IT News & Technology update

Sony VAIO X-series hands-on experience

Beginning in September, at the IFA 2009 fair in Berlin, Germany, announced that Sony, one of the world's largest suppliers of consumer electronics and products for computing, a couple of new additions to its range of VAIO notebooks, including an interesting model in the form of VAIO X, marketed as the lightest "" the world's laptop computer. Not much was published on the IFA to the specifications of this machine, but earlier this month by Sony came up with the technical specifications for the new system. In this context, we have recently provided an opportunity for a hands-on experience with VAIO Sony said at a news conference, where the company showed its fall lineup.

While Sony unveiled models, such as AW, SW, CW or W-series netbook, the main attraction of the event, without doubt, was X VAIO ultraportable laptop. Designed as a cross between a netbook and ultra-portable computers, claiming the new VAIO that the world's thinnest laptop. And we were really convinced that if we chance to play a bit.

According to Sony, this new machine designed as a next-generation alternative to the company and former TT TZ series, which end-users with a thinner, lighter solution. The slim, lightweight design of the laptop is switched to the internal configuration of the system, as Atom 550 processor, clocked at 2GHz, 2GB RAM, 256GB high capacity SATA SSD, along with Intel GMA 500 graphics chipset contains. There is also a 11.1-inch WXGA X-Black technology and a range of connectivity options, including everywair WAN 7.2Mbps (3G), USB 2.0, LAN, WLAN 802.11 a / b / g / Draft n, and Bluetooth.

The model that we had a chance to play with was based on an Intel Atom Z540 processor, clocked at 1.86GHz with a lower clock speed. The system was run on 2 GB of RAM and Windows 7 32-bit operating system, roughly what you get for the cheapest configuration. While we were impressed by the exterior of the overall system design, performance, even in Windows 7, was rather slow, especially when it comes to all the nice Windows 7 features, such as the Aero interface.

No Comment | Posted in » Atom, laptop, Sony  

Sony expected to post first operating loss in 14 years

Sony Corp., one of the largest retailers of consumer electronics, is expected to release information about the operating loss of around 100 billion yen (1.1 billion dollars) for 2007/2008. In the statement, Sony will record the highest operating loss in 14 years, in accordance with business daily Nikkei. In addition to the reported losses was against a forecast of 200 billion yen profit.

Nikkei also reports that an estimated operating loss could actually double the previous amount, as it depends on the list of conditions for the January-March quarter. Alleged statement comes after the company announced in October forecast full-year operating profit of 200 billion yen for the year before the end of March 31, from 475.2 billion yen during the period 2006-2007. Moreover, again in December, has created a series of Bravia flat panel TV and PlayStation 3 game consoles were introduced that would have cut 16,000 jobs, reduce investment and remove some of the companies, in order to save around 1.1 billion dollars a year, in response to global recession.

The expected loss is a notification of the other major reported loss since going public in 1958 and the first to see the Sony electronics companies are suffering from sluggish global demand. Already in March 1995, Sony took a one-time charge associated with the company's U.S. film studio company, which was the main reason for operating losses.

News of a possible operating loss notification took shares down about 7.7 percent in early afternoon, as investors fear that the alleged statements can grow some more unpleasant surprises.

Sony is not the only company which saw its shares fall as Toshiba has also had a 4.2 per cent is in shares in Tokyo. Giant manufacturers expected to report its third quarter results in three months at the end of December on January 29.

No Comment | Posted in » consumer electronics, crisis, operating loss, Sony  

The PS3 registered big sales in December

Console war is a very tough fight between the three manufacturers, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have been doing their best to attract customers and gain more profit. Although it appears that between 2008 Nintendo dominates his opposition, the battle for second place was a very brutal one.

Despite the competition for Sony, Microsoft prevail through the application of the price of its Xbox 360 console, it seems that things are promising for the PlayStation 3. Even if it reached 18 percent decline in November, for the same period in 2007, in December 2008 was a very good month for the Japanese company and its products.

During the month of the holiday season begins, it appears that Sony achieved solid revenue growth of 130 percent compared with November. This was reinforced by the internal information from the Japanese company, which also found that there is still hope that a strong momentum in 2009, while confirming a statement, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe CEO David Reeves, who expressed his belief that the PS3 will have a major new year.

"Early internal data indicate an increase of more than 130 percent of the PS3 hardware sales holiday season, Black Friday and we also see an increase of almost 40 percent of the total PS3 hardware sales for the calendar year. We are confident that this momentum will continue and in the New Year. “

Although most of the industry analysts and critics of a place in the Sony shameful last place, for the Nintendo and Microsoft, this year could start a lot of changes in the Japanese console. Let us not forget that there are many new features coming to PS3, as part of the new "value added" approach, and if we believe, Microsoft, and almost everyone else in the game industry, apart from Sony, discounts that can be used in the time. All that remains for us to do is wait and see what is projected to become a reality.

