Posts Tagged ‘Sony’

Sony on Wednesday unveiled a flexible OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display so thin it can wrap around a 4mm cylinder–roughly the diameter of the average pen or pencil.

The 80 micrometers-thick OLED display (about the width of a human hair) can continuously display moving images even while being rolled up, as Sony demonstrated in a video below.

The working flexibility is possible because engineers have managed to lose the rigid driver IC chips usually used in the substrate of a screen in exchange for a gate-driver circuit with OTFTs (organic thin-film transistors), according to Sony.

The 4.1-inch display, which has a resolution of 432×240 pixels (121 pixels per inch), is not for sale. It’s simply a research prototype Sony said it hopes to one day incorporate into products such as screens in mobile devices. Full demonstrations of the screen will be given this week at the SID (Society for Information Display) 2010 International Symposium in Seattle.

The consumer electronics giant has been at the forefront of this technology, showing one of the world’s first flexible OLEDs in existence at CES 2009, as CNET has reported. That screen was .2 millimeters thick.

Of course, Sony is not the only one experimenting with thin and flexible screens.

In April 2009, Dai Nippon garnered much attention with its flexible and seemingly animated posters for the Rakuten Eagles, a Japanese baseball team. The screens incorporated both energy-saving OLEDs and LEDs.

GE has also been working on ultrathin OLEDs, but in an effort to apply the technology to its lighting products. In March 2008, GE unveiled thin and flexible lighting OLEDs that can be manufactured in rolls akin to newspapers on a printing press.

Source : http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20006000-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

PS3 owners around the world are complaining that a recent upgrade has left them with in-game errors and unable to access the online gaming Sony PlayStation Network (PSN).

Reports, beginning just a few hours ago from Australia, North America and Europe, started a flood of complaints about people not only being unable to access the PSN but having the failure kick them out of games.

One reported problem is an 80001050F error code which is corrupting trophy information in games like Heavy Rain. Trophies monitor players’ progress throughout the game and without the correct information people are being kicked straight back to the XMB, the main menu system in Sony’s gaming consoles.

There’s still no official word on the problem but it could go beyond the PSN itself into the hardware.

Owners of PS3 Fats (the old-school PS3’s) are reporting that the date on their console has reverted to 12/31/1999. This may have something to do with the reasons why some PS3 owners are also receiving errors while the console is offline.

It should be said that Sony quickly acknowledged the problem and tweeted that they were looking into it – but that’s little help to the millions of gamers out there who have been unable to get their fix for the past few hours.

Updates will be posted as they come.

Source :

http://thenextweb.com/au/2010/03/01/update-brings-sony-playstation-network-psn-gamers-world/

Google promised earlier this year that a major computer maker would start to ship its Chrome browser.

Sony’s the one.

Sony’s Vaio line has begun carrying the browser in the U.S., the Financial Times reported late Monday.

According to a Dow Jones report, all Vaio-branded PCs are now using Chrome as their default browser. A Sony representative told Dow Jones that there are no plans to add Chrome to Vaios outside the U.S.

Vaios will continue to come with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer in tandem.

The Financial Times also reported that other companies are in talks with Google about Chrome and that the browser will also be promoted to Internet users who download RealNetworks’ RealPlayer media-streaming software. Google has previously said it’s in discussions with Dell about bundling the software.

To date–a day before the first anniversary of its launch on September 2, 2008–Chrome has around 30 million active users or around 3 percent of the global market. This makes it the fourth most-popular browser after Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s FireFox, and Apple’s Safari.

Source :

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10322884-92.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

@Michael Jack. An iPod with the Regency TR-1 in red (1954-55) and TR-4 (black).

Recording engineer and music producer Michael Jack has amassed an amazing collection of 1,100 transistor radios.

@Michael Jack. Look familiar? An iPod with a Zenith RE-10

These models from the 1950s look like predecessors of the iPod, he notes on his flickr stream:

“When I fist saw the Zenith RE-10 I figured I had come upon the most obvious inspiration for the iPod… Although all these radios appear to have similar design elements to the iPod I would ALMOST bet that the RE-10 was studied (or at least observed) by the Mac design team.”

@Michael Black. Note: the size of the iPod’s click wheel about the same as radio’s tuning dial.

I love the still-modern look of these half-century old radios, whether Jonathan Ive used them for inspiration or not.

What do you think?

Source :

http://www.cultofmac.com/ipods-and-vintage-transistor-radios-separated-at-birth/15104

Well, it’s official. After months of speculation, and persistent denials, Sony has revealed that starting tomorrow the 80GB PlayStation 3 will be available for the low, low price of $299, and the 160GB model will now be $399.

Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai made the announcement during Sony’s GamesCom 2009 press conference, during which Hirai also revealed that that the long rumored and highly anticipated PS3 Slim will also be available for $299 starting the first week of September.

