sony

Right now, the cheapest way to watch Blu-Ray movies is with the $500 20 GB model of the PlayStation 3 (the 60 GB model is a hundred dollars more). Standalone players currently cost twice that much. However, PS3s have been hard to find. Plus, older ... consumers who aren't as tech-savvy may not understand exactly how the PS3 works -- or they may be gun-shy about purchasing a video game unit just to play movies. Whatever the case may be, Sony plans to rectify those problems by releasing a cheaper standalone Blu-Ray player this summer. At $599, the new "BDP-S300" Blu-Ray model won't be cheaper than ... (view more)

Last year, both Sony and Dell were almost as hot under the collar as the laptop batteries both were responsible for shipping. Although Sony was primarily to blame -- it manufactured the batteries, which were prone to overheating -- retailer Dell ... also accepted part of the guilt. Now IBM and Lenovo are at the heart of a recent recall, which has 205,000 notebook batteries affected. Like the Sony culprits, Lenovo is recalling lithium-ion batteries. The technology is used worldwide in IBM's very popular ThinkPad laptop, a device that appeals to many corporate users because of its ThinkVantage ... (view more)

Recently, Sony was fined $1.5 million in penalties and costs to reimburse Californians and Texans whose computers were affected by the illegally installed Digital Rights Management software [software aimed at antipiracy] on some of their music CDs. ... Consumers will be reimbursed up to $175.00 to offset the cost of repairs incurred when removing the software. Consumers without proof of the cost of repairs are still eligible for $25.00. To date, 40 states have settled the law suit with Sony. The total settlement amount is up to $5.75 million. For a list of the 40 states affected, refer to the ... (view more)

Recently, Sony issued a statement claiming to have found defects in some of their popular Cyber-shot digital cameras. The problems with the Cyber-shot cameras follow a recent global recall of Sony-made laptop batteries that have affected almost ... every major laptop maker in the industry. Among the affected cameras are eight Cyber-shot models sold between September 2003 and January 2005. While the problem was predicted to be exclusive to electronic markets in Japan, some have also experienced similar complications in various pockets of the world. (Source: newsvine.com ) The specific problems are ... (view more)

Although cynics have been speculating for over a year now that the Sony Playstation 3 (PS3) console would fail to make its desired November 2006 launch, recent events have cemented those suspicions. The powerful system is facing a host of problems ... just two months before it is set to launch in North America and Japan, including a reported shortage of units. Perhaps most revealing of Sony's woes is the recent announcement that the PS3 will officially miss its European launch period, and will not ship there until March, 2007. The Sony Playstation 3 is the most anticipated tech product this fall ... (view more)

Some things just work out perfect. Although many of Sony's early Blu-Ray players will creep out of stores for a rather heavy $1,000 price tag, insiders are today reporting that the devices you'll be playing movies on -- LCD HD televisions -- are set ... to see their prices plummet in the coming year. At a recent electronics conference in Berlin, television makers LG and Sharp both announced that they fully expect their flat LCD HDTVs to drop in 2007. The companies cited percentages in the 20-30% range, attributing such measures to overproduction and dropping manufacturing costs. (Source: betanews ... (view more)

The computer network Folding@Home, responsible for researching protein development and supply, has announced its intent to introduce a service on the highly-anticipated Playstation 3 (PS3). The console, developed by Sony and reportedly ready to ... launch this November, will apparently be used for such research because of its powerful Cell processor. Folding@Home -- whose name sounds more like an Ikea knock-off than a cancer research company -- believes the PS3 Cell processor can help achieve incredible database performance. Folding@Home intends to compound the production of Sony's wares by ... (view more)

A number of events are pouring out of Microsoft headquarters as the Sony Playstation 3 (PS3) launch approaches. Giddy representatives from the Redmond-based company made a few big announcements at the Leipzig Game Convention in Germany, including a ... host of new peripherals. In addition, one significant rumor on the Xbox 360 isn't coming from Microsoft itself, but does concern the console's future in Europe. First off, Microsoft's Xbox 360 console will be the primary home of soccer -- sorry "football" -- in the future. Just recently, The Big M made an announcement that it had achieved exclusive ... (view more)

News out of the console world today is a bit depressing, unless you're keen on buying an Xbox 360 for cheap in the United Kingdom. The sad news? The Sony Playstation 3, anticipated for its hulking power (and certainly not its equally giant price ... tag) has lost about 10% of its core GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The not-so-sad news? Another retailer has brought down the price of the Xbox 360 across the pond. When it was first announced a few years ago, the buzz about the Playstation 3 was louder than any Sony system before it, because this time the Japanese hardware king was going to be the ... (view more)

Maybe everyone is just bored, tired, and a little restless. There haven't been any monumental releases lately, and Sony's highly anticipated Playstation 3 is still -- at best -- another eleven weeks away. Personally, I'll be okay. It's September, ... and north of the border, which means that the next version of the NHL series is about to make its slightly-updated re-appearance into the gaming world. With that said, it seems many writers covering the video game industry are just a bit frazzled with the current dry spell, with many coming out to question Sony's entire future and the importance of ... (view more)