Specific Media bought Myspace for $35 M from NewsCorp.

Specific Media, a digital media company, today announced it has acquired Myspace from News Corporation. As part of the agreement, News Corporation will take a minority equity stake in Specific Media. Additional terms of the agreement are confidential and will not be disclosed.

“Myspace is a recognized leader that has pioneered the social media space. The company has transformed the ways in which audiences discover, consume and engage with content online,” said Tim Vanderhook, Specific Media CEO. “There are many synergies between our companies as we are both focused on enhancing digital media experiences by fueling connections with relevance and interest. We look forward to combining our platforms to drive the next generation of digital innovation.”

Specific Media is an innovative global interactive media company that enables advertisers to connect with consumers in meaningful, impactful and relevant ways. Founded in 1999 by brothers Tim, Chris and Russell Vanderhook, Specific Media is currently headquartered in Irvine, CA and operates offices around the world.

About Myspace

Myspace, Inc. is a leading social entertainment destination powered by the passions of fans. Aimed at a Gen Y audience, Myspace drives social interaction by providing a highly personalized experience around entertainment and connecting people to the music, celebrities, TV, movies, and games that they love. These entertainment experiences are available through multiple platforms, including online, mobile devices, and offline events.

Myspace is also the home of Myspace Music, which offers an ever-growing catalogue of freely streamable audio and video content to users and provides major, independent, and unsigned artists alike with the tools to reach new audiences. The company is headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA.  http://www.myspace.com/pressroom/

About Specific Media

Specific Media is a digital media company driving viewership for content owners, engagement for brands and relevance for consumers. With capabilities spanning original programming, cross-channel distribution and addressable advertising, the company connects audiences, content and brands, adding meaning to each touch-point. As people discover new ways to consume content, Specific Media creates impactful media experiences no matter where they are.

www.specificmedia.com

This is the e-mail written by Myspace CEO mike Jones to their staff

From: Mike Jones
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 11:26 AM
To: Myspace All
Subject: IMPORTANT COMPANY NEWS
Importance: High

Myspacers,

Today, we are announcing that Myspace will be acquired by Specific Media, one of the world’s leading online media and advertising platforms. Over the next few days you will be hearing from the team at Specific, including their CEO, Tim Vanderhook, regarding their exciting plans for Myspace and how it fits in with the overall vision of their company.

In conjunction with the deal, we are conducting a series of restructuring initiatives, including a significant reduction in our workforce.  I will assist Specific with the transition over the next two months before departing my role as Myspace CEO.

I wanted to take a minute to thank you all for the incredible experience it has been to lead this company and to work closely with all of you over the past several years. While I regret we won’t be working together at Myspace any longer, I am very proud of the work we have done here and believe we have performed with excellence – even under extremely difficult circumstances.

My time here at Myspace represents the most engaging and challenging time of my professional career. I have found our team to be comprised of the best people I have come across in our industry.

You can read the press release below.  Once again, thank you for all of your hard work and dedication.

Thanks,

"What do you love ?" (from Goolge) New Google Service

Source:[HP] : Google is offering a new service that will help you search for your favorite topics and engage with a host of Google products--all in once place.

The new site, called What Do You Love, invites you to enter a query into a special search bar, the same way you would with a normal Google search. When you hit the "heart" button, Google takes you to a site with 21 Google-branded widgets that help you explore your topic further.

TechCrunch, explains what happens if you search for the term "love": 

On the results page you'll find pictures of love, patents about love, love on Google Trends, videos about love, how to say love in different languages, books about love, etc. It can be interesting. But the results showcasing Gmail, Calendar, Chrome, and a few others again show that this is meant to be more of a promotional tool for Google products rather than anything hugely useful. A button at the bottom of each widget takes you directly to the Google product showcased.

More widget options are likely to follow as Google fleshes out the features on this experimental site.

HTC Thunderbolt 2.3 soon, before Motorola Droid Bionic release date?

It’s also worth noting that HTC is fully aware of the problem that some HTC Thunderbolt owners are currently complaining, the rebooting bug, that is according to reports, randomly reboots an HTC Thunderbolt while using an application or watching videos in YouTube. HTC hopes to fix all the issues with the Gingerbread update according to HTC rep’s letter.

Droid life also reports some of the features included in the Gingerbread update like improved battery management, faster and more intuitive text input, internet calling and Gingerbread’s NFC support. The HTC Thunderbolt is the first 4G/LTE device of Verizon released last March. The phone suffered from release date delay due to battery “problem,” although some still say that the battery life of the Thunderbolt is still its weakest point.

Aside from the HTC Thunderbolt, other Verizon 4G LTE devices are Droid Charge by Samsung and the LG Revolution 4G that was pre-installed with Netflix out of the box. The carrier is also expected to introduce a brand new LTE smartphone this summer, and this time, it’s from Motorola, the second Droid LTE phone, the Motorola Droid Bionic.

According to rumors, the Droid Bionic will include Android Gingerbread out of the box, and the user interface is tweaked by Moto’s, formerly known as MotoBlur. The previous Droid Bionic leak is also suggesting that the Gingerbread version on board is 2.3.4 that supports Google Talk with Video, so we’re not sure if the HTC Thunderbolt’s Gingerbread update will include the same build.

Goolge+ 'A New Socia Network'

Update

(Google.com/+)Google+ releases 9 New Features to become more Social those include Open Sign Ups ,Mobile HangOuts

:

Google has finally launched its long-awaited social network, the Google+ project.

The Google+ network is designed around users' social circles (called +Circles) and lets users selectively share with specific groups within their personal network, rather than sharing with all their social connections at once.
 


"In real life, we have walls and windows and I can speak to you knowing who's in the room, but in the online world, you get to a ‘Share' box and you share with the whole world," Bradley Horowitz, a VP of product management at Google, told the New York Times. By granting the user more control over what is shared, how and with whom, Googel+ attempts to make the online sharing experience more secure and more personal.
In addition to +Circles, Google's network will also let users add interests, video chat in groups, share content via mobile and many more features that should be familiar to social network users..
 


The search giant will integrate its new network directly into its massive web presence to allow users to socialize as they use various Google proucts.Mashable explains how Google will accomplish this:

The search giant's new social project will be omnipresent on every Goolge product, thanks to a complete redesign of the Google navigation bar. The familiar gray bar at the top of every Google page will turn black, and come with several new options for accessing your Google+ profile, viewing notifications and instantly sharing content at any time. The notification system is similar to how Facebook handles notifications, complete with a red number that increases with each additional notice.

Goolge is completing its field trial of the network, which is currently open only to a select few. However, you can visit Google+ to sign up, and Google will send you a notification when the service is ready. You can also explore the social network's landing page and to see what new features are in store.
Check out the slideshow (below) to get a taste of the Google + project, then see our guide to 9 things you need to know about the new social network.