Disney

Disney Star Guitarist: Guitar Hero with a real guitar

By Tim Hanlon

13:01 January 14, 2009 PST

US Music Corp., parent company of several music brands including Washburn Guitars, have partnered with Disney to create the Disney Star suite of applications - which unlike console-based music games, will teach children to play a real guitar or piano using familiar songs from Disney franchises like Hannah Montana and High School Musical. Read More

Disney enters growing robotic toy market

By Emily Clark

22:03 April 30, 2008 PDT

May 1, 2008 Known for DVDs, plush toys and movie character figurines, Disney Consumer Products has announced that it will now enter the fast growing robotic toy market. Disney has created its debut line in collaboration with Pixar Animation Studios, Thinkway Toys and WowWee. Read More

Honda's new generation ASIMO robot goes to Disneyland

By Emily Clark

04:52 August 30, 2007 PDT

August 30, 2007 A new version of Honda’s popular humanoid robot, ASIMO, is now appearing in its very own stage show at Disneyland in California. Twenty years in the making, the first generation ASIMO has undergone numerous improvements and has even appeared as a spokesperson for Honda , featuring in a series of television advertisements in the UK. Read More

FogScreen walkthrough screen used on Disney Enchanted promo tour

By Mike Hanlon

January 25, 2007 The new Walt Disney film Enchanted – released in November/December 2007 – has a promotional tour travelling to the main European cities of London, Paris, Madrid, Brussels and Munich in which the FogScreen walk-through screen is featured. One of the key features of the movie is an enchanted wishing well. The effects of which in the tour have been created by FogScreen walk-through screen (pictured). A Finnish invention, FogScreen walk-through screen uses ordinary water to generate a thin, dry fog upon which the image is projected, hence making it possible to walk through an image floating in mid-air without getting wet. Read More

Disney’s line of digital cameras for tots and tweens

By Mike Hanlon

September 8, 2006 Children of today will be the first generation to capture their own images, and that hasn’t been lost on the Disney entertainment empire which has launched a new Disney Pix line features digital cameras, camcorders and peripherals that allow young kids and tweens to shoot, edit, print and share their digital photographs. Starting at just U$20 the designs are character-themed for all ages, including "High School Musical," "Cars," "Disney Princess," "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Tinker Bell." The Digital Cameras all come with Disney Pix software starting with the U$20 Disney Pix Micro (an ultra-small camera with a storage capacity of 24 photos) for tots, the slightly-upmarket US$50 Disney Pix Click (200 VGA 640 x 480 photos, 2X digital zoom, built-in auto flash, TV output), the range-topping US$80 Disney Pix Max (3 MPX images, 1.5" colour LCD screen, 4X digital zoom, expandable memory card slot, built-in auto flash, TV output), and a US$30 Keychain Digital keychain Brag Book, an ultra-small digital photo album that stores 50 photos and has a 1.1" LCD screen. There’s just one camcorder – the US$80 Disney Princess Digital Movie Maker, a digital with 32MB of built-in memory, 640 x 480 video resolution and a built-in microphone, pitched for girls to edit their own videos and add music, animation, sound effects, titles and credits with the accompanying software. Read More

Disney and BMW create mobile F1 theme park

By Mike Hanlon

May 9, 2006 There’s a rule of thumb for sponsorship that for every dollar of sponsorship, a company should spend another dollar promoting that sponsorship. With BMW returning to Formula One, it has backed its ability by creating an incredibly clever marketing device – a fully transportable theme park developed in conjunction with Disney World to explain and demonstrate all the excitement of pit stops, race strategies and team tactics in an entertaining, interactive attraction. Launched at the European F1 Grand Prix at Nurburgring last weekend, the BMW Sauber F1 Team Pit Lane Park spans 5,400 square metres, can accommodate up to 16,000 visitors per day, and features a 90-metre-long stretch of track, leading to a 25-metre-diameter turning area flanked by grandstands. Yet another example of BMW efficiency is evident in that the park operated until Sunday night in Germany, and will open for business again on Friday in Barcelona to support the Spanish F1 GP next weekend. After Spain, it will have a more leisurely pull down prior to opening at Silverstone (UK) for the British F1 GP opening Thursday, 8 June. The park will visit Montreal (Canada), Monza (Italy) and Shanghai (China) later this year to coincide with those Grands Prix. Read More

Disney Mobile’s Launch Handset

By Mike Hanlon

April 7, 2006 Pantech Wireless, the U.S. based subsidiary of South Korea’s Pantech Group and Disney Mobile today jointly announced plans for the DM-P100, the first wireless handset in the Disney Mobile portfolio. At the CTIA Wireless 2006 trade show in Las Vegas, the two companies said the new mobile phone was scheduled to hit the U.S. market with the launch of Disney Mobile this summer. Disney Mobile is the first comprehensive mobile service built specifically for families. It will include custom handsets, extensive entertainment content, and an innovative package of features and applications that meet the unique communication needs of families. Read More

Disney's cute Porsche - Sally Carrera

By Mike Hanlon

March 27, 2006 Looks kinda cute for a Porsche doesn’t it. The characters of hotshot rookie racecar Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), Sally Carrera, a snazzy 2002 Porsche 911 (voiced by Bonnie Hunt) and Mater, a rusty but trusty tow truck (voiced by Larry The Cable Guy) from Disney•Pixar’s upcoming release, “CARS” exist not only on the movie screen, but in sheetmetal as well. Our old mate West Coast movie car creator (“if it doesn’t work it’s just not finished yet”) Eddie Paul, with help from Porsche and Pixar Animation Studios’ artists and technicians, created life-sized versions of three of the film’s lead characters. Sally Carrera, a converted Porsche 911, was the first of the film’s stars to roll off the production line. Paul, who was introduced to Porsche by entertainer Jay Leno, has been building cars for Hollywood for more than three decades. Read More