Christopher

Well, if you’ve been a faithful Sony Insider reader, the NW-X1000 Touchscreen Walkman series is no stranger to you. We predicted its debut, and slowly the details of the most feature-rich portable music player Sony has ever released came together. Sony Japan has finally acknowledged the existence of the X-Series Walkman by noting that Japanese consumers will be able to purchase a NW-X1050 (16gb; 40,000y) or a NW-X1060 (32gb; 50,000y) on April 25th. The Japanese Touchscreen Walkman will have the ability to receive broadcast TV signals. There has also been acknowledgment of a new and previously unannounced red color (that we predicted) and a special Japanese-only ‘Black Ice’ color only available at Sony Style Japan. All of the pictures in this post are super high resolution so click on them for a better view. Sony Japan’s promotional introduction video: Battery life (you can make estimates based on your usage): Music: 33 hours (MP3 128kbps. Noise-canceling functionality, Equalizer, VPT, Clear Stereo, DSEE, wireless LAN, “off”) Video: 9 hours (MPEG-4 384kbps. Noise-canceling functionality, wireless LAN, “off”, brightness “3″) Wireless web browsing: 4.5 hours (Noise-canceling features “off”, the set brightness “3″) Other details we’ve never seen elsewhere include: Screen has 262,144 colors 5mW output Built-in lithium ion battery, 1.5 hours to get 80% charge, 3 hours for full charge Has same high-quality paint found in certain vehicles (meant to appear like ore) Music, Photos and Video can all be drag n’ dropped into the player Excellent information about browser capabilities (will be covered in a separate post) Wallpaper is customizable, screen has 240×432 resolution Can split video in detail in minutes and seconds by simply specifying the interval, to find the scene you want. Easy and fast text input prediction capabilities Three modes for noise cancelling (bus train / plane / room) Digital noise cancelling without music playback The ability to download recorded programs from Sony BDZ-X95/X100/A750/A950 Blu-ray/DVR units Here’s a picture of the red model: ..and the Sony Style Japan exclusive “Black Ice” model (aluminum frame, special mirror coating): Related posts: Our Leak Was True: Sony Releases NWZ-X1050/1060 Touchscreen WalkmanNetwork Walkman NW-S700F/S600 to Debut on October 21/November 18 in JapanSony Japan Releases Sonicstage V (aka Sonicstage 5) View the full article

After around 3 weeks of good use of W202 player, I think it is time that I share some insights, likes and dislikes of this interesting wearable Walkman. Also check out the pictorial and the video below! My main reason of owning this piece of technology was the simplicity it offers for an active life style, namely when I work out in a gym, I prefer to have no cords dangling around. I tried the bluetooth way on my Sony Walkman S710 and A820 series, however I had to keep up with charging both headphones and the player and sometimes I would get weird interferences, etc. The idea of having one unit, all in one set turned out to

Discoveries and excitement captured on a digital camera can be shared with others on the spot, using wireless networks and photo-sharing websites. It adds a new dimension of fun to shooting. In the DSC-G3, Sony created a successor to the DSC-G1 that has expanded features and better functionality - at a high cost of nearly $500. Every Sony product is first designed in Sony’s Creative Center, where Sony Design took the time to interview the people behind the DSC-G3. Satoshi Masamitsu Sony Corporation, Creative Center Chief Art Director Noriaki Takagi, Producer and Senior Designer

A lot of times we come across a number of certain terms and marketing branding and really have no idea if there is really a meaning behind it or it is just a gimmicky fancy name. The term Triluminos was first introduced by Sony when they released their first LED (light emitting diodes) TV under QUALIA high end brand. Qualia KDX-46Q005 was a hand assembled TV and also the first in the world to use an LED backlight, which Sony says helps the set deliver a superior picture with truer and richer colors. After 5 years of the first LED introduction to the market Sony released Bravia XBR8 series in 2008 that sport the same Triluminos branding with improved technology (local dimming). Here are 2 great pieces of video that explain in detail how RGB (red, green and blue) LED’s work together to provide the richest colours and deepest contrast available in an LCD today. " type="application/x-shockwave-flash">" /> Closer look at XBR8 series " type="application/x-shockwave-flash">" /> Videos are courtesy of Sony Canada. View the full article

Sony Pictures has acquired all media rights to the previously untitled documentary feature film BY THE PEOPLE: The Election of Barack Obama. The announcement was made today by Steve Bersch, President, SPWAG and Keith Le Goy, President, International Distribution, Sony Pictures Television (SPT). Produced by Edward Norton’s Class 5 Films and directed by Amy Rice (From Ashes) and Alicia Sams (Toots), Obama will be released theatrically in the U.S. by HBO Documentary Films.