No Comment | Posted in » December, PlayStation 3, price cut, sales, Sony  

Home isn't used by Microsoft

The console war is full of bitter fighting, in which each company is trying to show the world that your product is better and has more features. As such, the big manufacturers, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, which try to introduce the new services to their products more attractive on the market.

In this regard, Sony has recently launched the open beta phase of the new online service PlayStation Home, especially for the PlayStation 3 console. The service aims at a meeting of all owners of the PS3 on Earth, where they met people they know and make new friends and have fun in a constantly changing environment.

This has led to the curiosity of several companies in the UK, which began testing the service for home, to see if they, instead of the usual conference call with this new virtual world. Nothing interesting, so far, but it seems that Microsoft, Sony arch rival, also in the tests carried out by the advanced work Associates Company.

After hearing the news, it seems that the U.S. Company did not want his picture in connection with Sony products and a statement in which he is not the fact that they use online service Home. The press release went on to say that Microsoft has its own virtual meetings, such as the Xbox Live games, which are used for small meetings.

"Microsoft is not as a tool for virtual meetings in the home," Read the press release. "With Microsoft developed great products and applications such as Live Meeting, and part of Xbox Live, we have everything needed to create a virtual meeting at home."

It is now clear that companies in the financial sector, Ernst & Young and Merrill Lynch are the only participants in a study by Dr. Manish Nipan Mani and Malik from the University of Portsmouth. Although services from Microsoft are very good, it seems that the innovations that the home can be for other companies.

No Comment | Posted in » Home, Microsoft, PlayStation 3, Sony, Xbox 360  

Sony said don’t get any profit from PlayStation 3

Few players are aware of the fact that sales of game consoles are a risky business. The console takes years and a lot of money to organize and work for the prototypes created. Since a console cannot be in the first year is for sale because of the limited hardware performance or because of limited support for video game publishers. And even if the console sells well and is fast, the players, they tend to lose money on each game device sold.

iSuppli is a research to analyze the latest PlayStation 3 from Sony and found that the company made significant progress in relation to the console. It seems that the first PS3 model, which was sold to players for $ 600 costs about $ 800, which means that Sony basically lost $ 200 on each unit sold.

With time, the Japanese manufacturer has managed to significantly reduce costs. On the one hand, the number of parts in the gaming industry unit from 4048 to 2820th On the other hand, components and production costs has been consolidated for most of them fell. This means that at present costs for PlayStation 3 console is around 448 U.S. dollars, as Sony will lose about $ 50 on a console that sells for $ 399.

Andrew Rassweiler, an analyst at iSuppli, says that in 2009, Sony even achieve equality, to sell its console at a price equal to its manufacturing costs. He believes that "Every time we have a disconnection, it's kind of backward looking. Sony is one step ahead of us, and probably has plans to re-spin of the hardware, costs again."

Microsoft is also meant to lose money on each Xbox 360 sold, although no breakdown is available at the moment.

No Comment | Posted in » Japan, Microsoft, PlayStation 3, Sony, Xbox 360  

The PS3 cluster

Understanding how black holes vibrates is not the easiest of tasks, and to calculate all possible outcomes of different scenarios, variables and surprising element is a very demanding process, in the form of computer resources required. That is why some of the smaller laboratories perform calculations in the field cannot afford to pay thousands of dollars to supercomputer grids, too little time to run their simulations.

That is why researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, decided to invest in a more unconventional computer, Sony's PlayStation 3. Researchers connected about 16 consoles together, at an estimated total price of a bit over $ 6000. With this rig, they could run tens of simulations on the vibration of black holes and put so many variables that they wanted in the process.

What makes this so cost-effectively possible for the two universities is the fact that if such a solution had not thought of that, they would have paid $ 5000 per simulation at various supercomputer labs. And it goes without saying that a couple dozen simulations would have required significant investment.

"You can build a cluster like this for maybe $ 6000, and then you can run the simulation as many times as you want at no extra cost. Science budgets have been sharply declining over the past decade. Here is one way that people can do science projects cheaper ", says the manufacturer of the PS3 cluster, Gaurav Khanna, a physics professor at the University of Massachusetts.

"Think of a clock. Bell rings, but in the end it will be quiet. The energy that goes out with sound waves is energy clock loses. A black hole does exactly that in the gravitational constant waves instead of sound waves. The black hole that WOBBLING emitting gravitational constant waves. When these vibrations OUT you get a quiet black hole "concluded University of Alabama assistant physics professor, Dr. Lior Burko.

