News Round Up

[soniam]

I for one am shocked

BB will be here soon...and a brother.

I've had some good success buying/flipping Star Wars toys over the years...and here's the deal with this guy:

Startup personally invested in by Iger, a production cap in place...unique as in the first " autonomous" robot available on the consumer market... And the potential to be completely independent upon updates.

So you have a new tech item, the Star Wars angle, and a but of disneyana already.

My advice is to grab and hold one of these guys. It's a no brainer.

I agree. We accidentally bought 3

 

[rteetz]

Hub update

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/09/magic-kingdom-hub-update.html?m=1

 

[Eoghann]

I for one am shocked

BB will be here soon...and a brother.

I've had some good success buying/flipping Star Wars toys over the years...and here's the deal with this guy:

Startup personally invested in by Iger, a production cap in place...unique as in the first " autonomous" robot available on the consumer market... And the potential to be completely independent upon updates.

So you have a new tech item, the Star Wars angle, and a but of disneyana already.

My advice is to grab and hold one of these guys. It's a no brainer.

As a gadget geek as well as a Star Wars nerd I was all excited when I saw the photos of this. Then I read what it can actually do which is... very little for that price. The problem with it is it basically has no sensors built in. Can't spot a barrier, can't spot a drop, can't really do anything. Might be an investment for resale, but as a robot it's not very inspiring.

 

[rteetz]

Happy 85th birthday to the main mouses dog Pluto!

 

[lockedoutlogic]

As a gadget geek as well as a Star Wars nerd I was all excited when I saw the photos of this. Then I read what it can actually do which is... very little for that price. The problem with it is it basically has no sensors built in. Can't spot a barrier, can't spot a drop, can't really do anything. Might be an investment for resale, but as a robot it's not very inspiring.

If it could do something...do you really think it would be $149.99?

This is the place where people think it's a "good deal" to pay $69 for cupcakes and a roped off section of asphalt to watch old fireworks...

Just saying.

I don't expect it to so my laundry...but minor amusement and perhaps a good resale opportunity should be worth it.

 

[Josh Hendy]

Startup personally invested in by Iger

Stop right there. I've heard enough.

No doubt you can make some money flipping these things and/or have fun playing with them on a parking lot or something with no barriers or drops. Nothing against the toy at all.

But I've seen up-close what happens when CEOs come to the table at their main, day-job with startups that they just happened to have also invested in. The deal that I saw was, the CEO invests, he gets the company itself to also invest, the yes-men and nodders on the board give him the ethical "all clear" and then the next thing you know, "special events" and special sales presentations are being made of the affiliated company's products ... on the parent company's dime.

I was shocked (pleasantly) at my next gig, this time at a more squeaky-clean Fortune 500 company, to be handed the company's ethics rules on the first day. Paraphrasing from memory, "No employee of this company shall knowingly place themselves in a position to profit from any company with which XYZ does business or which XYZ has invested in. If they accidentally find themselves in this position then they must immediately declare their interest to the XYZ board of ethics who will decide what action to take. In most cases the employee will be required to relinquish 100 percent of their profits from any transaction with XYZ to a registered charity, otherwise their employment with XYZ will be terminated."

Just saying. I've seen both ways of running a company, and I like the second way better.

 

[j2thomason]

Not trying to be a downer here, but can we move the Star Wars debate to another thread and get back to news related posts?

 

[jlundeen]

Not trying to be a downer here, but can we move the Star Wars debate to another thread and get back to news related posts?

Thank You!!

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Sure thing...

What's news at Disney?
Serious question.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Stop right there. I've heard enough.

No doubt you can make some money flipping these things and/or have fun playing with them on a parking lot or something with no barriers or drops. Nothing against the toy at all.

But I've seen up-close what happens when CEOs come to the table at their main, day-job with startups that they just happened to have also invested in. The deal that I saw was, the CEO invests, he gets the company itself to also invest, the yes-men and nodders on the board give him the ethical "all clear" and then the next thing you know, "special events" and special sales presentations are being made of the affiliated company's products ... on the parent company's dime.

I was shocked (pleasantly) at my next gig, this time at a more squeaky-clean Fortune 500 company, to be handed the company's ethics rules on the first day. Paraphrasing from memory, "No employee of this company shall knowingly place themselves in a position to profit from any company with which XYZ does business or which XYZ has invested in. If they accidentally find themselves in this position then they must immediately declare their interest to the XYZ board of ethics who will decide what action to take. In most cases the employee will be required to relinquish 100 percent of their profits from any transaction with XYZ to a registered charity, otherwise their employment with XYZ will be terminated."

Just saying. I've seen both ways of running a company, and I like the second way better.

Oh...I hear you

But realize for flipping purposes I only have to get $300 for one between now and Xmas to make it a net zero for me...which is all I would want.

 

[beer dave]

Sure thing...

What's news at Disney?
Serious question.

I heard there was some new star wars toys coming out, but I haven't read this whole thread. Apologies if it has already been brought up.

 

[Josh Hendy]

I heard there was some new star wars toys coming out, but I haven't read this whole thread. Apologies if it has already been brought up.

Iger's private financial relationship with the company that he mentored and whose toy is being hyped across the board by the public company he's in charge of is newsworthy. At least to me. I can't get to the bottom of it (after 3-1/2 minutes of diligent searching) but so far all that I can find out is that he "mentored" the toy company. Mentored with a little taste? All I'm sayin'.

If the financial and legalistic angles don't intrigue you, then consider the news from a movie fan's viewpoint. As an artiistic achievement I couldn't help but notice that the original trilogy of Star Wars movies were starting to slide downhill by the time of Return of the Jedi because of a noticeable emphasis on toy sales at the expense of plot, character, and so on.

