Intel, in partnership with Yahoo, has announced its new Widget Channel this week. It will be powered by an Intel system-on-a-chip (SoC) product, and will contain "a high-performance Intel architecture processor core, multi-stream high-definition video processing, integrated graphics and other functional units to help set top boxes and other CE devices run multiple widgets concurrently with TV programming."

Eric Kim, general manager of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel's Digital Home Group, announced the partnership with Yahoo VP of ConnectedTV Patrick Barry during Kim's keynote on digital home integration at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. Intel's CE 3100, formerly code named Canmore, is the "first consumer electronics-optimized silicon chip that is a true SoC with an Intel architecture core," Kim said.

The 1.2GHz CE 3100 draws just 10W performing normal operations, features 150 million transistors on the die and has 46 clock domains.

"This is not a copy of a PC on TV," Eric Kim also explained among other things.

In a nutshell, Yahoo has created a platform that lets developers easily create portals, or channels, to content sitting on the Web. The users will be able to chat with friends or download movies just by sitting on their couch. Intel and Yahoo say the widgets program is optimized to work best using Intel’s chips, but add that TV manufacturers will be able to use rival chips as well.

The partnership won approvals from Comcast, Disney and Sony, and supporting statements from CBS, Motorola, Samsung and Toshiba, which were projected onto a display during the event on Wednesday.