Intel inside … the box
There are a ton of companies trying to reinvent the way you watch television. It was really just a matter of time before Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) jumped into the fray.
The catch here is that the two companies are teaming up for something that may actually change the way we watch television. Intel and Yahoo! -- and I guess we'll have to come up with some clever Wintel or Microhoo way of referring to the two tech bellwethers, like Yahntel or Intelhoo -- are rolling out Widget Channel. The application will allow chip-equipped sets to do things like stream your personalized stock quotes or local weather at the bottom of your screen.
Naturally, this will all play right into Yahoo!'s many properties, so you can expect everything from tapping your Flickr photo albums to checking on your fantasy football league to become widgets that are added to the viewing experience.
I guess we've learned to multitask that way. It's now human nature to watch news, sports, and financial shows, with info crawls at the bottom. I guess it was only a matter of time before those info crawls became totally relevant to the viewer. So kudos to Intel and Yahoo! on Widget Channel. They showed up fashionably late but brought some treats.
Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.
- It's no Oprah moment. It's no Howard Stern on-air rant. However, this week's signing of former terrestrial sports talk celebrity Chris "Mad Dog" Russo by Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) is a milestone. It's the first major signing since the merger between Sirius and XM was completed earlier this month. It's also the first deal structured with programming that will be aired simultaneously -- and exclusively -- on both satellite radio networks. The synergies have arrived.
- The Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) monster keeps growing. Nielsen Online's latest market research data shows Google with a commanding 60% share of the domestic search engine market for the month of July. Google's year-over-year market share growth clocked in at a respectable 16%. Growth at its three nearest competitors -- Yahoo!, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Time Warner's (NYSE:TWX) AOL -- fell by an average of 10%. It's too late to kill Google. It can only kill itself at this point.
Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz
