Ummm. . . the Gamespot article you linked to says US sales are only "down 1 percent compared to the same period in 2003 . . . Worldwide sales of console games rose a total of 5 percent over the same period, despite a small decrease in the US market."
So your arguments are based on a 1% drop in US Sales, and 5% an increase in Global sales? That represents poor videogame sales to you??? You should read the article before you use it to support your argument.
Here's the updated screenshot of the updated UI in the PSX. Seems to have a transparent menus over the TV show you're watching, and these screens show the customizable backgrounds for the menus.
People here seem to forget that Sony has had a major hand in two of the most-used formats around, the first being the 3.5" floppy disk, the other being the CD-ROM which they worked on with Phillips.
Indeed, the DVD is a combination between Matsushita/Toshiba/Time-Warner's SuperDisk and Sony/Philips's Multimedia CD.
As far as SD goes, it's also a proprietary standard created by Matushita/Toshiba/Sandisk, which also incur licensing fees. Today, MemorySticks are already used and made by Samsung/Phillips/Lexar, and even Sandisk. If you want to go with a true non-proprietary standard go with Compact Flash.
More info (in you care): http://www.open-mag.com/features/Vol_17/st orage_st andards/storage_standards.htm
Mileage claims problems can be applied to any car. It merely depends on the way you drive. Unless you drive like EPA examiners you aren't going to get EPA mileage.
I don't own a hybrid, yet I also don't get anywhere near EPA claims also. Maybe due to the fact that, like many of us, I drive like an ass at times.
Sony NEVER said they were going to ship the PS2 with a Hard drive.
You must be thinking of that rumor that Sony was going to add the HDD for the US PS2 in response to the Xbox (when that rumor began the PS2 was already launced in Japan).
Later it was proven to be just a another stupid rumor. You have learn to tell the difference between rumors and actual news.
I'm sure/. Sony-haters have quite to complain about, but the fact is the vast-majority of DVR can't transfer recorded shows from the HDD (only hacked-Tivos and TiVoToGo pay service). This "Type-X" even seems to have a DVD-burner built in to allow you to do that.
In fact, looking back at previous Sony DVR ventures they seem to be no different than any other DVR.
Yes, it plays MP3 files by automatically converting them to Atrac3+ while you are transferring the files onto the device. It's entirely transparent to the user.
The only real benefit of this (from the consumer's perspective) is that the PocketVaio is able to play most file formats (including WMA) because it's stored as ATRAC in the machine.
Think this could be an idea Apple could use for the iPOD, they could just have iTunes autmatically convert WMA files (or any other codec not supported) into AAC so to the avg user thinks that the iPod can play any format.
For the Type U, unlike the Archos the Sony is a touch screen that runs Windows XP. Would you want to navigate XP with iPod or Archos buttons? It would be more convienent to just navigate with a touch screen like a tabletPC or PDA (which this does). Main advantage of running XP is that it can run any codec and any format that Windows can; which is vastly superior to the Archos.
As far as the PocketVaio goes, the iPod competitor uses a system called the "Touch Pad", which is really interesting. So the pad on the right corresponds directly with the 2.2" color screen, much like a touch pad mouse. Seems to be quite effective, but we should reserve judgement until we try it first.
This is actually much bigger than you think. . . in fact it's much bigger than Sony or portables
This Sony Connect actually fits into a larger distro called AnyMusic available in Japan that was created by a cooperation of Japanese consumer electronic firms including Sony. AnyMusic
Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer, Sharp, Onkyo, Marantz, Denon, JVC, and Yamaha plan on creating consumer electronic devices beyond portables that will be comptable with the online distro (using Atrac3 and OpenMG X/Label Gate); also likely the Sony PSP/PS3 will also be compatible as well as other non-sony devices.
>> I think the article says the "drive" (whatever form it takes) will cost a few thousand yen, (around $100?)
Actually, it's more like few tens of dollars, probably around $20-30; 1,000 yen is around $9 (that's taking into consideration the current weak dollar).
Media should be less than a 1$ (it's just plastic after all), and considering that the media can be expanded in capacity seems to make this a great replacement for removable media as you've mentioned.
Obviously not a cometitor to flash media, espesially being that an 1GB SD card costs around $400-500, versus a 1GB info-MICA disk will cost around a $1.
Here is some selected information translated from Japanese Site linked to from the orignal post.
