Sony

PS3 gets DivX/XviD playback - we put it to the test

By Tim Hanlon

17:29 December 19, 2007 PST

The PlayStation 3 firmware update 2.10 arrived yesterday, adding Blu-ray Disc Profile 1.1 support, and more importantly, XviD and DivX playback. We recently brought you the low down on XviD/DivX playback on the Xbox 360, and now we've spent another strenuous morning watching videos - here's our report on Sony's implementation. Read More

Pinpoint travel photos: Sony's GPS-CS1KA image tracker

By Jude Garvey

22:31 December 16, 2007 PST

December 17, 2007 If you're the type of intrepid traveler that returns from a journey with a gigabytes of digital photographs but no idea where they were taken, this might prove a valuable addition to your kit. The Sony GPS-CS1KA image tracker records the time, date and - using satellite navigation - the location of every photo, and collates the information so that you can view your photographic history on an online map. Read More

Sony's wall-mountable VAIO series panel PC notebook

By Darren Quick

16:38 November 1, 2007 PDT

November 2, 2007 Aiming to merge the PC with a home entertainment center, Sony has added to their VAIO notebook lineup with the release of the LM series notebooks. The LM series features an eye-catching panel PC design reminiscent of Sony’s BRAVIA LCD TV’s with its’ 19 inch screen framed by a transparent bezel to blend into the surrounding environment. For ultimate integration, the VAIO LM series can be wall-mounted and features wireless keyboard, mouse and remote control. Read More

3mm-thick Sony OLED screen: TV takes another giant leap forward

By Loz Blain

21:25 October 15, 2007 PDT

Fresh from a recent showing at CEATEC 2007, Sony has announced that its 11” Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display will be available in Japan from December. The Sony XEL-1 will be the world’s first commercially available OLED screen, promising a whole new category of low-cost, low-consumption TVs that will offer exceptional viewing characteristics including million-to-one contrast ratios, ultra-quick refresh rates, unparalleled viewing angles and a screen thickness of only 3mm at its thinnest point. Read More

Fujitsu advances color e-paper technology

By Noel McKeegan

04:09 October 10, 2007 PDT

October 10, 2007 Fujitsu has displayed the latest incarnation of its electronic paper products at CEATEC in Japan. Having previously unveiled flexible color e-paper, this year the company has changed the form factor into an "e-reader" - a prototype content browser the size of an A5 sheet of paper that’s lightweight, extremely portable and features a high-contrast, easy to read 4,096 color display with very long (up to 50 hours) battery life due to its ability to hold an image once it is displayed without drawing on any power. Read More

Upgraded Sony Reader continues the digital e-book push

By Loz Blain

03:31 October 3, 2007 PDT

October 3, 2007 Many bibliophiles feel that paper is an irreplaceable medium, but the inexorable march of the digital age is bringing new products into the marketplace that bridge the gap between the traditional book and the sheer convenience of electronic storage. Sony has just released the upgraded second version of its Reader digital book - a compact, comfortable and lightweight viewing platform that allows you to carry up to 160 full novels around at any time. Read More

Sandisk launches new high-performance Flash memory cards

By Darren Quick

22:50 September 17, 2007 PDT

September 18, 2007 The rise and rise of Flash memory continues with SanDisk, the original inventor of Flash storage cards, launching its Express line of high-performance Flash memory products. Aimed at professional videographers and photographers who demand speed, durability and reliability the new 8GB and 16GB flash memory cards record high-definition video at 35 megabits per second. Read More

Sony's new digital SLR-A700

By Loz Blain

18:52 September 9, 2007 PDT

September 10, 2007 Sony has only been in the digital SLR space for just on twelve months but today announced an impressive new addition to the Alpha digital SLR system in the form of the DSLR-A700. The A700 packs a 12.2-megapixel CMOS sensor, shutter speeds of up to 1/8,000th of a second and HDMI output for connection to HDTV along with a fast, newly developed auto-focus system and an optional vertical camera grip. Read More

Sony announce 200-disc, 500GB Home Entertainment Server

By Noel McKeegan

23:54 September 5, 2007 PDT

September 6, 2007 Sony has unveiled a new Home Entertainment Server featuring a full HD 1080p 200-disc changer and a 500GB hard disc drive that stores up to 137 hours of video, 40,000 songs or 20,000 digital photos. The stand-alone HES-V1000 is Sony’s first Blu-ray Disc-capable component (other than a VAIO notebook or optical PC drive) that can burn content to Blu-ray Discs as well as DVDs. Read More

Sony's all-in-one High-Def PC/TV with Blu-Ray

By Gizmag Team

20:05 August 28, 2007 PDT

August 29, 2007 Sony has introduced a new high-definition PC/TV model with Blu-Ray Disc Technology. Featuring a floating glass design, the VAIO LT HD PC/TV is designed as a complete computer entertainment center where you can watch and record analog, digital and cable television programming, including premium HD channels. Read More

