Announcing Mashable Connect 2011 at Walt Disney World, FL

In the past five years, Mashable has grown with an incredible community of readers who are thoughtful and influential, and leaders in their respective communities. We believe it is important to connect with our community around the ideas and innovations that we cover every day.

This is why we are hosting the Mashable Connect 2011 conference from May 12-14, 2011 at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Walt Disney World © Florida.

Mashable Connect 2011 will be an intimate experience that brings together digital leaders and influencers for a weekend away to share and connect offline in a unique setting, away from the distractions of traditional conferences.

Participants will hear from esteemed, provocative speakers and spend time with influential members of the digital community, including executives, founders, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, brand managers, marketers, designers, developers, members of the media, and of course, the Mashable team.

To keep this as intimate as possible, we are hosting just 300 participants. We are accepting applications and encourage you to apply here: http://mashable.com/connect

Speakers will be announced shortly.

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In-App Purchasing Finally Coming To Android; Disney Brings Tap Tap Revenge To Take Advantage

Today at their Honeycomb event at the Google HQ in Mountain View, Google had a lot of information to share. First, they gave a demo of the new Honeycomb features. Then they shared the new Android Market Webstore. And then they had an announcement to make that a lot of people have been waiting for: in-app purchases.

Android engineering director Chris Yerga noted that developers that use their in-app purchasing SDK will be able to sell virtual goods and the like in their apps. And one of those developers who has been waiting for a while for this is Disney Mobile. Google has been working with them to get an important game of their’s ready for such a launch: Tap Tap Revenge. Yes, the game that has had over 50 million downloads is finally coming to Android.

Disney Mobile’s Bart Decrem took the stage to show off TTR and a few of their other apps. He also showed off how in-app purchasing will work. Decrem noted that some 25 million songs have been downloaded inside of TTR thanks to in-app purchases (on the iOS platform, of course). And he said that they were given the latest Android in-app code just five days ago, so it was very simple to implement.

One thing to note is that the feature won’t launch until the spring, though Google is giving the SDK to developers now to get them ready. Yerga promised a launch by the end of this quarter.

Related:

Honeycomb Is The First Shot Fired Along Apple’s Bow

Here’s What Pulse Will Look Like On Android Honeycomb

Google Unveils Android Market Webstore. It’s Already Live!

Android Honeycomb Livestream Is Happening Now

Live From Google’s Android Honeycomb Event

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Time Warner, Disney and News Corp. bigwigs speak up against FCC stipulations in Comcast-NBC deal

By Darren Murph posted Jan 14th 2011 5:09PM Hello, inevitable. It simply had to happen, and now, it is. As Comcast, NBC and the FCC attempt to work out stipulations over Comcast's proposed 51 percent buyout of NBC Universal, a smattering of major media companies are paying close attention to the play-by-play. Naturally, the precedents that are set from this deal will affect future agreements of this caliber, and lobbyists for both Disney and News Corp. (as well as Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes) aren't standing over on the sidelines any longer. All three outfits have reportedly been "voicing their concerns this week with the FCC, worried that such conditions could undermine their own efforts to profit from the nascent online video industry."

We're told that the media mega-corps are worried that the rules -- if hammered down -- could interfere with ongoing negotiations with online video providers, and in turn, give them less leverage to monetize and control their content on the world wide web. In other words, if NBC Universal is forced to provide content fluidly to all ISPs (and not just Comcast), what's to say other content makers and internet providers wouldn't also be forced into similar deals, regardless of whether or not they're involved in takeover negotiations? Needless to say, we're nowhere near the end of this journey, and while the nuts and bolts are pretty dry to think about, the outcomes could have a serious impact on our future viewing habits.

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