Quite a geeky/hardcore tech post, but Sony Bravia televisions are making waves with support for widgets. The new range of televisions come with an SDK (What is an SDK?) to allow developers to build onscreen applications which the television will support. Certain models of the Bravia supports the PSP style application and content browser to navigate photos, video and so on.
Why blog this? Interesting on a number of levels. By providing an SDK, Sony are opening up the television platform to allow any developer to create applications and interactive widgets for their televisions. Whilst Sony will of course retain editorial control over which applications appear (not unlike Apple’s AppStore process), it still opens the door for creating engaging and useful interactive tools which could enrich viewing. It has always been hard getting new forms of technology into the front room, but the television has always been the easiest method of reaching that goal. With support for on screen applications, this is a very interesting move.
via [Sony Insider]
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