Sony accelerates PS3 and PSP convergence with PVR and GPS accessories

By Mike Hanlon

12:25 August 23, 2007 PDT

August 23, 2007 In an ironic twist on the convergence theme, Sony has made some significant announcements at the Games Convention in Leipzig moving the PS3 and PSP towards becoming general entertainment and convenience platforms. Announcements included a TV Tuner and PVR software for PS3, a Video Download Service for PSP in conjunction with BSkyB, a voice chat, video chat and instant messaging service for PSP, and a satellite navigation accessory for PSP. On top of the recent release of the EUR50 Go!Cam which turns a PSP into a video and still camera, the “c” word (convergence) is very relevant. Read More

Sony’s DSC-H3: 10x zoom in a very compact body

By Loz Blain

22:51 August 22, 2007 PDT

August 23, 2007 Five short years ago we ran a story on Sony’s then-amazing F707 digital camera, which delivered five whole megapixels of resolution and a whopping 10x optical zoom for a bargain price of around $2500. Compare that with Sony’s latest release, the DSC-H3, which takes eight megapixel shots at 5x zoom, sells for around $300, and is beginning to approach compact camera dimensions that make the F707’s lens look like a shoulder-mounted bazooka. It’s an astounding demonstration of the pace of technology. Read More

The Compact Disc turns 25

By Noel McKeegan

23:38 August 16, 2007 PDT

August 17, 2007 In an event that marked the shift from analogue to the new digital era in the music industry, the world’s first compact disc rolled off the production line at a Philips factory in Langenhagen, Germany, twenty-five years ago today. Philips and Sony co-developed the CD (which was invented by American James T. Russell in the late 1960s) and an estimated 200 billion have been sold around the world in last quarter of a century - that’s enough to circle the earth six times. Read More

Canon's HG10 High definition HDD camcorder

By Kyle Sherer

15:15 August 7, 2007 PDT

August 8, 2007 Canon’s new HG10 Hard Disk Drive Camcorder is the latest to use the Advanced Video Codec High Definition format which was introduced by Sony and Panasonic in 2006 and offers greater compression than HDV and MiniDV. The hard disk drive HG10 records up to 15 hours of HD footage and features a 10x HD Video lens, an HD CMOS image sensor, Canon’s proprietary DIGIC DV II Image Processor, SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization and Instant Auto Focus. Read More

Sony's wireless streaming boombox: the wi-fi hi-fi

By Loz Blain

June 28, 2007 If your PC holds your master music collection, you've either got to listen directly to the speakers it's connected to, or transfer tunes onto a portable device. But what if you just want to head out to the front porch, or spend some time working in the garage? Sony's got an answer: the VAIO WA1 is a wireless boombox that streams music from your PC to anywhere around the house. The WA1 is compatible with SonicStage, iTunes, Windows Media Player and suitable for Internet radio... and it looks pretty sexy, too. Read More

Analysts: Nintendo DS will penetrate 89% of Japanese households by 2011

By Loz Blain

June 26, 2007 A Nintendo in every pocket? The phenomenally successful Nintendo DS handheld gaming console is comprehensively trouncing the more powerful Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) around the world - but nowhere is Nintendo mania more alive than in Japan, where on current sales and penetration figures, a key industry analysis firm has forecast that 89% of Japanese households will have a Nintendo DS by the year 2011. What a stunning figure! Read More

High Definition camcorder breakthrough from Sony

By Noel McKeegan

June 21, 2007 New benchmarks in portability and storage capacity mark the latest High-Definition (HD) camcorder line-up from Sony. The palm-sized CX7K is the world's lightest and most compact HD Handycam to date and the first to record high definition videos to Memory Stick media. The only slightly bulkier hard disk drive based Handycam SR Series now offers an unprecedented 100GB of storage space – enough to record 38 hours of 1080i HD content. Significant improvements have also been made to navigation via the on-board touch-screen including an impressive “Face Index” search feature that uses facial recognition technology to quickly pinpoint images of people within a scene without having to scroll through the entire recording. Read More

The Walkman is back - Sony announces A800 series with digital audio and video

By Loz Blain

May 18, 2007 Consumer electronics giant Sony once ruled the world of portable audio - their Walkman and Discman brands became synonymous for hand held cassette and CD players around the world. Yet somehow, despite a solid reputation in personal audio, Sony missed the boat when portable entertainment went digital, letting Apple's iPod and a host of other devices snatch a massive market share that it has never been able to eat back into. Yesterday, the company announced the launch of its latest Walkman - the NW-A800 series - a digital personal audio/video player that Sony hopes will bring the company back into the contest. Will it stack up against the wildly popular iPod? Read More