Q. What does Info-MICA stand for: A. Information Multi-layered Imprinted CArd
Q. What are your future goals for capacity? A. Over 10GBs, we have achieved 1.7Gbit/inch^2 per layer in the lab; there will be 100 layers per media. So if we made an SecureDigital (SD) sized media (24mm(W)x32mm(D)x2.1mm(T)) we could achieve 25GB.
Q.What is your target release date for the first devices? A.2005
Q. What is the media made of? A. All Plastic
Q. How much will the Info-Mica media cost. A. Price will vary depending on how many layers, for a a 100 layer media(1GB+) the media should cost 100-200yen (91 cents- $1.82), if the media is mass produced then the cost can fall even lower.
Q. How much will the drive cost? A. Several thousand yen ($1 is around 109 yen).
Q. How much energy will Info-MICA use? A. Couple hundred miliwatts when reading. The goal is to produce a format for devices that was not previously possible to use CD-ROMs due to power consumtion reasons.
Q. What is the read-speed of the device. A. The data transfer rate is directly proportional to the power consumption of the device, hence for portable devices we are aiming for 1.5Mbs but for consumer electronics or automitive Navigation systems where power consumption isn't a problem the data transfer rate can be of course increased accordingly.
What's shocking about this article isn't that S. Korea will be having
100Mbs 7 years from now, it's the $80billion cost.
NTT also plans on having the entire of Japan connected with 100Mbs by
2010 as well. Even though the vast majority of the population
already has 100mbs access.
I'm not sure how much it's going to cost NTT, but I'm sure it's not
$80billion even for a country geographically larger than S. Korea and
with a larger population. Another difference is one company plans on
undertaking the task, not the whole country.
Also, the wireless 4G
standard is also due to be rolled out on 2010, which should also
get 100mbs or more.
The fact is, some parts of Asia and Europe already have these
speeds. The likelyhood is the US will also have 100mbs in
most areas by 2010 as well (America is a whole lot larger than S. Korea
or Japan). Let's ask this question, What was your internet speed
in November of 1996? How much faster is it today?
I'm sure 7 years from now we'll all be having 100Mbs+ speeds on
our
Teraflop 50Ghz Pentium7s with 10 Terabytes of Harddrive space, we'll
all be complaining about how 100Mbs is too slow to download our HDTV
feeds encoded in MPEG7.
NTT and other
companies have already been offering 100Mbs fiberoptic lines to
homes in Japan for quite awhile now.
The best part is it's cheap,
They usually cost a little more than $40 a month.
Of course, it's still twice the price of 12Mbs ADSL lines in Japan like Yahoo
BB who offers 12Mbs speed for $21/month. Most people don't know what to do with 100Mbs anyways.
>> Since you need MANY lira to get a dollar, you know, the DOLLAR is worth MORE. And since you need more than a dollar to get a euro, the euro is worth more
exchange rates arbitrary;
Think about this. .. $1US = 0.60 British Pound 1 British Pound = 1.41 Euros $1US = 120yen
going by YOUR school of economics; Then the British pound is "worth" 66% more than the $USD, and the Japanese yen is "worth" hundreds of times less than US currency. So I guess Japanese money is worthless than? Even though they are the second largest economy in the world? And I guess the British have money that is "worth" 41% more than the rest of the European Union?
For Japan at least the reason that Broadband has caught on is because there is a per minute rate for phone charges, the cost adds up significantly for dial-up connections (imagine if you had to pay 10 cents/minute for every minute that you are online).
In Japan, monthly tolls for 56-Kbps users regularly exceed $90. 12Mbs DSL is $21 a month. A 100Mbs FTTH from NTT is connection is around $43 a month!
1.) To meet SULEV standards, that current Petrol hybrid Toyota, meets you need to make less than 0.5 g/kWh of nitrogen oxides pollutants, for Diesel EuroIV standards that will be enacted in 2005 the minimum is set at 3.5 g/kWh. Most diesels cars on the road don't even meet these EuroIV standards today. Even the best Diesel standards produce six times more nitrogen oxides than the Hybrid cars discussed.
2.) low-sulfur diesels aren't widely available in the US, the country that produces the most pollutants from automobiles in the world.
3.) Bio-diesels are great but aren't available almost anywhere.
4.) 90% of particulate matter produced by diesels are less than 1 micron in size, thse small particles are not easily exhaled, and stay inside the lungs for long periods of time, corroding cells and ultimately leading to tumor growth (http://www.vpirg.org/campaigns/environmentalHealt h/dieselExhaust.html).
Diesals are cheap, so if you only care about saving money it's a good alternative, BUT if you care about the enviroment it's far worse than petrol and hybrid alternatives.
