Ever wonder what would happen if the hip hop world made it into the corporate electronic world? Besides the fact that your great grandparents might get scared, there would also be no more mundane product videos that go over the features. But one man in UK didn’t just wonder this, he made it happen. All with composite cables and a tube TV. Checkout the features of the Sony Nebox, rapped out for you to some classic MJ.
Sony Corp.
It’s no secret that Sony has been making strides in the camera world. Expanding their ever growing lineup of pocket sized camera, the Cybershots and their DSLR and Hybrids with the Alpha and NEX series, Sony has gone to hold the worlds second largest camera market share while closing in on Canon for the number one spot. Now respect camera writer and Nikon fan, Thom Hogan is giving his input on the DSLR race and his got some strong words for Canon and Nikon while praising Sony.
Sony: most interesting strategies (yes plural) of the bunch. On the Alpha side went for very different technologies (e.g. pellicle mirror), which took awhile to get settled, but has clear benefits long-term. Also has been shoring up and improving dealer network here in the US, giving them a potentially significant advantage over the other players, above. Has been aggressive on price with the Alphas (some of which is happening with the dealer), and appears to be about to get more aggressive. Meanwhile, they’ve made NEX into a potentially serious mount (it currently extends from a low-end mirrorless model to a highly professional video camera). Too bad they don’t have the lenses to back it up yet. Status: making progress on all fronts, and Canon and Nikon need to be especially wary of this competitor. Forecast: one weakness is still not having all the right lenses. This blunted sales of both the full frame Alphas as well as NEX models. Even the Alpha is missing a few key lenses if it wants to tackle the high-end Canons and Nikons well. Rumors show progress on this front, but it needs to happen faster. Other weakness is in marketing. The dual strategy makes a strong cohesive “why Sony cameras matter” message very necessary.
Thom goes on to point out that Nikon and Canon continue to “pursue their old strategies: entry to pro DSLR lineups, iterated regularly, moved upscale in features and performance with each generation.” When you step back and look at my tech companies and tech sectors, he couldn’t be more right. Not many tech companies are willing or able to break the mold, instead offering an improved model the year after and the year after that. In some ways, you cannot blame them as the strategy is a safe bet for the company and investors but then you look at Sony in this case and see that they are willing to take some risks and bend some rules which is starting to pay off. Still, no one can seem to do it better then Apple.
I hate to keep using Apple as an example, but they’ve been the best available one in high tech for a long time now: strong product definition that creates new categories and quickly dominates them; effective and ubiquitous advertising and marketing; best-in-business customer support (not a very high bar); consistency in design and message; creation of ecosystems around their products. Now take that list and see how many camera companies manage any of those things. No wonder DSLR sales have peaked. No end in sight for the roller coaster ride, though we’re coming up on a big drop.
This is my exact sentiment and one that I’ve pointed out on multiple times on the site. Sony is in the perfect position to offer a cohesive product offering for the consumer, seeing how the company offers a product in almost every category and market. However, due to the size of them, the company seems to be working with multiple agencies which offers a broken down vision of the company and not a straight forward message. Throw into the mix that Sony doesn’t have a large stockpile of cash in their reservers and you can start to get a better picture why the company doesn’t advertise as much as it should. However, if the company can get their act together and start battling the likes of Apple, Nikon, and Microsoft with better advertising, Sony is really poised to gain a considerable market share in both the DSLR segment and others.
[Via Bythom]
It’s been a while since the PlayStation Portable System was improved or for that upgraded in anyway. With the Nintendo DS advancing into newer technology *Cough*3D*Cough* before Sony’s PSP system. Even the most devoted PSP gamers are becoming fed up with the low definition graphics (all be it, still better then the Nintendo DS), and are to frustrated to wait until the PSP’s successor the NGP is released.
Two days ago on May 22, Sony announced the Japanese release of a new “PSP Remaster” title series. The name itself serves as a dead giveaway, Sony will be revitalizing select PSP game titles for the PS3 in high-def Blu-Ray.
