Android adoption is growing rapidly in Japan, with local handset manufacturers doing everything they can in order to meet the demands of customers in all segments of the population. One particularly attractive target group seems to be women, given how many Japanese companies say they design Android phones specifically for female users.

Here are three recent examples.

First, Sharp has designed a weird “chocolate bar”-type handset that Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo plans to roll out on Valentine’s Day.

The so-called “Q-pot.Phone SH-04D” [JP] comes with Android 2.3, a 3.7-inch LCD with 540×960 resolution, NFC e-wallet function, Wi-Fi, and an 8MP CMOS camera.

Here are some accessories owners can get:

Second, Japanese carrier SoftBank rolled out Kyocera’s HONEY BEE 101K [JP] today, another handset designed with female customers in mind.

This model features Android 2.3, a 3.5-inch LCD with 800×480 resolution, a 5.1MP CMOS camera, a MP5225 dual-core CPU with 1.2GHz, 2GB ROM, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR.

Third, Disney Mobile has come up with the DM012SH, a Android 2.3 handset (made by Sharp). It comes with a 4-inch LCD with 960×540 resolution, an 8MP CMOS camera, NFC e-wallet function, infrared, digital TV tuner, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, and a microSDHC slot.

Disney Mobile, a Japanese MVNO, is planning to offer the DM012SH (pre-installed with a special Disney UI, Disney apps, wallpapers, etc.) next month. Every buyer will get one the cases below for free:

Walt Disney Studios and YouTube have struck deal which will bring hundreds of Disney movies to YouTube, starting today. The new partnership between the two companies includes movies from Disney, Disney-Pixar and DreamWorks Studios. The films, some of which have already arrived on YouTube, are available to rent starting at $1.99.

Some of today’s new releases include Alice in Wonderland, the new Winnie the Pooh, Cars,  Cars 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The older titles are less expensive, it seems. For example, Alice in Wonderland is $1.99 while Pirates is $4.99. The rental allows users up to 30 days to begin watching, but after the video starts, you only have 48 hours of viewing time.

Rentals can be watched online, via your Android phone or tablet, or on Google TV.(U.S. and Canada only).

Disney is the fourth major studio to partner with YouTube, following Sony, Universal and Warner Brothers. The deal is also the first significant partnership since the rental store’s relaunch in May of this year.

Disney and YouTube also announced another partnership earlier this month which aims to bring “family-friendly” original series to a co-branded YouTube channel. The content, according to reports, will include “video drawn from relevant family-friendly content currently available across YouTube, original video produced by Disney, as well as a blend of current Disney Interactive original series, select Disney Channel programming and Disney user created content.”

The first series, which launches in February, will be based on a Disney mobile game (“Where’s My Water”) and its main character Swampy.

This one is just for the kids: Microsoft just announced that Disneyland – the whole thing – is coming to Kinect. You can walk through the park and then go on immersive rides including Alice In Wonderland and Peter Pan. They had four kids on stage who were flailing about madly inside little croquet balls on stage. Very funny stuff.

A few more shots after the jump.

Technically, the Disney camera is based on the LUMIX DMC-FP7, a point-and-shoot device with a 16MP CCD sensor, Motion JPEG video recording at 1,280×720/24fps, a touch control UI, and a 3.5-inch TFT display.

Panasonic also throws in Micky Mouse on/off screens, icons, and photo frames.

The Lumix Disney camera is scheduled to hit Japan on June 10 (for about $370). Ask specialized online stores like Rinkya or Flutterscape if you want one but don’t live in Japan.

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.

Remember that Disney-themed Android phone from Japan we blogged two weeks ago? At that time, Disney Japan didn’t release a lot of information, but now they did [JP], and they also showed the 3D device for the first time.

Technically, the DM009SH is based on the Sharp Galapagos 003SH (3.8-inch/naked-eye 3D touchscreen, 9.6MP CMOS camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, TV tuner, e-wallet function, 1GHz Snapdragon CPU).

