ReadWriteWeb

It may seem less of a shock to those who experience history as a constant, flowing stream, who perceive events as progressions rather than snapshots, who remember the recent, and then the distant, past by rewinding their memories past last week, last year, the year before, to eventually arrive at a different era. For anyone else who can instantly recall the power newspapers once held, walking out on your porch for your daily bottles of milk, and how refreshing a cold bottle of Coke could be on a sweaty summer Saturday, this photograph is like being flung mercilessly into a Ray Bradbury novel.

The Walt Disney Company has agreed to pay a $3 million settlement stemming from charges that online virtual worlds once operated by Playdom, now a Disney subsidiary, violated the Federal Trade Commission rules designed to protect the online privacy of children under age 13.

According to the FTC, several Playdom sites that were aimed at young audiences illegally collected and then disclosed personal data in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). These sites included Pony Stars, 2 Moons, 9 Dragons, Age of Lore, and My DIva Doll. The FTC complaint says that some 821,000 children registered with Pony Stars between 2006 and 2009 and another 403,000 signed up for Playdom's other online virtual worlds. These sites collected children's names, ages, and email addresses and allowed them to post that personal information publicly online -- including their real names and locations. The FTC charged that the company failed to get parents' consent before collecting or disclosing this information.

Location-based social check-in apps were the hot topic earlier this year, but things have markedly cooled down in this segment. Facebook's Places product threatens all of the smaller competitors like Foursquare and Gowalla, which never quite managed to get mainstream traction. Things have been especially quiet around Gowalla, but the company just announced a major new deal with Disney. Gowalla will now feature locations and newly designed stamps and badges for all of the major Disney Parks in the United States. Can this deal help Gowalla go mainstream?

Over the last few years, web-connected toys quickly moved from being novelty items to relatively standard fare in a lot of kids' bedrooms. As of now, however, there are no standard platforms for web-connected toys. Disney plans to change this later this month. The company plans to announce a set of industry development and technology standards for these kinds of toys at the Engage Conference and Expo in Santa Clara, CA later this month.

Disney has purchased iPhone gaming company Tapulous. They are now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney Interactive Media Group.

Tapulous builds mobile games for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

A few months ago ReadWriteWeb asked the question, "What are Hulu's Mysterious Plans?" Our own Sarah Perez covered the rumors surrounding a subscription model, premium services and of course, the much anticipated iPhone application. While Hulu continues to keep mum on its new monetization plans, today's reports reveal that the company is focusing on its music-related content.

This morning, Hulu and Disney announced that Disney will join NBC Universal, News Corp., and Providence Equity Partners as a joint venture partner and equity holder of Hulu. Thanks to this, Hulu will now be able to feature shows from ABC's prime-time lineup like "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy," and "Private Practice," as well as shows from ABC Daytime and SOAPnet. Hulu will also now feature a select number of programs from the Disney Channel and library titles from Disney.