’ feature will work, although Palm’s implementation looks like it will have a degree of automation, with the device doing some guess work in order to make converging contacts a little less time consuming than on the INQ1.

Web browser

For a phone that has it so right when it comes to social networking, I was a little disappointed by the web browser. It wasn’t the way pages rendered, the ‘full web’ was mostly accessible, but the slow speed at which they were displayed and the clunky scrolling. However, I was very pleased to see the option to switch on ’smart fit’ so that columns of text re-flow intelligently so as to eliminate horizontal scrolling on the device’s 2.2 inch (320 x 240) screen. There’s also a built-in RSS reader and an accompanying home screen widget too. Talking of which, other home screen widgets include a Google search bar, Yahoo Weather and world clock.

Camera

This is the biggest let down of the INQ1. The 3.2 mega-pixel camera is poor to say the least, which is a real shame considering how easy it is to upload photos to Facebook. With no Flash and weak optics, shots taken indoors really struggle, while well lit or outdoor situations obviously fare better.

Music player

The INQ1’s music player is pretty basic too, but it gets the job done (let down mostly by the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack). On the upside is a degree of Last.fm integration, although it’s “scrobbling” of tracks only not actual streaming, and a microSD card slot offering plenty of storage.

Verdict

I don’t have any stats to prove it, but I’ve long believed that 90% of mobile phone owners probably only use about 10% of the device’s features. That’s unlikely to be the case with the INQ1, which not only concentrates on three of the most popular web services – Facebook, Skype and Windows Live Messenger – but integrates them in a very practical and intuitive way. In fact, the INQ1’s UI is incredibly easy to use overall, with the customizable Mac OSX dock-like launcher providing quick access to the most commonly used apps.

The major drawback of the INQ1 is the phone’s sub-par camera, something that I feel INQ needs to address as a priority in any future model. Moving forward, I’d also like to see an INQ phone with WiFi, a larger screen, and a QWERTY keyboard, all of which would, of course, add cost, although not so much over time as component prices come down. On the software side, a Twitter client and integration would be an obvious addition, as would support for more IM services. There also needs to be an option to increase the font size in the Facebook app, something that could easily be addressed through a future software update.

Overall, however, I’ve found the INQ1 to be one of the most fun phones I’ve played with in recent times, and on a more profound level, points to where mobile communication is definitely heading. All of this from a new entrant and a low-cost device – free with a contract or £80 PAYG on carrier 3 here in the UK – squarely aimed at the masses. Job well done INQ (just fix that camera).

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Should Nokia get into bed with Facebook? Err, yes

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:43:41 +0000

Nokia is in protracted talks with Facebook about ways to further integrate the hugely popular social networking site into select handsets, reports WSJ. Although any partnership deal has yet to be struck, and may never be, according to the article, citing “a person familiar with the talks”.

An obvious feature that’s being explored is deeper integration of Facebook user profiles and contact info into the phones address book, similar to the INQ1 and the yet-to-be released Palm Pre. “When users looked up a contact, they could see whether their Facebook friends were logged on, send them messages and post comments on their profile pages.”

A potential stumbling block, however, is Nokia’s concern over how much mobile-specific user data Facebook would get their hands on. “Nokia doesn’t want the service to provide Facebook with an avenue to compile data about cellphone users, such as their Web browsing or purchasing habits…”

Alternatively, Nokia is considering rolling a social network of its own, according to the report, which would tally with its web service ambitions. The company already offers social web features, such as photo and video sharing, a location-based social network and micro-blogging, all through its Ovi brand. Interestingly, the latest version of Nokia’s ’share on Ovi’ software already offers limited Facebook support, such as photo uploads to the site.

Should Nokia officially partner with Facebook?

In a word, yes. Simply put, Facebook integration, if marketed properly, will help shift a bunch of handsets and stave off competition from Apple, Palm and Blackberry, all of which offer more Facebook functionality than Nokia. There would of course be internal questions about how much to prop up a potential competitor, but in the social networking game, network effects (number of users) win out and Facebook has this in abundance. But where would that leave Nokia’s own social web ambitions?

