All you movie addicts who own the PlayStation 3 no longer have to envy Xbox 360 users. Sony and Netflix are teaming up to bring movie streaming to the Ps3. The bonus for those on the PlayStation Network is, since your PSN accounts are free, all you need is a Netflix account to watch movies whereas Xbox 360 users need a $50-per-year Xbox Live Gold membership. The service will launch in November and if you decide to use your PS3 to access your Netflix account (why wouldn’t you?), Netflix will send a Blu-Ray disc that will allow you to access its library. It might seem like a hassle to pop in the disc every time you want to watch movies, but Netflix says it’s working on a software update for the PS3 that will do away with the need for a disc. It looks like you gamers and movie buffs are about to see double the couch time.

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Straight from the Toykyo Game show comes the announcement that Sony will launch the new PS3 motion controller in Spring 2010. First announced at E3 back in June, the motion controller will utilize the PlayStation Eye Camera along with a controller equipped with a three axes gyroscope and three axes accelerometer to accurately detect the player’s motion. A handful of titles with motion control support — including The Shoot, Tower, Hustle Kings and High Velocity Bowling — will launch alongside the controller this coming spring. Press release after the jump.

TOKYO, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) today announced that it will release a new Motion Controller (unofficial name) for PlayStation(R)3 (PS3(R)) computer entertainment system in Spring 2010. The new controller, equipped with high-precision, highly accurate motion sensors, can deliver a whole new entertainment experience on PS3 when combined together with the PlayStation(R)Eye camera(*1). Capable of recognizing and tracking a user’s face and voice as well as body motion, PlayStation Eye can also output the player’s image onto the TV screen. SCE will vigorously promote the expansion of this new experience only possible on the PS3 platform.

The newly announced Motion Controller is equipped with two motion sensors, three axes gyroscope and three axes accelerometer that can detect the controller’s angle and movement held in the user’s hand. Together with the PlayStation Eye camera for PS3 which can accurately track the absolute position of the controller, the controller can detect the natural and intuitive movement of the hand and reflect the precise movement on to the game. The sphere placed on the top of the controller is not only used to track the absolute position but can also give visual feedback to users by changing the colors or the illuminating patterns of the sphere. Furthermore, the new controller is also equipped with a rumble feature, familiar to the PlayStation(R) DUALSHOCK(R) series controller, delivering an immersive gaming experience to users.

Further expanding the new experience on PS3, SCE Worldwide Studios will deliver many exciting software titles for the Motion Controller in 2010(*2). SCE, with strong support from software developers and publishers, will deploy various measures to enhance the software title line-up for the new Motion Controller and vigorously promote the PS3 platform.

*Motion Controller is a tentative name.
*1 Users will need to use the PlayStation Eye camera to enjoy Motion Controller on PS3.
*2 Please see below for software titles to be released in 2010.

Product Outline:

• Product name: Motion Controller (tentative)
• Release date: Spring 2010
• Recommended Retail Price: To be decided.

Key Features:

• Three axes gyroscope, three axes accelerometer
• Bluetooth(R) 2.0
• Lithium-Ion rechargeable internal battery

Software Titles for Motion Controller from SCE Worldwide Studios(*1)

(2010 release, includes both Motion Controller dedicated and compatible titles)

• Ape Escape (Working Title)
• Echochrome 2 (Working Title)
• Eccentric Slider  (Working Title)
• Sing and Draw  (Working Title)
• Champions of Time  (Working Title)
• Motion Party  (Working Title)
• The Shoot  (Working Title)
• Tower  (Working Title)
• PAIN(*2)
• Flower(*2)
• Hustle Kings(*2)
• High Velocity Bowling(*2)
• EyePet(*2)

*1 Titles to be released will depend by countries or regions.
*2 Motion control function will be added by network update, etc.

With the Zune HD on the horizon and a refreshed iPod touch looming, some might say it’s hard to even think about getting amped for Sony’s upcoming S Series and E Series Walkmans. Others however, might say these sleek and inexpensive players are just what the doctor ordered. Sony announced this morning that it would be bringing two new Walkman lines to market next month — the well-leaked S Series and the not-so-well-leaked E Series. Starting with the S Series, we’re looking at a 2.4-inch QVGA display, FM tuner with recording capability, built-in stereo speakers and up to 42 hours of audio/6.4 hours of video playback on a single charge (17 hours audio/5 hours video using the stereo speakers). The cheaper E Series is a much more basic player with a 2-inch display and none of the bells and whistles found on the S. Pricing is where things get interesting: The S Series will run $110 for the 8GB model and $130 for the 16GB model while the E Series will be $80 for 8GB and $100 for 16GB. Not bad at all.