Posco, based in Pohang, South Korea, is the world’s second largest steel maker and recently won a steel contract from Sony, becoming the first non-Japanese supplier of the metal to the world’s second-largest consumer electronics maker. The Korean mill will supply electro-galvanized steel to Sony’s overseas factories making LCD televisions. Posco didn’t provide the value of the deal. Posco plans to meet about 10 percent of Sony’s global needs for the product this year and is seeking to expand it to as much as 30 percent after 2010. View the full article

As we all know, Sony is in the middle of yet another restructuring and layoffs/early retirements are happening across the company. However, identifying exactly where the cuts within Sony that are occurring have been a bit of a mystery. The San Diego Business Journal wrote an article recently that speculates that several employees from the 2,000+ at Sony USA headquarters in San Diego, California will face job cuts. Furthermore, the Sony Consumer Sales Company, which managed Sony’s multibillion dollar U.S. consumer sales portfolio, is being eliminated and its president Jay Vandenbree is taking early retirement after 23 years. Rick Clancy, a senior vice president who’s been with Sony for 19 years, is among those taking the company’s buyout offer, and plans to leave by June 1. Rick Clancy has been an enormous supporter of Sony Insider and we are very saddened to be losing such a great ally in the company. The company is combining merchandising functions under a new “Customer Platform” headed by Mike Fasulo, who was chief marketing officer at Sony Electronics, and will report directly to CEO Stan Glasgow, a spokesman confirmed. “What we’re doing is creating a new consumer sales and marketing platform that will encompass sales, marketing, customer service and some other functions,” said Rick Clancy, senior vice president of communications. Another change is that Sony will no longer focus on dividing up sales by region, but will instead focus on national and specialty retailers. “In terms of the major national accounts, there are fewer of them,” said Clancy. “On the other hand, for the specialty accounts we will have to be more nimble in order to fulfill their needs quicker; especially as it relates to selling our products.” Ken Stevens, former VP for the central zone, will be senior vice president for national accounts. And Paul Spitale, former VP for the eastern zone, will be senior vice president for regional and specialty accounts. Dennis McTighe, who was western zone VP, appears to be leaving. View the full article

Sony Ericsson

If you were holding off and waiting for your new Bravia, check out the XBR9 as they finally showed up for pre-order at Sonystyle.com and could be delivered to your home at the end of April. We reported earlier at CES about this line up here. Here are some interesting features that were added to the XBR 9 line: BRAVIA Internet Video is now embedded within the TV itself, so there is no need to get that pricey Bravia Link. BRAVIA

If you currently own a Blu-ray burner (for PC, exotic Sony Japan BD DVR, etc), then you’re finding that these blank

Remember our post on VAIO P update? Well, here are some more deets and hopefully less confusing info. The new and refreshed in specs VAIO P will be in 600 series range and the 700 series will follow up later in the year. Sony has a special model numbering designated to a region where a product is released; therefore the breakdown goes like this: Latin America gets the P610T refresh in the same color spectrum it was originally released: Green, Black (letter Q P610T/Q), Red and White. Brazil get the P630A with the same color variation as mentioned above. USA/Canada will be boasting the following models: Non-SSD (Solid State Drive): VGN-P630A (same colors), VGN-P650T/Q SSD Models: VGN-P688E (same colors), VGN-P698E/Q in Black and VGN-P698E/R in Red as well as high end models VGN-P699E/Q and P699E/R All in all, VAIO P is here to stay at least for the summer/fall seasons. Sorry about no info on the specifications, stay tuned though! Like I said before, more to come! View the full article

Sony Japan has updated their C series of laptops with a strange new design - crocodile skin laptops - certainly something we’ve never seen before. This is another attempt by Sony to cater to the stylish folk out there who want their laptop to match their style. The new CS series are available now for pre-order and this exclusive Vaio Owner Made edition will be available in brown, red, and pink. Sony reproduced the crocodile effect by creating a real bumps and irregularities of textured pattern using plastic. At first, we nearly thought that it was real leather from the pictures. The official model numbers are VGN-CS92DS, VGN-CS92JS, and VGN-CS92XS - should be available on April 18th only in Japan for 104,800Y ($1,024). What do you think about this design? View the full article

Here are three thousand carnations displayed at Sony building in early April in Tokyo, Japan. Carnation production in Japan started in 1909 when a florist brought seeds back from United States; Sony and Japanese around the country are celebrating a century of carnations. For the most part, carnations express love, fascination, and distinction, though there are many variations dependent on color. Light red carnations represent admiration, while dark red denote deep love and affection. White carnations indicate pure love and good luck, while striped symbolise a regret that a love cannot be shared. Pink carnations have the most symbolic and historical significance. According to a Christian legend, carnations first appeared on Earth as Jesus carried the Cross. The Virgin Mary shed tears at Jesus’ plight, and carnations sprang up from where her tears fell. Thus the pink carnation became the symbol of a mother’s undying love. View the full article