 

[DDLand]

Iger's private financial relationship with the company that he mentored and whose toy is being hyped across the board by the public company he's in charge of is newsworthy. At least to me. I can't get to the bottom of it (after 3-1/2 minutes of diligent searching) but so far all that I can find out is that he "mentored" the toy company. Mentored with a little taste? All I'm sayin'.

If the financial and legalistic angles don't intrigue you, then consider the news from a movie fan's viewpoint. As an artiistic achievement I couldn't help but notice that the original trilogy of Star Wars movies were starting to slide downhill by the time of Return of the Jedi because of a noticeable emphasis on toy sales at the expense of plot, character, and so on.

I don't believe that Iger personally has any money in the business, but the Walt Disney Company's Accelerator Program does. http://disneyaccelerator.com

I would't worry about the ethics, because there's no evidence of wrong doing on Iger's part. I would agree that would be a pretty blatant conflict of interest.

 

[ICTVgrad07]

For things like that we take a taxi. Might cost us $30-50 a trip. This trip we've been here 6 days and I've used a taxi once, to the tune of $13. A rental car for 11days would be about $300. I get why you and other people prefer a car. Lots of people do. We have a friend that prefers a rental car. There rental car got a flat tire driving around Disney World, which subsequently damaged the car. They spent the better part of a day first stranded, then the car company had them go back to the airport to get another one. Lost probably 6-8 hours. After hearing thier story I was really glad I don't rent a car.

Uber I've heard is way less expensive than a normal taxi if you need to get around

 

[Josh Hendy]

I don't believe that Iger personally has any money in the business, but the Walt Disney Company's Accelerator Program does. http://disneyaccelerator.com

I would't worry about the ethics, because there's no evidence of wrong doing on Iger's part. I would agree that would be a pretty blatant conflict of interest.

I got idea that from lockedoutlogic's post, maybe he can clarify if heard anything specifically about a financial investment or if "personally invested" only means "emotionally invested" via the mentoring program.

BTW I searched for the question, how are startup mentors compensated, and there is no clear answer. Some people say, "we're not compensated we're only doing it for karma," and other people say, "mentors often get an equity stake in the company as compensation". So evidently there are two ways of doing things.

Disney doesn't say whether its accelerator mentors are compensated AFAIK. I'm sure it's on the up-and-up, but still ... I'd like to see it in black and white.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I got idea that from lockedoutlogic's post, maybe he can clarify if heard anything specifically about a financial investment or if "personally invested" only means "emotionally invested" via the mentoring program.

BTW I searched for the question, how are startup mentors compensated, and there is no clear answer. Some people say, "we're not compensated we're only doing it for karma," and other people say, "mentors often get an equity stake in the company as compensation". So evidently there are two ways of doing things.

Disney doesn't say whether its accelerator mentors are compensated AFAIK. I'm sure it's on the up-and-up, but still ... I'd like to see it in black and white.

There were a couple of articles written about bb8 when he first premiered and Iger was quoted that he "found" the company and was "partnering" with them...either with a Disney consideration or through personal means. Kathy Kennedy quotes at comic con were similar in nature.

Iger is worth a ton...so what would be the big deal about him making what amounts to an I significant personal investment? Or perhaps the Disney program - as described.

 

[Josh Hendy]

There were a couple of articles written about bb8 when he first premiered and Iger was quoted that he "found" the company and was "partnering" with them...either with a Disney consideration or through personal means. Kathy Kennedy quotes at comic con were similar in nature.

Iger is worth a ton...so what would be the big deal about him making what amounts to an I significant personal investment? Or perhaps the Disney program - as described.

The language that you quote or paraphrase is sufficiently ambiguous that I would like to see some clarification.

Ground floor options or early days equity are like gold. If the company is really on a rocket, or if it can be talked-up sufficiently to launch it to da moon then the early-days stakeholders can get 10s or 100s of millions of practically free money. What if Spher-o turns into another Wham-o or Kenner? If someone was given a 1% stake in the company as a gratuity for a few months of mentoring and then the company was sold of for a billion, that's 10 million for answering a few phone calls and attending a few meetings [*]. Not chump change at all. And if there's one thing that people with a ton really appreciate ... it's getting more tons.

[* And, maybe ... MAYBE ... giving them a huge toy contract from the biggest movie in the history of this galaxy or any other]

And what if you're not merely a mentor but you're "partnering" ... which might imply a stake in the range of 10, 20, 40 percent.

Don't you think, given the wording that you've seen, and the extreme hype of Star Wars in general and this toy/robot in particular ... that a little curiosity is justified? Sheer curiosity. Nothing more.

 

[Josh Hendy]

And another thing that has me wondering ... which came first ... the screenplay that called for a spherical robot, or the toy company and its discovery/partnership/mentorship relationship with either Disney or Iger? In other words was the movie script written around the toy?

 

[LittleDreamer]

And another thing that has me wondering ... which came first ... the screenplay that called for a spherical robot, or the toy company and its discovery/partnership/mentorship relationship with either Disney or Iger? In other words was the movie script written around the toy?

There is a video on this site: The Verge BB-8 at around 00:32. The story the person tells is Sphero was participating in a Disney program when Iger was doing a visit. Iger apparently asked them to build a model based on a character concept from star wars.

 

[soniam]

And another thing that has me wondering ... which came first ... the screenplay that called for a spherical robot, or the toy company and its discovery/partnership/mentorship relationship with either Disney or Iger? In other words was the movie script written around the toy?

They didn't actually have a working robot for the shooting of the movie. I think they had some guy pushing a ball around, seriously However, they had the real, life-size one that debuted at Celebration in May. So, I am pretty sure the robot came first, and then the toy company. Or maybe it was the chicken and then egg