Holy crap! Yahoo! bought Konfabulator!
Mercury News: “Hoping to pave a new path to its popular Web site, Yahoo Inc. has acquired Konfabulator, a tiny software maker that provides a computer platform for monitoring the weather, stock prices and a wealth of other customized information without opening a Web browser.
The deal, finalized late last week for an undisclosed price, gives Yahoo access to a toolbox of mini-applications – known as widgets – that have built a cult following since Palo Alto-based Konfabulator first introduced them for Apple Computer Inc.’s Macintosh in 2002.
Apple liked the concept so much that it includes a widgets dashboard in the Mac’s operating system. With just three employees, Konfabulator designs its widget software to run on the ubiquitous Windows operating system as well.
The widgets are designed to make it easy for outsiders to develop and share new applications – a concept that Yahoo wants to encourage as it experiments with new ways to make the wealth of information on its Web site more useful, said Toni Schneider, vice president of the company’s developer network.”
Tags: internet, technology, web