Limited Edition 'Wall-E' Roomba
Posts with tag disney
Amazon Offers TV and Movies On Demand
by Thomas Ricker, posted Jul 17th 2008 at 11:16AM
The New York Times is reporting that Amazon is scrapping its Unbox service in favor of a new online TV and movie store called Amazon Video on Demand. Unlike iTunes and Unbox, Amazon's new digital store-front will stream any of 40,000 movies and television programs to customers. According to Bill Carr, Amazon's VP for digital media, "Our goal is to create an immersive experience where people can't help but get caught up in how exciting it is to simply watch a movie right from Amazon.com with a click of the button." In this regard, the first 2 minutes of every video will begin to play when customers visit the video's product page. Movies can be purchased and downloaded to your hard drive or stored in an Amazon video library allowing you to stream the content to other (any?) Internet connected devices. Films and TV shows from "almost all the major studios and television networks" will be available for sale or rental in the US at undisclosed prices -- only Disney and its ABC subsidiary are holding out for uh, obvious reasons (Steve Jobs is Disney's largest individual shareholder).
Amazon also plans to bring the service directly to the living room through a deal with Sony (and others) which will ultimately embed store access into future Bravia TVs. For now, Amazon's VoD store will be available through Sony's $300 Bravia Internet Video Link device. The store goes beta-hot today for a limited number of "invited" US Amazon.com customers before going live later this summer. [Source: The New York Times]
[Thanks, setteB.IT]
Disney to Stream Full-Length Films on Web this Summer
by Darren Murph, posted Jun 10th 2008 at 5:47PM
The deal is this: After a title airs on ABC as part of the network's Saturday night summer lineup, it will then be made available for streaming for one week (and one week only, we presume). It will also be serving up the Disney Channel Original Movie 'Camp Rock,' but this online presentation will also include "unique interactive content so fans can chat and play games while watching." For the full schedule of events, head on down to the read link below. [Source: Business Wire]
3-D Google Earth Disney World Maps Make Trip Planning Easier
by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 6th 2008 at 5:37PM
If you haven't been to Disney World in Orlando, Florida in a few years, you might be surprised to see just how huge the thing is these days. Like, really huge -- in fact, it's overwhelmingly large enough to make the longest of family vacations feel woefully inadequate. Trying to even see the highlights over a long weekend will require some serious planning. Thankfully, organizing your trip to Disney World is now even easier than ever with a few free online tools.
The first is Google Earth, Google's high-power globe viewer. There's a plug-in you can download that drops a 3-D representation of Disney World onto the map, which you can fly over and plan your route. But, before that, hit up Twisney, a site where tourists post up the status of individual rides and events at the park, so you can know whether the Pirates of the Caribbean ride is shut down for renovations before dragging your kids all the way over from Blizzard Beach! [Source: cnet: Geek Gestalt]
Disney Creates Lab for Biometric Testing of Advertisements
[Image courtesy of MSNBC]
Disney and WowWee Team Up on Cute, Killer Bots for the Ironic Uprising
Ultimate WALL-E will list for $190 when launched sometime this summer and feature 10 motors, a remote control, and plenty of sensors to avoid obstacles, respond to touch, and feel the mocking satire of its own existence. The bot will be joined by a $25 iDance WALL-E (think i-Species) and a $40 FlyTech Tinker Bell when they make their May 29th debut in San Mateo at the Maker Faire. [Source: Gearlog]
Disney Fans Petition to Save Virtual Magic Kingdom
by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 15th 2008 at 9:53AM
Disney's Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is, as the name implies, a rather magical place. It's also not a place that is close (or cheap) enough for everyone to attend whenever they want. It was no surprise, then, that when Disney launched an online Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK) back in 2005, kids everywhere wanted to get in on the action. And, just as in real life, said children aren't too inclined to leave, either. As a result, Disney's announcement of the end of support for the VMK has resulted in an online petition launched by the kids and their parents, according to WKMG Orlando.
Over 11,000 people have signed the petition SaveVMKToday.com, a site set up by a team of players and parents of players who don't want the site to go away. Even so, Disney has said the site has already been up far longer than originally planned, and now plans to wrap the service for good on May 21.
Given how successful most online petitions are, it doesn't seem altogether likely this one will change anything. Sorry, kids -- maybe you should start a protest on Facebook instead?
From WKMG Orlando
Gallery: Virtual Magic Kingdom
Disney Launching Cell Phone Service in Japan
Disney is planning on giving the mobile phone market another shot, even though its Disney Mobile service, the result of a deal with Sprint Nextel, failed to garner enough business in the US. This time, though, Disney is taking its wares overseas to Japan and targeting an older audience 00 namely, adult women. Disney stuck a deal with Softbank Mobile, one of the largest mobile service providers in Japan, to provide all of the back-end, including customer service, on-deck content, and sales.
Disney, which is particularly popular among twentysomething females in Japan, will offer three phones at first, all of which will be more sleek and stylish than the plastic, cartoonish offerings that were available in the U.S. Subscribers will be able to customize their phone with Disney-related wallpapers, ringtones, videos, and games.
The service is set to launch March 1, but pricing for equipment and service was not available at press time.
From Wall Street Journal
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Disney Uses Nintendo DS as Interactive Guide to the Magic Kingdom
The quite extensive application called 'Disney Magic Connection' features not just maps, but GPS for locating the nearest bathrooms, ATMs, and other amenities, as well as estimated wait times at rides and attractions, and, of course, games to help you kill time on those lines.
Currently, 'Disney Magic Connection' is only available preloaded on DS systems provided by Disney, but that may change when the program moves out of the testing phase.
From Engadget
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Disneyland's Monorails Get Upgrade
If you've been to Walt Disney World or Disneyland anytime in, say, the past 50 years, then you've surely seen the sleek monorails gliding (and clunking) around in an endless loop on their concrete rails. A wave of the future the slick trainl-like vehicles were supposed to be when they were introduced in 1959, but now, if anything, they're a quaint throwback to '60s-era visions of the future. That's changing, thanks to the first of a fleet of sleek new monorails that are being delivered to Disneyland.
We don't have any details on the innards of the thing -- whether it's more enviro-friendly or comfortable or offers any sort of signficant update over the originals, but we do know that the new model sure looks sleek and impressive in its maroon/silver paint scheme. The fleet will get more new monorails by summer 2008.
From BoingBoing and LATimes.com
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