CES 2009: Sony’s VAIO ‘pocketbook’, ‘Webbie’ HD camcorder, OLED prototypes [day 2]

Sony made their grand debut just prior to Steve Ballmer’s keynote, and boy, they know how to put on a show. Here’s what’s notable (I’ll leave the many Bravia announcements to Home Theater blogger Sean Portnoy, who was in attendance with me and will post tonight).

VAIO P-Series Lifestyle PC

About the size of a woman’s wallet (or a man’s wallet for a suit), this 1.4 lb. Netbook-that-resembles-a-wallet (the P is for Passport) was the biggest announcement. It supports integrated WAN, LAN (incl. Verizon 3G) and Bluetooth, and packs GPS that doesn’t need the Internet (in the U.S. and Canada). The screen is a high-res (1600×768), 8-inch ultrawide LCD intended for viewing entire web pages on one screen, eliminating horizontal scrolling. Oh, and it comes loaded with Windows Vista.

It comes in five colors (red, green, white and two shades of black) and will retail for $900. It’s available now for pre-order and will be at select retailers next month.

Digital Photo Frames

Two new models: First, the 10-inch DPF-X1000, which is 800×480 SVGA LCD (15:9 aspect ratio) and has 2GB internal memory, HDMI output, an alarm clock, and auto dimmer, white balance correction, and is Bluetooth ready. Second, the 10-inchDPF-V100, which includes all the previous stats but has 1GB of internal memory.

Both will be available in March, for $300 and $250, respectively.

HDR-XR520V 240 GB HD HDD Handycam camcorder

The barnburner: Full 1920×1080 HD video and 12 megapixel still image capability. Features a large capacity 240GB HD that holds 101 hours of HD video in LP mode, back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor for low light, photo and video geotagging via a built-in GPS receiver and NAVTEQ digital maps, image stabilization, “Smile Shutter” for photos even when recording video, and face detection. This bad boy will be available in March for $1500.

HDR-CX100 HD Flash Handycam camcorder

For those who prefer flash camcorders, Sony announced this as well. Has Full 192×1080 HD video and 4 megapixel still image capability, plus 8GB embedded memory expandable via Memory Stick PRO Duo. Packs 10x optical Carl Zeiss Vaio-Tessar zoom with Steady Shot up front. Comes in three colors — red, black, silver — and includes Smile Shutter and face detection. Will be available in March for $600.

MHS-PM1 “Webbie” HD MP4 camcorder

Available tonight for $170, this is Sony’s YouTube-friendly device. It captures HD MPEG-4 video and 5 megapixel stills, has a 4 ounce body, comes equipped with PMB Portable software for quick online upload, and has a rotating swivel lens. Expandable storage via Memory Stick PRO Duo, and of course, comes in three colors: eggplant, orange and silver.

The company also had two more things to note: OLED prototypes in various sizes (expect this tech to develop further) and a “major” announcement tomorrow. Stay tuned. (story Link)

IPod Touch 2nd Gen

Apple has also released the 2nd gen iPod Touch. Yes similar to iPhone 3G. Slimmer, lighter and has a back chrome aluminum case. Wow, that looks nicer than the iPhone 3G back case.
ImprovementBuilt-in speaker ~ lets you hear the music, dialogue, and action without headphones, perfect for casual listening.

Volume controlVolume buttons are built into the left side of iPod touch, giving you easy access to the most frequently used controls.
Longer battery lifeProvides up to 36 hours of audio playback or 6 hours of video playback

Rock ’n’ run with Nike+.iPod touch now includes built-in Nike + iPod support. Just slip the Nike + iPod Sensor (available separately) into your Nike+ shoe and start your run. The sensor communicates wirelessly with your iPod touch, tracking your time, distance, and calories burned. It even gives you voice feedback on your progress.
The new iPod Touch is available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB and priced at $229, $299 and $399 respectively.
Video and pictures after the break.

Nikon Wi Fi Headphone

Nikon Corporation in Japan has introduced their latest Media Port UP. It is a wifi-enabled multimedia playback headset device. Nikon combine the display screen, headphones, mobile A/V player, Wi-Fi capability, high-capacity memory, and power source in one compact device. The device is priced around $587, available in the high performance UP300x and the basic UP300.
The UP300x comes with built-in motion sensor that allows hands free operation (volume adjustment, etc…). It features up to 8GB of flash memory, Wi-Fi b/g, USB port, and two Sanyo eneloop rechargeable batteries and supporting the WMV9, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 video files, and MP3, AAC, WMA9 audio files. The unit is compatible with HTML 4.01, JavaScript, Flash Version 7, other media contents are downloadable from Nikon’s service.
Unfortunately, they are only available in Japan.

More pictures after the break.

[via Akihabaranews

Scrabble on Facebook Crashes, and EA Blames Hackers

Facebook’s online Scrabble application came up blank Wednesday as an apparent hacker attack pulled down the application. Game maker Electronic Arts, partnering with Hasbro, the publisher of Scrabble, released a statement that read in part, “”We’re working with our partners to resolve this issue and have Scrabble back online and ready to play as soon as possible.”

The shutdown of the game came directly after Facebook took Scrabble knockoff Scrabulous offline amid threats of a lawsuit from Hasbro. Scrabulous is a product of an independent software company based in India. The Indian company continues to offer its Scrabble clone outside the U.S. and Canada.

‘Tech Problems’

When attempting to load the Scrabble beta application in Facebook, users received the following screen message:

“We’ll be back up shortly …

“We’re working on some tech problems and Scrabble will be ready to play as soon as possible! We appreciate all the great feedback we’ve received over the past week and as a result we’re making changes to Scrabble for its official launch in mid-August, including a streamlined app with the option to turn off animations for faster game play and full keyboard functionality for those who prefer this way to play.”

Observers are speculating about whether disgruntled Scrabulous users hacked the system or bugs in the software caused the outage — or a combination of both. While EA claims outside hackers were at fault, some observers believe that may be a cover to save face. Scrabble beta was still out of commission as of Wednesday afternoon.

Evidently former Scrabulous users were angry about the loss of their game. It’s estimated the Scrabulous application had nearly half a million U.S. users before Facebook pulled the plug and substituted the licensed Scrabble beta.

Rebelling Against Scrabble

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