In addition to remastering select game titles, some games may receive new add-on content plus stereoscopic 3D support. However, Sony didn’t stop there users will also be able to share game save data between their PSP and PS3 systems. Imagine for a second, being able to play on the subway – and when you get home being able to continue where you left off earlier that day on a large TV screen.
The first PSP Remaster title announced was Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, sadly this is set only to launch in Japan at an unknown time and date. Meaning for now North American PSP users will have to deal with the low definition, eye straining graphics they’ve grown accustomed to.
With the Monster Hunter Portable series making its way to the PS3, what other titles would you like to see come? I for one would love to see MGS: Peace Walker and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 make their way in glorious HD to the PS3.
When gamers sit down and I’ve been guilty of this myself, we sometimes tend to surround ourselves with a slew of gadgets to enrich our experience. A Dualshock 3 controller to game with, a bluetooth headset to talk with and a keyboard to chat online with. Sometimes, even that Blu-ray remote will sneak into that pile as well. Now, the folks at Hyperkin are looking to change this experience with the Hyperkin’s Remotext for PS3. This multifunction remote offers gamers two analog nubs with a near-complete set of gaming controls, a QWERTY keypad, and a slide-out Blu-ray remote panel. Though not bluetooth enabled, you will find a USB receiver in the box, as well as a pair of rechargeable AA batteries. We don’t have a price or release date to report but the guys at Hyperkin’s will be officially showcasing the hybrid remote at E3.
As always, hit the jump for the official press release. While there, what do you guys think about the remote? Do you like devices like this or prefer a more individual setup with separate keyboard and remote?
The PlayStation Network is set to go under maintenance today from 8am until approximately 5pm Pacific time. During the down time, Sony is looking to tweak and enhance registration, password reset and Account Management which means those services will be unavailable during the down time. According to Sony, although some users might have difficulty signing into PSN on the PS3 and to additional services like the PlayStation Blog, the majority of users should have no problem accessing the services, including playing online.
It also comes as no surprise that the PlayStation Store, therefor will not be returning today as it had been rumored in the past. Instead, Sony has gone on record and stated that their goal is to have the store up by the months end. Meaning, check it out next Tuesday folks.
I personally wouldn’t be surprised if this maintenance further has to do with the recent hacking incidents as Sony wants to test for any weaknesses in their system. A few down hours to test and beef up the system is a lot better then another major downtime. You can bet that ever since PSN came back up, that hackers have been doing their best to to try and exploit the system game.
Hit the jump for the official press release fro Sony. While you are there, let us know if you are experiencing any problems with PSN or if things are going smooth for you.
Updated:
Maintenance has now been completed and full PSN services have been restored to all web and console users.
For most people, their interaction to augmented reality might be limited to a game on the PSP or PS3. Others are starting to experience this new dimension of interaction via apps available on their smartphone like the iPhone. Still, the truth is that after the charm wears off, augmented reality apps are clunky and slow.
For those not familiar with the subject matter, augmented reality allows you to look at the real world with an added digital interaction. In games, this can be with you interacting with a character that is not actually in front of you. For real world apps, you can point your iPhone in any direction and view restaurants and their ratings, without being in line of sight.
Now, Sony’s SmartAR is expanding the reach of agumented reality by offering object recognition system focusing on posters, tables, books, and coffee cups with the use of the traditional AR cards which is where the camera or sensor looks to find the information that it needs to display. According to Engadget “objects don’t even need to remain on screen, as demonstrated by an AR pop-up menu that remained viewable even after the object-marker that spawned it left the viewer’s field of vision.” From here, the potential of augmented reality is truly limitless. Start thinking more Minority Report and expanded advertising and retail offerings.
[Via Engadget]
As we continue to work behind the scenes to change the way we interact with you and grow our offerings, we wanted to see what new features would you like to see us offer or expand upon? As you may know, we already offer a forums section and Podcast though neither has been a center of our attention or focus in the past. However, with big changes around the corner, we would like to see where you stand on this matter.
