Sony

This week, the National Association of Broadcasters converges in Las Vegas for its annual convention, a show we here at CNET usually ignore; after all, while the typical CNET reader may have a room dedicated to the worship of the moving image, we don't expect to see a TV studio in an adjacent shrine. And no, producing YouTube videos doesn't count. However, interesting prosumer news floats down every now and then, and Sony's announcement of its flash-memory-based XDCAM EX camcorder landed gently on my keyboard this morning, via Engadget.

In fact, I usually ignore Sony's XDCAM … Read more

Sony is working on a generation of sickeningly thin OLED displays that make today's LCDs look morbidly obese by comparison. At the cleverly named Display 2007, an international show in Tokyo dedicated to (you guessed it) flat screens, the company showed off a high-definition display with 1080p resolution that is a ridiculous 9 millimeters thick, or just over one-third of an inch, according to Gizmodo. You've really got to see the photos to truly appreciate what that means.

Even thinner, if you can believe it, is another display that measures 3 millimeters thick--about one-tenth of an inch--though its … Read more

Sony is axing the lower-end model of the PlayStation 3, according to the gaming blog Joystiq. The blog quotes Sony saying the 20GB version will no longer be shipped to North American retailers.

The PS3 was initially launched last November amid quite a bit of fanfare. Sony was asking $499 for the 20GB and $599 for the 60GB. The $100 discount on the 20GB clearly wasn't all that attractive as Dave Karraker of Sony America reports that the 60GB PS3s outsold the lower-end models more than 9 to 1.

Getting rid of the cheaper version also kills of any … Read more

As MP3 players continue their magic shrinking act, it's getting difficult even to identify what they are at first sight. The latest version of Sony's once-venerable Walkman making its Japan debut, for example, could be mistaken for a USB key or dongle, measuring just over 3 inches long and weighing only 1 ounce.

In fact, as Akibahara News notes, the E Series players can be used as a USB drive too. But that would make it a pretty expensive storage device, going for about $92 to $167 for versions ranging from 1GB to 4GB, providing up to 30 … Read more

Over the weekend, GameSpot reported that a couple of important new updates were on their way for the Xbox 360. First, Microsoft announced that a system update would be available starting the week of May 7; the spring update includes revisions to the Xbox 360 Dashboard and Xbox Live Marketplace.

"The biggest change in the cards. . .is the addition of Windows Live Messenger functionality," the GameSpot story says. "In addition to letting Messenger users on the PC chat with their 360-having friends, the update will also let Xbox 360 owners see if any of their Messenger contacts … Read more

Perhaps inspired by the success of PlayStation 3s done in custom colors, Sony seems increasingly emboldened in taking the paintbrush to its various products. The latest evidence of this flowering can be found in the spring line of its Vaio C series laptops, following its fall colors of last year.

The newest of its limited "Graphic Splash" editions available in "Charcoal Blossom, Black and White Dot, Weathered Blue, or Brown and Turquoise Dot," Engadget says. As for the specs, if you care, the laptops sport an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB or more of memory … Read more

Being late to the game has become a hallmark for Sony, especially where portable media players are concerned--a particularly humiliating legacy, given its Walkman empire of decades past. After finally acknowledging the existence of the iPod with its first dock made for the player recently, Sony is coming out with a version that works with its Bravia line of entertainment systems. The "Digital Media Port iPod DockTDM-IP1" (whew), according to iLounge, can be pre-ordered for $100. So the dock is late and expensive, considering that it's essentially just an adapter. On the flip side, at least you … Read more

After failing to keep up with Nintendo's DS juggernaut, Sony promised it would do a better job marketing the PSP, and now it appears that push is fully underway with a $30 price cut to the PSP Core Pack, the base system. That brings the PSP's MSRP to $169.99, or $80 less than the system's launch price of two years ago.

According to a press release that went out today, Sony's also modified the pricing structure for the system's software, with "first-party PSP software priced using a new tiered model--$39.99 (premium … Read more