Otherwise, the device is all Disney. Buyers will get a unique @disney.ne.jp mail address, Disney-themed wall papers, icons, schedulers, clocks, calendars, widgets etc. The company also plans to offer special apps that users can download from a “Disney Market”.

The DM009SH will be available (in Japan only) from next month.

Disney Japan isn’t revealing much at this point, but the handset will come with Android 2.2 on board. It will be the company’s first smartphone and offer various Disney-related features, for example cute wallpapers, special widgets, Disney apps etc.

Subscribers will also get an MVNO-exclusive cell phone email address (@disney.ne.jp) and one of the cute cases pictured below.

It’s not official, but judging by the initial spec list, it looks like Disney Japan will be selling a rebranded version of the Sharp Galapagos 003SH, which features a 3.8-inch, naked-eye 3D touchscreen, a 9.6MP CMOS camera, and a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU.

If you do not like movie spoilers, do not click to read more and do not read on, because I’m going to tell you what I think about the movie and I’m going to include some information about it that you might not want to know. I’m not going to give away major plots, because I hate that, but I’m going to go into some of my thoughts on the movie. If you are curious about seeing TRON and don’t mind a tidbit of information, read on.

When I saw TRON the first time as a child it opened up my mind to amazing possibilities. The story around Kevin Flynn was ok, but the ideas around being transported to a virtual world where programs were personified by human representations are what really stuck with me. I liked to believe that one day this would be possible. I could have an avatar and I could meet people on the “grid”. In some ways we can do this now through MMORPGs etc., but we’re still aware of our real world surroundings. We can’t truly get lost yet. We can’t feel, smell and taste virtual things. Maybe someday.

TRON held a different place in my heart during different periods of my life. As a child, it was just a simple and beautiful thing, but as an adult, I dove deeper into the technology that made it all possible. What TRON achieved in 1982 was ground breaking. From what I understand, it was the first movie to incorporate live action with CGI and hand drawn animation. The results were breath taking. I know you look back at it now and maybe you don’t see it, but you have to somehow use a mental wayback machine to put yourself in the early 80s and imagine it. The animations were rendered on the only PDP-10 in the area using 2MB of RAM.

As a young adult, I played TRON at parties with the volume off. We’d watch it in the background and revel at its beauty. When the volume was on, we laughed at the witty and inaccurate technical jokes, but they were endearing. My favorite character was “bit” who only spoke in binary. Yes and No.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes… NO NO NO NO NO! Yes.

When IMDB launched, I immediately looked up TRON and saw – “In production TRON 2.0, release date TBD”. I waited and waited. I heard the production was canceled, restarted, canceled, restarted, etc. As technology accelerated and movies like the Matrix & Avatar appeared, it made me hopeful for what they could create with a new TRON.

I also love the original Star Wars. When I found out they were making Episode 1, I had extremely mixed feelings. Unlike TRON, I’m not sure Star Wars gets better with improved technology. Part of what made Star Wars so special were the models and limitations of the time. I camped out all night with a friend and we played chess while we waited to see the new Star Wars. I was so disappointed. Jar Jar ruined quite a bit of it for me, but really, if I had to be honest, it wasn’t special anymore. Something was lost. I was too young to realize it then, but those movies were not intended for me. They were intended for a whole new audience and a whole new generation of Star Wars fans that had just recently been born. I wasn’t going to relive my childhood through that movie and I had to move on.

So, really, the Matrix is the sequel to TRON in my mind. That’s where you’d take a concept like TRON to a whole new level for adults. The key word being adult. The new TRON, like Star Wars, is for a whole new generation. It is a stand alone movie that needs to be judged on its own.

It is a Frankenstein story, where the artist creates a world that is meant to be perfect, but everything goes wrong. The cost is the real and tangible relationship with the outside world.  It is also a story about the ethics around artificial intelligence. If the original TRON inspired me the way it did, I wonder what our children will take away from this. Maybe they’ll get the message.