There’s no reason why the company can’t promote its own offerings, alongside deeper Facebook integration. And besides, not all markets are equal. Facebook may dominate in the US and UK, for example, but in so-called emerging markets where Nokia already rules, that doesn’t have to be the case. There’s also a nice halfway house: build more third-party services into the company’s own social apps, such as cross posting to Twitter via Nokia’s Friend View software. After all Ovi means “door” in Finnish — the tag line reads “the key that unlocks every door” — but, as I’ve said before, right now it feels too much like the key to Nokia city.

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Google Latitude shows what’s wrong with Nokia’s social location (SoLo) strategy

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:23:05 +0000

If the next frontier is mobile, a key battle ground is going to be location-based services. And, drilling down further, location-based social networking, such as the ability to share your current location with friends. Yesterday, Google went head-to-head with Nokia and a plethora of startups with such an application. Called Latitude, the Google Map-powered software enables users to keep track of where their friends are and what they’re up to. Sort of like Twitter, IM and GPS rolled into one.

If that sounds a lot like Nokia’s Friend View and, more broadly, the handset maker’s social location strategy (SoLo), that’s because it is. But there’s one significant difference: despite investing heavily in its own mobile operating system, Google Latitude has launched simultaneously on multiple mobile platforms: Blackberry, S60, Windows Mobile, and Google’s own Android. iPhone support should also arrive soon, says the company. In comparison, like other Nokia web services, Friend View is only available on S60 and targeted solely at Nokia’s own cell phones.

While this isn’t necessarily a problem in countries, such as India, where Nokia completely dominates, it flies in the face of network effects where the more people that join the network, the more useful the network becomes. Friend View, like any social network, only becomes truly useful if all or the majority of a user’s friends or contacts join. But to do this, they’ll have to use a Nokia smartphone too. That’s unlikely to be the case for all of a user’s social network, especially in the UK where competition amongst handset makers is fierce.

Imagine if Nokia phones could only call other Nokia phones. That’s not dissimilar to how Nokia’s social networking strategy works. At least for now. If the company is serious about transforming itself into an Internet company, this is something I’m convinced they need to address.

Video presentations of both services embedded below.

Google Latitude

Nokia Friends View

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Deja vu: Internet ‘widgets’ coming to the TV in 2009

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:17:59 +0000

I’m getting a case of deja vu. Apparently, 2009 will be the year that Internet ‘widgets’ come to the TV.

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to be held in Las Vegas next month, Samsung, Toshiba and other manufacturers will unveil new televisions that bring Internet content into the living room through support for the “Widget Channel”, a platform for Internet-connected TVs developed in partnership by Yahoo and Intel (see ‘Yahoo, Intel attempt to solve Web content on television with “Widget Channel”). Of course, Internet-connected TVs were also the talk of CES in 2008, with Sharp, Samsung, Panasonic and Google making announcements. This time, however, Yahoo and Intel think they’ve got it right.

Based, in part, on research by Intel that involved the use of the company’s top anthropologist, the “Widget Channel” is a response to what the two companies think consumers actually want, rather than technology for technology’s sake. With the push of a button, Internet ‘widgets’ appear along the bottom of the TV screen giving access to a range of online content such as photos from Flickr or videos from YouTube, the latest weather forecast, or perhaps TV show information from Wikipedia.

More importantly, Yahoo and Intel think it knows what consumers don’t want from an Internet-connected television (via CNET):

Another remote control, specifically one with a keyboard.
Something that intrudes on watching TV. Instead, consumers wanted “a big button to make the software go away in one fell swoop–no menus or arrow keys or complication–so they could get back to watching TV when they wanted.”
A full-on Web browser. Nobody wants to surf the web on the TV – in the traditional sense – but they do want access to online content on the television, such as updates from their social network or real time information.

I’m unsurprised by the resistance to a ‘full-on Web browser’, just look at the failure of products such as the original WebTV. It’s also interesting but not all that surprising that Yahoo and Intel found that consumers don’t want to have to have to use a, presumably QWERTY, keyboard in addition to the TV remote. While this alone will make data entry more fiddly, the “Widget Channel” could employ a hybrid model whereby TV ‘widgets’ are configured on a PC using a web browser to then be accessed via the TV using a standard remote.

The “Widget Channel” is powered by software based on Yahoo’s acquisition of Konfabulator in 2005 (the technology behind Yahoo Widgets) and a new chip from Intel. Yahoo sees advertising opportunities on Internet-connected TVs, while Intel hopes it will provide the company with a further foray into non-PC consumer electronics.

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