Sony PCM-D1 portable recorder looks (and sounds) the part

By Tim Hanlon

May 17, 2007 Sony's gorgeous PCM-D1 recorder allows effortless capture of stereo recordings with surprising spatial detail, thanks to its two built-in condenser microphones in an XY configuration. If you need to capture audio on the move, you'd be hard pressed to find a more exquisite tool than this. Read More

Sony’s New 15X Cybershot H9 and H7 Cameras

By Mike Hanlon

March 12, 2007 Responding to the growing demand for super zoom digital cameras, Sony showed its new 8-megapixel DSC-H9 and DSC-H7 models at PMA, with both cameras featuring powerful Carl Zeiss 15x optical zoom lenses, Sony’s new advanced sports shooting mode and high-definition outputs so they easily connect to a HDTV for spectacular reproduction. The advanced sports shooting mode combines high shutter speed shooting and intelligent continuous auto-focusing. The cameras can quickly focus on fast-moving subjects by predicting where those subjects will be in the frame. This predictive technology also helps to reduce shutter lag, the time it takes for the camera to focus and shoot. Read More

Sony debuts its first wireless Digital Camera

By Mike Hanlon

March 9, 2007 Sony today introduced a 6-megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-G1 digital camera with the ability to send photos wirelessly to other Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)-enabled devices, such as another camera or a PC. Sony’s director of marketing for digital cameras Phil Lubell called the announcement "a step towards realizing a platform for networked photo communication. We will continue to explore the possibilities for networked digital imaging as broadband Internet becomes more pervasive in American homes." The new model’s camera-to-camera wireless capability makes it possible to send your friends a photo at the push of a button. It's also possible for up to four camera users to send each other photos in real time. With a DLNA-compatible PC, storing and sharing photos becomes simplified through wireless image transfer from the camera to the PC. Read More

Is Sony adding rumble to the SIXAXIS?

By Tim Hanlon

March 2, 2007 - Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Immersion have agreed to conclude litigation at the U.S Court of Appeals, and have entered into a new agreement to explore the inclusion of Immersion's technology (read: rumble) in PlayStation products. This is in stark contrast to Phil Harrison's recent comments regarding rumble as a "last-generation feature", which were widely criticised as a desperate attempt to hide the fact that the lack of rumble in the SIXAXIS was a design decision based more on legal proceedings with Immersion, than last/current-generation feature sets. Read More

Sony VAIO L series all-in-one PC

By Mike Hanlon

February 16, 2007 Presenting the iconic VAIO L series, a revolutionary new all-in-one PC concept from Sony. As much a design showcase as it is a functional unit, the L series has transformed a computing device into an integrated business and entertainment tool that combines the power of a PC with a quality LCD and stylish chassis. The VGC-LA38G features a floating design, which fits into any interior. The polycarbonate frame contributes not only to the sleek transparent look of the VAIO L series but also provides a chassis that is light, strong and durable. Providing a portable centre of entertainment for the home, Sony created the VAIO L series to double-up as a stereo. The sound from the unit is enhanced with a Sound Reality audio chip, 3Wx2 high quality speakers and Sony’s SoundFLOW software. This unique audio feature lets you play music and view artist information, the time and calendar even when the keyboard is folded up. Read More

Register for Playstation Network in Europe, get Casino Royale on Blu-ray

By Tim Hanlon

February 13, 2007 - Even with the delayed launches of the Playstation 3 in PAL territories, Sony is still light on solid launch titles, with Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm being the only exclusives receiving substantial acclaim from reviewers. To shift the focus back to their current strengths, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have announced that the first 500,000 PS3 owners to register with Sony's free online service "PLAYSTATION Network" will receive a copy of the latest James Bond blockbuster "Casino Royale" on Blu-ray. Read More

Sony to enter personal transportation market?

By Mike Hanlon

January 3, 2007 New Scientist’s patent-watcher Barry Fox unearthed a ripper this week when he came across a patent application from Sony dated November 23, 2006 that details a new motorized, balance-steered skateboard from the consumer electronics giant. The patent covers “a vehicle steerable by movement of center of gravity” but unlike the many conveyances which are steered by center of gravity movement, the Sony patent looks to have many applications and is pictured in the patent application as a two-, three- and four-wheeler and also as two two-wheeled devices akin to motorised rollerskates, with each wheel powered by its own electric motor. Though the article suggests that Sony hopes to compete with the Segway Human Transporter, we’re more inclined to see the Sony patent as being applicable to a more sporting variety of personal transportation with a definite emphasis on the youth market – unless Sony has found a way of overcoming basic Newtonian physics, riders of the new vehicles, however many wheels they might turn out to have, are likely to have to take a few tumbles in the process of learning to master the devices. There’s every likelihood that the research behind the patent emanates from Sony’s work in the area of partner robotics and personal transportation devices we reported here. Fascinating possibilities! Read More