Slashdot Mirror

Links to MCE 2005 systems(their e-stores)
I know this takes all the fun out of it, but sometimes it really is just too much work
to get a computer to do stuff that should be easy(i.e. Suse vs. Gentoo; i use both).
Consider these a few points of reference for your plans for World Domination
("...What are we going to do tonight Brain?..." ;-)

Shuttle: Shuttle m1000
which looks like a 'normal' audio/video component, and a variety of SFF-based systems from 899$US.
the advantage of the SFF-based systems would be customizability(video cards up to 6800gt, HDDs to 400GB
(three drives in a P-series chassis=1.2TB),

HP(Hewlett-Packard): HP z500 series
also a 'component' style chassis, five models of varying performance and capacity, also customizable.

Gateway: Gateway FX400
sadly, all towers, but customizable(dual-core!)

Sony's newest vaio system: Sony VGX-XL1
a bit pricey at 2300$US but totally full featured with a dual-core P-D 820, and a 200-disk optical jukebox
NOT customizable.

(why can't i get the HP link to NOT be green? OR, better yet, why can't i get the other links to BE green? bah.)

like this: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/A ppleStore.woa/71808/wo/KIukowbeEpNL2gD6VU81ITMkHEV /0.SLID?nclm=iMac&mco=6AEDE590
or this: http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity /eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_BrowseCatalog-Start?Categor yName=cpu_VAIODesktopComputers_VSeries&Dept=comput ers

My first recommendation is to only carry small and where possibile, hybrid gear.

Secondly purge your bag weekly.

Thirdly, a small bag with a well padded single shoulder strap seems to put less pressure on joints, nerves, etc. The older you get the more you will appreciate this. It is counter-intuitive but backpacks easily cause me more discomfort, even with a good belt.

I am currently carrying an Eagle Creek Travel Gear shoulder bag. In it I carry:
Sony Clie UX40 in an aluminum case
crap Cell phone (if work didn't pay for this it would be a Treo 650)
Bandana (almost as good as a towel)
2 pens
business cards
Mini flash light
usb ROM stick
mini tape measure
Leatherman Squirt mini-multi-tool
spare stylus
A small Moleskin notebook
earplugs
Sony noise reducing earbuds(passive)
Motorola HS820 BT headset (crap)
2.5 lb convertible Fujitsu Lappy w/extended battery(I fuckin dig this thing!)
Caselogic neoprene DVD Player Case for the laptop.

On the laptop there is easily 500 ebooks including textbooks for school, reference books for work and fiction for downtime. The whole enchilada weighs only 5.5 lbs!

And as soon as I figure out how to get Outlook to wake my laptop out of standby I'll ebay the PDA.

My sister carries a "healthy back bag" from LL Bean that is even more comfortable. I'll try that next.

Take care of your body before it turns on you!

BillyBob

My first recommendation is to only carry small and where possibile, hybrid gear.

Secondly purge your bag weekly.

Thirdly, a small bag with a well padded single shoulder strap seems to put less pressure on joints, nerves, etc. The older you get the more you will appreciate this. It is counter-intuitive but backpacks easily cause me more discomfort, even with a good belt.

I am currently carrying an Eagle Creek Travel Gear shoulder bag. In it I carry:
Sony Clie UX40 in an aluminum case
crap Cell phone (if work didn't pay for this it would be a Treo 650)
Bandana (almost as good as a towel)
2 pens
business cards
Mini flash light
usb ROM stick
mini tape measure
Leatherman Squirt mini-multi-tool
spare stylus
A small Moleskin notebook
earplugs
Sony noise reducing earbuds(passive)
Motorola HS820 BT headset (crap)
2.5 lb convertible Fujitsu Lappy w/extended battery(I fuckin dig this thing!)
Caselogic neoprene DVD Player Case for the laptop.

On the laptop there is easily 500 ebooks including textbooks for school, reference books for work and fiction for downtime. The whole enchilada weighs only 5.5 lbs!

And as soon as I figure out how to get Outlook to wake my laptop out of standby I'll ebay the PDA.

My sister carries a "healthy back bag" from LL Bean that is even more comfortable. I'll try that next.

Take care of your body before it turns on you!

BillyBob

Ultimately, we will have a device that not only allows us to play audio and video, and has a built in calendar (ala PDA), it will also be a full featured schedule planner, phone, and camera. I'm sure there's a ton of other features I'm missing here...

There are plenty of casual games that work fine with throughput 500ms. Does chess need broadband? Does a monopolistic property trading game need broadband? Does a multiplayer tetramino game need broadband?

I'm not necessarily billing Microsoft for the whole deal. Even so, if both the local cable company and the local telephone company have high speed Internet products that come "with MSN Premium", then I'm still paying Microsoft.

But in geographic areas without affordable residential broadband Internet access, such as most of the United States of America, Nintendo still has the same-screen multiplayer market cornered.

I called Sony two days ago and was told by their coporate sales that they expect delivery of these in the US Oct. 25th or 26th. You can also preorder them now in the US at http://www.sonystyle.com/

Here'sThe product page which discusses the use of "carbon fiber and composites".

It's Japanese and has been available there for a while, someone who just saw them in Korea recently decided to post it to slashdot methinks.

http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Style-a/Product/T/inde x.html

This was out in Japan first - it's the Type T VAIO.

http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Style-a/Product/T/inde x.html

Depending on how good your Japanese is, they do say it is made of multi-layered carbon fibre.

the sony website is taking pre orders, i'm guessing it'll be released in the US soon.

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity /eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_BrowseCatalog-Start;sid=uat PyV9-gjlPUxwo6HVFwhBwahpn-XnwTyA=?CategoryName=cpu _VAIONotebookComputers_TXSeries&Dept=computers

Carbon Fiber, same specs, goes on sale here next week - no Korean required.

• One 1995½ Kia Sportage slightly used (and actually off road like it was designed for)
• One Sony Car Discman cassette adapter
• My choice of a buddy's iPod, a laptop, CD player, or even my CB radio

That wouldn't be backwards compatibility would it? It would be compatibility with a completely different system.

Architecturally, the GBA is "a completely different system" from the GBC, but the GBA can play GB and GBC games. Nintendo also sold an adapter to let the Super NES play 99% of GB games and one to let the GameCube play 99% of GB, GBC, and GBA games.

How many games designed for a 4:3 TV screen would even be usable on a 16:9 handheld

The Game Boy Advance (3:2 display) in both its original and SP iterations can run games for Game Boy and Game Boy Color system (10:9 display) out of the box; by default, it draws a black border around the screen.

with a different control scheme?

The only thing that the PSP lacks vs. the PS1 digital controller is that L2 and R2 are missing. Sure, Ape Escape and other PS1 games that require both analog sticks wouldn't work, but those are few and far between because publishers wanted to target those who bought the PS1 in the first two years before Sony packed in the Dual Shock controller.

Does the DS play N64 games? Or Gamecube games? No. It plays

...most NES and many Super NES games, with a PassMe adapter and a GBA flash card. And unlike Sony, Nintendo doesn't play the cat-and-mouse firmware upgrade game.

Sony doesn't have any previous handhelds.

I beg your pardon?

I do think that GBA compatibility is an advantage of the DS, but as a GBA owner, it doesn't make me want to buy a DS.

If you buy a Nintendo DS, you can carry one device to play your DS games and your GBA games, unlike a GBA SP/PSP combination. This parallels the PSP fanboy argument that if you buy a PSP, you can carry one device to play your PSP games and your MP3 music, unlike a Nintendo DS/iPod Shuffle combination.

Unless there are good DS-only games, why should I upgrade?

There are good DS-only games.

I patiently await your rebuttal of the alleged FUD.

If I say I have a Sony Vaio, at least you'll know that I have a laptop.

I will?

http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio

I wasn't at the event but I have listened to the audio recording.

Basically it is just a technology demonstrator from BBC R&D. Maybe someone is indeed using it to assess possible market interest but I can't see the BBC making it.

Allowing the selection of what to watch by browing/searching the EPG is also nothing particularly special.

