Samsung makes smart TV, multiscreen updates

Samsung released five new software development kits at its developers conference in San Francisco this week, including one for its 2014 lines of smart TV and one focused on multiscreen connections.

The new version of the TV development kit, which allows developers and content partners to make apps for Samsung Smart TVs, includes WebEngine 2014 for support of next year’s smart TVs and multiscreen support through Samsung Connect.

The updated Samsung Smart TV SDK also supports closed captioning so that subtitles can appear in video apps, and offers improved content filtering and search, Samsung said.

At the conference, Samsung also introduced the new Samsung Multiscreen SDK. Based on a cloud publishing system, this allows content sharing across devices, including one-touch discovery and pairing that can be used to link up smartphones and smart TVs.

In addition, Samsung announced the Samsung Multiscreen Gaming SDK that will allow games developers to create “immersive multiscreen gaming experiences that people play on any big screen TV using a Samsung smartphone or tablet as a console.”

“There are close to half a billion connected devices in the world today, yet a very limited portion are actually connected to each other. Samsung is creating one of the largest connected platforms spanning a broad range of devices that people love and use every day, including smartphones, tablets, TVs and much more,” said Dr. Won-Pyo Hong, president and head of the Samsung Electronics Media Solution Center.

“We are clearing a path for creative developers who want to participate in this multiscreen future, and the SDKs we are releasing today give them a way to start creating for multiscreen, and take advantage of our leadership across so many screens.”

The other SDK announcements were a “streamlined” version of the Samsung Mobile SDK and the Samsung Knox SDK, which was designed so that companies can allow employees to use their own mobiles without compromising corporate security or employee privacy.