For those who are unfamiliar with the Sony Internet TV Blu-ray Player, I recommend you to do a quick read of our original coverage of this device in order for you to familiarize yourself with the subject. If you would also like to see whats inside of the box, we did a little unboxing video as well that gives you an idea of the design and boxed content. Here, you can expect a quic over view of the product. I’ve done a much more extensive, originally 2 hour video review that I’ve sense edited down to just 1 hour. Problem is, I’m not able to upload such a big video to YouTube, so I’m looking for work arounds and other methods and I don’t want to pay for a premium Vimeo account unless I have to. Then, Vimeo is flash based and I’m not a huge flash fan (and yes, I know it does now HTML5 encoding as well). But keep on eye out for that in the next day as I try to figure it out. Till this, this video should give you a pretty good idea on how the device works.
Sony Corp.
Remember, Remember the 19th of November. The NEX-3 and Pink and Sony Plot. I see of no reason, why the 19th of November should ever be forgot. Just in time for Holiday shopping, on November 19th, Sony will be giving you a new color for your NEX-3 camera. Along the already available Silver, Black and Red, Pink will be the new girl on the block. Outside of that, nothing too exciting or different to report. Although, I must say, I never understand the whole “offer gadgets in pink and girls will buy” argument. I have plenty of females around me who are into tech and I’ve never seen them own a pink laptop or camera or whatever else. So when companies go out of their way to create products like this, I just tilt my head in confusion. I mean, lets not look any further then Apple, a company that caters to females. There is no pink Macbook or iPod Nano. But for pink lovers, mark November 19th!
[Via Sony Japan]
Not much to say here except enjoy our short little video to get a feel for the Playstation Move Shooting Attachment, as well as what’s all inside of the box.
Look what came around to us. Actually a few days ago, but I’m finally getting to write this. Funny thing, I don’t own a Playstation Move yet but gotta start somewhere right? I think next, I’ll be ordering the charging station dock. And no, I’m not crazy. I told myself I would not buy new games till I beat my current back catalogue and if I bought the Move, I would then buy games for it too. So currently, I’m just building up what I need to get the full experience for once I buy the Move.
Over in Tokyo, Sony is hard at working on its second generation Transferjet chipsets. For those unfamiliar with them, the new chips which are designed to draw out an extremely low amount of power are meant to be imbedded in cameras, smartphones, tablets, netbooks and other low-cost mobile computer. This then gives the two devices the capability to sync information wirelessly. This new generation is said to have “native compatibility with USB 2.0 and PCI Express, with hardware and software improvements credited with an effective data transmission boost to somewhere north of 300Mbps“. Beyond that, there isn’t any more information on how fast Sony is looking to expand this and or pricing and availability. But the idea of coming home and being able to sync my Cybershot with my computer wirelessly and fast is pretty enticing.
[Via Tech-On]
If you are in UK and you love films, November is going to be a great month for you as LoveFilm and Sony are teaming up to bring their services to you. A subscription packages of £5.99 or above will give you access to thousands of shows to able to be streamed instantly, in High Definition to your PS3. Best of all, if you are a current subscriber of LoveFilm, there will be no additional cost to you. For those not familiar with LoveFilm, they are the UK version of Netflix, giving you access to rent movies via mail or stream.
Here is our un-boxing of the Sony Internet Blu-ray Player (NSZ-GT1) in glorious 720p! Expect a full video review as soon as I finish importing, editing and uploading it.
The Netflix application launched on the PS3 in November 2009. This allowed subscribers of Netflix to instantly view TV shows and movies on their console. The only downfall was, you had to have the Netflix disc (which was given out for free) inside the PS3 for viewings. A few months back, the Netflix application on the PS3 was updated adding a search bar feature which was so useful for browsing content. Today marks another huge update and improvement, disc-free streaming! I got this snazzy e-mail from Netflix today with instructions on going disc-free:
Dear Jenni,
You no longer need the instant streaming disc to instantly watch with your PS3™ system.To watch instantly via your PS3 without the disc:
1) Go to the PlayStation® Network section of the main menu.
2) Simply install Netflix from the “What’s New” area.That’s it. There’s no need to send the disc back to Netflix.
Enjoy!
–Your friends at Netflix
Simple enough for me. Also, the Netflix menu has changed a bit with this new upgrade. Your instant que used to look like the Apple cover art where you scroll right to left; now the menu is set up in rows where you can see many movies at one on the screen and scroll down. Some shows and movies stream in full 1080p and in Dolby 5.1. If you have been curious to check out Netflix, now seems like a great time to start with the new disc-less upgrade and search interfaces they have added.
While I still debate if I want t keep this section purely focused on Sony Pictures material or if I want to cover all studios, I will go ahead and keep this weeks simple and still Sony focused. In its third week, the two week No. 1 movie in the US, The Social Network, landed in the No. 3 spot this week with a respectable $11 million. Down 29% compared to last weekend, this puts The Social Network at $63.1 million in 17 days. This now puts the film at $66.3 million in its world wide tally with only $3 million coming from the world wide take. Expect that to grow in the following week as the movie rolls out to more international spots.
Other sold holdover, Easy A continued to hold strong, down a spot to No. 9 with $2.6 million, putting its world wide gross so far at $56.9 million, making it a pure profit picture with a $8 million budget. Resident Evil: Afterlife is finishing out its last days on the big screen, with $258.8 million world wide. Expect this movie to be pulled from the the theaters soon, following in the foot steps of Takers which bowed out last week.
