ELUSIVE TV-INTERNET MARRIAGE promised by Intel, introducing first specialized CE system-on-chip, couch potato-friendly interface created with Yahoo.

SAN FRANCISCO — Intel has created the technologies to finally weave the Internet into TV, it said
Tuesday. To back the claim, the company put executives from Comcast, Sony, Disney and Yahoo on stage at the Intel Developer Forum.

Intel introduced a “widget dock” developed with Yahoo. It’s intended to create a simple, unobtrusive, visual Internet interface that doesn’t block the TV picture. Viewers can customize it and navigate it with a few clicks of familiar remote controls, said Patrick Barry, Yahoo vice president of connected TV. Developers quickly can create new interactive applications, he said.

The company also announced the Media Processor CE 3100, a system-on-a-chip to support high-quality video and audio, along with Web technologies such as Flash, Java, Ajax and successors. The chip is the first built by Intel specifically for optical media players, cable set-tops, digital TVs and other connected CE devices. It features more than 150 million transistors, 46 clock devices and “15 complex and unique pieces of IP,” said Eric Kim, senior vice president of Intel’s digital home group.   

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