Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Apparently, not only is Sony’s fancy new full-frame DSLR — the A900 — showing up in ad leaks all across the interblogs, but it’s been caught with its lens cover down in real life. An eagle-eyed forum poster managed to snag shots of what appear to be the camera in action, taken in Belgium this August doing what it does best… snapping pictures. There’s not much more to say, but this should thoroughly whet your whistle for the model’s forthcoming introduction, which we can only imagine will be happening sometime around the upcoming Photokina.

[Via Digital Photography Review; Thanks, Douglas]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Gaming

Value likely isn’t the first word that comes to many folks’ mind when they think of the PS3 (especially given other recent console goings on), and Sony is now admitting that’s partly its fault. No, it’s not saying that the price is too high, but it is fessing up that it could do a better job of marketing the console’s value. In an interview with Gamasutra, Julie Han of Sony corporate communications cited the PS3’s ability to put PS3 downloadable content onto the PSP in particular as one feature they could do more with on the marketing front, adding that they also “don’t talk enough” about Sony’s “future-proofing” strategy. Of course, a price cut wouldn’t hurt with that value message either but, as you may have suspected, Han would only reiterate that Sony has “no plans to do any price cuts,” and that it’s sticking with its strategy.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Cellphones

The well-scooped TM506 from Sony Ericsson is now on sale, marking the first time that T-Mobile has openly and proudly admitted that a handset in its lineup can actually support 3G — despite the fact that they’ve had such gear for over a year now. Why the big secret? Until now, T-Mobile’s 3G network has been undergoing pretty much the softest soft launch in mobile history, and only now are enough markets starting to come on board to make the whole thing worthwhile. For what it’s worth, every previous 3G handset on the carrier has merely rocked UMTS, so the TM506 becomes its first HSDPA-equipped piece while also offering up a 2-megapixel cam, TeleNav navigation, and stereo Bluetooth. As of this writing it’s still showing “Coming Soon” on the site, but we’re hearing that it’ll be available today for $79.99 after rebate on contract.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Gaming

It’s Friday the 5th, that means that the $200 Xbox 360 just became the lowest-priced console in the US (as it is in Japan) compared to the perpetually “sold out” $250 Wii and 80GB PS3 selling for double the price of diskless Arcade. With no new price cuts expected from either Sony or Nintendo, the holiday console wars are officially on. Picture proof of the $199 Xbox 360 Arcade in the wild after the break.

[Thanks, JerkyChew]

Continue reading Xbox 360 now cheapest console in the US — game on Santa

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Laptops

Look Sony, nobody’s rooting for your recovery more than your pals at Engadget. But seriously, two major recalls — first the $200+ million battery fiasco now 440,000 VAIOs — in two years? No wonder your stock is at a 3-year low.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Laptops

Look Sony, nobody’s rooting for your recovery more than your pals at Engadget. But seriously, two major recalls — first the $200+ million battery fiasco now 440,000 VAIOs — in two years? No wonder your stock is at a 3-year low.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays

Sony’s VAIO CP1 looked mighty sexy in the press shots, but trust us when we say it’s even more stunning in person. We still think it’s overpriced at $300, but this WiFi-enabled frame was showing off all of its sides (RSS reader, split-screen Picasa viewing, music player) at CEDIA. Take a look at this fine piece of technological goodness in the gallery below.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Storage

Hey Sony, since you’re so in love with tacking on random letters and such to your flash memory line, how’s about we toss three capital consonants in your direction capped off with a lovely question mark? In a move that is depressingly not at all surprising, Sony has introduced the Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX, that latest in a long, long line of proprietary Memory Stick products that it insists on producing. These are supposedly “ideal for high performance digital cameras and HD camcorders,” and they rely on an 8-bit parallel interface to achieve whatever level of performance they’re capable of. Weirdly, Sony only quotes transfer speeds (a maximum of 20MB/sec read and 15MB/sec write) when the card is used in conjunction with the bundled MSAC-UAH1 USB adapter, but anywho, they’ll be available in 4GB / 8GB flavors this October for those who care.