Sony says it has signed a $315 million deal to install its digital projectors in all AMC Entertainment theaters. The contract will close the gap between Sony and Texas Instruments in the digital projector market. Texas Instruments has equipped 5,476 screens in North American theaters with its digital light processing projectors. The deal with AMC will increase Sony’s presence to about 5,000 screens. The Sony projectors will be installed beginning in the second quarter this year and continue through 2012. Frank Rash, an AMC senior vice president, said AMC settled on Sony’s 4K technology because “digital cinema gives us a huge opportunity to do 3-D, live broadcasts and playback of live events.” Rick Clancy, Senior VP of Corporate Communications at Sony, has further analysis of this Sony/AMC endeavor. Sony Insider exclusively covered a live, 3D (RealD) theater experience of the 2009 BCS College Football Championship earlier this year. It is a very interesting read and exposes the good, bad, and the ugly of a live 3D experience in its infancy. View the full article

The Cincinnati Reds have chosen Daktronics and Sony Electronics to upgrade the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati with a state-of-the-art, integrated display system featuring Daktronics HD-X light emitting diode (LED) technology and Sony high-definition video production technology. The new system includes a large high-definition LED video display and other LED displays from Daktronics, which are installed and will be operational prior to the start of the 2009 Major League Baseball season. “We are extremely excited to announce the new system delivered by Daktronics and Sony,” said Jennifer Berger, Senior Director of Entertainment, Events and Productions for the Cincinnati Reds. “Working together with these two industry leaders, we’ve put together a system that will provide a great game day experience. Our fans will certainly appreciate the high-definition quality of the images and information we present on the main board and all the other displays within the ballpark. This system will be among the most sophisticated in the sports world.” Each of the ballpark’s 64 luxury suites will feature a 46-inch Sony BRAVIA LCD television connected to a computer running Sony’s StadiumView application. The software allows guests to select multiple HD feeds from many different camera angles from around the ballpark. The club also redesigned its scoreboard control room. In addition to the main HD-X video board measuring approximately 138 feet wide and 39 feet high, two other Daktronics displays are positioned behind left field. A full-color digital display is installed as part of the left field fence, measuring 153 feet wide, and will provide statistics, out-of-town game information, and additional graphics and animation. A digital ribbon board is installed on the left field fascia of the second deck of seating. Other Daktronics displays include digital ribbon boards along the first and third base lines with a total combined length of nearly 630 linear feet. Daktronics and Sony Electronics have begun a relationship that will provide a “best of breed” approach to integrated video, display and scoring systems. Daktronics provides industry-leading scoreboards, LED video, fascia and marquee signage, and Sony provides industry-leading high-definition broadcast and production equipment and LCD displays. “Our work with the Reds is a model for our future stadium and sports venue deals,” said Steve Stubelt, Director of Sony’s Solutions Group. “Teaming with Daktronics adds a critical component of a sports venue system and allows us to give customers a one-stop shopping experience.” View the full article

Entertainment Weekly posted an interesting article recently about resurrecting two very popular movie franchises. Men in Black 3 and Ghostbusters 3 is currently under development, according to Sony distribution president Rory Bruer at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas. It is expected that the full cast of Ghostbusters will return, including Ivan Reitman, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and Dan Aykroyd – as mentors to a new group of Ghostbusters. The Ghostbusters 3 story will be wrriten by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg. Also, apparently screenwriters are being sought for Men in Black 3, and it is unclear as to if Will Smith will return to the franchise to round out the trilogy. View the full article

Sony has yet to alter its provisions in its forecast to reflect a new tax law revision, which may point to a smaller loss for FY08. The change is definitely in Sony’s favor, which predicted a 150 billion yen/$1.5 billion net loss. The new law change allows dividends paid by foreign units of Japanese businesses to be exempt from taxation. Bloomberg reports, “Companies in Japan typically include provisions for these taxes in their annual results. It’s unclear how much of the 90 billion yen in provisions Sony set aside last fiscal year can be added back to its books. View the full article

We mentioned just a week or so ago that a new HD pocket friendly camcorder is about to be released and Sony followed up with an official press release of Sony HDR-TG5V. The design of this newly announced camcorder has not changed much since we saw HDR-TG1 but the internals got a few extra kicks like 16GB of flash memory (holds more than six hours of high definition video footage (LP mode) ), embedded GPS, minimal buttons and a new intuitive user interface for the touch-panel LCD. The camcorder’s built-in GPS antenna and NAVTEQ