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Remember all of those rumors about a PlayStation 3 price drop and a new, slimmer model? Well they might not be rumors for much longer as just hours before Sony is slated to begin its press conference at Gamescom in Cologne, several leaks have sprung from a few notable retailers. FYE was first up when an employee snapped a pic of a new banner that has the 80GB model going for a “new low price” of $299.99 and the 160GB Uncharted bundle for $399.99. As for the slim model, Kmart.com is currently displaying a banner that announces not only a price drop for the PS3 as we know it but proclaimed the arrival of “a new exciting PlayStation 3″. Oh yeah, and did we mention that the PS3 Slim pre-order page is live?

UPDATE: The Kmart.com pre-order page was taken down shortly after 10am Eastern. Don’t worry, it’ll be back soon enough.

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While this news will come as no surprise to anyone with even the mildest interest in following tech news, Sony introduced two new eBook readers today in the “Reader Pocket Edition” and “Reader Touch Edition”. Priced at $199 and $299 respectively, Sony’s new eBook reader duo has been rumored for quite some time now and thanks to a J&R snafu, we even caught the full specs this past Monday. As such, the biggest news from this morning is likely the fact that Sony will be dropping new releases and bestseller titles in its eBook store from $11.99 to $9.99. Also worth mentioning, Sony has stated that Mac compatibility and wireless eBook downloading a la Kindle are on the horizon. The new readers will begin shipping toward the end of this month — any takers?

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Watch our there, Amazon, Sony is prepping two new eBook readers and placing the Kindle series squarely in its sights — well, sort of. The duo of rumored Sony readers have yet to be made official by our favorite nose diving consumer electronics giant, but J&R reportedly outed the pair when it accidentally posted complete specs on each device to its site. Sony Insider caught the snafu before the pages were pulled and, well, you know how it goes. Neither reader really poses a direct threat to the Kindle 2 or the Kindle DX where capability is concerned — if the reported specs are on target, that is — but the PRS-300 pictured above in red will supposedly be available for $199 when it launches. An ultra-portable eBook reader with a 5-inch display for $100 less than the Kindle 2 could definitely be attractive to many potential buyers, especially if it goes on sale for the holiday season. Hit the jump for each readers’ specs.

PRS-600 (pictured above, left):

• Price: $299
• Screen Size: Vizplex 6 inches
• Resolution: 800 x 600 pixels
• Gray Scale: 8-levels gray scale
• Battery Type: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion (battery: DC 3.7 V)
• AC Power: DC 5.2 V
• Battery Life (Approx): 7,500 (BBeB Book)
• 6.9″ L x 4.8″ W x 4″ D, Weight: 10.1 oz.
• Ships with a USB cable

Media Formats Supported: Unsecured Text: EPUB File (Non DRM/ Adobe DRM protected), BBeB Book (Non DRM/ PRS DRM protected), PDF file (Non DRM/ Adobe DRM protected) DRM Text: Text file, RTF file, Word file (unsecured), Unsecured Audio: MP3 (Non encrypted), AAC (Non encrypted) Image: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP

PRS-300 (pictured above, right):

• Price: $199
• Screen Size: Vizplex 5 inches
• Resolution: 800 x 600 pixels
• Gray Scale: 8-levels gray scale
• Battery Type: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion (battery: DC 3.7 V)
• AC Power: DC 5.2 V
• Battery Life (Approx): 7,500 (BBeB Book)
• 6.2″ L x. 4.2″ W x 2″ D, Weight: 7.76 oz.
• Ships with a USB Cable, Sleeve, Quick Start Flyers

Media Formats Supported: Unsecured Text: EPUB File (Non DRM/ Adobe DRM protected), BBeB Book (Non DRM/ PRS DRM protected), PDF file (Non DRM/ Adobe DRM protected) DRM Text: Text file, RTF file, Word file (unsecured)

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If “ifs” and “buts” were candy and nuts, Sony would have actually taken its time and put more effort into the conception and development of its VAIO P netbook before it was announced and released some six months ago. Alas it didn’t, and the sales figures for the preposterously priced “don’t call it a netbook netbook” are proof enough of this. For those who dislike it merely for its sluggish performance however, perhaps you need only way a few months to upgrade to the newer model — TechRadar UK is reporting that a “mark 2″ version of the VAIO P will be released this October. At this point in time nothing is know about the mark 2 other than the report that it boots up a lot faster. This isn’t exactly surprising of course, considering the old rumor that Sony will be refreshing the VAIO P to coincide with the release of Windows 7.