No Comment | Posted in » black holes, PlayStation 3, scientific research, Sony, supercomputer  

Sony offering pocket camera that has a lot of features

According to techpedia.biz, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W150 has lots of features. The pictures quality is not good enough and it only average quality, but the design is beautiful, pretty cool for pocket camera.

Available is different colors, and allows to set up to 8.1 megapixels camera resolution. Its look like will be no big issue for storage as is support wide-range of memory cards such as Memory Stick DUO, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo, and also built-in Internal memory.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W150 specification and details info:

• Available Color options: Black, Gold, Red, Silver
• Camera Dimensions: 93.7 x 58 x 24 mm
• Optical sensor use: CCD
• Supported Sensor Resolution (max): 8.3 megapixels
• Maximum Resolution: 8.1 megapixels
• Photodetectors (max): 8.3 million
• Photodetectors (effective): 8.1 million
• Maximum Zoom range: 5
• Light sensitivity supported: Auto, ISO 100/200/400/800/1600/3200
• Support White balance (new): Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Flash
• Lens aperture: F3.3 to F5.2
• LCD display size (new): 2.7 inch
• Optional supported Storage type(s): Memory Stick DUO, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo, Internal memory

No Comment | Posted in » digital cameras, Sony  

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 is rated as good camera

For you that always want to take a pictures everywhere with expect goo result of pictures, I think Sony DSC H50 is a good choice. But is not a common digital pocket camera, is more like for professional use.

No Comment | Posted in » digital cameras, Sony  

Qore Debuts on the PlayStation Network

Sony Computer Entertainment America is the announcement of the launch of interactive, monthly "Journal" for PlayStation fans. The product will be presented by PlayStation Network and will include Previews, interviews, video content, the game Additional services, demonstrations and much more. The first issue of "Qore, since the new concept is called, will be launched on 5 June.

Sony Computer Entertainment America has entered an exclusive deal with the future development of the United States, the boys behind the PlayStation: The Official Magazine to create Qore. Download multimedia magazine will feature a host of information relating to PlayStation games. The line-up for the first problem in itself is quite impressive, with similar SOCOM: US Navy seals confrontation, Star Wars: virtue Unleashed, Secret Agent Clank and soul Calibur 4 features. In the happiness people get their hands on this version also get SOCOM confrontation beta invitation and SOCOM topic.

The price of the first edition was only 2.99 dollars, while the annual subscription price of 24.99 dollars at present. If you receive one-year subscription now, you can get to download free Calling All Cars.

Qore will also be attended by ads, and the names of Burger King, Universal Pictures, Activision and Codemasters were announced by the United States on the future of the first companies to their commercials in multimedia magazine. Veronica Belmont will serve as host of Qore.

Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing and PlayStation network of SCEA, said that "the original content, community associated with innovative products and services are a major focus for the PlayStation Network this year and we are very pleased to introduce Qore exclusively for our customers. Qore is the first step in providing original content, dedicated to the PlayStation community and the development of the network, in the place where our clients can collect, share and discover new forms of entertainment.

Today, Sony partner, future U.S. previously said it plans to enter into partnership with Microsoft to provide a similar package of content for the Xbox Live service for Xbox 360 console. It seems that the collaborator of choice has proved, after all, Sony, and not Microsoft.

No Comment | Posted in » Multimedia, PlayStation, Qore, Sony  

SingStar Volume 2 Release Date Set

Sony confirmed, SingStar Volume 2 will come out in Europe on June 20. In the PlayStation 3 game will be filled with more songs and several new features.

The main new addition to the game will be a new "harmony duet mode." What does it mean that now is that two players will be able to combine the power of his soothing voice to perform these difficult to get the right runs, that the game functions. Of course, developers are willing to show off new feature for players so that there will be more songs in the game, having a profile for harmonization as California Dreamin 'by the Mamas and Papas, or all Stand Together we created with Paul McCartney and a celebration of Kool and foreign. Other songs also can be enhanced through the newly introduced duet function, but the results will be more clearly I felt above songs.

SingStar Vol. 2 and plans to offer support to play off feature that allows the user to play the game for the PlayStation 3 use the PlayStation Portable and working Internet connection. The most obvious use to access SingStore distance, choosing a song you want to download and set for the withdrawal to begin so that the songs are ready and all downloaded when you want to play the game.

In the PSP can be used to access social network built around the game called My SingStar Online, where you can post video and text messages and leave comments on the contributions of other players.

There are even rumors that the new game will also include a wireless microphone sets to improve singing experience. This certainly will include new songs by bands like Killers, Kaiser chiefs and Gorillaz, and from individual artists like Eminem.