Rolly owners in the US….your prayers have been heard! A new Rolly firmware 2.0 and Rolly Remote software have been released. Once you perform the firmware upgrade, you will be able to do the following with Rolly Remote software: Rolly Remote Software Features The Rolly Remote software makes it possible to establish a Bluetooth connection between the Rolly player and the computer and perform the following Rolly functions from the computer: Open the “Rolly Track List” to view the track titles Select and play music tracks Control the Rolly player movements in conjunction with the music Connect to up to seven Rolly players at the same time Head over to Sony Support page to get the needed files. Anyways, I am off to the upgrade my two Rollies. View the full article

After a whirlwind of discussion, I am proud to announce today that Sony has acquired the exclusive rights to Sony Insider. We couldn’t be happier with Sony’s acquisition of the site and its owners - this is the dream we’ve been dreaming since the site was created. The primary goal of Sony Insider is to create an atmosphere where people can come together in a spirit of teamwork, and exercise to their heart’s desire the ability to influence this brand through their feedback. We will now work for Sony in officially announcing products and controlling the release of information regarding new technology to the general public. At the same time, Sony Insider will continue to deliver a unique evaluation of the Sony brand that assists consumers in selecting Sony products. Sony has selected Sony Insider as an official media-centric website that inspires a sense of community to Sony users. Expect more exclusive interviews with people relevant to what’s current in the Sony experience and product line. Our relationship is going to change the entire thought process behind consumer and corporate interaction. With a bigger budget and an official backing, we are proud to be working with Sony at such an exciting time in the Consumer Electronics atmosphere. Thank you Sony for making our dreams come true. View the full article

Soundville Tests is Sony’s next big advertising campaign which is based on some quite impressive large scale experiments with audio technology. We covered the campaign in an earlier posting, and through our contacts we were able to obtain an exclusive picture of the warehouse in Iceland where the footage is being shot. Sony Europe also released a strange teaser video of the location, which seems to be quite eery in appearance. Any of our Icelandic readers recognize anything in the pictures or video? " type="application/x-shockwave-flash">" /> View the full article

Actually, these pictures are from a recent ebay auction. I don't think I would have these in my home..lol

Google has started a free online music service in China offering songs by artists including U2, Beyonce and Kanye West in a market with almost 300 million Internet users. The service allows users to download and save songs from Warner Music Group Corp., Sony Corp., Universal Music Group, EMI Group Ltd., and 140 other independent labels, Google said in a statement distributed at a briefing in Beijing. Google’s service, which is also being provided in cooperation with Chinese music Web site Top100, currently has 350,000 songs available for download. That number will be increased to 1.1 million recordings, Gary Chen, chief executive officer of Top100.cn, said at a briefing. Google’s music offering rivals services provided by Baidu.com Inc., which has more than double the market share of the Mountain View, California-based company in China. The record companies will get a share of revenue from advertising sold on the music Web site, generating sales for them in a market where 99 percent of all downloads are illegal, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Read more about this new service at Bloomberg. View the full article

In 1972, Sony released one of its most unique products ever: bongo-like loudspeakers. They were omni-directional, too, with six speakers placed around the perimeter of the 60cm high walnut enclosure for 360

Soundville Tests is Sony’s next big advertising campaign which is based on some quite impressive large scale experiments with audio technology. Sony has released a couple of teaser clips showing off some of the content they are currently filming in Iceland. The trailers are somewhat interesting but it’s hard to gain a sense of what exactly we’re expecting here. One video has an amazing array of more than a hundred speakers on a wall with Nine Inch Nails-esque audio pumping in the background. Another video shows some professional audio equipment and then transitions to a dramatic zoom of a tea cup, and then shows what may be the contents of the cup bouncing up and down due to the intense volume. Are they trying to blow up the tea cup? Is this going to be Dr. Sony and Mr. Hyde with audio? ">" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"> Every Sony commercial I’ve seen at this scale is usually impressive (e.g. Bravia), but what are they trying to push here? It can’t be just one audio product - it must be an overall statement towards Sony audio. Unfortunately, we’re not allowed to share too much info at the moment, since it will officially be released in a couple of months. ">" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"> The pictures we’ve come across are equally as perplexing as the videos, but at least indicate that they have made some very elaborate sets for this campaign. I wonder what they are going to do with all of those stand-up speakers that usually come bundled with home theater units. Another picture shows an underwater speaker, which I’m surprised to see as usually those won’t work without some type of special casing. Also, how many companies show off teaser trailers of an ad campaign? Hopefully this Soundville campaign won’t disappoint. View the full article