Looks like yahoo finally got around to stealing the ybox idea we presented at the 2006 hackday:

The Yahoo! Widget Engine is based on the popular Konfabulator(R) widget platform for PC, which has been re-engineered specifically for consumer electronics devices.

Here’s what we wrote about the ybox in 2006:

It’s sort of like Konfabulator for your TV (where each widget is just another channel) and it’s sort of like a networked Atari 2600.

Okay, so maybe not the atari 2600 part, but its basically the same idea. Actually, we were hoping at the time that yahoo might take the idea and run with it. Besides, who are we kidding, the idea predates the ybox. Still, it would be nice if yahoo gave us a couple a’ mil, just to be nice.

At the time, we thought the best approach to bringing the “konfabulator” to a TV, would be to partner with Tivo or better yet, the cable companies. But since TV’s are finally coming around to having built-in internet connections, this seems like the right time and the right way to do it.

In terms of being a disruptive technology, I could see this becoming the next iPhone SDK/App store, but it all depends on execution. How widgets will be configured and distributed to your TV seems like an open question. It would be really smart if configuration and widget selection happened on your PC. So yahoo, if you’re listening, its ok — if you haven’t thought of this already, you can steal this idea too :)

UPDATE:

It’s been suggested that perhaps this post is serious about yahoo stealing our idea. So let me clarify: my big fat tongue is in my big fat cheek. We don’t seriously believe that yahoo aped our idea here; as far as we’re concerned this idea was some ripe fruit sitting on the vine that anybody could come along and grab.

In fact, yahoo has hired us three times, as a direct result of the ybox presentation, and has been instrumental in supporting Uncommon Projects.