So, if the Matrix, Snowcrash, Diamond Age and Avatar are for adults. TRON is the movie for children. It is the introduction to the complex idea of existing in a virtual world by transporting your brain and identity into an electronic form. Think of it as a Madeleine L’ engle book. If you read a Wrinkle In Time as a child, it was an introduction to quantum physics. This is what TRON is. It is a primer for more complex thoughts that require more literature and other movies.

The new TRON is absolutely beautiful. The Cirque Du Soliel of movies. You don’t go for the plot at Cirque, you go to see some amazing stuff. You go to see how far we can push the human body and you are astonished by the skill. That’s TRON, old and new. It is a wonder of the human imagination. A virtual wonderland.

Even the movie Hackers (another favorite) was like this. If you tried to take that movie seriously and compare it to what was really possible, you’d be disappointed, but if you saw it from the creator’s eyes and how computer people “sound” to people who don’t understand what we’re saying, it made perfect sense. That movie was the re-creation of hearing people talking about a kill -9 on a process. If you asked any hacker what his dream girl might be like, maybe she did ride a motorcycle and skate around on rollerblades. She certainly had the fastest computer which was better than yours and could hack you under the table.  That movie was also a work of art.

As a bonus for the Unix geeks, there’s some actual *real* Unix stuff in this movie when Sam goes through his father’s history and executes some previous commands. I thought that was pretty cool. Usually movies get this all wrong. I mean, in the Matrix, Trinity took down some power grid using nmap, which is a port scanner. It sure looked cool, but it really didn’t make any sense.

“This is Unix. I know this.” – Jurrasic Park

One of the members of the TRON team said not to over analyze it and get lost in the world, and that’s my advice as well. Try to become a child again and imagine being a 5-10 year old and being blown away by the light cycle races. Imagine what’s ticking in their mind and what seeds are being planted.

The original TRON is responsible for a lot of things that we enjoy today. Daft Punk draws their inspiration from the movie, many people got into technology because of it, movies were inspired by it and so on.

After watching the movie, I was left wanting more, which is always a good sign. I felt like they could have given us one hour more of this beautiful world. I didn’t want it to end. That’s what Avatar was for me. The story was basically Pocahontas in space, which really didn’t interest me, but the idea around real living things being driven by a remote host was what really piqued my interest. The creation of a whole new world that I could get lost in, was just amazing. I watched it three times just to see that world and I blocked out what everyone was saying.

The new TRON is sexy, the soundtrack is amazing, the world is beautiful, the characters are awesome and the 3D is amazing.

I don’t normally recommend that you see anything in 3D, but I wouldn’t see this movie any other way. As a matter of fact, see it on IMAX if you can. Just remember, it is a Disney film. Put your child hat on and let go of being an adult for a while. I think you’ll really enjoy it. If nothing else, you’ll be pining for your very own TRON suit and End Of Line club with your very own Daft Punk to play songs for you.

You can view a short TRON: Legacy Featurette below. Plus, watch our interviews with cast and crew Part 1 and 2 (with the original Tron director and more about the fashion) here, and Part 3 and 4 (with Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde) here.

You can also pledge your allegiance for TRON vs Avatar here. I watched Avatar 3 times, and I’ve pledged to watch TRON at least 4.

It’s been a fairly dramatic year of legal maneuvers. The day Zynga filed the lawsuit a judge issued a temporary restraining order against Playdom that prohibited Playdom from using any Zynga data. In March a different judge issued a preliminary injunction against Playdom that prohibited them from releasing a specific game (whatever game that was has been kept confidential). And then in August the big slap down against a former Zynga employee who had been found to have acted inappropriately.

The case continues, but the drama has reached its peak. The court today held one former Zynga and Playdom employee, Raymond Holmes, in contempt and sentenced him to ten days in county jail and a $4,000 fine. Fortunately for Holmes, Judge Mark Pierce then suspended the sentence. That means Holmes won’t do the time unless he continues to, well, piss off Judge Pierce. The full order is embedded below.

What did Holmes do? Lots of things apparently: destruction of evidence on laptop, destruction of Mozy backup, failure to identify other storage devices with Zynga documents and the signing of two false court certificates. The court says Holmes admitted to his improper actions and apologized.