[Thanks, Rob]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Digital Cameras

The FCC didn’t give us much to go on here besides these wireframe images and a few radiation reports. From that we can tell you that Sony’s about to release its new DSC-G3 Cyber-shot boasting 802.11b/g WiFi. As a followup to the WiFi-packing DSC-G1 announced more than a year ago, we’re expecting the 3.5-inch LCD (now probably touchscreen like the T700) to carryover with storage twisted above 2GB and a sensor bump into the 10.1 megapixel range like Sony’s new T500. Just a guess though, we hope to hear more at the Photokina show later this month.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Home Entertainment

A $1,500 SACD player? In 2008? Long after the never-very-popular format peaked? Thanks, Sony — we can only imagine how lopsided the gallery visit-to-purchase ratio will be on this one.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Rather than taking the circular approach, Sony’s choosing more traditional design models to follow with its latest trio of all-in-one PCs. As you can see in the gallery over at Engadget HD, the larger of the two were actually mounted up on swing-arms in the outfit’s CEDIA booth, essentially acting as monitors for watching TV / playing PS3. The small guy didn’t do a whole lot for us, but the two hung up on the wall were pretty svelte. See for yourself, won’t you?

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Sony’s latest high-end Blu-ray player was sitting pretty at the outfit’s CEDIA booth, so we did exactly what you figured we would — stop by and snap some pictures. Though the unit wasn’t exactly compact, the build quality seemed sufficient and the design was suitably simple. As you very well know by now, the gallery is over at Engadget HD.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Sony’s 400-disc BD Mega Changer was just a small part of what it had going on at CEDIA, and we couldn’t pass up the chance to photograph its two newest SXRD BRAVIA beamers. The VPL-VW70 and VPL-HW10 projectors didn’t look all that different than previous units in the family, with smooth lines, a rather large body and all of the ports conveniently tucked on one side. At $8,000 and $3,500 (respectively), they ain’t cheap, but even those tags are minuscule compared to similar units just a few years back. Have a closer look in the gallery here at Engadget HD.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Sony has issued a recall for thousands of its VAIO laptops because of possible overheating or short-circuits.

(Didn’t we blog about another similar Sony problem not all that long ago?) 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said that the recall is voluntary, and it recommended that Vaio owners stop using the products unless otherwise instructed.

The recall affects 73,000 VAIO TZ-series computers in the U.S. and apparently 440,000 units worldwide.

The safety commission said the reason for the recall is because “irregularly positioned wires near the computer’s hinge and/or a dislodged screw inside the hinge can cause a short-circuit and overheating.”

It added that this hazard could result in burns to consumers. In fact, the commission reported that Sony has received 15 reports of overheating, including one person who received a minor burn.

The affected models are the VAIO VGN-TZ100 series, VGN-TZ200 series, VGN-TZ300 series, and VGN-TZ2000 series. Sony will arrange for any needed inspection or repair.

Sony posted a statement on its eSupport site that said “the issues involve a small number of units which may overheat due to a wiring problem.” 

Here’s the official notification from the CPSC.

Tags: consumer products safety commission, notebook, sony, vaio

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Original post by nafiz

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Once again, Sony’s booth was front and center upon entering the CEDIA floor, and while most everything there was as advertised, this one particular unit stuck out. Yeah, maybe it just caught out eye because it’s around the size of a small refrigerator, but upon speaking with a company representative, we learned that it’s actually a 400-disc Blu-ray Mega Changer. The unit on hand was simply there for demonstrative purposes, but Sony intends to launch the BD-Live-capable, RS-232 port-packin’ beast in early 2009. There’s no word on whether it will ever interface with HTPCs, but we wouldn’t count on it. Head on over to Engadget HD for a closer look.

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Original post by Darren Murph