Sony Corp.

Sony Casts Jemaine Clement For Men In Black 3D

by Sohrab Osati | May 27, 2010 | 11 comments

I’ve been bringing you steady news on Sony’s plan for Men In Black 3D. First, they got Will Smith back and then I told you the release date. Well, it’s now really looking like Sony is going full force on this film by now casting Jemaine Clement (well known for Flight of the Conchords). This now means this film has some great and wide ranging talent. Will Smith is the no brainer, but Sony was able to get Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin as well. The guys over at /Film have the full scoop but there is some spoiler related information about the 3rd film, so read at your own discretion.

[Via /Film]

You Can Now Eat Your PSP

by Sohrab Osati | May 26, 2010 | 36 comments

One thing I’ve always wanted to do is experience a surprise and have it be a cake of something I love. So if anybody out there wants to, please make me a Matrix or Lost or PS3 or iPad cake. Chocolate, too. But the folks over at Debbie Does Cakes have now gone out and pulled at my taste buds in another way: A PSP cake! What’s freaking amazing too is the amount of detail on this thing. From the yellow port for the power plug, to the button placement and logos to the rough design over the joystick. If I didn’t love chocolate stuff so much, I would almost feel bad about eating this. Now, I want to see a PSPgo cake!

[Via Walyou]

Sony Alpha NEX-5 Hands On

by Sohrab Osati | May 26, 2010 | 2 comments

Ok yea, we wish it was us. We’re hoping one day, Sony will use the Contact Us button and actually give us units to look and review and post about here. Until then though, we wont be shunning you from experiencing any Sony news. So remember the NEX series we have been covering and drooling over? Well here is a little video to further entice you. I can’t wait to see what the NEX-7 can do then.

Japan Will Finally Get Sony DSC-H55

by Sohrab Osati | May 26, 2010 | 7 comments

So, you know how Sony has a tendency of giving Japan things first now and then? We finally strike back! USA! USA! We have had the Sony DSC-H55 for a while now, but Japan is set to get this unit on June 4th. Some specs of the DSC-H55 are:

14.1 Megapixel Super HAD CCD Camera
3-inch LCD
10x Optical Zoom (25-250mm)
Sony G Lens
HD Video in MPEG-4 720/30p
Face detection
Support SD, SDHC and SDXC cards.

I’m still torn between the TX7 and the HX5 for the replacement of my T300. Normally, I would go with the TX7 hands down, except that the HX5 has a built in GPS and I love geo-tagging my photos and then viewing them on iPhoto on my iPad and being able to see where they were taken. Decisions, decisions. Although, Sony could make this easy on me and give me both to review? What do you say, Sony? Contact Us?

Xperia 10 Dominates In Japan

by Sohrab Osati | May 25, 2010 | 4 comments

Did you know that the Xperia 10 is dominating in Japan and taking out the iPhone as being the best selling handset? The Xperia, as you know by now, is running Android and will be getting Android 2.1 in the near future. Google CEO, Eric Schmidt reminded him that “Google doesn’t dominate,” (This is Google’s way of pretending they are not set out to destory every company out there), but Stringer responded with “When you beat Apple, you’re dominating.”

It’s of course no surprise that Sony used to be what Apple is today: the cool, hip, and modern brand. Where Sony used to have the Walkman and Sony Ericsson brands, now there is the iPod and iPhone. In my mind though, Sony has all the tools it needs to stand up with the likes of Apple and use Google’s own open software like Android to battle back brands like Samsung and Microsoft. I just hope they see all of their own assets and bring their many departments together.

[Pic Via Gizmodo]

Sony Goes Old School With Boombox

by Sohrab Osati | May 25, 2010 | 1 comment

Oh man, does Sony have just the thing for your Grandpa or anybody else who wants to reminisce about the old days. Let’s say you know somebody who has a lot of cassette tapes around. But let’s say this person is also looking to transition to CDs or likes both formats. And let’s ALSO say that this person is classy and like the traditional wood finish. Then why don’t you introduce them to the Sony CFD-A110? Let’s go over it again, Cassette, check. CD player, check. Radio, check. And wait for it, Karaoke capable? CHECK. Just throw the party now. Before you get too excited though, get ready for a heartbreak as this might be a Japan-only unit as well.