Worse still for Playdom is the last sentence of the court document. It says it’s “appropriate to impose a non rebutable evidentiary presumption in favor of Zynga regarding the meta data lost when Def Holmes erased his hard drive.”

In the middle of all this Playdom got bought by Disney. And so it’s not surprising that Disney has settled this with Zynga before it actually went to trial, they don’t have any emotional investment in the feud.

What’s the settlement? No one’s talking, and Disney for whatever reason is always completely paranoid about specific financial terms leaking out. Just a few bland statements. A joint statement:

“Today, Zynga Game Network, Inc. and Playdom announced that they have reached a confidential resolution of their litigation.” -Zynga and Playdom

And Zynga’s statement with a little more color:

“Zynga is extremely pleased with the final resolution of its trade secret suit against Playdom and various individuals. The settlement reflects the very serious nature of the conduct involved, as reflected by the preliminary injunction, restraining orders, and contempt order issued by the Santa Clara Superior Court. We have great respect for Disney and are thankful that following its acquisition of Playdom, Disney resolved the matter to our satisfaction.” Reggie Davis, General Counsel, Zynga

I was working on my list of questions to ask last night and realized that the TechCrunch community should really be asking them instead of me. Interviews take place from 12:30p – 4:30p (Pacific Time) and I’ll have my computer with me to look at the questions & comments here.

I don’t know about you, but I have been waiting for a TRON sequel my whole life. When IMDB launched, there was a teaser that something called TRON 2.0 was coming out and was constantly in a state of production.

TRON was a huge part of my childhood, teen years and early adult years. I got something from it at different times in my life and I  still consider it one of the most beautiful movies ever made. The technology Disney used at the time was ground breaking and the hand drawn backgrounds were breath taking. They created a world that has developed a bit of a cult following and I’m looking forward to how they do it for our next generation of children. The great thing about TRON vs other films I grew up with, is that visually a sequel can only get better because it is a plot based on technology and video games. Just think about how far both have come since the first release of TRON in 1982. We went from Discs of TRON the arcade game vs what you can play on your console at home now.

I’m taking the interview footage back to the TechCrunch office Monday, so hopefully we’ll have the videos up on TechCrunch TV starting on Tuesday. Here’s the list of folks I’m scheduled to interview:

• Olivia Wilde “Quorra”
• Jeff Bridges “Kevin Flynn”
• Michael Sheen “Castor” AND Beau Garrett “Siren Gem”
• James Frain “Jarvis” AND Bruce Boxleitner “Alan Bradley”
• Joseph Kosinski (Director) AND Sean Bailey (Producer)
• Daniel Simon (Vehicle Concept Designer)
• Eric Barba (VFX Supervisor)

Christmas time, limited edition time. In Japan, Sony today announced [JP] the so-called “Walkman S Series Disney Character Christmas Box”, which contains the Walkman NW-S750 big S released earlier this year. Not too surprisingly, buyers get the player with a Christmas design (showing Mickey and Minnie Mouse) and a limited edition wallpaper.

Sony also throws in a silicon case (also a limited edition) and a Minnie Mouse strap. There’s also a second version of the box (NW-S750K), which comes with a speaker/cradle but is otherwise identical to the NW-S750 version.

The Christmas Walkman S box will go on sale in Japan in early December (prices: $216 for the NW-S750 and $252 for the NW-S750K). It will be Japan only, so contact Tokyo-based online sales service Rinkya in case you want a box but live outside this country.

Sony is already trying the service and offered Hancock and Cloudy With a Chance of What The Heck Did They Do To This Kid’s Book for $24.95 via Bravia TV sets. This could work with devices like PS3 and the XBox 360 and the first movies should appear later this year.

via Bloomberg

Back in July, when writing about GetGlue’s partnership with HBO, I told CEO Alex Iskold that if they struck a deal to get Mad Men stickers from AMC, I’d be on board. Well, he went out and did just that. So here I am, loading up GetGlue.

