Disney Acquires Social Network For Kids Togetherville

Disney has just acquired Togetherville, a social network for kids 10 years of age or younger, we’ve confirmed with the company. Terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed at the moment.

Togetherville, which exited beta last year, mimics the experience of adult social networking sites, i.e. Facebook but in an age-appropriate and parent-monitored environment. Togetherville promises a safer, more secure environment, where parents can moderate who their children are connecting with. Parents approve each of their child’s friends, and can also connect with other parents using Facebook’s social graph.

Parents can easily interact with their kids in Togetherville, while kids have their very own social community and login to engage with friends, play games, watch videos, and create art. Children create “neighborhoods” from Facebook friends, and can connect through School Communities, which allows parents and kids connect with school friends without requiring the parents to be connected via Facebook.

We were tipped off on the acquisition by a reader. The site’s terms of service, it states: “Welcome to the Internet sites of the Walt Disney Internet Group (“WDIG”). “WDIG Sites” include Disney.com, ABCNEWS.com, ABC.com, ESPN.com, DisneyShopping.com, Go.com, Movies.com, FamilyFun.com, and other Internet sites on which these terms of use are posted.” Another clue is CEO and founder Mandeep Dhillon’s LinkedIn profile, which now states he is “Vice President, Togetherville at The Walt Disney Company.”

Disney’s past acquisitions include Playdom, Tapulous, and Marvel.

via TechCrunch

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Yahoo Informs MyBlogLog Users of Shutdown

Users of MyBlogLog, a start-up that Yahoo acquired in 2007 for about $10 million, received an e-mail early today announcing the service's demise.
The announcement is not exactly a surprise. MyBlogLog was one of the Yahoo services listed on a leaked presentation screenshot from December as a property that would likely be sold or shut down as the troubled Yahoo cuts costs. 

Ahead of its time in a sense, MyBlogLog built widgets that site owners could install to show which MyBlogLog members read their blogs--the same philosophy that now powers, for example, widgets displaying Facebook members who have "liked" a site. The original leaker of the screenshot was Eric Marcoullier, the founder of MyBlogLog, who no longer works at Yahoo.

The service will be formally discontinued on May 24, and people who have paid for a "premium" subscription to MyBlogLog past that date will receive refunds.

Other Yahoo products that face potential shutdown or sale include Yahoo Buzz, a one-time competitor to Digg, and Delicious, a bookmarking site that still has some very loyal users. Other products, like Fire Eagle and Upcoming.org, were marked for mergers or consolidation; so far, few of the expected shutdowns and mergers have actually happened.

via cnet.news

I actually received the email regarding this.  Check out below:

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How To Uninstall Zynga Gamebar

If you are using a version of Firefox:

1.  Select the Tools > Add-ons Menu.

2.  Select the Zynga Game Bar, click uninstall and then restart Firefox.

If you are using a version of Internet Explorer:

1. Select Start>Control Panel and then Add/Remove Programs.
2. Select the Zynga Game Bar and select Uninstall

 source:  Zynga Support

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