We heard about the Playstation Vita’s online capabilities long before we even knew its name, but the official details are just now solidifying. We knew it would have a net-connected staging area for each game, and a proximity-based social tool (LiveArea and Near respectively), and although some of the functions there are intact, they’ve been tweaked a bit and the features have changed. → Read More
Although I’ve never been a huge fan of the Cybershot line, it’s interesting to see how much tech Sony has been dumping into these things of late. For example, this $350 camera shoots full 1080i video and 12-megapixel stills at exactly the same time with no interruption.
It has 5X optical zoom and some sort of 16-megapixel 10X digital zoom and can also shoot in 3D. Panoramas are easy and massive at 42 megapixels. It will be available in September.
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Sony is discontinuing yet another format: after killing the cassette Walkman last year and deciding to stop producing MiniDisc Walkmans just 2 weeks ago, the company today announced [JP] in Japan they won’t be supporting the 8mm video format anymore. Sony was one of the several Japanese and American (i.e. Polaroid) tech powerhouses that established the format format back in the 1980s.
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Sony Japan announced [JP] the VBD-MA1 today, the company’s first Blu-ray/DVD burner that doesn’t necessarily require a computer to work. Users can plug in their video camera, for example, directly into the device to store their material on discs (via USB) or use its Memory Stick Duo or SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot. → Read More
We’re definitely looking forward to Sony’s S1 and S2 tablets, and while the proof is of course in the pudding, you’d have to be made of stone to not appreciate these great little videos (previously). There must be some kind of fundamental human need for Rube Goldberg machines. This one is about the media experience, I think? Your guess is as good as mine. → Read More
It’s official folks! That foldable dual-screen S2 tablet from Sony that we’ve been absolutely desperate to get our hands on is headed to AT&T.
Of course, pricing and availability were missing from the press release, although Sony did promise that we would see the Android 3.0 Honeycomb-powered S2 “later this year.” We also got to go hands-on with both the S1 and S2, which was basically the most exciting part of my week. → Read More
Component video’s glory days are behind it. Sony might even be getting rid of it on future PS3 models. But, if this is true, it’s likely more to do with the Blu-ray’s restrictions than Sony’s hatred of the average consumer.
Kotaku posted a screenshot of what is supposed to be info on a new PS3 release. The important thing to note is the statement that indicates the PS3 will no longer support HD video over component. Instead, consumers are going to have to use HDMI, thus this retailer memo states that the salesmen should sell an HDMI cable every time. (that sounds about right) → Read More
There is probably no one left doubting that electric vehicles will be a huge market in the future, and now it seems that Sony is agreeing, too. The company yesterday announced it will start making lithium-ion batteries specifically for electric cars and hybrids “from the middle of this decade”. → Read More
“It’s not like Android’s free. Android has a patent fee. You do have to license patents.”
That was Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in an interview last year with The Wall Street Journal. At the time, Microsoft was on the verge of releasing their first Windows Phone 7 devices, and knew their best hope in the market would be to go after Android — the same OS which quickly ran Windows Mobile into extinction. In the months that have followed, right or wrong, it looks like Microsoft is slowly but surely forcing Google’s OEM partners for Android to agree with this stance.
The reality is that for an increasing number of these partners now, Android is not free. It doesn’t require the licensing fees that Windows Phone does, but it does require a patent fee. A fee paid to Microsoft, not Google, mind you.
If Microsoft is able to convince (or force) Samsung to pay this fee as well, it’s likely lights out for Android as a free OS, as Tom Krazit rightly points out on paidContent today. And with Microsoft and now HP offering their own rival mobile OSes backed by a vast array of patent protection, some of these OEM partners may begin to think twice about their firm Android commitments. At least, that’s undoubtedly Microsoft’s hope. Android as a free mobile OS that rivals iOS in terms of functionality is an unbelievable value proposition. But Android as an OS that requires you to pay Microsoft for each unit shipped is less so. → Read More
After discontinuing the production of cassette Walkmans last year, Sony is now about to kill another one of their original inventions: the MiniDisc Walkman. And as Japanese business daily The Nikkei is reporting today, Sony plans to pull the plug on the production as early as this September – obviously because nobody is buying MiniDisc Walkmans anymore. → Read More
Anyone speak Italian? Eh, I think you get the gist from watching. These two videos show the elusive (though decreasingly so) S1 and S2 tablets we heard about from Sony back in April. You can see the Playstation Suite with games and movie trailers in one, and the other gives a slightly blurry tour of the hardware itself, which is actually welcome given the lack of comparators we’ve had for these things. → Read More
Since their announcement, we’ve been keeping a hawk eye on the S1 and S2 tablets from Sony. Both running Android (3.1 Gingerbread most likely), the S1 is a 9.4-inch wedge-style tablet while the other takes a page out of the Kyocera playbook with dual 5.5-inch fold-out screens.
Sony really deserves a round of applause for these two uniquely built slates. Just a glance at any of these freshly posted new photos from Notebook Italia will incite a double-take, based on those unprecedented form factors alone. Whether either of them will pan out to be a specs star is still unknown, but either way we’ll be glad to see something fresh hit the market. → Read More
The new Sony S1 and S2 tablets are coming at things from a rather different direction, in both design and promotion. The dual-screen and wedge-shaped form factors, as well as the Playstation branding, set them apart from the other guys… and these super-weird but intriguing ads are quite unique as well. → Read More
Taiwanese daily Digitimes is reporting that Sony is planning a PS4 launch for 2012, based on manufacturers’ claims. Foxconn and Pegatron are supposedly to assemble the systems in late 2011. Digitimes usually has its finger on the pulse when it comes to this sort of thing, but I can’t help feeling there may be some misinterpretation here. → Read More
It took them a while, but Sony today announced [JP] that they will fully restore all PlayStation Network services plus streaming media-on-demand service Qriocity in Japan this Wednesday. Sony’s home market is the last country in which the company is done picking up the pieces after that massive data breach from last April. → Read More
Last year, Sony unveiled PlayView, a service for the PS3 that makes it possible to view high-resolution images on your display, for example in manuals or guides for games. And yesterday, big S announced in Tokyo that PlayView will be able to produce pictures in 4K×2K (4,096×2,160) resolution, or, in other words, four times the resolution of full HD. → Read More
The unique form factors and Playstation branding of Sony’s S1 and S2 tablets have us fairly excited to test them out, but Sony hasn’t been very obliging on that front. Luckily, German tech site Golem had a bit more luck. → Read More
While the nuances of this enormous, enormous business deal are certainly lost on this poor tech blogger, I thought it worthwhile to mention that three major Japanese tech companies are considering merging their LCD production divisions, presumably to compete more effectively against major rivals like Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp, and big Chinese OEMs. What would the result be? Probably even more price-fixing. But the Japanese government would be investing a lot, so maybe that would add a bit of trustworthiness to the new company. Maybe. → Read More
Following the security breach in the PlayStation network in April (77 million PlayStation Network user accounts were compromised), Sony saw a radical management reshuffle in its gaming division, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI), today. As you could expect, big S denies a connection between both incidents, but today’s decision probably doesn’t surprise anyone. → Read More
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