Sony Corp.

We’re On Our Way to Coachella!

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 15, 2011 | 18 comments

Hey everybody! Over the next three days, I and our resident writer Jenni (Domino) will be heading down to the Coachella music festival where we will be covering the event from the electronic perspective. For those who are not aware, both Sony and PlayStation will be holding down their respective tents where attendees can come and get their gadget fix as Sony puts it. During the event, Sony will will allow select guests to try out the Bloggie Touch by borrowing it for the day for free.

Swing by the Sony tent for your chance to borrow a Sony Bloggie MP4 camera for the day – for free! Take it out, record your favorite bands, get video of your friends, your music reviews and then come back and use an upload station to post your videos and photos to your favorite social sites.

PSP Firmware 6.38 with Qriocity Install Overview (Video)

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 15, 2011 | 111 comments

As we mentioned in our prior post, we’ve been working on a video overview of PSP firmware 6.38 which finally brings Sony’s music streaming service, Qriocity, to PSP and PSPgo units. Our video below will show you how to install the service, give you some tips to make sure you experience a smooth setup and an overview of how well the streaming service actually works.

Sony Introduces External Flash for Alpha and DSLR Cameras with Quick Shift Bounce, the HVL-F43AM

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 14, 2011 | 8 comments

Announced for Europe and we’re guessed head to other territories in months to follow, Sony is releasing a new external flash, the HVL-F43AM. Designed to be dust and moisture resistant, this new rugged flash also has a few neat tricks up its sleeve like working Sony’s Wireless Ratio Control and will come with the Quick Shift Bounce system. This new feature allows “lash head position to be adjusted instantly when switching between horizontal and vertical compositions. This maintains consistent shadow positions regardless of camera orientation, allowing easy creation of natural-looking ‘bounce’ effects.” This Alpha and other branded DSLR based flash is priced at $350 and will be available in Summer.

Hit the jump for additional photos and a press release from Sony.

PSP Firmware 6.38 Now Available with Qriocity Music Unlimited Support for the PSP and PSPgo

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 14, 2011 | 4 comments

I apologize for calling the service Qriocity Music Unlimited in the headline but it’s what I sometimes must do for the Googler Interwebs search engines to dig us up. Sticking to what should just be called Qriocity, today Sony has released a new firmware up date for the PSP and PSP go system. Firmware 6.38 is a small download that builds upon the previous update and gives PSP and PSPgo users access to the Qriocity, Sony’s cloud based music streaming service. Those who download will note that they need to do 3 additional things before being able to use the service.

On their PSP, go to settings > Date & Time Settings > Date and Time > Set via Internet
Have over 200MB of free space available on their system
Via their PS3 or web browser, link a PSN account to a Qriocity subscription

After following these steps, you will be on your way towards streaming music. As I write this, I’m also importing and editing a video that will hopefully be up by tonight, if not tomorrow which goes over the installation via a PSP and PSPgo. Also, I go over how the service works and some of the tips I just gave. So look for that soon! Have you guys download Qriocity for the PSP or PS3 system yet? If so, what do you think and if not, what’s holding you back?

Sony Ericsson Gains its Own Channel in Android Market

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 13, 2011 | 7 comments

Those of you who own a Sony Ericsson phone will as of today notice a change when you access the Android Market. Traditionally when opened, you would be greeted to Apps, Games and My apps category. Now, you will notice that My apps category is gone, instead replaced by a Sony Ericsson channel. First, no need to fear, those of you who liked the My apps category can still access it by simply pushing the menu button. So what is this new channel? Sony Ericsson has taken the first inititative among Android handset makers, though we believe many are/will follow shortly and created it’s own channel, only visible to those who own Sony Ericsson handsets. Within the channel, you will find special apps that are designed and catered to Sony Ericsson phones. As Sony put it:

– Provide recommendations to help you find the best games & apps that enhance your Sony Ericsson ‘most entertaining’ experience.
– Provide a way to easily find original apps from Sony Ericsson such as Timescape plugins etc.
– From time to time offer exclusive games & apps only available in this channel.
– Help our developer partners promote their apps & games giving them a highlighted market space to our consumers.