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Sony is reportedly considering (yet again) the development of a new hybrid device that will combine the gaming features of its popular PlayStation portable gaming device with the functionality of a Sony Ericsson mobile phone. According to Nikkei Daily, the quintessential PlayStation phone will be developed by a new project team to be assembled in July. Rumors of a “PlayStation phone” have come and gone for more than two years now… Maybe Sony is so tired of hearing them that it will finally churn out a PS phone to shut everyone up.

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Just a few days before Sony’s upcoming E3 press conference, the company’s next generation handheld gaming device, the PSP Go, has been given some unofficial specifications, starred in a hands-on preview video courtesy of Qore and previewed in some leaked press photos. The upcoming PSP Go will be a UMD-less slider that features the following specs:

• 3.8-inch display of unknown resolution
• 43 percent lighter than the current PSP-3000
• 16GB of flash memory
• Integrated Bluetooth with mobile phone tethering and BT headset support
• Memory Stick Micro slot
• New Gran Turismo, Little Big Planet and Metal Gear Solid games
• Full PlayStation Network support (TV and movie rentals/purchases) and integration with the PlayStation 3

The PSP Go is expected to be available this fall and will be sold alongside the current PSP-3000. Hit the jump for some more close-ups of this Mylo 2 look alike along with the Qore video.

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As expected

In an attempt to further lower its operating costs, Sony will continue with its previously announced work force reduction of 16,000 employees and will also close 3 plants in Japan, lowering its total number of plants to 49 from a high of 57 last year. Despite its cost cutting measures the outlook remains similarly bleak for the fiscal year ending in March 2010, with losses projected to be in the ballpark of ¥120 billion.

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We’ve heard some rumors about an upcoming PSP refresh in the past — ok, a whole lot of rumors — but new information is casting doubt upon the details of previous information. 1UP is reporting that the new PSP will be christened the PSP Go! and will finally do away with that awful UMD system while taking on a slider form. In place of UMDs, it is said the PSP Go! will come in 8GB and 16GB models meaning a green light for game downloads. As for games, Sony is reportedly planning to have around 100 old and new games ready for launch time. Sadly those of you who were looking for a bit of dual-joystick action will be disappointed to note that according to this new rumor, a second analog stick will not be added to the right-hand side. Such is life, we suppose. Word is Sony will make the PSP Go! official at E3 next month and have it hit the streets in Japan in September with a US launch in either late October or early November — ensuring its inclusion in plenty of letters to Santa. And yes, the image above is a mock up.

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Sony’s highly anticipated OLED MP3 player, the X1000 series Walkman, is slated for launch on April 25th in Japan. The 3-inch touchscreen-sporting device will debut with 16GB and 32GB models that feature integrated noise cancellation, Walkman-specific Netfront web browser, YouTube support, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, wireless Podcast delivery, FM tuner and support for MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV audio / AVC, H.264, MPEG4, WMV video. The Walkman will be available in Black or Red with suggested retail prices of 40,000 yen ($400 USD) for the 16GB X1050 and 50,000 yen ($500 USD) for the 32GB X1060.

[Via PMP Today]

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Sony confirmed on Tuesday that its PlayStation 2 console will finally hit the sub-$100 price point. Starting April 1st, the gaming console — now almost ten years old — will retail for a mere $99.99. That low price point will certainly appeal to entry-level gamers shopping for their first console or casual gamers looking to delve into the PS2’s extensive catalog of games. Is this the “big announcement” that has been rumored from Sony or does it have something bigger and better in store for us? Either way it’s not the PS3 price drop the console sorely needs and it won’t do anything for more serious gamers deciding between the thriving Xbox 360 or the troubled PS3, which continues to lose developer interest.

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Sony unveiled its upcoming line of iPod Touch competitors earlier this year and much to the surprise of, well everyone, the X1000 series looks impressive. Very impressive in fact. If you can work your way past the marble finish, the X1000 Walkman has a lot going for it and now that the Sony Style Hong Kong site has pushed out the full detailed specs, we’re kind of excited to get our hands on a few of them. Here are the highlights:

• 3-inch (432 x 240 pixels) OLED touchscreen display
• 32GB storage
• NetFront web browser, YouTube support
• MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV audio / AVC, H.264, MPEG4, WMV video
• Integrated noise cancellation
• FM tuner
• 802.11g/b WiFi
• 33 hours of music playback, 9 hours of video playback

The one thing it doesn’t have of course, is the App Store. The hype and development community surrounding the iPod Touch will always give it a leg up on competitive offerings. If you’re looking to save some cash (hopefully) and forego the added functionality afforded by apps in exchange for some insane battery life however, the new Walkman might be just what the doctor ordered.

