disney

iOS developer Tapulous acquired by Disney

Disney has agreed to buy app developer and publisher Tapulous, according to a report from TechCrunch, and later confirmed by CNET's own sources.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tapulous is probably best known for its iOS apps, which include the Tap Tap series, Riddim Ribbon, and Twitter app Twinkle, which made the jump from a jailbroken application to a legitimate one on the App Store.

Tapulous' creations have also been featured in several Apple advertisements and keynotes, including the one for iOS 4, where Apple CEO Steve Jobs used a Tap Tap game to demonstrate multitasking for the first … Read more

Hulu unveils $9.99 premium service

Hulu, the online TV and film portal, has finally rolled out a subscription service, according to a note posted to the site on Tuesday.

For $9.99 a month, subscribers of Hulu Plus get access to a full season's worth of their favorite TV shows--and even past seasons in some cases--and "not just a handful of trailing episodes" that the free-version of Hulu offers, according to CEO Jason Kilar, who wrote the note.

Hulu Plus marks the first time the service has charged for content and it's arrival has been long anticipated. Supported by Disney, NBC … Read more

'Tron Legacy' gear includes wall-climbing light cycles, glowing controllers

As we headed to a Disney preview of toys and gear for the upcoming "Tron" movie sequel, "Tron Legacy," we were reminded of what Yogurt said in "Spaceballs": "Merchandising, merchandising!"

While we're as excited about Disney's upcoming "Tron" sequel as anybody, it's clear the merchandising push will be fierce and all-encompassing. But if our preview of a few of the upcoming items is any indication, some of them are actually kind of cool, too.

Among the very many pieces of Tron gear available for your shopping pleasure … Read more

Have your cake, hold the heat

Kids are notoriously picky eaters. I have one child who deigns to eat a few bites every third day or so. Maybe I can tempt him into more regular mealtimes with the 5-in-1 Tasty Baker from Pop Art Toasters. (If the name sounds familiar, it's because they also make a Creativity Coloring Kit.) Use it to make pancakes, waffles, muffins, quick-breads, and even brownies in fun Disney shapes kids will enjoy.

The Tasty Baker comes with a booklet full of recipes and ideas. I'd go for whole wheat and pureed veggies in the mixes to make healthier snack … Read more

'Toy Story 3': Hope the movie is better than its app

The other night I watched the last half hour of "Toy Story 2" on TV. So what if the children were in bed? It's one of my all-time favorite movies--go ahead and laugh--and I can't wait for "Toy Story 3," which opens Friday.

Needless to say, I was jazzed when Disney's free "Toy Story 3" app arrived yesterday. That is, I was jazzed until I ran it; what a depressing, disappointing, borderline insult of an app.

Here's what you'll find inside:

Woody's Wild RideWoody's Wild Ride is … Read more

Toy Story 3 game celebrates Pixar's spirit of play

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--Call it Toy Story 3.5.

That's what Pixar's Jason Katz, at least, called Toy Story 3: The Video Game, during a press event for the game at the famous animation studio's headquarters here Wednesday.

Katz, the story supervisor on the forthcoming "Toy Story 3," which will hit theaters on June 18, was explaining to a group of reporters that while the game version of the film is very true to its source material, it also stands on its own and extends the franchise. Someone who plays the game and then sees the … Read more

Sneak peek: Pixar's 'Toy Story 3' a very big winner

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--Oh, Pixar, Pixar, Pixar. You've done it again.

Let me just say it now: "Toy Story 3" is fantastic. I saw an advanced screening Thursday night, and going back over the notes I took in the dark theater at Pixar's headquarters here, I find this that I wrote about a third of the way into the film: "I already know it's a BIG hit."

At Pixar's request, those of us in the room for the screening are constrained about what we can say. Director Lee Unkrich, who spoke prior to … Read more

Reporters' Roundtable: ILM on the future of visual effects (podcast)

This show is about one of the categories for the Academy Awards: visual effects. This year, there are three films up for awards in the visual effects category: Avatar, Star Trek, and District 9. We're going to be talking with Russell Earl of Industrial Light & Magic. Russell was co-visual effects supervisor for one of those films, Star Trek, and also worked on Transformers, Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean, and two of the Star Wars movies.

Also joining us is CNET writer Daniel Terdiman, who covers digital media, culture, and gaming for the Geek Gestalt blog on CNET.

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Show notes and talking points… Read more

Disney sites suffer an outage

Disney sites---ESPN, Disney.com, and ABC News---were down across the board for about an hour or so Wednesday.

It's unclear what happened, but there were multiple network failures. We tried multiple trace routes and monitoring services and they were all ugly.

Disney reps weren't immediately available for comment, but the sites appear to have returned to normal a little after 7 a.m. PST.

Read more of "Disney's Web sites hit with outage" at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Pixar exec to join Twitter as CFO

Can a new chief financial officer paint some real revenue for Twitter? The company announced on Wednesday that it has filled that role with an executive from the Disney-owned Pixar Animation Studios. Ali Rowghani, currently CFO and senior vice president of strategic planning at the animation powerhouse, will join Twitter next month.

"Ali will be an important member of a growing team focused on creating value for our users and capturing the financial opportunities that result from it," Twitter CEO Evan Williams said in a release. Rowghani had been at Pixar for nearly a decade. "His thoughtfulness … Read more