Jerry Yang and Sue Decker Talk About Yahoo's Connected TV at CES

Usually, BoomTown plays the stalker of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang. But, with an interesting product to show off, this time he invited me and also Walt Mossberg to take an on-the-floor look-see at the company’s new “Connected TV” effort yesterday.

Wading into what has been a longtime dead end for many tech companies–bringing the Internet to the television–Yahoo (YHOO) has struck a deal with South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung and other major television makers to put its software in televisions to link them to the Internet.

Using an onscreen dock, Yahoo is presenting its own services (like Flickr) and those from outside Web sites (YouTube) with this “widget engine.” With a regular remote, you can click through these applications easily and launch them in a side screen.

Yahoo hopes to create an entire ecosystem of these widgets, similar to what is occurring with the iPhone.

Publishers and vendors can use Yahoo’s open technology, although the company will offer monetization services, keeping itself at the center of the platform.

In the short amount of time I used it, it’s a nice effort and an important one if Yahoo is to try to lead in being a key player in devices other than computers.

Here’s the video of me talking to Yang (check out his attempted scary stare at me at the start!) and Yahoo President Sue Decker about Connected TV, along with an interview with Yahoo’s point man on other devices, Connected Device EVP Marco Boerries.

Here’s the video (I had to use YouTube to upload it, since Brightcove isn’t downloading properly):