It is true that modern diesel engines produce a lot less carbon dioxide than before, so some people claim diesels are enviromentally friendly, but diesels produce much more of smog-forming nitrogen oxides and toxic particulate matter (or soot) into the air we breathe than petrol counterparts. These particles, because they are small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs, can cause or exacerbate a variety of serious health problems.
Even with the EuroIV(2005) and EuroV(2008) regulations, diesels are still much larger pollutants than petrol engines, and release more arsenic, lead, sulfur, and other particulate matter into the enviroment.
Here some other Linux based Sony products (which they call Cocoon).
Sony's Linux initiative seems to be based on broadband content delivery.
CSV-E77
is basically the older version of currently discussed machine. It
offers PVR capabilities on 320GB storage(on two 160GB drives), but is
only around $500
NDR-XR1
is also a standard PVR, but it comes with built in DVD burner for
backing up the videos you took.
CSV-P500
is what Sony calls a "Channel Server" it's a standard PVR, but it comes
with an interesting feature where you can call home and program your
PVR via a telephone line.
NAV-E900
is an interenet enabled home sound system, it allows you to download
content from online and play them on your system. Also it can
communicate with NetMD. It will also rip all your CDs for you and
store on it's internal 160GB Harddrive so you don't have to put it in
again. You can view all your stored content through a menu driven
interface that is outputed
to your TV.
Slashdot Mirror
Ummm. . . the Gamespot article you linked to says US sales are only "down 1 percent compared to the same period in 2003 . . . Worldwide sales of console games rose a total of 5 percent over the same period, despite a small decrease in the US market."
So your arguments are based on a 1% drop in US Sales, and 5% an increase in Global sales? That represents poor videogame sales to you??? You should read the article before you use it to support your argument.
Here's the updated screenshot of the updated UI in the PSX. Seems to have a transparent menus over the TV show you're watching, and these screens show the customizable backgrounds for the menus.
Screenshot
Screenshot
ScreenshotPSX Official Site(in Japanese)
People here seem to forget that Sony has had a major hand in two of the most-used formats around, the first being the 3.5" floppy disk, the other being the CD-ROM which they worked on with Phillips.
t orage_st andards/storage_standards.htm
Indeed, the DVD is a combination between Matsushita/Toshiba/Time-Warner's SuperDisk and Sony/Philips's Multimedia CD.
As far as SD goes, it's also a proprietary standard created by Matushita/Toshiba/Sandisk, which also incur licensing fees. Today, MemorySticks are already used and made by Samsung/Phillips/Lexar, and even Sandisk. If you want to go with a true non-proprietary standard go with Compact Flash.
More info (in you care):
http://www.open-mag.com/features/Vol_17/s
Mileage claims problems can be applied to any car. It merely depends on the way you drive. Unless you drive like EPA examiners you aren't going to get EPA mileage.
I don't own a hybrid, yet I also don't get anywhere near EPA claims also. Maybe due to the fact that, like many of us, I drive like an ass at times.
This is clearly a stupid statement.
These specs are there for developers, how the hell can you develop a game if Sony is going to change it a week before.
Sony NEVER said they were going to ship the PS2 with a Hard drive.
You must be thinking of that rumor that Sony was going to add the HDD for the US PS2 in response to the Xbox (when that rumor began the PS2 was already launced in Japan).
Later it was proven to be just a another stupid rumor. You have learn to tell the difference between rumors and actual news.
Here are some additional links with pictures in case of /. effect:
Gamespot
GameAsylum
IGN PSP
Reuters
and info about Movies and Music on the PSP
I'm sure /. Sony-haters have quite to complain about, but the fact is the vast-majority of DVR can't transfer recorded shows from the HDD (only hacked-Tivos and TiVoToGo pay service). This "Type-X" even seems to have a DVD-burner built in to allow you to do that.
In fact, looking back at previous Sony DVR ventures they seem to be no different than any other DVR.
Yes this device does video. . .
to be more specific there are two models:
One that plays only music and displays JPEGs and another that plays video
Picture of the interface if anyone's interested
Link to main article in Japanese
For those of you interested about the user interface:
Here& Here
More picture of "Type X":
Link
Link 2
Thing also seems to have a DVD-burner: Pictured Here
More links (in Japanese)
Watch Impress Japan
Yes, it plays MP3 files by automatically converting them to Atrac3+ while you are transferring the files onto the device. It's entirely transparent to the user.