If TV-Anytime really gets going - then the MetaData broadcast with the programmes would allow much more elaborate selection of what to watch and automatic selection of what to delete.

Didn't Sony announce something like this a year ago some ago - their Type X with up to 7 TV cards?
Announced in May 2004 and I htikn shipped in November 2004
(in Japanese)
http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Style-a/Product/X/
and
http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/VGX-X90P/

and English write up here:
http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/179/sony_monster _vaio

OK - so it wasn't to record an entire digital multiplex 24*7 - but Linux distributions with Digital TV support can take 6 cards.

If the splitting of the entire mux into the channels or even programmes is being done in real-time (it might not be) then they could easily discard certain channels (kids, music etc).

h.ear by Sony are very comfortable. They sound good, though not the same level as some super hi-fidelity headphones, but for ear buds, they are nice.

Sony can lower prices on Memory sticks. I mean, come on $75 for a 256MB memory card? (http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinit y/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation- Start?ProductSKU=MSXM256N&DCMP=CJ_DF&HQS=ST_MSXM25 6N) I can pick up a 1GB high-speed SD card for $65! (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?DEPA=0& Item=20-163-152&ATT=Memory+Flash+Memory+&CMP=OTC-d ealram)

This seems inevitable as the Aibo's WiFi and webcam would seem to provide a physical network layer for ingress and an interesting target for crackers (virus-laden downloads are another means of infection).

I can just imagine Aibo spyware that relays webcam shots to who-ever. Owners will need to think twice the next time their Aibo wanders into the bathroom or bedroom.

Time to start thinking about how to deworm the Aibo.

Probably more like:

1. Sony with both media and hardware divisions has mixed interests over the intellectual property debate.

2. Tighter DRM which would, in theory, reduce piracy to some extent but has probably very little negative effect on actual sales numbers. In fact tighter restrictions could actually cause Sony Music to lose sales in certain demographics, such as "people who have MP3 players" which at last count is a decent market.

3.Looser DRM restrictions overall would help push hardware sales, particularilly in this category.

4. Eroding the image that large corporations (or at least Sony) really don't care about the consumer which in these times of anti-corporate feelings, especially among the youth, will cause people to identify positively with your brand image.

5. More overall sales for the corporation.

6. ???

7. Profit!!!

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity /eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-S tart?ProductSKU=SRFM97&Dept=audio&CategoryName=pa_ Walkman_RadioWalkman

There. Alot cheaper than an iPod if you want shitty FM radio so bad.

Go listen to your Clear Channel

I went with a sony Palm os clie, sj22.

http://sonyelectronics.sonystyle.com/micros/clie/m odels/sj22.html

It is monocrome, so the battery lasts a long time.

I thought I needed a keyboard, but the onscreen kb worked fine for the typical 15-30 minute writing sessions. I was surprised at how useful it is. It syncs with palm desk on the PC via IR or usb.

The Philips Velo are also good. They run win CE and have a built-in kb. Also a modem!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate gory=38331&item=5777062126&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

And there is always the analog solution:
http://www.moleskineus.com/pocket.html

"...is this the end of guide dogs?"

You can encode your own movies on the PSP using the MSSW-IC2 software available from Sony. For any other accessories, you can visit here. You can find the 1GB Memory Stick there.

You can encode your own movies on the PSP using the MSSW-IC2 software available from Sony. For any other accessories, you can visit here. You can find the 1GB Memory Stick there.

In a market the size of Columbus, Ohio, I am served by Time Warner. I am the 30th installation, and the first in my region (grouped with Columbus). According to the tech who installed my cable card, roll out has been held up since mid-summer 2004 due to glitches, some of which have caused HDTV's to require factory servicing to repair. Even with nine months of delay, the technology is far from being mature and bug free.

With a Scientific Atlanta cable card installed, my TV (Sony KD-34XS955) periodically freezes/locks (it ain't just a Windoze thang) and needs a cold reboot. I am told that the problem can be fixed by having Sony come and install a firmware update for my set. I am calling them next week.

As a cable provider, can you imagine having to do this for every digital set in your service area? To me, it's no wonder they want a delay. The replacement to set top boxes is just not yet ready for prime time.

