Companies can use it internally too, McNealy said. "Imagine the employees follow their CEO. At the end of the week he can ask a question -- did you have a great week? A lousy week? Then we give him a heat map across the entire U.S."

WayIn faces plenty of challenges. It needs to attract millions of users to compile its sentiment database. And there's a heavy social aspect to the service, which means it's competing for users with Facebook and Twitter. The small blue WayIn logo will appear at the bottom of blog posts and on other sites, McNealy said, just as they do for Facebook and Twitter, so people can weigh in on topics easily.

The interactive TV part requires users to have their smartphone or iPad on the couch with them. Television is a "lean back" medium, and it's still not clear if people want to interact with the shows they're watching, even if the technology is made easy.

But McNealy brings a lot to the table. One of Silicon Valley's longest-serving CEOs, he has always been a savvy marketer -- every one of his "giant hairball" rants against Windows was covered by the press (not that they harmed Microsoft much, in the end). And he has connections: Most of WayIn's board members, partners and investors are friends and acquaintances from when he ran Sun.

"We have all these partnerships because of him; for a startup, that's a massive accelerator," said Tom Jessiman, the company's CEO.