Those who own are looking forward to the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play will probably see a lot of action here, seeing how the phone is gaining some exclusive games like Backstab from Gameloft and will have access to the PlayStation One library, long before other Android phones do.

[Via Sony Ericsson Blog]

Sony Ranks as the Highest Rated Consumer Electronic Company in the United States

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 13, 2011 | 52 comments

The reputable PC MAG just ran a survey in the United States, looking for the top consumer electronic company, top cellphone service provider and top cellphone manufacture with some very interesting results. The firm which polled over 25,000 US consumers wanted to track “the connection the brands have with consumers, commitment, the brand’s behavior, advocacy, trust, and brand equity.” Between leading CE manufactures like Sony, Samsung, LG and Panasonic, Sony was the one to beat them all, ranking in at 74.7 ranking while Samsung came in second at 69.5 with an industry average of 61.7. While I don’t disagree with the idea of Sony ranking at the top, being that I run this site which in turn means I have a lot of Sony branded equipment and can vouch that they are some of the best made products with my original PS2, PSP, PS3, 60″ SXRD all still running in top condition (knock on wood), I find it a tad odd that Apple did not even fall on the radar. Giving the folks over at PC MAG who conducted this study with Harris Poll the benefit of the doubt, Sony and others like Toshiba and Samsung are into far greater markets then Apple with Sony alone making computers, cellphones, camera/camcorder, TV’s, gaming consoles, accessories and more where Apple has select markets with huge sales. So if we take all that into consideration, it’s easy to see how Sony is the top consumer electronic brand in the United States.

Hit the jump to see Sony’s ranking in the smartphone market and our take.

Another Ad for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, Mixing Kittens and Crossbows

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 13, 2011 | 13 comments

Have you seen the previous ad for the Xperia Play? If not, your missing out on “stuff” blowing up. Now, here is another followup at, highlighting what makes the Xperia Play, with it’s exclusive games different from the rest of the Android gang.

Will the PlayStation 3 Receive Google Chrome for its Future Web Browser?

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 12, 2011 | 70 comments

PlayStation 3 users have been a lucky bunch from the beginning, being the only console on the market with a web browser. As it is, the browser is a functional one with full flash support , giving users access to sites like YouTube, Facebook, IGN, and our very own (can’t help but plug ourselves in as well). From its inception, much like the PlayStation 3, Sony has done much to beef up the browser and make it a smoother and more powerful experience. Still, there is no denying that compared to your computer or even iPhone, the browsing experience is subpar. Especially if you have a laptop or iPad sitting around, there is no question that you will reach for that, over the PS3 web browser.

Now, it looks like things could change for the better for those of you need access to a better web browsing experience from their PS3. It’s really been a well document experience that the folks over at Sony and Google have become cosy over the last year. Sony has thrown its full support behind the Google TV initiative and offers an entire TV lineup based around the idea, and a separate Blu-ray Internet unit as well. Then, there is Sony Ericssons lineup of Android phone with Sony even hoping to reach the status as a top Android handset maker. It only makes sense for Google to give some love back to Sony and help beef up their product offerings and we’re sure that won’t mind the increased market share. Still, these are only hopes and wants and we don’t tend to report on those alone. Instead, the guys over at PS3 Life have discovered that within the recently updated webkit for the PlayStation 3 browser, lies the code from Google Chrome browser.

I’m going through ps3-webkit-support.diff because I’m bored. Looks like we’re getting Chrome Actually, since Geoff’s added a couple of files for ChromeClientPOSIX.

Naturally the full source of His changes are in that. Diff file also. From what I can tell, the only posix platform refers to the PS3 in webkit, It does not show up at all in the mainline source code (Unix versions are under Their Typically widget library like Qt or gtk). There’s a lot of Functions That Are not Implemented, but they’re Mainly Ones That involvement windowing That You Would not expect to be supported on the PS3.

