Sound familiar? Well, except for the widget part, combining the PC and TV has been the domain of Microsoft's Media Center for a number of years. But Microsoft was nowhere to be found on Wednesday, and, for that matter, were any PC manufacturers.

So what does that mean? Quite frankly, that Microsoft just got the shaft.

I asked an Intel executive manning the demo booth where Microsoft fit into the equation. "Well, the box runs Linux," he replied. "And Microsoft isn't here."

And that means that Microsoft's PR machine should be rolling into high gear, right about...now. As you might expect, I have a request for comment out with them, and we'll see what they say hopefully later on today.

For right now, however, I'd say that this is (Yahoo CEO Jerry) Yang's revenge: by partnering with the other half of "Wintel", Yahoo not only thumbs its nose at Microsoft yet again, but could conceivably cut them out of the TV market. Remember, there's no reason to buy a Media Center if your TV does all of its functions already. And as to Viiv, Intel's own TV brand? "Viiv taught us a great deal of what not to connect to a TV -- and that was a PC," the Intel source said. I bet Intel's PC partners feel a bit jilted right now. Ouch!