[Via Giz]

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Alright, folks. It took a while, but we’re finally finished combing through the photos you sent in. To cut to the chase — Robert Fostings from Atlanta, you’ve won!

Thanks to everyone that entered, and, if you want to try your luck again, you could always enter into our $10,000 BlackBerry giveaway we’ve got running. We’ll post other pictures people sent in shortly in this post.

As you may recall, the Sony VAIO P is packaged with the Gobi chipset that is capable of both HSDPA and EV-DO. Unfortunately, Sony has chosen to block HSDPA access and has locked the pocketable notebook to connect only via a Verizon Wireless EV-DO connection. Humph. Thanks to a creative blogger by the name of tnkgrl, Sony’s restrictive plans are now thwarted and those without a VZW contract are back in business. Tnkgrl has successfully hacked the HSDPA on the VAIO P, allowing it to be utilized by those not afraid to void a warranty on a $900 machine. You will need a $1 SIM holder, skill at precision soldering, some knowledge of registry editing and system file manipulation along with a whole lot of chutzpah to crack open the case of an expensive mini-notebook. It is not for the faint of heart but if you can pull it off then your prize will be… Flaunting your quad-band GSM/GPRS/EGDE and tri-band UMTS/HSDPA enabled VAIO P. Who’s in?

[Via jkOnTheRun]

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Yes, yes, y’all! Another BGR giveaway weekend extravaganza. Ok, that was a bit much, but we’ve just got a hold of Sony’s latest and greatest (and only, really) ultra-portable on Friday and we’re done reviewing it. What does that mean? Well, a full review is coming soon, but more importantly for you, we’re giving this bad boy away! Want to win this VAIO P loaded with a 64GB SSD? Sure you do! Here’s how you can win it:

• Send us a picture of your current laptop that needs replacing. (Maybe you’re constantly on the move but have to lug around a 17″ notebook with you, send a picture of that in!)
• You can send in as many photos as you like, but it won’t increase the chance of you winning
• Email the pictures to laptop at boygeniusreport dot com to enter
• Leave a comment that you entered so we can keep track of it. Make sure to comment from the same email address you sent in the photo/s from!
• We’ll run the giveaway until one Sunday from now, February 8th at 11:59PM ET
• The contest is only open to residents of the USA. Sorry!

Good luck everyone!

Clearly, being a quiet time of year, many, what we thought to be credible websites, are making up stories about PSP2, and how it allows you to teleport across the globe, travel through time, and will be powered by the horns of baby rhinoceroses. Hopefully, you can sense a mild tone of sarcasm, which should hopefully indicate how ‘on the money’ IGN are. Needless to say, we don’t comment on rumour or speculation, but this is nonsense.

The entire matter is open to interpretation at this point. IGN may be spot on and Sony may be doing some quick “sweeping the rumor under the carpet” action. Likewise, IGN may be way off base and Sony is lashing out at baseless rumors that get people hyped up for a product with specs that will never be delivered. One thing is for sure, one company, be it IGN or Sony, will have egg on its face when all is said and done.

[Via IGN]

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When it rains it pours and over at Sony we’re looking at a torrential downpour the likes of which the company has never seen. Not long ago, analysts predicted Sony would post a massive operating loss of $1 billion on the year. Good call, analysts, only you were about 260 percent off. Sony let the cat out of the bag today and revealed it will post a staggering $2.9 billion operating loss, far and away the worst loss the company has ever seen. Sony’s last losing year, its only other annual loss in fact, was back in 1995 when its movie studio took a beating. Now, 14 years later, a terrible sales year coupled with the economic downturn amount to the worst annual performance the company has reported in its history as a publicly traded company. Sony plans to eliminate a horrifying 16,000 jobs between now and March of next year as part of an effort to shed over $2.8 billion in operating costs during that time frame. In the end, Sony is about to undergo changes the likes of which the company has never seen as it tries to recover from this past year – layoffs, facility closures, salary / benefit cuts and restructuring are now the name of the game.