-Joe G.

The GF bought a Sony HDTV which of course, the resident geek BF set up. I was amused to see a full printed GPL license in the included paperwork. I gather it uses a GPL-derived photo viewer program to display the content from media inserted into the Sony-proprietary (irony!) Memory Stick slot on the front.

I wonder if should I ask Sony for the source code for the TV.

I searched for some kind of adapter that would plug in the Memory Stick slot and take a Compact Flash card with no joy. There is an adapter that goes the other way, fitting the Memory Stick into CF slot, but the BF hesitates to recommend buying a memory stick just to make the TV happy. *sigh*

iPod Shuffle 512M -- $99
Network Walkman NW-E105 512M -- $99.95

iPod Shuffle 1G -- $150
Network Walkman NW-E107 1G -- $149.95

Did you exclude these on purpose to strengthen your point? These models were mentioned in the article.

iPod Shuffle 512M -- $99
Network Walkman NW-E105 512M -- $99.95

iPod Shuffle 1G -- $150
Network Walkman NW-E107 1G -- $149.95

Did you exclude these on purpose to strengthen your point? These models were mentioned in the article.

Network Walkman(TM) Digital Music Player
NW-E107
US$149.95
- Up to 70 hours of continuous playback on one "AAA" battery
- Backlit LCD Display
- Plays Back in ATRAC3(TM) Audio Format and MP3 Files
- 1GB Built-in Memory
- Compatible with Sony's Connect(TM) Online Music Store

Obviously sony isn't about to challenge the shuffle with a unit running 200 pounds+. Their real shuffle competition is $150 US, has a gig of space, and a display. It needs a AAA battery to run but does NOT have FM radio.

clicky

Well, Sony always had uber-sexy Vaio laptops that made people drool for as long as Apple's Powerbooks. And many other manufacturers have great designs. as well. For instance, LG has nice looking laptops and Fujitsu has some beautiful slate TabletPCs.

Apple has a very strong brand. They can make a white plastic box, slap a logo on it and it will sell. I am not saying that they don't have great design, just that they are only marginally better than designs from other manufacturers. But Apples are perceived to be much more stylish, because Apple is... "different".

Sony makes some nice looking computers. Never owned one, though. And the nicest case for a do-it-yourselfer I've seen is the Lian-Li PC-6070.

Maybe you want to look into low profile CRT then. They aren't QUITE on the market yet, but neither are you, from what I understand. They are cabable of getting a bit larger viewing area than standard CRTs, and have less depth (physically, not colorwise.) They also have better color/contrast/brightness/viewing angle than LCD/Plasma. Of course they will cost a bit more than standard CRTs, but less than LCD/Plasma. I haven't heard anything about how well they hold up, though. Haven't been able to find much info online, just what I heard from a friend who sells TVs for a living, who heard it from a rep (I believe Toshiba, but don't quote me on that.)

Or depending on your definition of big ass TV, you could go with a standard Sony CRT up to 36". True, those are some heavy SOBs, but the tubes will last through anything. If you're looking for a good clean picture, this is the way you probably want to go. If you're looking to impress people, just spend that extra couple thousand dollars you would have spent on flat panel to build up an impressive movie and video game collection, or spend it on a really good sound system.

Seriously, If there is so little room in the house that you NEED flat panel, then you probably won't be able to sit far enough from the screen that you need anything larger than 36". Unless you just want to show people how much disposable cash you have. And if you're looking to impress, girls would probably be more impressed with you spending money on a good set of copper pans and learning how to cook well enough that you can actually use them.

Any Sony Mini Disc owners out there? I'm possibly looking to buy one of those. The high capacity discs (1GB I think) are impressive, not to mention being able to record concerts/rehearsals if you are a musician. Seems like a good alternative music player (at ~$250) that never comes up in the Dell vs. Creative vs. Apple mp3 player discussions.

Please learn how to use links.

Oh, wait, you did. Stupid Slashdot. You probably used the "Extrans" setting. Try "Plain Old Text" next time. Also, use "Preview".