And AMC is hardly the only new partner that GetGlue is announcing today. Disney, HGTV, Discovery, and, in what may be a first for news programming, MSNBC is on board as well. Each of these companies will now have special stickers that users can accumulate when they check-in watching any of their shows.

To be honest, it’s surprising how many big name networks and studios are jumping on board with this idea, which, on the face of it, sounds a little silly. But the key isn’t really the stickers — they’re just a lure for some users. The key is the metrics behind them. And GetGlue is quickly building those up.

The service had 8 million unique ratings and check-ins during the month of August, Iskold says. And they now have over 600,000 users on GetGlue — a number which has seen 20x growth in 2010. “Social TV as a market is moving very rapidly,” Iskold says. Rivals Miso, Clicker, Philo, and Tunerfish undoubtedly agree.

But anyway, back to the important thing here: the Mad Men stickers. On top of the regular show sticker you’ll get when you check-in watching the show, GetGlue also has five other “hidden” Mad Men stickers (above) that you can unlock by checking-in and writing a certain phrase. I’ll give you one of them. If you check-in with the phrase “I want to be Don Draper” or “I want Don Draper” (depending on your preference, of course), you’ll unlock a special Draper sticker.

GetGlue has been doing these types of hidden stickers for some time now to reward true fans of various shows. Each of these is unlocked with a phrase or word that real fans are likely to utter at some point when using GetGlue. “It’s fun and it’s designed to prove that you’re a true fan,” Iskold says.

And true fans are proving to be valuable to the network partners as well. For example, certain stickers for certain shows you can only earn when that show is being aired live. This obviously entices people to watch the shows with commercials, but it also shows who the real die-hards are. Again, this is all about metrics.

Another cool partnership GetGlue is doing is with Disney for the upcoming Tron: Legacy film. There are three different stickers you can earn depending on if you check-in watching the trailer, see the movie on opening weekend, or see the movie in the first 30 days of it opening. Again, this can help entice users to see the movie early — and even often.

Perhaps you’ve heard: social games maker Playdom was acquired by Disney a few days ago for a deal potentially worth north of $750 million. Playdom CEO John Pleasants took the stage today at our Social Currency CrunchUp in Palo Alto, to talk a bit about the deal and the future.

Pleasants says that he’s not exactly sure what his title at Disney will be yet, but he thinks he’ll be the General Manager of Playdom. He’s also not sure if Tapulous (another gaming company just acquired by Disney) will be under his department, but he doesn’t think so. And he made sure to clarify that the deal was for $563.2 million plus an earn-out of up to $200 million — so he’s not super super super rich, he’s just super super rich.

But the most interesting thing Pleasants noted was that he recently heard (from his own source, apparently) that half of all users on Facebook now play social games. More impressively, 40% of total usage time on the service is spent on these games. That’s meaningful, of course, because “a huge amount the Internet is on Facebook,” Pleasants stated.

When moderator Michael Arrington asked about changes Facebook has made recently to slow the viral spread of these types of games, Pleasants acknowledged they’ve all taken a hit. But he says they’re working with Facbeook on new ways to drive growth. But he made sure to say they had to do it without spamming.

When talking about what’s next, Pleasants notes that they’ve released two new games in the past week alone. When Mike suggested that most of the games are just a combination of blindly pushing buttons, Pleasants noted that things were evolving, and that games were about to get more social.

The biggest issue going forward though? “The lack of credit cards with children,” Pleasants half-joked.

Disney and social gaming startup Playdom are in “very” late stage acquisition discussions, we’ve heard from, oh, about seven independent sources, including sources close to Playdom, over the last several days. Internally the two parties have referred to the deal as “Project Platinum” based on due diligence documents we’ve reviewed.

Some sources have said the deal is signed and in the closing process. Others say it hasn’t been signed yet and could still unravel.

Disney is already an investor in Playdom – last month we reported that Disney’s Steamboat Ventures participated in a new injection of $33 million into the company. Playdom has raised a total of $76 million, and the most recent valuation of the company was around $345 million.

