Tag archive: Disney

Some people enjoy speculating about celebrity romances, some people enjoy speculating about corporate mergers. Every once in a while, we sit down with a beer and talk about cool mergers that will never happen, but might be really interesting to watch. This week I figured I’d share some of the more interesting ones with you. Disney + Apple It wouldn’t matter which one bought the other, but this could be a really cool combination. In many ways,… Read More

Guest contributor Berna Erol is the founder of iKid Apps , which reviews the best iPhone, iPad, and Android kids apps, and offers a wealth of tips for parents. Follow her at @bernae on Twitter. Smartphones and tablets, combined with great apps and sensible screen time, can do wonders for entertaining and educating our children. Nevertheless, the interaction with these devices is still limited to a few gestures, so they do little help with… Read More

Netflix may need to start keeping an eye on YouTube's rental service. Thanks to a new partnership, Disney movies will be available for rent through the popular Google-owned streaming service. The first batch of many Disney movies are available beginning today, some starting at $1.99. The official announcement, via blog post, points out that today's batch is “the first of hundreds of The Walt Disney Studios Movies,” with more releases… Read More

For anyone that has kids, spends time with kids, or even just remembers being a kid, the properties of Disney have made an impact on their lives. It is unavoidable — Mickey Mouse and his cohorts are iconic, and their presence can be found around the world regardless of race, creed or geographic boundaries. The Disney franchise has decades of history, and even today continues to churn out new properties, thus guaranteeing another generation of… Read More

Netflix announced today that it will continue to offer its streaming customers shows from the Disney-ABC Television Group, which includes ABC Studios, Disney Channel and ABC Family. Additional shows from these networks will also be added to the Netflix lineup as part of the renewal deal.  According to the streaming agreement, episodes from the new seasons of shows currently being aired on the Disney-ABC channels will be available to Netflix… Read More

It has been an exciting summer for video streaming company Hulu. NBC Universal, Fox, and Disney, the owners of Hulu, have been trying to sell the company to the highest bidder. The bidding adventure has officially ended today without a winner; Hulu announced on the company blog that it has decided that it is no longer for sale. There have been several rumors about who has been trying to buy Hulu including Yahoo, Apple, Google, and DirectTV. The… Read More

As the holiday season approaches, media giant Disney is hoping kids—or at least their parents—will spend some end-of-year holiday gift-giving money on toys based on Disney characters and franchises—and the company has worked tirelessly over the years to ensure that Disney-themed items are nigh-inescapable. Now, the company has combined its prowess for physical children's toys with the Apple iPad, announcing its first… Read More

In addition to rolling out the Web analytics package for selected websites earlier today, officials at Twitter quietly started pushing its form of advertising, otherwise known as promoted tweets, into the feeds of users. Despite previous plans to only insert promoted tweets into feeds of users that follow the brand involved in the promotion, all users will see advertising within the feed regardless of following status. Brands running the… Read More

It's no secret that online video streaming service Hulu is looking for a buyer—the company has hired investment banks to help oversee a possible sale. But while the company entertained an offer from a mystery buyer (apparently Yahoo) back in June. Now, reports are emerging that Yahoo would be willing to pay up to $2 billion for Hulu—but only if it can get a long-term exclusive lock on content available through Hulu. And the word… Read More

The first UltraViolet-enabled devices and titles are cleared for release this fall. The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem alliance has begun the licensing process making UltraViolet available to the consumer as early as October. If a consumer purchases a new Blu-ray or DVD movie, UltraViolet allows the consumer to create an account to own the digital rights of the content. With a digital locker of content in the cloud, consumers can… Read More

For years—centuries even—dreamers have looked to the skies and gazed in fascination at our nearest celestial neighbor, Mars. From the comedic to the incredible, there have been countless stories about life on the Red Planet. Just look at the interest and scrutiny that surrounded the mere possibility of fossilized bacteria being discovered on Mars a few years back. But long before we were sending probes to the planet, and nearly a century… Read More

It's always a shame to see a game development studio close its doors, but the news is especially sad when the group being disbanded is such a talented one. We all mourned when Okami and Viewtiful Joe creator Clover Studio went away, and we should similarly raise a glass today for Black Rock Studio. The Brighton, UK-based developer of Pure and Split/Second has been shedding employees for a few months now, but it seems that those… Read More

Last week, reports surfaced that streaming video service Hulu had been approached by a mystery bidder about taking over the comp[any, and now the Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that the company will be meeting with a range of potential buyers in the next few weeks—and names on the table run from Internet giant Yahoo to private investors. The Wall Street Journal piece cites anonymous sources claiming the company is… Read More

Disney Interactive Studios has announced Disney Universe, a forthcoming action-adventure multiplayer game that, for the first time, will present a mashup of many of Disney's best-known properties, spanning from animated Disney and Disney/Pixar characters to live action franchises (no doubt including Pirates of the Caribbean). Players will be able to “suit up” as more than 40 Disney characters and run off on multiplayer… Read More

If you want something done right, do it yourself. Such seems to be the message coming from French video game giant, Ubisoft. Not content to watch its properties either languish in the recesses of Hollywood studios that buy properties as often to avoid others having them as to actually make a movie from it, or to watch the lucky few properties make it all the way to the big screen be met with mixed reviews ala Prince of Persia, Ubisoft has… Read More