It’s beginning to sound like another day and another hacker attack on Sony. This time, the attack was against the Sony BMG Greece website. The attack, according to Engadget “does not appear to have been particularly sophisticated and was carried out using an automated SQL injection tool that demands more patience than skill.” The hackers were able to obtain usernames, real names, and email addresses of registered SonyMusic.gr customers during the illegal break in. However, there is good news for Sony and their Greece customers as the hack didn’t seem to be entirely successful due to the fact that fields with customer passwords and telephone numbers were either empty or contained fake data.
As much as I would like to hope that this is the end of the attacks on Sony’s websites, the truth is that due to the sheer size of Sony, it’s nearly impossible for them to secure every portable in a short period of time. Even though a company like Apple might be much larger in terms of sales volumes, their online exposure is limited to their Apple.com retail presence, as well as iTunes and MobileMe. Sony on the other hand has many different gaming divisions like PSN, SOE, as well as retail (pro and consumer), music and movie stores to name a few. As Naked Security put it, “it is nearly impossible to run a totally secure web presence, especially when you are the size of Sony.” As they point and something I agree with, Sony may end up being one of the most secure web assets on the net after all of this is put behind them.
Statement from Sony:
“There was an online tweet that one page of Sony Music Indonesia’s Web site was altered and Sony Music Indonesia shut down the access to such page and started investigation. We are investigating the Sony Music Greece matter.”
[Via Naked Security]
As with all similar situations, with time passing, companies and investors can get a much better handle on the extend of damage dealt. This can be in both physical and financial impact and Sony has experienced both in a very short period. With massive earthquakes that rocked Japan during the month of March, Sony was forced to shut down factories, repair buildings and delay many products into the later part of this year. With extensive repair costs and missed product launches, this will cause Sony to report a $3.2 billion loss for the year. Sony was originally on a path for a ¥70 billion ($855 million) profit. The same holds true for Sony’s PlayStation division. Originally the division was going ahead at full steam with an announced profit predicted. Now, thanks to the month long PSN breach, the company has estimated a ¥14 billion (about $172 million) loss for that division. Of course, this is just the actual loss for the store being down and the costs that it took to create a more secure server. With lawsuits that always tend to follow, you can expect that number to rise. It’s expected that many other Japanese companies like Panasonic will also be reporting a loss for the year.
Last week, I was informed that I had gotten the summer job for which I had applied for. Thinking ahead, I decided to start looking for reviews and rumors for a couple of laptops that had previously caught my eye. Sony’s “Ultimate Mobile PC” seemed to be the laptop innovator with many monumental implementations such as: an external dock with one USB 3.0 jack, HDMI, Ethernet, AMD Whistler discrete graphics, and a Blu-ray Disc reader and writer.
It’s widely speculated around the web that Sony’s “Ultimate Mobile PC” is set to integrate Thunderbolt into its USB 3.0 rather than going down the route Apple had taken using their Mini DisplayPort. So what is Thunderbolt?
- In simple terms Thunderbolt hopes to be the USB 2.0 of tomorrow, a port for devices that supports speeds of 10 gigabytes per second (simultaneously sending & receiving data). Being a completely new port Thunderbolt will support current HDMI, DVI and VGA outputs; however, other-than display devices there are no Thunderbolt devices on the market. Thunderbolt itself is strictly Intel developed, users will not find Thunderbolt ports on AMD chip-sets and any other CPU’s.
Intel had previously stated that they had been the sole holder of the trademark. However, seeing how Apple had collaborated with Intel to produce Thunderbolt, they were the company to file the initial trademark requests in Canada, China and the US.
The “Ultimate Mobile PC” has taken a liking to the name Sony VAIOs Thunderbolt; however, Dave Salvator told Engadget, “a Thunderbolt implementation needs to use the controller chip, and the Thunderbolt connector.” Meaning if Sony decides to continue down the route of using a USB 3.0 port with an adaptor for Thunderbolt rather than using a Mini DisplayPort, Sony will have to find a new name for its high-speed peripheral interface. This does not mean that Sony and other manufactures cannot use Thunderbolt, in fact, besides controller chip, the cable itself is based off of a PCI Express cable. The only difference is that they cannot call it Thunderbolt and if indeed they do call it something else, you can be assured that it will be compatible with other equipment labeled Thunderbolt.