We’ve heard a wide range of speculation on the price Disney is paying for Playdom but haven’t confirmed anything yet. It’s probably safe to assume it’s a multiple of that $345 million valuation, though. Zynga, Playdom’s much larger competitor, has likely been valued at more than $2 billion in recent financings.

Does the deal make sense for Disney? There are a number of arguments that it does. Disney is weak in the social space, and despite making investments in MMOs, such a the acquisition of Club Penguin in 2007, digital revenues continue to make up a tiny percentage of overall revenue.

Disney has exceptional brands, from characters to movies, that can benefit from having social games being built around them. Social games generate revenue, sometimes lots of it, and it’s also free marketing. Expect to see social games around movies being released in advance in the future.

Earlier this month Disney acquired Tapulous.

It’s safe to say that Toy Story is still Pixar’s biggest, most beloved franchise. The third movie, which Biggs inexplicably reviewed the other day—should I review the new Roots album here?— took home some $109 million at the weekend. That’s Pixar’s biggest opening weekend ever. The other big, animated feature of the year, Shrek Forever After, only took home $71 million its first weekend.

The 3D version of the movie was heavily promoted, and we all know that 3D movies cost more than a regular 2D movie. That’s the reason so many movies are in 3D, by the way: even if the movie is terrible, you’ll still end up making more because you can charge a higher ticket price.

It seems college students made up the majority of the audience, which makes all the sense in the world to me: kids nows majoring in “gender studies” and the like were in elementary school when Woody and Buzz Lightyear first appeared in their lives. What better way to spend an evening than watching some of your favorite characters all over again?

I’ve not seen the movie, but I’ve heard from people that it genuinely is worth your time and money.

Tokyo-based gadget maker Greenhouse announced [JP] three super-cute, Disney-themed digital photo frames today, the GH-DF35TV. Buyers can choose between three characters: Winnie The Pooh, Stitch or Little Green Man (one of those green, three-eyed aliens from Toy Story 1 and 2).

Not too surprisingly, the frames aren’t anything special from a technical standpoint. Expect a 3.5-inch LCD TFT screen with 320×240 resolution, 400:1 contrast ratio, and 250cd/m2 brightness. Each frame comes with an SD/SDHC slot (32GB max.), allowing you to play Motion JPEG/Xvid/MP3/JPEG files. The GH-DF35TV also features an FM radio tuner, a 1W×2ch speaker, and an alarm clock/calendar function.

Greenhouse will start selling the photo frames in Japan next month (price: $98). If you’re interested but live outside this country, I’d suggest contacting import/export specialists Japan Trend Shop, Geek Stuff 4 U or Rinkya.

In September last year, Sony rolled out the S Series Walkman, portable audio and video players, which are supposed to compete with the iPod Nano. And today, Sony in Japan announced [JP] a branded version of those Walkmans, namely the “Disney Character S Series Walkman”. To be more exact, Sony introduced nine Disney-themed Walkmans, a special case and a Mickey Mouse stand.

When purchasing one of the Walkmans (NW-S740/S740K/S640/S640K), buyers will be able to decide if they want to see Mickey or Minnie Mouse on their devices (or both). It’s also possible to add a personal message. Engraving is “free” and can be done on the spot (in the store) or through the Japanese Sony Style website. Depending on the model, prices range from $150 to $220.

Sony is also offering a special case for their Walkmans ($19, see above) and a Mickey Mouse stand ($30, pictured below).

Sales in Japan started today, but I’m doubting these Walkmans will ever be available outside Japan. Die-hard Disney fans can try and ask specialized import/export stores such as Geek Stuff 4 U or the Japan Trend Shop for help.

Tron Legacy is nerds wet dream come true. The movie will hopefully invoke the same sort of futuristic imagination as the original. You’ve watched the trailer, right? Well, anyway, to gear up for the premiere, Disney has skin a couple of its monorails to look like the light cycles. Kind of meta future meets future moment, eh?

[Disney Parks via Sci Fi Wire]