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Things aren’t looking too hot for Sony CEO Howard Stringer. Back in October his company predicted that it would end its current fiscal year with an operating profit of $2.2-billion but a Japanese newspaper is reporting Sony is well on track for a loss of at least $1.1 billion. So what happened to Sony? For starters the Japanese economy, the second largest in the world, was one of hardest hit victims of the credit crunch. Japan’s largest stock market index, the Nikkei 225, ended 2008 down 50% from where it was back in June. Add to this the ongoing fear of deflation due to the rapidly strengthening Yen, soaring national debt, low consumer confidence and very bleak picture is painted of an economy that just doesn’t have the cash to be buying high-end consumer electronics. And of course it doesn’t help that every single nation in the Western world is having severe economic troubles of its own. The only positive thing going for Sony (if you can even call if that) is that its Q4 ends in March, meaning it has a couple more months to drastically cut costs. If Sony don’t make some fairly major moves, its losses on the year could rise to as much as $2-billion. Guess that means the $399 price tag on the PS3 isn’t going to come down any time soon.

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All the rumors about Sony’s supposed pocketable notebook were spot on. The only surprise Sony had in store for us was an unusual case design that completely removes the trackpad in favor of a pointing stick and includes a 6-row 82 key QWERTY keyboard instead of the smaller 5-row keyboard found on most 8.9″ netbooks. Well, that and the notebook label as opposed to netbook. Here is a detailed rundown of the specs for Sony’s latest notebook offering :

• Intel (presumably Atom?) processor 1.33GHz  with 512kb  L2 cache and 533MHz FSB
• 8.0″ XBRITE-ECO, LED Back Light LCD with 1600 x 768 resolution
• 2GB (2GBx1) 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (max)
• Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500. Total Available Graphics Memory of 760MB. Max. External Resolution via VGA of 1600×1200
• Intel High Definition Audio
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP
• Atheros 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN
• Integrated 3G Mobile Broadband
• up to 60GB HDD or 128GB SSD
• QWERTY keyboard, 82 keys with 1.2mm stroke and 16.5mm pitch and a pointing stick
• WLAN & Bluetooth on/off, Instant On, and Xross Media Bar action buttons
• Built-in MOTION EYE camera and microphone
• Memory Stick Duo media slot with MagicGate functionality (1), SD slot (1)
• Headphone Jack (1) and USB 2.0 Ports (2)
• Standard Capacity Lithium-ion Battery
• 9.65″(W) x 0.78″(H) x 4.72″(D) and approximately 1.4lbs
• Genuine Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
• Available in Onyx Black, Garnet Red, Emerald Green, and Crystal White

The VAIO P Series is available for pre-order starting today and will make its debut in Sony Style stores later this month. Major retailers will have to wait until the beginning in February for their inventory to arrive. If you can’t wait to get your hands on it and want to see it now, the Sony Style stores in Las Vegas and New York City will have live display units. Start saving your pennies as the P-Series notebooks start at $899 and climb up to $1499 for the premium 128GB SSD equipped model.

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As expected, Sony unveiled its rumored iPod Touch competitor and all we can say is wow! The Sony Walkman NWZ-X1000 will feature a colorful and crisp 3-inch OLED display, Wi-Fi and built-in headphone-independent noise cancellation for those who prefer not to shell out a Benjamin for a pair of noise-canceling headphones. We also can’t overlook that marble painted exterior as it is most definitely unique. The new touchscreen NWZ-X1000 will be available in 16GB and 32GB sizes. Further specifics on the player, pricing and availability will have to wait until Sony’s press conference later this evening. Until then, start drooling and pinching those pennies as Sony may actually have a viable iPod competitor on its hands.

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There it is, folks, in all its glory – the Sony VAIO P picturebook or netbook. Whatever you want to call it is fine. Of course, it’s not a live shot of the actual computer, but a picture of the netbook on a display at CES. Still, you get the idea. The VAIO P has a chicklet keyboard sans-trackpad which makes extra room for the keyboard, and instead uses a little pointing-nub. If you aren’t a big fan of those little nubs (we know we aren’t), it’s nothing a USB mouse can’t fix. So, if you’ve been awaiting the VAIO P because you need a netbook but don’t feel justified unless you spend over a grand, we’ll know all the details by week’s end.

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Sony’s Japanese Vaio website teases us with a new flash-based advertisement this week. Last week it was a fashionista with a clutch bag, this week it is flashing stills of woman heading out the door with images of a compact keyboard flashed in between. A member of the Pocketables forum managed to snag the two close-up images of the keyboard and the pointing stick. The images reveal a 5 row keyboard with a pointing stick; keeping the rumor going that Sony is planning a smaller Vaio notebook (revival of the old Picturebook?) or a Vaio with a netbook form factor. Sony provided just enough information to keep the hype going but not enough information to reveal anything new. Hold on folks, just a little over a week of rumors before all shall be revealed at CES. Hit the jump for one more shot.