Box Office Totals:
- Jackass 3D – $50 million ($50 million total)
- Red – $22.5 million ($22.5 million total)
- The Social Network – $11 million ($66.3 million total)
- Secretariat – $9.5 million ($27.5 million total)
- Life as We Know It – $9.2 million ($28.8 million total)
For anybody who is a regular on this site, you will know that we have problems with Sony and their advertising agency. They seem to have things down finally on the Playstation side but when it comes to their other divisions, between the lack of advertisement and confusing advertisement, Sony stands to lose a lot. Before, you read any further though, I recommend you watch the following ad.
Ok, now that you’ve done that, lets discuss some things. On this site, we reported about the Sony Internet TV and the Sony Internet TV Blu-ray player. I would like to think that this means that I know a few things about that product. But after watching that ad, I’m not interested in the product, nor do I have any idea what that product does and that’s not good. All I know is that it brings Internet and TV together. But then the average person will say, I have a laptop/iPhone/iPad etc. and will move right a long and never care about this new product launch. Sure the concept is cool, people gathering around a giant screen (is the Internet TV coming to movie theaters?) but the ad does nothing to explain to people what it does.
Instead, the entire ads hopes that people will be hooked on the idea that a bunch of people in the middle of NYC are interested on this giant TV and remote and therefor, they will want to know more about it or better yet, are ready to purchase this mythical device. As always, the problem with Sony ads is that they take style over substance. It’s too busy being an artistic and meaningful ad, instead of telling me what it does and why I need. We only need to look at Apple ads. They are simple, show off the product and make it compelling to own one. Too easy? Lets look at Nikon ads where Ashton Kutcher tells us why he loves his Nikon (because it has good zoom and he can draw on the screen etc.) and boom, your like “ok, I get what this product does”. Sony completely missed that boat and this isn’t their first ad to do it. Again, another example is Samsung ads. “Buy our TV, it looks like you are there! The 3D is amazing, it’s thin!”. Simple and to the point. Again, Sony brings me in a lab with Payton Manning and Justin Timberlake (and I’m a big fan of both of them) where they are creating stuff and you should trust Sony because they make other 3D stuff. Ummm, ok?
Here is what the internet TV ad should have been. A camera pointed at the screen, watching TV, It’s showing Community, you bring up the IMDB page and search for it, you find the actor you wanted, you switch to Twitter and post about watching it, you see a post from your friend who is watching the NFL game. You do a quick search, it tells you the channel the game is on you click on it and it takes you to that game. The whole idea is to give you a quick experience and everyday use out of why you need the product. Simple, to the point and the consumer gets what the product is.
I truly believe that Sony makes some of the best products out there yet nobody is ever aware of these products because of Sonys lack of advertisement and when they do, it’s too confusing with what it’s trying to tell you.
Last week, we talked about the Sony Ericsson Xpera X10 coming to Best Buy on October 24th and the possibility of it being an exclusive product over there. We now have confirmation that indeed, Best Buy will be the only store, outside of Sonys on Sony Style stores to carry the Xperia X10. This AT&T only phone will be offered for $99 with a two year contract which is not bad at all, considering all other similar phones retail for around $149 or $199. Sony is also be pre-loading in the Xperia X10 what it called the “The Essential Taylor Swift Experience,” which is meant to promote the new Tayler Swift album that will be released on October 25th by none other than Sony/BMG. Including will be two albums, a new single, ringtone and video content, and access to her new album. And interesting promotion at a very intriguing price.
Hit the jump for the full press release.
NEX owners, it’s time to rejoice with this new firmware update from Sony. Currently,those who used the different lenses that are made for the NEX have the capability to use Autofocus or Manual focus. But those who wanted more flexibility and decided to get an A-mount lens from Sony, noticed that the camera could only do manuel focus. Via this new firmware, all A-mount lenses will now give you the capability to use Manual or Autofocus, giving you access to now 14 different lenses for your NEX.
Those who own an old beast from Sony, the A717 will remember this new feature as well, via the firmware, you camera on screen will give you an extra zoomed in picture in the corner, so you can focus on exactly the point you want to focus upon while zooming in. Other tidbits are a more streamlined UI (user interface) as well as manual focus made a little easier. Checkout the previous firmware upgrade as well.
Hit the jump for a press release from Sony, as well as the link for the firmware download.
Sony owned Crackle.com now has an App for Android that streams full length TV Shows and Movies for free to their devices. Movies include Taxi Driver, La Femme Nikita and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, as well as TV shows such as “Married with Children” and “Charlie’s Angels.”
“The launch of the Crackle app is the next step in making Crackle a go-to destination across all platforms,” said Eric Berger, Sony Pictures Television’s Senior Vice President, Digital Networks.
For those who want access to newer shows from Sony Television and films from Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Classics, they can subscribe to a $4.99 plan that will give them access to the latest releases from Sony. The app is able to work over Wi-Fi and 3G. An iOS version for iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads is said to be in the works as well.
Sony Ericsson and Best Buy are teaming up to bring you the Xperia X10 on October 24th and you can reserver yours today with a $50 deposit. It’s believed that for the time being, this will be a Best Buy exclusive, outside of Sonys own retail stores.
For those are still wondering about the Sony Internet TV, please read our previous coverage on this and more details about just the Blu-ray Player can be found here. This following is a gallery of the much talked about unit, meant to give you a feel for it from all angles. Hit the jump to take a view.
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