[Via Sony Japan]

Japan Gets Sony STR-DH710

by Sohrab Osati | May 24, 2010 | 1 comment

On June 10th, Sony is releasing the STR-DH710 7.1 Home Theater Receiver. This unit will indeed be 3D capable with 3 HDMI inputs. Besides that, due to my lack of Japanese language skills, I don’t have a whole lot more information. As of right now, it looks like this is a Japan-only unit. What, Japan?! Why?! Oh…Sony is a Japanese company that has its main electronics HQ in Tokyo? Ohh….

Commenting Is Now Easier

by Sohrab Osati | May 23, 2010 | 89 comments

As I continue to work on the back end of the site and make sure everything is working fine and the UI is functional, I recently noticed that our comments section required you to be logged in, a.k.a. a WordPress member. I’ve gone ahead and changed that so that almost anybody can comment on our site. Now, we can hear from you much more robustly on our Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as in our comments section. We look forward to your interactions with us!

Roller Coaster Tycoon Coming To Theaters Via Sony Pictures Animation

by Sohrab Osati | May 22, 2010 | 15 comments

Hey, why not? There is going to be a “Battleship,” “Candyland,” “Risk” and “Smurfs” movie, so why the hell not a “Roller Coaster Tycoon” movie? Sure, something like “Uncharted” might be a more obvious choice, but we’re no movie exec here. Now, the good news is that director Harald Zwart (director of Sony’s upcoming “Karate Kid”) will be the executive producer and possibly the director, and the new “Karate Kid” is getting some fantastic early buzz. Another factor that will help is that this is Sony Pictures Animation department. This means that this movie will be a Live Action/CGI Hybrid. It’s aimed at the kids, so it might just work. Also, Herald Zwart will be joined by screenwriters David Ronn and Jay Scherick, who recently worked on “The Smurfs” and “The Zookeeper” starring Kevin James.

[Via Heat Vision]

Microsoft Kin 2 Uses Sony Image Sensor

by Sohrab Osati | May 21, 2010 | 767 comments

One of the things that always humors me is when you visit forums and Fanboys and Girls go nuts over one product over another and defend to it death. They claim, “ill never buy Sony! Only Microsoft for Me!” (or insert your favorite brand and favorite evil brand in place of Sony and Microsoft). The reason this humors me is that I don’t have my own favorite brands. I indeed run this site so you might guess that I like Sony products and having worked for Apple for nearly 3 years, you can take a good guess about what other brand I use. But the humorous part for me is, the “Fanboys” will cling onto one brand and poo poo the other brand to show their loyalty to in this case lets say Microsoft. Of course, at the end of the day, when it comes to the corporations, it’s all about the product and money. Sony uses the latest version of Windows on all of its Vaio’s and creates programs like Acid for music mixing for Windows. On the other hand, Microsoft sees that Sony is the company that fits the bill to create a high enough megapixel camera that is small enough to fit in their upcoming Kin 2 and of course, they go with it. This news comes from Chipworks who did a tear down of the Kin 2 so feel free to read the entire article. What they go on to say about the Sony Sensor is:

The image sensor is one of the latest generation from Sony. Sony has been a market leader in innovation for these camera phones by leading the way in pixel shrink and techniques to improve light collection at the pixel. This particular device, the IMX046, features a five metal process at 90 nm and the latest 1.4 µm pixel size.

This also might give more weight to the news we reported a while back that Sony might be providing the camera unit for the 2011 iPhone.

