PlayStation Update 2.80 Is Now Available

ZKG writes "Only hours after announcing that a new update would be coming, the update is available for download. I just downloaded it a few minutes ago and it is installing now. We don’t even know what was in it, but its out. It appears that the thing that they said would be in it that PS3 users were asking for is new avatars. More details to come."

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PS3 Will Secure Blu-ray Format

As part of Sony’s announcement today that it will be cutting the PS2’s RRP by $30, SCEA CEO Jack Tretton took a moment to make parallels between old and new.
“Just as PlayStation 2 is delivering on a 10-year lifecycle and helped expand and solidify the DVD format for home entertainment along the way,” he said, “we believe Playstation 3 offers the same promise by helping secure the Blu-ray format.”
Tretton went on to say that the PS3 offers “unprecedented value” as the total home entertainment solution for the next decade, clarifying perhaps that the business has no immediate plans to reduce the price of the PS3.
The latest wave of PS3 price drop speculation passed by only just days ago, with an anonymous source incorrectly stating that an announcement will have occurred by now. Just weeks ago Screen Digest Games Analyst Ed Barton claimed that Sony was “under pressure” from various publishers to drop the retail price of its latest home console.
Sony states that the PlayStation 2 was the first home console to integrate DVD technology, and claims that the “rapid growth” of the PS2 install base “helped establish DVD as the standard optical disc media format worldwide.”

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Sony Cuts Price of PlayStation 2 to $99.99

Sony Corp said it cut the price of its older video game console, the PlayStation 2, by 23 percent to $99.99, effective April 1.

The price cut could sustain the life of the PS2, which has sold more than 136 million units since its debut in 2000, making it the world’s popular gaming system, Sony said on Tuesday. The news follows recent rumors on video gaming websites and blogs about the possibility that Sony might cut the price of the PlayStation 3, its more powerful console.
The PS3′s least expensive model sells for about $400. Sony dominated the global video game industry for a decade starting in the mid-1990s, but sales of the PS3 have lagged behind those of Nintendo Co Ltd’s Wii console and Microsoft Corp’s Xbox 360.

Sony Ericsson W705

As usual Sony Ericsson is out with another smashing looking handset in the W750 Walkman Series handset. But all that glitters is not gold, at least not necessarily. So without further ado, here’s the W705 and my opinion on the same.
Form Factor
It’s a well crafted handset, that’s the first thing I thought when I laid eyes on it. The 2.4-inch display sports a 240 x 320 pixel resolution with 256k colors. It’s bright and clear enough to view in all lighting conditions. The navigation system (5 way nav-pad), shortcut keys and all other points of access are nothing new if you’re an existing SE handset user. The slider was not as smooth as I hoped though. It’s a bit jerky and there’s no grip to slide it up easily. The keypad is large and comfortable to use. On one side are the volume/zoom keys that are located above the camera button.

Sony Ericsson’s universal proprietary port is located on the other side. Thankfully, they’ve included their new charging cable that has a built-in socket for the handsfree so you can listen to your audio while charging. The handsfree has an adapter so you’re free to use any set of earphones of your personal preference. The bundled in-ear earphones were pleasantly comfortable to wear. A small Walkman button is located on the top of the device and can be used to activate the player as well as for the Shake-Control feature for changing tracks.

What really irked me initially is the fact that the W705’s M2 card slot is located under the rear panel. Although you don’t need to remove the battery to access it, I simply don’t see why it couldn’t have a removable panel on the outside. But SE has graciously provided a 4GB card with the package so removing the card itself for anything is redundant. The only problem is when transferring files to the handset via USB in Mass Storage mode, the handset goes into offline mode. In this case you can select Media transfer and the handset can be used as an MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) device.

Which brings me to the panel itself. It has a very neat lock switch at the bottom that ensures it stays in place even if the handset is the receiver of a harsh jolt for whatever reason. The 3 megapixel camera is located at the rear and a secondary camera is placed in front near the earpiece.
Despite of the slider being a bit sluggish and the absence of an external hot-swap slot, the W705 is a stylish and funky looking handset.
Features and Performance
Interface
Nothing new here at all. I still got annoyed with SE’s attempt at a flashy animated menu that drains the handset’s battery and is not as fluid as the normal one with stationary icons. If you’re in agreement, I suggest you just download a few simpler themes. A couple of good sites are – Mobile9 and Zedge.net. The accelerometer may not be to fluid either but it is very responsive for all menus that it’s coupled with like the media interface, which is also the same with no visible changes incorporated. The new messaging interface actually looks like a chat application which is pretty neat and well arranged.

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Sony Reader Taps Google's Public Domain Books

Sony Corp is making available public domain books from Google to users of its electronic book reader, Sony said on Wednesday, vastly increasing the amount of available content on the device.

In the latest round of a budding digital book battle with Amazon.com Inc, Sony said that more than a half a million classic titles will be free to users of the Reader, which allows consumers to read books and newspapers on a hand-held device. That will boost the available titles in Sony’s eBook Store to more than 600,000, Sony said.
Sony sells two versions of its Reader, which competes directly with Amazon’s Kindle. Kindle users can access over 245,000 titles plus newspapers, magazines and blogs. Whereas Amazon touts its relationship with publishers and access to a wide range of best-selling titles – which generally cost $9.99 – as a selling-point for the Kindle, Google has sought to make its collection of public domain books widely available. Public domain books, whether Jane Austin’s "Persuasion" or Leo Tolstoy’s "War and Peace", are no longer protected by copyright. Last month, Google announced it was making the collection easily accessible to mobile devices such as the iPhone, and Amazon has said a similar move was afoot at the company. Sony Reader users will be able to read the Google books on their devices, or download a PDF file to read on a computer. The books are already accessible over the Internet at http://www.books.google.com.