Oregan Networks Unveils Onyx Browser for Connected TVs

Oregan Networks announced the Oregan Media Browser 4.0, which they've dubbed Onyx. It's aimed at the DTV and set-top box markets and provides "simplified accessibility to multiple sources of trusted Internet and personal content on TVs through a single resident TV application that requires minimal set up and can be easily 'called up' in the form of a widget and dismissed without leaving regular broadcast channels or switching TV inputs."

Interesting times in which we live. I talked to Steve Tomlin, Chumby's CEO, this afternoon. He gave me an update on the widget development that they're doing, which includes work and demonstrations with major silicon vendors such as Broadcom, Freescale, Marvell, and Samsung.

I also touched base with Panasonic and got the update on the VIERA Cast applications that they are bringing to both DTVs and to Blu-ray players. The addition of Amazon.com Video On Demand content is a significant value to that particular solution.

On Tuesday, I caught up with Mike Harris at AnySource Media, a company that has developed a platform to bring in Web content to a connected TV. It's very different from other approaches, in that the "normalization" of content is done in the cloud and not on the TV itself, giving TV manufacturers greater ability to create rich content libraries and not subject users to just a few offerings. There is also an ad component to what AnySource is doing, and I think this story is going to play out in a significant way as the connected CE platforms develop. For CE manufacturers to differentiate and potentially get access to growing ad revenues, they're going to need to be able to use assets like navigational pages and on-screen guides for ad real estate. I think that's also the beauty behind the Macrovision Neon CE guide. Obviously, the main goal of the guides will be to help consumers discover and organize all kinds of digital media assets, but it will be interesting to see how the ad revenues work in this realm.

Widgets-on-the-TV/CE: Hot News from CES

The customization of news, weather, traffic, and other information on the TV screen is one of the hot topics to come out of CES this year. I saw a couple of announcements that caught my eye.

Oregan Networks announced the results of an interesting study that they conducted on consumer receptivity to 'Net-enabled televisions. 71% of all respondents would prefer a default media browser to be installed, although they would like the option to be able to change it. Additionally, if their next TV did not come with a pre-installed media browser, 29% of respondents said that they "definitely would" download one, while a further 45% would be likely to download one. 69% of respondents would pay something to download a digital media browser to their next television, if this was supported. 87% of respondents would select a TV with a media browser because it would offer them more entertainment choices.

These type of findings are consistent with those from our recently-completed Digital Media Evolution study, where we found not only receptivity to new connectivity applications, but also a willingness by consumers to place a premium on devices with built-in networking capabilities.

Oregan also announced that it was working with Micronas to marry browser capabilities to silicon. The solution includes Micronas’ Pegasus IDTV platform running a software suite from Oregan Networks that includes a web browser to access TV channels and Internet content such as YouTube™, NetFlix® and Flickr®. A media client is included to display in-home content such as home videos, music and digital pictures in HD, via a DLNA network. 'Widgets' are also provided that pop up information such as sports news, stocks and weather reports.

I also saw a news release from Rallypoint announcing a partnership with Sharp to provide social networking features to AQUOS Net televisions. Rallypoint is also providing its fantasy football widget solution to Samsung’s 2009 flat-panel HDTV lines supporting the new TV Widget service, called “Internet@TV - Content Service.

You remember that cute little Widget device called Chumby? It's now partnering with consumer electronics companies to develop reference designs for widgets-on-devices applications. Chumby released news that it was working with Samsung in this regard, specifically for photo frames. The company announced that it was working with multiple partners in the connected photo frame market, including:

• Marvell
• Samsung
• SMK
• Wolfson Microelectronics