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Smart TV Alliance adds Panasonic and IBM to its fold, lays bare new SDK features
Looks like LG and Toshiba aren't the only TV manufacturers dreaming of a platform-independent future for Smart TVs -- Panasonic has joined the Smart TV Alliance too. Founded to help build a non-proprietary ecosystem for Smart TV apps, the Alliance's ranks have grown to include Panasonic IBM Specific Media, ABOX42 and TechniSat. Smart TV Alliance president Richard Choi is optimistic that the new members will help it mend a fragmented market, giving developers a chance to focus on building apps, rather than navigate compliance processes. A CES developers conference hopes to get them started, too -- introducing the latest SDK's upcoming features, including updated HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript specifications, as well as support for new video codecs and 3D video. Technical presentations will be available this Wednesday for folks in Sin City. Everyone else? Check out the Alliance's official press release after the break. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
Myspace teases slick new revamp with minimalist flair (video)
When it rebranded as My[___], the social network innovator was met with much deserved derision. It was widely perceived as a desperate attempt to recapture the interest of the hipster class that once propelled it into the mainstream, before being overshadowed by the creeping empire of Facebook. The spectacular crash of the brand eventually led to News Corp. to sell it to Specific Media and Justin Timberlake. Since then, the partnership has been quietly working behind the scenes to rebuild the site and return it to its former glory. Like most of the tech media we're understandably skeptical of any attempt to relaunch the flagging social service, but after getting a peak at the redesign we've gotta say we're rooting for it. Myspace (notice, no camel case) has be rebuilt from the ground up and bears almost no resemblance to its previous incarnations. There's still a heavy focus on music and an integrated playlist creator. Visually everything has been stripped down, with thin clean sans-serif fonts, large images and lots of soft grays. Instead of a vertically aligned wall of posts, profile pages are dominated by a large image that fills the window completely -- like Facebook's cover photos taken to their logical extreme. Images and status updates are arranged in a side-scrolling grid that clearly takes inspiration from some of Tumblr's flashier templates. It's all quite beautiful and even integrates with its popular competitors. You can sign up for an invite at the source and check out the teaser after the break.
Specific Media buys MySpace, already has one friend named Tom
To be honest, we weren't entirely surprised to hear rumors back in February that News Corp. was looking to hand off MySpace -- after all, most of the luster seems to have left the once-mighty social network, and Rupert Murdoch's time these days is pretty full running a media empire and saying things in an Australian accent. Word got out this week that the site has landed firmly in the hands of the broadly-named Specific Media, a digital ad network that apparently couldn't get together a cool $19.1 billion for the first-place Facebook. According to rumors, the company scored MySpace for the rock-bottom price of $35 million, a fraction of the $580 million its predecessor paid a half-dozen years ago. No word on whether Murdoch's electroclash band will continue to use the service to promote its gigs.