Here is the link: http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity /eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-S tart?ProductSKU=DVPCX985V&Dept=hav&CategoryName=ha v_HiFiComponents_SuperAudioCD

(a) Cell was co-designed by IBM which has an interest in selling workstations etc with that chip, Sony didn't it's not their business

There's a lot of vaio developers that will be unhappy to hear that.

Sure, IBM and Sony both like the Cell CPU a lot. However, IBM likes the PPC chip that Apple uses, and yet it still hasn't a) taken over the world, or even b) been put into use by IBM themselves. Why doesn't IBM use Apple workstations across the enterprise? After all, they make the CPU, and for awhile even made the hard drives. Answer: cause it doesn't run the apps they need, and they don't control enough apps themselves to make the switch. The Cell will suffer the same fate outside of it's dedicated use in the PS3.

Would you buy a new Cell workstation for anything besides PS3 development? What would you run on it if you did? Yellow Dog Linux, maybe? If you're enamored of the PPC, are you more likely to develop for the G5, already with a marketshare, or for the non-existant marketshare of the Cell? Maybe--and this is a big maybe--if you needed a CPU that needed high visualization components. But then I guess you'd go with SGI.

Really, in the mature PC economy of today, I don't see how any new CPU architecture can get a foothold; it's a chicken and egg thing with developers and consumers to support the developers. Even Apple, with a legion of crazy fans (of whom I am one) can just barely sustain itself, not insignificantly due to inertia. If Apple has trouble getting developers to code for their CPU, I just don't see who would develop for a VAIO (or ThinkPad) Cell workstation or laptop, until 1 Million of such units are sold; but who buys them until the developers are there? Gamers, as a PS3--and after Sony sells 100 MIllion, releases a browser and office suite?

XBoxes outselling PS2s? Hmmm, it couldn't be because the PS2 installed base is so large that there aren't many more people to sell to.

XBox 2 before PS3? Clearly the PS3 is doomed, just like the Sega Dreamcast doomed the PS2.

The iPod is killing the Walkman? A clear sign of doom. Hey, I heard that the iPod is also killing 8-tracks! The end of the world is nigh!

And of course, the PSP's failure is the key. Sure, Sony has managed to exist all of these years without a portable system, yet suddenly it's absolutely critical and proof that they're doomed.

We'll see where we are in a year or two, but I'm confident that Sony will be alive and well. Sony will remain profitable. In a worst realistic case scenario Sony might fall to second place in total installed base, but even then it would be a close race.

XBoxes outselling PS2s? Hmmm, it couldn't be because the PS2 installed base is so large that there aren't many more people to sell to.

XBox 2 before PS3? Clearly the PS3 is doomed, just like the Sega Dreamcast doomed the PS2.

The iPod is killing the Walkman? A clear sign of doom. Hey, I heard that the iPod is also killing 8-tracks! The end of the world is nigh!

And of course, the PSP's failure is the key. Sure, Sony has managed to exist all of these years without a portable system, yet suddenly it's absolutely critical and proof that they're doomed.

We'll see where we are in a year or two, but I'm confident that Sony will be alive and well. Sony will remain profitable. In a worst realistic case scenario Sony might fall to second place in total installed base, but even then it would be a close race.

He was comparing the iPod to the Sony Network Walkman, which plays music files off an internal hard disk. The Network Walkman has failed to grab any market- or mindshare from the iPod in North America.

While I agree with most of the parent's post, I think BEAM has a lot of promise when it comes to practical robot design. I would compare it to a Roomba before an AIBO (there's a reason the AIBO costs almost $2k). The BEAM concept focuses on developing specific behaviours/mechanisms to achieve specific goals, and evolving them into more complex systems.

The robosapien is less a humaniod "robot" and more of a bug-bot with two legs and and arms. For a street price of $70, that's not too bad. My only grip with the robosapien is that there are only 3 programmable responses (left bumper, right bumper, and sound), even though it has 7 sensors (6 bumpers + the sound sensor). If one could get a different response to backing into things, then one could program more interesting behaviors. Right now I can get him to walk (slooowwwwllly) around a room, backing up and turning when bumping into objects. It's still a toy, and my 2- and 4-year-olds like to dance with it and make it move around.