Both announcements are fantastic, and for many gamers out there who have been wanting to pick up a PS3, but weren’t able to commit to the $399 price tag, this news could not be more welcomed. Once again though, the price cut and the PS3 Slim were both totally expected, and having them “officially announced” was really just a formality. Still, it’s good to hear. Then again, I’m not entirely sure why anyone would throw down $299 for an 80GB PS3 when the 120GB PS3 Slim is coming in a few weeks for the exact same price.

While it’s fun to speculate about such things as consumer motivations, I can’t help but wonder what else Sony is up to with this whole price cut business. Sure, it was a necessary business move, but it also seems to suggest a much sharper strategy, especially when considered against the backdrop of Sony’s new iPhone-ish application store. Sony has clearly noticed the skyrocketing popularity of casual gaming, which owes a great deal of thanks to the $1 to $5 model that has made Apple’s iPhone/iPod Touch such a successful mobile gaming platform.

Perhaps Sony believes these new “bite-sized” games will be just the thing to make up the difference caused by shaving off $100 from the PS3. And these are just the games we’re talking about. This doesn’t even take into account the cash Sony will rake in via micro-transactions on the PlayStation Network, thanks to the introduction of new dynamic themes and premium avatars, both of which will be added in the recently announced firmware 3.0 update.

Sony started out this console generation as the big, black behemoth that was a bit overpriced for most gamers. Now though, with the new app store, the new price cut and, especially, with the Slim version, Sony has repositioned the PS3 as a much more consumer friendly, gamer loving console. And there was much rejoicing.

Source :

TheFeed Sony Announces PlayStation 3 $100 Price Cuts http://tinyurl.com/px2cgc

Out of curiousity, I went to Amazon.com to see if the PlayStation 3 price cuts were in effect (they are). I was surprised to find numerous shots of the PS3 Slim, which is available for pre-order through the site. Some of the shots are different from the official photos sent out by Sony. Check ‘em out after the break!

More pictures :

TheFeed Amazon Shows Off PlayStation 3 Slim, Offers It Up For Pre-Order http://tinyurl.com/okx4qp

Nobody, least of all Sony, ever said it would be easy to start cranking out OLED TVs. It doesn’t help matters to be in a financial crunch.

So it should come as little surprise that according to a report in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal (subscriber access only), losses in Sony’s TV division are driving the electronics giant to put a hold on future OLEDs TVs.

Sony shows off its OLED TVs at CES 2007. That’s a 27-inch model in the middle; all the others are 11-inch models.

(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET)

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal says that new OLED (organic light-emitting diode) production would compound the poor performance at Sony’s TV division–which looks likely to lose money again for the sixth straight year, meaning a return to profitability is paramount.

Sony’s TV division lost 127 billion yen ($1.34 billion) in fiscal 2008, noted the Journal, accounting for more than half of the company’s operating losses for the year.

More than two years ago, Sony showed off its OLED TVs, in 11-inch and 27-inch formats, to great excitement, and the company was hopeful to start getting them out the door sometime in 2008. But the 11-inch model sported a $2,500 price tag, versus 50-inch LCD TVs that cost the same or less.

Full Story…

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10311839-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Source :

CNETNews Report: Sony’s OLED TVs on hold http://bit.ly/3RMHE

Is this the new PS3 Slim? Rumors have it Sony may unveil such a device at the Gamescon show in Germany Tuesday. On the other hand, it may all be fanboy-driven fervor with no substance. Either way, to CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman, the excitement is unlikely to be matched by the reality of anything Sony may introduce.

While all new technology product rumors have to be taken with a grain of salt, you can sometimes tell–often by the volume of online chatter about a particular morsel–that one is more likely to turn out to be true.

That seems to be the case with the so-called “PS3 Slim,” a rumored new PlayStation 3 form factor that could well be on the horizon. And if the latest slew of blog and forum posts are right, there’s a pretty good chance Sony will formally announce the new console Tuesday at the Gamescon conference in Cologne, Germany.

That may be true, and, of course, it may not. But what I want to know is why so many people seem to be so excited about this as-yet-unseen console? After all, the PS3–once thought by many to be the most likely winner of the next-generation console wars between Sony, Microsoft (with its Xbox 360), and Nintendo (with its Wii)–has lagged far behind its competitors.

Full Story…

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-10311394-235.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Source :

CNETNews ‘PS3 Slim’ rumor fervor hard to fathom http://bit.ly/Oy7nv

Electronic Arts has revealed that its PC, PlayStation 3 and Wii sales for the quarter ending June 30 were significantly higher than sales for its Xbox 360 titles.

MCVUK reports that Wii sales generated $161 million, a solid jump over last year’s $109 million, and PC sales topped $124 million. However, the most compelling disparity was between the PS3 and 360 sales, with the PS3 generating $121 million and the 360 pulling in just $73 million.

Full Story…

TheFeedEA Reports Higher Earnings For PS3 Than Xbox 360 http://tinyurl.com/l7d95m