The Last Guardian exec producer quits Sony for social gaming developer Bossa Studios

The executive producer of delayed Playstation 3 exclusive, The Last Guardian, has left Sony to become creative director at Bossa Studios, the developer behind Facebook game Monstermind.

Yoshifusa Hayama, who also held the position of vice president at Sony Computer Entertainment for four years, explained the reason behind his move into social gaming: “The future of gaming is definitely online and thanks to recent developments with Flash 11, there is no reason why a social … Continue Reading

Tablet newspaper The Daily has 80K paying subscribers

Tablet newspaper The Daily has attracted more than 80,000 paying subscribers and 40,000 non-paying trail-only readers each week, it revealed Monday. The numbers are a sign that the News Corp.-owned innovative digital publication could succeed over time.

Ever since the launch of The Daily in February, people have wondered just how well an iPad-only publication could do when there are so many news sites available and many established news brands with their own iPad apps. … Continue Reading

Hackers steal 21,000 passwords from Star Wars game fan site

A Star Wars Galaxies fan site got hacked today and thieves stole 21,000 email addresses and 23,000 passwords. And judging from an analysis of the passwords, most of them were weak.

The site SWGalaxies.net is a fan site owned by LFNetwork, an independently owned network of LucasArts fan sites. Hackers from the group ObSec, a small hacking collective with apparent sympathies for the LulzSec and AntiSec hacktivist groups, broke into the site’s security and posted … Continue Reading

Hands on with AOL’s iPad mag Editions: The Daily with stories you care about

Does the world really need another tablet magazine? AOL sure thinks so. The company introduced its own spin on the concept this morning with the launch of Editions for the iPad.

Just like Rupert Murdoch’s much-ballyhooed Daily iPad magazine, Editions — available free on the App Store — delivers a single issue every day to users. But unlike The Daily’s pursuit of original content, AOL’s entry pulls stories from around the web to suit your … Continue Reading

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch targeted by pie-thrower in Parliamentary hearing

Media mogul and News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch was reportedly attacked by a pie-thrower during hearings before members of the British Parliament Tuesday.

According to live reports, a man threw a “white substance” at Murdoch during the hearings before the House of Commons Culture Committee. The screen capture above, posted by Reuters’ Felix Salmon on a liveblog of the hearings, clearly shows a pie of some kind in the hands of the plaid shirt-wearing assailant. … Continue Reading

Aegis Media takes $11M minority stake in media marketing firm TigerSpike

Marketing and communications company Aegis Media acquired an $11 million (U.S.) minority stake in TigerSpike, its second acquisition this month.

TigerSpike provides personal media technology branding on smart phones, tablets, Kindle e-readers, and more. The company provides marketing expertise along with success tracking metrics, analysis and in house mobile development. Clients include The Economist, Pepsi, the United Kingdom’s The Daily Telegraph, AutoTrader and the currently scandalized News Corp. TigerSpike also allows clients to dispatch their … Continue Reading

Hacked Fox News Twitter account claimed Obama had been assassinated

Fox News on Monday said that its Fox News Politics Twitter account had been hacked after the account falsely posted that President Obama had been shot and killed while campaigning in Iowa. President Obama is celebrating July 4 at a barbecue with military families at the White House.

One of several Obama-related tweets in the early morning hours of July 4 read:

“BREAKING NEWS: President @BarackObama assassinated, 2 gunshot wounds have proved too much. It’s … Continue Reading

Specific Media acquires Myspace for $35 million

Myspace’s parent company News Corp. has sold the social networking site for $35 million to Specific Media, reports All Things Digital.

The deal will pay out a mix of cash and stock to Specific Media, an online advertising company, with News Corp. retaining about 5 percent of Myspace, according to the report.

Significant cuts to Myspace’s 400-employee staff are expected to follow the sale, according to sources within the company. CEO Mike Jones and other … Continue Reading

News Corp. finalizing $30M sale of Myspace

Myspace’s parent company News Corp. is in the final stages of selling the under-performing social network for $20 – $30 million, reports All Things Digital.

News Corp. is apparently in a rush to complete an acquisition deal by Thursday — its fiscal year-end. The media giant probably doesn’t want MySpace to blemish its 2012 financial records, especially given the lackluster revenue predictions.

Backing up earlier information, the report indicates that significant cuts in staff and … Continue Reading

Myspace laying off 150 employees ahead of company’s sale?

The once great social networking site Myspace is expected to make big cuts to its employee ranks Wednesday, reports Gawker.

TechCrunch later confirmed with sources inside Myspace that the company is laying off at least 150 (37.5 percent) of its 400 remaining employees– with another 150 employees possibly being put on a transition plan while looking for new jobs.

In January, Myspace cut 47 percent of its staff as part of the social networking site’s … Continue Reading

Hulu’s owners are gutting the service: More commercials and longer delays ahead

New details have emerged concerning the future of video streaming service Hulu. The company recently finalized deals to continue streaming content from its media partners/owners, reports All Things Digital.

The good news is that Hulu’s owners — which include Disney, News Corp. and Comcast — don’t want to take their exclusive television content with them if the video streaming service is acquired. The bad news is that the new content agreements for ABC, Fox and … Continue Reading

Hulu gets ready to put itself up for sale

Hulu is retaining investment banking firms Morgan Stanley and Guggenheim Partners to facilitate a potential sale of the company. Prospective bidders were notified today that the sale process will begin about two weeks from now, according to information from anonymous sources in correspondence with the L.A. Times.

The news of Hulu’s intentions comes less than a day after information surfaced of an offer to purchase the streaming media company by an undisclosed potential buyer rumored … Continue Reading

Did Yahoo approach Hulu with a buyout offer?

The LA Times is reporting that Yahoo is the undisclosed potential buyer that made an offer to purchase popular video streaming company Hulu Tuesday.

Acquiring Hulu does make sense for Yahoo, which is looking to extend into the online video market. The company purchased social television startup IntoNow in April and lost a bid to acquire movie website Flixster (along with Rotten Tomatoes) in May.

Yahoo has undergone several restructuring initiatives over the past few … Continue Reading