Seeing how Apple has made the Mini DisplayPort royalty free (even though they own the patent, anybody can use it) and Thunderbolt uses the same cable, I’d suggest to Sony to use the MiniDisplay port, simply because of the fact it already supports most display devices (HDMI, VGA, DVI) as well as the fact is twice the speed of USB 3.0 with higher speeds to come in the future.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m a huge huge Spider-man fan. Though when I grew up, I wasn’t much into comics, I’ve just about played every Spidy game, breathed 90’s cartoon and have seen the 3 Sam Raimi films more times then I care to count. So when it was announced that Sony Pictures would be rebooting Spider-man, I was a little disheartened by it, simply due to the fact that I hate origin stories. I know how he becomes who he is and this is true for Batman and Superman etc. etc. Can we just move along with the story and get into the juicy stuff like Venom, Carnage , and other realm stories? This also happens to be one of the reasons why I love what Marvel is doing, especially with Thor. They are taking you out there and it’s nice to see the more extreme stuff., but I digress. Being a huge movie buff fan, I tend to not want to learn a whole lot about something I wanted to watch so the less spoilers the better. However, the following should be a shock to no fan as we find that Oscorp will play some form of roll in the reboot from Marc Web. Though we don’t know the extent, it’s hard to imagine a Spider-man flick without them, even if it’s not following the Green Goblin and Hob Goblin plot line.
After the jump, you will find some new shots from the set, including an Oscorp building. While you are there, let us know how you feel about this reboot or if you would have like the trilogy from Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire to continue. Also, checkout some of the previous photos we dug from the set.
Long time readers will note that this is an article that we ran almost a year and a half ago. Seeing how many hits the story still gets, I felt like I should update the article a little and brush up the links.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, holy shit Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX is a long name but we move on. My test was a simple one; to use the Cybershot HX5 (one of the best damn pocket sized cameras I’ve ever used) and I wanted to see, if I used a higher speed Memory Stick, would it impact my shooting experience. There have been plenty of scenarios where I’ve been wanting to take a picture but my camera was still processing the past picture which will of course cause you to miss the shot that you wanted to take. Things only gets worse when it’s a lower light situation and you think your camera is done taking the picture in which you move your hand away and in return, cause a blurry picture, seeing how your camera was still processing the shot.
I wanted to take this and wish friend of the site and all around awesome girl Raychul Moore a Happy Birthday. Raychul was one of the first people to really support our site and help us grow without asking why. She instead believed in what we have to offer and we couldn’t be more thankful.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Raychul and her work, she is a hardcore gamer, scary movie buff and Star Wars geek in the best way possible. Her gaming really spans across all three current systems where you can make sure that she is hunting down and getting every last reward a game has the offer, none of this silly run through once and you are done kind of business from this girl. Of course, when she’s not actually playing games, there is a good chance that she is talking about them somewhere. Whether it’s on her Twitter page, her weekly live video chats or the countless hosting shows she has done, including GamePro, EGM, GameZone.com, and Machinima.com. Just to beat it into you how geek our friend is, here is her apartment:
With her favorite characters of recent years being Nathan Drake from Uncharted and Kratos from God of War, we couldn’t have wished for a better friend for the site. You can find Raychul on Twitter or hit her site to get even more information on who she is and her career. Happy Birthday Raychul Moore and like a good friend, we won’t reveal her age 😉
[Raychul]
It’s been a pretty eventful and dramatic couple of weeks for PlayStation 3 users – and not in an ideal way.
The recent security breach of the PSN is a sign of very serious consequences for the developing nature of online commerce. Individuals and organisations have been broadcasting the importance and seriousness of this breech. Undoubtedly, these voices represent a very logical concern. Consequently, Sony’s appreciation of this fact in its statements and actions in response to the events are critical.