The only real benefit of this (from the consumer's perspective) is that the PocketVaio is able to play most file formats (including WMA) because it's stored as ATRAC in the machine.
Think this could be an idea Apple could use for the iPOD, they could just have iTunes autmatically convert WMA files (or any other codec not supported) into AAC so to the avg user thinks that the iPod can play any format.
For the Type U, unlike the Archos the Sony is a touch screen that runs Windows XP. Would you want to navigate XP with iPod or Archos buttons? It would be more convienent to just navigate with a touch screen like a tabletPC or PDA (which this does). Main advantage of running XP is that it can run any codec and any format that Windows can; which is vastly superior to the Archos.
As far as the PocketVaio goes, the iPod competitor uses a system called the "Touch Pad", which is really interesting. So the pad on the right corresponds directly with the 2.2" color screen, much like a touch pad mouse. Seems to be quite effective, but we should reserve judgement until we try it first.
This is actually much bigger than you think. . . in fact it's much
bigger than Sony or portables
This Sony Connect actually fits into a larger distro called AnyMusic available in Japan that was
created by a cooperation of Japanese consumer electronic firms including Sony. AnyMusic
Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer, Sharp, Onkyo, Marantz, Denon, JVC, and Yamaha
plan on creating consumer electronic devices beyond portables that will
be comptable with the online distro (using Atrac3 and OpenMG X/Label
Gate); also likely the Sony PSP/PS3 will also be compatible as well as
other non-sony devices.
Here are some devices that support the format:
Pioneer
X-AM1
Kenwood
Sony
NetJuke (40GB HDD)
Demos:
Corporate
CE
screenshot
>> I think the article says the "drive" (whatever form it takes) will cost a few thousand yen, (around $100?)
Actually, it's more like few tens of dollars, probably around $20-30; 1,000 yen is around $9 (that's taking into consideration the current weak dollar).
Media should be less than a 1$ (it's just plastic after all), and considering that the media can be expanded in capacity seems to make this a great replacement for removable media as you've mentioned.
Obviously not a cometitor to flash media, espesially being that an 1GB SD card costs around $400-500, versus a 1GB info-MICA disk will cost around a $1.
Here is some selected information translated from Japanese Site linked to from the orignal post.
Q. What does Info-MICA stand for:
A. Information Multi-layered Imprinted CArd
Q. What are your future goals for capacity?
A. Over 10GBs, we have achieved 1.7Gbit/inch^2 per layer in the lab; there will be 100 layers per media. So if we made an SecureDigital (SD) sized media (24mm(W)x32mm(D)x2.1mm(T)) we could achieve 25GB.
Q.What is your target release date for the first devices?
A.2005
Q. What is the media made of?
A. All Plastic
Q. How much will the Info-Mica media cost.
A. Price will vary depending on how many layers, for a a 100 layer media(1GB+) the media should cost 100-200yen (91 cents- $1.82), if the media is mass produced then the cost can fall even lower.
Q. How much will the drive cost?
A. Several thousand yen ($1 is around 109 yen).
Q. How much energy will Info-MICA use?
A. Couple hundred miliwatts when reading. The goal is to produce a format for devices that was not previously possible to use CD-ROMs due to power consumtion reasons.
Q. What is the read-speed of the device.
A. The data transfer rate is directly proportional to the power consumption of the device, hence for portable devices we are aiming for 1.5Mbs but for consumer electronics or automitive Navigation systems where power consumption isn't a problem the data transfer rate can be of course increased accordingly.
Not all Cisco routers are made by Flextronics. In fact, Cisco has a wide range of suppliers. Flextronics is just one of them.
More importantly, XBox is better known publicly.
>>Flextronics Semiconductor(a division of Flextronics, the contract manufacturer possibly best known for its production of many Cisco products).
m l
Flextronics would actually be best known for being the main manufacter of the Microsoft Xbox.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.11/flex.ht
What's shocking about this article isn't that S. Korea will be having 100Mbs 7 years from now, it's the $80billion cost.
NTT also plans on having the entire of Japan connected with 100Mbs by 2010 as well. Even though the vast majority of the population already has 100mbs access.
I'm not sure how much it's going to cost NTT, but I'm sure it's not $80billion even for a country geographically larger than S. Korea and with a larger population. Another difference is one company plans on undertaking the task, not the whole country.
Also, the wireless 4G standard is also due to be rolled out on 2010, which should also get 100mbs or more.