No Comment | Posted in » News, PS3, Sony  

Sony's Latest Blu-ray Recorders Can Push Video Content to the PSP, Walkman

By: Alex Vochin, Technology Editor

Now that Sony has remained the only major player in the market for high-definition players, Blu-ray scoring a convincing victory over HD DVD, the Japanese company has the right to focus on a number of additional products capable of providing various additional functions beyond - the main associated with the reproduction of them. And that it is the case with his latest statements, as follows: BC-BC-A70 and T90 Blu-ray recorders, which represent a very interesting feature aimed directly at the Walkman and Sony PSP owners.

As the company informs us of two new recorders offer users the possibility of a transfer of the recorded video content on their portable devices very easy and fast way. Apparently, there is a "one touch" on the front of the device, which makes things much easier for users - allowing them to transmit up to 60 minutes QVGA video in the classroom about 3 minutes.


Much like most other modern recorders on the market these two models tuners package, which means that users can write on the air show on one channel while watching another program. In addition, they provide a sufficient amount of storage space OK, namely 320 GB to 500 GB A70 and T90 for, which means that the A70 can store up to 39 hours of HD programming, while T90 can be as high as 62 m. .
In addition, both models offer a fairly standard set of connectivity options, including here because HDMI, composite video, S-Video and audio connectors are different. In addition, these devices also include Sony's Roomlink interfaces.

While the details are still quite sketchy, it seems that both models will hit the shelves in Japan near the end of April, an estimated retail price is around 1700 dollars. Not very accurate accounting, but also those people who likes to watch video on their PSP can provide these things go.

No Comment | Posted in » Blu-ray recoders, multimedia PSP, Sony  

First PS4 Solid Rumor!

And PS3 backwards compatibility surfaces, too
By: Alexandru Stanescu, Editor, Gaming Reviews (Consoles) | softpedia.com

Before you get overexcited, you should know that this IS a rumor, after all and it's not at all solid, at least for now. According to Gamefront.de, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan are offering now a position of software engineer, one that will have to implement backwards compatibility for the PS3 plus a future console, not specified in the job description.

Hold on for a sec... A future console? Is there a chance that we'll get to see a PS4 in a normal human lifetime? I thought that Sony were considering an early retirement from the gaming biz, having almost totally failed with the PS3. However, since they capitalized due to huge next-gen gaming device sales caused by the Wii shortage, they might have recovered both financially and in terms of morale. Half the good news of this piece of info is that finally we'll see backwards compatibility on the PS3, for the PS2, PS1 and PSP games.

It's a logical step to take and it should have been taken from the get-go, since there are lots of PS2 owners right now, who might consider a console upgrade in the next years, but would regret not being able to play their favorite titles any more. As for the PS4... I can only imagine bad things, if you ask me: a huge device, dangerous overheating problems, dual-layer Blu-ray disks, expensive games and peripherals, BUT, at least we've got backwards compatibility!

This mysterious console could as well be a portable one, but it would have to be some sort of laptop in order to be able to play all the PS3 beauties. One can only assume and check out rumors for now, as Sony might as well have the key to the ultimate portability and a decent screen plus CPU to be able to display the wonderful next-gen graphics.

No Comment | Posted in » PlayStation, PlayStation 4, PS3, PS4, Sony  

New PS3 Firmware Arrives with System Issues

We'll tell you how to fix them, for now
By: Alexandru Stanescu, Editor, Gaming Reviews (Consoles) | softpedia.com

Updating your firmware has become an obligation nowadays, even if we're talking about a PS3 console of iPhone. Sony's next-gen gaming device has just benefited from a firmware update and people have already started complaining about the issues it causes. According to Destructoid
the PS3 owners who have installed the version 2.00 firmware are dealing with system issues, which include disc reading errors, system failures or major lags while browsing the menus.

The complaints of the unlucky PS3 owners have also surfaced on all major PlayStation forums and the most common of them is the XMB operation slowdown. Also the unofficial statistic says that the 60GB PS3 is more likely to be plagued by these issues than the other versions of the console. Of course, there are forum posters who claim that their gaming device is working perfectly after the update, while others reply that they're frustrated by the constant freezing of their console.

It seems that there might be a way to stop these issues from happening, by disabling that brand new news ticker added with the update. In case you don't know how to disable the feature, just press the triangle button when "Information Board" is selected in the XMB and then select the "Disable" option. Now it seems clear, more than ever, why the Xbox 360 manages to conquer the Japanese market, Sony's homeland having fallen in love with Microsoft's gaming device. When was the last time you saw a software glitch on a 360?

I mean, it has its own "plagues", like the "Red Ring of Death", but that's a hardware issue and it's pretty much extinct right now, so Sony's the glitch master for now. Of course, we might be seeing a patch of the new firmware or even a firmware that fixes the 2.00 version soon enough, but the sour taste is still present in the PS3 owners' mouth.

No Comment | Posted in » Errors, Firmware, Fix, issues, PlayStation 3, PS3, Sony