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Augmented reality--in case you haven't been following, is a technology blending video cameras and computer graphics enabling you to interact with virtual creations in the real world. In practice, it looks like virtual reality crossing over into actual reality. You may have heard the buzzword, but as of late, it's becoming a serious gaming trend. At last week's PlayStation holiday preview in New York, one of the most talked-about titles in Sony's fall lineup was its hi-tech attempt to take on Nintendogs, called EyePet.

While it was definitely one of the most impressive augmented-reality game demos we've seen, it's far from the only one. Here's a rundown of EyePet as well as some other augmented-reality games of the future we're looking forward to playing. And is it just us, or is the angle of most of these titles to "make little animals appear next to you?" Clearly, if this is any indication, get ready for a whole lot more hallucinatory ghost creatures dancing on your coffee tables for holidays to come.

Eyepet (Sony, PlayStation 3) Sony's been quietly leading the pack in U.S. augmented-reality game development, starting with 2007's bold but unsuccessful trading-card battle game Eye of Judgment. Although interactive PlayStation Eye software has been available on the PSN Store that achieves other AR effects, EyePet is their first major push at a mainstream home entertainment product.… Read more

Sony latest earnings show that it continues to be hammered by the worldwide recession and strong yen, suffering a net loss of $390.5 million in the quarter that ended June 30.

The bright spot was Sony's motion picture division, which saw a 6.5 percent boost that was largely attributable to the relatively strong showing of "Angels & Demons" at the box office. But almost everything else, including TV, video game, and computer sales, was down in a big way.

In an article, The New York Times highlighted the 37.4 percent year-over-year slump in gaming … Read more

The V-Screen is an add-on for Sony PSP consoles that's designed to make games appear in 3D. It's supposed to enhance "the perceived depth of the 2D screen image," and apparently will work with many games. It looks bulky in the picture, but the protrusions do fold down to a more compact state when not in use and act as a case for your PSP.

RealView Innovations, the company that will be making this product, doesn't seem to have a proper Web site yet, and no availability date and price has been given. We'll … Read more

Who has the most perfect balls in the world? Metrologists. No, seriously. They do. You should see the pictures. This is serious science, people, so quit your childish snickering. In actual news for the day, Apple misses its chance to make iTunes the world's music software (again) by blocking Pre syncing with its latest iTunes update, and Apple actually called Microsoft to demand that it take down its Laptop Hunters ads. Wow. Talk about balls.

Imagine uploading your photos from your digital camera and from your mobile phone to Facebook and Flickr using the same software interface. Now imagine downloading a YouTube video to your phone by clicking a browser bookmarklet. You can do both in Dazzboard, a new media Webtop in open beta that fast-tracks your photos, songs, and videos to and from your mobile device to your computer or the online world.

There is a catch: the USB leash. You've got to plug the device into the computer via USB. The trade-off is being able to manage the phone's media content from a computer dashboard, which is infinitely more comfortable than managing it from the device's tiny interface. If you're not on the move, dashboards like Dazzboard offer most of the convenience of mobile management, and are overall much easier on the eye.

Here's how Dazzboard plays out. After registering for a free account, plug your device--like your mobile phone, digital MP3 player, or Sony PSP (or all three in succession)--into the computer by way of a USB cable. You may need to switch some devices, like BlackBerry and Windows Mobile phones, into mass storage mode for this to work (see FAQs). Dazzboard's "universal" device manager recognizes the device and lets you bilaterally interact with music, photos, and videos. You can upload content to the Web or to the PC, or quickly transfer media from your computer or from the Web to your device.… Read more

NASA may have found the lost moon tapes and our best hope is for some kind of remix. Also, Molly tells us all to beware the sticky death roller if we use the dead-fly-powered alarm clock. We also still don't have a sponsor. In case you were curious.

Steve Jobs returns to work as Apple CEO after medical leave (thanks, Nate Lanxon on Twitter!) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSy0WezEGvvY

Sony considers adding phone to PSP … Read more

Sony's got an early demo unit of the PSP Go floating around New York, and we got to spend a little time with it--and Sony PlayStation team rep Al De Leon.

We don't have anything new or earth-shattering to report other than to say we like the smaller design, and the PSP Go does feel pretty good resting in your hands. Oh, and we also have some video shot with a Flip UltraHD (sorry the tight shots aren't sharper but the Flip just isn't good at close-ups).

The PSP Go ($250) is set for release this … Read more