Might this not mean much since I do not see the cool stuff from Chrome theses sources, like bookmark syncing, but it’s a freaking huge project., And only covers what the diff Needed to be changed so it works on the PS3. Might it not just get Chrome branding visible to the user, but I think if he’s calling it chrome client, we can expect good things for the future.

Those looking to see just what’s inside of this webkit can click here and dig a little deeper for themselves. Many times, companies place codes within their SDK that never come to fruition, due to cost or other initiatives taking precedent. However, the idea of a new web browser is too big of a feature for Sony to simply be testing the idea in just a closed environment and with previous rumors on this subject matter, we cant help but think that it’s only a matter time before the PlayStation 3 receives the Chrome web browser.

Do you currently use the PS3’s web browser and if not. how come? Also, what do you think about a beefed up web browsing experience on the PS3? Would you go back to using it if Chrome did indeed come to the PS3?

[Via PS3 Life]

PlayStation Move Goes Linux Multi Gestured, Controls Facebook and More

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 12, 2011 | 69 comments

Though we failed to report on it, in early March, Sony announced a new initiative called Move.me which is an server application that promises to let researchers, hobbyists and others use the Move as a controller for a PC. Currently in closed beta and set to be released into the wild by Summer, Move.me hopes to capture the enthusiast crowd’s imagination by giving them access to PlayStation Move’s source code with little guidance. Instead Sony and PlayStation want users to hack away at the motion based controller till their hearts desire. Now Jacob Pennock is one of the first to report back in with his findings. Using the PlayStation Move, he is able to navigate around in his desktop, navigate through Facebook and create gesture based shortcuts to launch movies, Pandora and more. What’s more impressive is that Jacob only received access to the currently closed SDK last Thursday. It should be noted that Jacob will share is findings with the rest of the closed beta community of Move.me till the program goes out of private beta, in which case he and the rest of the community will be able to publish their codes for the web, and anybody wishing to give it a go will be able to have access to the SDK from Sony.

“We want to see what innovative applications programmers can create using the PS Move controller, the PS3™ system, the PlayStation®Eye camera, and a PC,” Sony said in its Move.Me site.

For all those interested, some of the key areas that Sony would like you to focus on is:

Games and tools that support kids’ physical fitness and nutrition
Kid-friendly programming interfaces for computer/technology classes or individual learning
Physical therapy and rehabilitation
Sports physiology or fitness training
Music and the creative arts

Hit the jump for one more video.

[Via JacobPennock]

Set Pictures from the Upcoming Spider-man Reboot, The Amazing Spider-man

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 12, 2011 | 12 comments

Those of you who are clamoring for more details about Marc Web’s Spider-man reboot will surely know by now that the film has received the title of The Amazing Spider-man. Set to be released on July 3rd, 2012, this 3D reboot is still being kept close to the chest of the cast members and Sony Pictures with little details being revealed. However, over time, we have seen the inevitable pictures from the production as filming cannot be done entirely in a studio. After the jump is a compilation of some pictures we’ve gathered over the past few months.

Sony Cuts European Price for PSP to €129.99

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 11, 2011 | 1 comment

Following the trend set last month in the United States, Sony of Europe is also cutting the price of the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in all European territories, down by 24% to €129.99.

“The price cut is aimed at increasing adoption of the player in Europe,” said Satoshi Fukuoka, a Tokyo-based spokesman at Sony’s video-games unit. The previous suggested retail price was 169.99 euros.

With the NGP looming around the corner, it’s no surprise to see the price of the PSP fall all over though Sony has said that much like the PS2 and PS3, the PSP will live on beyond the NGP launch. Still, we can’t help but wonder how much more penetration Sony could have done had the PSP price cut happened a year or two prior. Still, we have to also take into account that due the PlayStation 3’s high costs, Sony was losing over $300 per console for the first few years the product was on the market and that the PSP was the only product bringing in a profit into the PlayStation division. Taking that into consideration, you might see why the price was not cut prior.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Acro Leaked. We Have Details

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 11, 2011 | 2 comments

In both the Android and Sony Ericsson community, there has been a debate brewing if Sony is planning on introducing more phones this year, beyond the Xperia Play, Arc, Neo and Mini Pro. If no new phones are released this year, does that make the Xperia Arc, Sony’s flagship phone? If there will be more phones coming, will they rank up with the Xperia Arc and be flagship based models? Now, with the leaked images and partial specs of the Xperia Acro, we might have the answer to that. Much like the Xperia Arc, the Acro will be coming with Gingerbread, Android 2.3.3 and will sport the same 4.2-inch touchscreen display. What seems to have changed is the inclusion of a TV Tuner, infrared and mobile wallet (NFC).