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According to the Wall Street Journal, US sales of the PlayStation 3 in November declined 19 percent from the previous month. This decline comes at a time when Nintendo Wii sales have doubled and Xbox 360 sales have risen 8%. In Black Friday sales alone, the Xbox 360 reportedly outsold the PS3 three to one and we all know the Wii continued to dominate. No holiday rebound is projected for Sony as analysts expect December PS3 sales to continue to remain flat while sales of its competitors are expected to remain strong. Sony is also expected to miss its goal of selling 10 million consoles in the current fiscal year ending in March 2009. Despite the somber projections by analysts Sony remains optimistic, focusing on the console’s year to date sales which have risen 60% and stating that “it is working hard to close the quarter strong”. With sales sagging and competition heating up, will 2009 be the year Sony finally cuts the price on the PS3?

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That mysterious Sony VAIO netbook that was rumored to be the subject of multiple teasers ads on various Sony websites was partially revealed on SonyStyle website for a short time on Thursday. Claiming that “It fits in a Pocket,” a new P-Series VAIO was introduced on Sony’s website and then removed almost as quickly as it came. The product page for the presumed netbook styled VAIO included a placeholder picture of the current TT series notebook and a short list of specs that raise some eyebrows. The specs include:

• Intel 1.33GHz Processor
• Windows Vista Home Premium or Home basic
• 8″, 1600×768 display
• Up to 60GB hard drive or 128GB SSD

The processor is presumed to be the 1.33 GHz Intel Atom Z520 processor seen in other netbooks. Similar to the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, it will ship with Windows Vista installed. An interesting choice as the Inspiron Mini 12 has been criticized for being sluggish because, in several reviewers’ opinions, Vista requires more than the Atom processor is able to deliver. The new Pocket VAIO also has a smaller 8″ screen with an exceptionally high resolution of 1600×768 pixels. Most netbooks ship with an 8.9″ screen with a 1024 x 600 resolution and widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio making this a bit of an odd duck. The high resolution screen of the Pocket VAIO is reminiscent of the Fujitsu U820, which packs a 1280 x 800 resolution into a 5.6″ screen. Such a high resolution screen may make it difficult to use, especially within Windows menus, without a fair amount of squinting. Anyone who has used the Fujistu U820 knows what we are talking about. The high resolution is not all bad as it does offer its advantages in web browsing, image viewing, etc. Though unusual, these specs do fit well with the possible clam shell shaped design of the VAIO that was leaked by the FCC and also hinted at in the Sony teaser ads. An unusual-sized device, unusual for the typical recent netbook, would require an unusual display. Whether these specs are for real or just entered for amusement by Sony remains to be seen. We will have to wait until January to get the real deal on this new netbook offering from Sony.

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Sony’s Japanese website has a new teaser up hinting not-so-subtly that a “VAIO New Mobile” will be coming soon. An evening gown-clad woman pulls a thick envelope out of her purse that resembles the WWAN enabled netbook you may recall as having recently passed through the FCC. The envelope then flattens to reveal a teaser that links to a sign up page for additional information on this new VAIO. With Sony’s New Zealand website proclaiming earlier this week that “the wait is over” and a revolutionary new VAIO is coming on January 9th, we may only have to wait a mere few weeks to see what Sony has up its sleeve. What’s with putting computers into envelopes these days, by the way?

[Via Akihabara News]

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Wait just a second here – it looks like something new and interesting might actually be making its way to CES! According to SonyInsider’s “trusted inside sources”, Sony will be unveiling a brand new Walkman portable media player that sounds like it could make a serious impact on the portable player market. Here’s what we’re looking at according to the rumor:

• Two models: 16 GB and 32 GB
• 3″ touchscreen OLED display with a 10,000:1 contrast ratio (est)
• WQVGA resolution
• Wi-Fi connectivity
• Onboard music purchase support via Amazon
• Integrated FM radio
• S-Master digital amplifier and digital noise canceling solution
• Web browser
• Dedicated YouTube interface

Damn! The report goes on a bit to cover some of the unique functionality the new Walkman devices will allegedly possess. One such example is the ability to quickly and easily access music videos on YouTube right from the audio play screen by simply clicking on the artist’s name. If this thing ends up looking anything like the rumor, we’re definitely going to be looking for some additional big moves from Sony in the coming year.

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