[Via Chipworks]

Sony Launching $70 Premium PSN At E3?

by Jenni Petot | May 20, 2010 | 95 comments

I bought my PS3 on launch date not only because I’m a huge fan of Sony, but because it includes a Blu-ray player, great exclusive games, and bluetooth controllers. Still, a big selling point for me was also the free Playstation Network. The PSN is the online hub for downloadable content, games and the ability to play multiplayer online (which I do a lot of).

There has been rumors for a while that Sony will start to charge for online play like Xbox does which is very disappointing. Although nothing is official, this rumor isn’t bad.

Word is on June 15th at E3, Sony will unveil their new premium features for the PSN which will cost approximately $70. The good news is that no one will be forced to upgrade (like we are with firmware) leaving online play and all the current features still free. YES. I’m sure happy about that. Right now it’s unknown what the premium features are but sources have mentioned two. A free PSN game per month and possible music streaming. If rumors are true we will find out officially from Sony at E3.

I think this is a great move from Sony that will excite players and give them the option of a paid or non-paid PSN. Would you go premium?

Sony Xperia X10 Mini Unboxed

by Sohrab Osati | May 20, 2010 | 2 comments

Remember the upcoming the X10 Mini we told you about? Well guess who has one? Yup, not us. So we’re not unboxing it for you. Instead, Sony itself will do it! Watch away!

[Via SonyBlog]

Sony Cybershot Time Travels To Leica II Camera Era. Skynet Follows

by Sohrab Osati | May 20, 2010 | 2 comments

Remember the good old days of the Leica II camera and lugers and fresh milk being delivered to your door? Neither do I. but at least one person did, and thought, “Huh, a digital camera back then would have been more convenient”. This then turned into “How can I stuff a cybershot DSX-WX1 into the body of a Leica II camera?”

Watch the video after the jump!

First Sony Alpha 290 Images And Specs

by Sohrab Osati | May 19, 2010 | 0 comments

It’s been a long time coming, but the successor to the entry level Alpha 230 looks to be the A290. Although there is no word on the pricing since Sony has not revealed the unit yet, there are quite a few specs that we can report on. The Alpha comes with:

14 megapixel CCD with a BIONZ image processor
a maximum 3200 ISO
2.7-inch LCD
2.5fps maximum shooting speed.

The Alpha 290 can use the Sony Memory Stick or SDHC and will come with a 18 – 55mm lens. Good time to upgrade to the new Memory Sticks huh?

[Via SonyAlphaRumors]

Sony Removes Linux from PS3. Cry Me A River. Air Force Edition!

by Sohrab Osati | May 18, 2010 | 12 comments

Hah. Ok, so remember that article we wrote about the fact that it really wasnt a big deal that Sony had removed the Linux feature from the PS3? I still stand by it for the average consumer, but there seems to be a little side effect to all of this. A long time ago, we wrote about how the Air Force had purchased 300 PS3’s for internal use and they went on to actually purchase a few thousand more. Now, with the most recent software update, Sony has of course removed the Linux functionality of the PS3. If anybody has used a PS3, you will know that once a new update is out, you are not allowed online until you complete the update. However, you can use all of the current features and options (minus again, anything to do with online). So does this move somehow screw the Air Force over? Some sites say yes. I’m not too sure about this. It seemed like the Air Force was really interested in a cheap Super Computer replacement which is what the Cell Processor inside of the PS3 is. With Linux and some networking, many have turned the PS3 into a computing machine and I’m not really sure these would have ever been units that connected to online.

Update:

The Air Force has confirmed that they do not upgrade the firmware on the units so it dosent really matter in the short term but.

“We will have to continue to use the systems we already have in hand,” the lab told Ars, but “this will make it difficult to replace systems that break or fail. The refurbished PS3s also have the problem that when they come back from Sony, they have the firmware (gameOS) and it will not allow Other OS, which seems wrong. We are aware of class-action lawsuits against Sony for taking away this option on systems that use to have it.”

The result was the 500 TeraFLOPS Heterogeneous Cluster powered by PS3s but connected to subcluster heads of dual-quad Xeons with multiple GPGPUs.