As I was reading the above I pictured standing in my living room holding index cards with commands written on them in front of my Robosapien and it reading them and nodding that it understood.

Interestingly, the AIBO ERS-7 does have little cards like this. They're called AIBO Cards, and when you hold them up in front of the AIBO it recognizes them and does things like dance, go to its power station, turn around, etc. I think this sort of recognition needs a little more processing power than the Robosapien has, though.

Specs are here. 1440 x 900. It's the best HDTV picture I have seen. The XBR for $200 more has a DVI-D input, but the HDMI input on my set can take a DVI to HDMI adapter and be used as a PC monitor.

The sharpness, color saturation, and brightness of this set far exceeded anything else being offered on the sales floor of the Best Buy where I found it, and after a visit by a Sony tech to adjust the electron gun focus I wouldn't trade it for any plasma or rear projector I've seen.

Samsung has an LCD that does true 1080P, but from what I understand the panel has problems with brightness, blurring, and contrast ...

CRT technology is completely mature. I don't know that it can get any better, but from my own personal experience it's definitely not a technology that has anything to prove. Granted, my set is a two hundred pound behemoth, but that's a tradeoff I was willing to give for the best picture in the electronics store. :)

Lot's of choices with a little looking.

Must be getting old.

Checking your link, that WEGA is nothing like mine, especially at $2100. Mine is a plain ol' CRT, and cost me $800 new at bestbuy...but according to this my TV is actually heavier then your friends...assuming its still the same TV (I don't think mine has the clear edge chip).

At any rate, I still don't see how weight matters, its not like I move that much.

Ok, i actually own a Sony WEGA 36", and its NOT 250lbs. Its still heavy, weighing in at 100lbs, but lets not over exaggerate here.

Sorry, I meant the Sony WEGA 34" model which, as you can see is spec'd at 194lbs unpacked. Packed it is in the 240-250 range. I know this, because a friend, against my counseling, bought one last month.

A 24 second wait is a throwback to game design 20 years ago . So what gives?

Sony wants you to throw more money at the problem. Let me explain.

When you format a Memory Stick with the PSP itself, you'll not only find it empty afterwards, there are some interesting directories on it. The existence of a games directory strongly suggests that Sony plans to enable users playing games directly off the Memory Stick.

So it would appear that the memory stick will be used for caching content, so the disk drive won't be needed as much. This makes sense since the PSP doesn't seem to have much RAM for a game system that can play with a more than a GB of data on a disk.

- UMD Transfer rate (read): 11Mbps
- Memory Stick Pro Transfer rate (read/write): up to 80 Mbps

So this will work? Yep, if you have a 512MB (or larger) memory stick on hand.
Seeing as how you (and developers) would like to cache as much of a game as possible, the prices on memory sticks are less than encouraging.

Combine that with an external battery pack, and you have a solid and expensive solution to making this thing usable. :(

Sony has a similar idea with LocationFree TV. You get an LCD that can get TV both wirelessly when you're at home, as well as streamed over the Internet when you're not.

press release

SonyStyle store

The inventor has a good idea but Sony beat him to the mass market. Yesterday I was able to configure and test a 12" Sony LocationFree TV. I enjoy setting up and testing other peoples toys. It works with it's own AP, or the in house AP's and over the net. Designed for near Luddites, lots of fun watching your TV from a wireless connection to the internet. Just remember to RTFM and you will be FINE.

Except that hardly any of the sets people have bought from 2000 to 2004 are even true HD. Look, for a little under $4k you can get a Sony that can only display 720 lines. Now, it can take an input of 1080p, but it downscales that signal because the native resolution is only 1386 x 788. I've looked at HDTVs every couple months over the last couple years and balked at TVs last year that only displayed 480 lines but still cost $3k to $4k. This is what everyone has in their living room. Hardly anyone actually has a true HD 1920x1080 TV if they paid less than $5000 for it before June 2004. Only recently have sets of that quality even begun to enter that price range. Even in July 2004 I couldn't find a 1920x1080 TV for much less than $10k.