The fact is, some parts of Asia and Europe already have these speeds. The likelyhood is the US will also have 100mbs in most areas by 2010 as well (America is a whole lot larger than S. Korea or Japan). Let's ask this question, What was your internet speed in November of 1996? How much faster is it today?
I'm sure 7 years from now we'll all be having 100Mbs+ speeds on our Teraflop 50Ghz Pentium7s with 10 Terabytes of Harddrive space, we'll all be complaining about how 100Mbs is too slow to download our HDTV feeds encoded in MPEG7.
NTT and other companies have already been offering 100Mbs fiberoptic lines to homes in Japan for quite awhile now.
The best part is it's cheap,
They usually cost a little more than $40 a month.
Of course, it's still twice the price of 12Mbs ADSL lines in Japan like Yahoo BB who offers 12Mbs speed for $21/month. Most people don't know what to do with 100Mbs anyways.
>> Since you need MANY lira to get a dollar, you know, the DOLLAR is worth MORE. And since you need more than a dollar to get a euro, the euro is worth more
.
exchange rates arbitrary;
Think about this. .
$1US = 0.60 British Pound
1 British Pound = 1.41 Euros
$1US = 120yen
going by YOUR school of economics;
Then the British pound is "worth" 66% more than the $USD, and the Japanese yen is "worth" hundreds of times less than US currency. So I guess Japanese money is worthless than? Even though they are the second largest economy in the world? And I guess the British have money that is "worth" 41% more than the rest of the European Union?
I'm sure even you know the flaw in your logic.
Relative exchange rates don't determine the "worth" of a currency.
T RL&c= 0
By that logic the Turkish Lira is worth millions more than either the Euro or the dollar;
Right now,
1$ US = 1,387,000.0000 Turkish Lira
link;
http://finance.yahoo.com/m5?a=1&s=USD&t=
For Japan at least the reason that Broadband has caught on is because there is a per minute rate for phone charges, the cost adds up significantly for dial-up connections (imagine if you had to pay 10 cents/minute for every minute that you are online).
e am .html
In Japan, monthly tolls for 56-Kbps users regularly exceed $90. 12Mbs DSL is $21 a month. A 100Mbs FTTH from NTT is connection is around $43 a month!
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.08/pipedr
Here are the facts:
t h/dieselExhaust.html).
1.) To meet SULEV standards, that current Petrol hybrid Toyota, meets you need to make less than 0.5 g/kWh of nitrogen oxides pollutants, for Diesel EuroIV standards that will be enacted in 2005 the minimum is set at 3.5 g/kWh. Most diesels cars on the road don't even meet these EuroIV standards today. Even the best Diesel standards produce six times more nitrogen oxides than the Hybrid cars discussed.
2.) low-sulfur diesels aren't widely available in the US, the country that produces the most pollutants from automobiles in the world.
3.) Bio-diesels are great but aren't available almost anywhere.
4.) 90% of particulate matter produced by diesels are less than 1 micron in size, thse small particles are not easily exhaled, and stay inside the lungs for long periods of time, corroding cells and ultimately leading to tumor growth (http://www.vpirg.org/campaigns/environmentalHeal
Diesals are cheap, so if you only care about saving money it's a good alternative, BUT if you care about the enviroment it's far worse than petrol and hybrid alternatives.
It is true that modern diesel engines produce a lot less carbon dioxide than before, so some people claim diesels are enviromentally friendly, but diesels produce much more of smog-forming nitrogen oxides and toxic particulate matter (or soot) into the air we breathe than petrol counterparts. These particles, because they are small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs, can cause or exacerbate a variety of serious health problems.
Even with the EuroIV(2005) and EuroV(2008) regulations, diesels are still much larger pollutants than petrol engines, and release more arsenic, lead, sulfur, and other particulate matter into the enviroment.
Here some other Linux based Sony products (which they call Cocoon).
Sony's Linux initiative seems to be based on broadband content delivery.
CSV-E77 is basically the older version of currently discussed machine. It offers PVR capabilities on 320GB storage(on two 160GB drives), but is only around $500
NDR-XR1 is also a standard PVR, but it comes with built in DVD burner for backing up the videos you took.
CSV-P500 is what Sony calls a "Channel Server" it's a standard PVR, but it comes with an interesting feature where you can call home and program your PVR via a telephone line.
NAV-E900 is an interenet enabled home sound system, it allows you to download content from online and play them on your system. Also it can communicate with NetMD. It will also rip all your CDs for you and store on it's internal 160GB Harddrive so you don't have to put it in again. You can view all your stored content through a menu driven interface that is outputed to your TV.