???? – 2025retired
Guilded
“A quieter corner of the internet, logged off with its servers still warm.”
“The widget drawer of the living room finally closed — gently, after a very long nap.”
Yahoo! Smart TV began life as Yahoo! Connected TV, unveiled on August 20, 2008 at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco as the Widget Channel. Built on the Yahoo! Widgets Engine from the beloved Konfabulator platform, it brought little internet-connected apps to the biggest screen in the house, reimagined for couch-distance viewing. Samsung, Sony, Vizio, Toshiba, and Mediatek all shipped it, and for a while the
The end came slowly and without drama. Most manufacturers moved on after model year 2012, and on March 30, 2018 the taps closed on new Konfabulator-based apps, though existing ones kept limping along. On September 30, 2025, the platform finally shut down and every app running on it went dark — leaving behind the memory of when your TV's most exciting feature was a tiny widget.
Spotted something wrong? Every fact on this page traces to a dated source. Fixes make the graveyard better for everyone.
“A quieter corner of the internet, logged off with its servers still warm.”
“The last of the ring/silent switch, and the first to say goodbye to Lightning.”
“One year on the throne, then handed the crown to its successor and went home”