New York— The News Corp.-owned MySpace is poised to become the first social network to be available through TV sets later this year, has announced plans to launch MySpace Widget, that allows users to interact with the social networking site directly from their TV. Access to MySpace will be available through a new Widget Channel, co-developed by Intel and Yahoo.
MySpace users will be able to communicate with friend, read and reply to messages, receive friend requests, publish status and mood updates, see updates from friends and browse profiles and photos on their TVs while watching shows, thanks to a social-networking application for TVs jointly launched by MySpace.com, Intel and Yahoo on Wednesday.
The MySpace Widget is being introduced in conjunction with Toshiba, which is promoting a new line of TVs powered by Intel chips that are designed to connect to the Internet.
However, Toshiba, Intel and others are promoting Web-connected TVs this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. As part of the MySpace Widget for TV announcement, Intel and Yahoo have unveiled plans for a Widget Channel that would feature a host of mini-Internet applications geared for couch potatoes.
The Widget Channel itself will be available on internet-enabled TV sets, with selected Samsung internet-enabled TVs to go on sale in the spring as part of the partnership launched by Samsung and Yahoo last Tuesday (6 January).
MySpace has developed a MySpace Widget, a mini-application that complements TV watching with MySpace’s social-networking offerings, such as e-mail and photo viewing.
The aim of the Widget Channel is to develop mini-applications that can complement TV viewing with information from the Internet. For example, a widget could allow users to purchase products advertised on TV from online stores.
With the widget, users would not have to rely on a browser to access MySpace.com. They can receive instant updates of friends’ activities directly on their TV screen, without having to refresh a browser. The widget will also let them view their friends’ profiles.
Users can access the widget using a remote and type messages for friends with an on-screen keyboard, a MySpace spokeswoman said.
News Corp. estimated that the widget would be particularly appealing to viewers of live events, perhaps facilitating trash-talking among sports fans or helping fans campaign for the favorite contestants on American Idol.
“We are offering our users an entirely modern way to easily enjoy, share and access MySpace content through the new MySpace experience for TV,” said Jason Oberfest, vice-president of business development, MySpace and general manager of MySpaceID.
Oberfest said “We believe in our open platform that offers interactive, social applications, and by empowering our users to access their MySpace network while also enjoying TV, we continue to provide new and unique ways keep them engaged and connected.”
The Widget Channel offers a dock mode where users can gain access to the MySpace Widget at the bottom of their TV screens.
The MySpace dock features links to “My Profile,” “Messages,” “Friend Requests” and “
Users can open the MySpace sidebar for more information when updates are received by clicking on an icon. This sidebar allows users to navigate all functionalities of the widget.
The widgets are designed to work with Intel’s Intel Media Processor CE3100 system-on-a-chip platform for consumer electronics devices.
William Leszinske, general manager of Intel’s Digital Home Group, said: “We believe bringing MySpace to the TV will transform the way people think about social networking and provide a seamless experience for users to enjoy MySpace while watching TV.”
The Samsung and Yahoo partnership means viewers can access a wide-range of web-based channels or websites powered by the Yahoo Widget Engine through a TV set.
The MySpace Widget was announced ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show, taking place in Las Vegas Jan. 8-11. It will be available on Internet-connected consumer electronics, such as set-top boxes, Blu-ray players and TVs, the companies said. No exact launch date was provided.