Fortunately, Sony’s resultant demeanor displays absolute appreciation of the potential repercussions of this large-scale incident. This comes in the form of what are a very appropriate selection of free games for users to choose from when the PlayStation Store is relaunched. Although, it is important to remember that the seriousness of this security breech should not be trivialised by Sony or its customers, following this apologetic gesture.
Links to the ‘Welcome Back’ details can be found below.
Saturday night Phase 1 of Sony‘s long awaited database restoration was set into motion rolling out globally for all users, finally putting an end to the largest PSN outage to date effecting close 100 million PlayStation and Qriocity users.
As we now know the outage was thanks to an “external intrusion” where hackers were able to read users personal account information such as their credit-card numbers, address, postal code, and names. So what exactly is phase 1 of Sony‘s restoration.
Phase 1 of the restoration was a software update forcing users to change their account passwords from the PlayStation 3 system they had originally activated the account on. Along with new security for Sony servers.
The new security system was developed by Sony with the help of their outside security consultants in hopes of never repeating an outage such as this. The new security system will include the following:
- Advanced Technology Security System
- Increased Levels of Encryption
- Added Firewalls
- Earlier warning signals in the chance of another “External Intrusion”
As for those of you greedy guss’ out there the welcome back package was not launched with phase 1 of the restoration – Below are FAQs provided by the Sony PlayStation Blog
Q: So what exactly is working right now?
A: Sign-in for PlayStation Network and Qriocity (including the resetting of passwords), online gameplay for PS3 and PSP, playback of rental video content on PS3 (if within rental period), Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity on PS3 (for current subscribers), access to services such as Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and MLB.tv, “Friends” category on PS3 (including Friends List, Chat Functionality, Trophy Comparison, etc), in-game leaderboards, and PlayStation Home.Q: I’m having trouble changing my password/I forgot which email I used on my account/I used a fake email to set up my account.
A: Click here for a set of tips on resetting your password. If you’ve gone through the process and are waiting for an email from us, please note that the very large number of requests has caused certain ISPs to slow the rate at which recipients get emails from us. Please be patient as the systems work through the backlog.Q: The PlayStation Store hasn’t updated since April 19th. When can I download digital games that were planned to be released since then?
A: To date, three Tuesday publishes were missed, which included items like Under Siege and the MotorStorm Apocalypse demo. Rest assured that you won’t miss any of this great content. To catch up on the large amount of material, we’ll be publishing to the PlayStation Store multiple times per week once commerce functionality is restored. We will update the PlayStation.Blog with information on timing of the Store restoration, as well as the full list of new content as each publish occurs.Q: How will PlayStation Plus members be affected by the PSN downtime? A number of games/items were slated to go live or come down on April 26th.
A: We will be picking back up with the PlayStation Plus content calendar where we left off to ensure that you won’t miss out on anything.Q: Sucker Punch has indicated that they will extend the inFAMOUS 2 beta. Any details?
A: Sucker Punch is evaluating extending the inFAMOUS 2 beta, as well as expanding its scope. Stay tuned for more details here in the coming days.Q: Is anything special planned for the SOCOM 4 multiplayer community?
A: Zipper will announce details on activities to re-engage fans of SOCOM 4 who have patiently waited to play online.Q: What about the Call of Duty: Black Ops Double XP weekend that was missed while PSN was down?
A: We have been in discussions with our friends at Treyarch, and they have ensured that all Call of Duty: Black Ops fans will get an extra Double XP event as soon as PSN comes back online. We don’t have details on timing just yet, but look forward to an announcement as soon as we have news.Q: How can I redeem the Welcome Back offer that was mentioned by Kazuo Hirai? What’s in it?
A: Hang tight – we’ll be announcing all the details soon.Q: How can I sign up for the Debix AllClear ID Plus protection announced last week?
A: More details are coming soon.Q: When will the PlayStation.Blog start talking about games again?
A: Tomorrow! Thank you for bearing with us as our role changed over the past few weeks. We’ll be once again talking games every day leading up to E3, which is just a few short weeks away
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