Beyond these few tidbit, we don’t know much about this phone and those could very well be all the changes that will be going into this phone. If true, this could indeed be a phone only destined for Europe and Japan where NFC systems and Mobile TV have actual presence. Of course if all these are true and welcomed features, I wouldn’t deem them a Flagship based model as it likely won’t be coming to the US, nor a model that everybody would want. If everything holds together, look for a Summer European or Japan release though with recent events in Japan, we have seen delays from Sony Ericsson. Are the additional features something that interest you or if the Arc enough of a phone for you?

[Via AndroidGuys]

We Put the Sony Bloggie Touch to the Test, All Day At Disneyland

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 11, 2011 | 1 comment

Though product reviews can be informative and a good place to start when you are looking to purchase your next (insert product), I believe that they can only take you so far. As Apple has pointed out time and time again and has focused their iPad 2 marketing based on this concept, product specs can only take you so far. A higher processor speed or megapixel count does not always indicate a better product experience or offering. This was the route that I took with our original Sony Bloggie Touch video review. Though I offered product specs and comparison, my main goal was to take the product out and shoot with it during the day and let you, the readers decide if you liked what you saw. Still, this was a controlled experience and when I saw that I would be heading to Disneyland for the day with our site editor Allegra, I quickly came up with a new scenario to test the Bloggie Touch with. In this video, I wanted to see how the Bloggie Touch would hold up as my only device to document my day at Disneyland by capturing the days videos and photos. Video, after the jump.

Sony’s New Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX Offer 50MB Per Second Transfer Rate

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 9, 2011 | 20 comments

Although in the grand scheme of things, Sony’s Memory Stick day are numbered as the company has begun to deploy a hybrid of Memory Stick and SD card input system in their Handycam, Alpha, and NGP lineup, that doesn’t mean that there are not millions of products out in the market who currently use Memory Stick. For those consumers, Sony is releasing the Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX, which offers an impressive 50MB per second transfer rate. The new high speed Memory Stick come in:

32GB (¥17,000 about $200)
16GB (¥9,000 or $106)
8GB (¥5,000 / $59)

I have to say that I myself was skeptical as to what difference a faster transfer rate could provide on a shooting experience till I did my own tests, putting Sony’s Memory Stick Pro Duo against the Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX. The new Pro-HG Duo HX is currently available in Japan, and although there is no US announced date, we expect them to quietly appear in store shelves in the following months.

[Via Impress Watch]

Sony PSP Outsells Nintendo 3DS in Japan

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 8, 2011 | 4 comments

For some reason, as I began to write this post, all I could think about was Riddick saying “skittish Tombs, very skittish“. Those unfamiliar with the quote, I highly recommend seeing the two Riddick movies. Now, onwards to the news. Nintendo’s new handheld console, the 3DS was launched in Japan on February 26th and has been met with great sales. Still, it seems like software is king and with a lack of 3rd party support as often is the case with Nintendo (and let’s be honest, Nintendo hasn’t really hurt from this as each year, all they need to do is put Mario on something and make Mario Party 23 and Mario Tennis 37 and it will sell millions) Sony’s 7 year old PSP was able to outsell the 3DS with 58,075 units in the week of March 28th to April 3rd while Nintendo pulled in 42,979. As mentioned though, software is indeed king and the PSP had the help of the popular sim game, Amagami. I of course am not taking this as some impending doom and gloom situation for the 3DS nor a trend that will continue on every week.

[Via GI](subscription required)