Reluctant to update your PSP to the latest firmware? You may want to reconsider. The latest firmware offers PSP users the ability to access T-Mobile’s wi-fi service for free. T-Mobile HotSpots can be found at over 8,000 locations across the US, and can be found in Starbucks, Borders, FedEx Kinko’s, Hyatt, Red Roof Inns, Sofitel and Novotel Hotels, and select airports. Now, you’ll be able to frag friends through Infrastructure almost anywhere in the US … for free! How sweet is that?I went to a Starbucks to test it out, and found the process is quite easy:
- Bring your PSP® system to a location that provides a T-Mobile HotSpot. (Refer to the T-Mobile HotSpot U.S. Location Map.)
- Select
(Network Settings) under 
(Settings).
- Select [Infrastructure Mode].
- Select [New Connection].
- Select [Use Wireless Hotspot].
- Select the T-Mobile HotSpot icon.
- If you have an existing T-Mobile HotSpot account, select [Enter User Credentials].
Enter your user ID and password, and then press the right button.
or
If you do not have an account, select [Use Promotional Access] to sign up for a complimentary six-month T-Mobile HotSpot account. (To qualify for this promotional access, you must authenticate your PSP® system to the T-Mobile HotSpot network prior to March 28, 2008.)
- Check the contents of the settings list.
- Save the settings.
Sony’s looking to make their latest PSP firmware upgrade, version 3.30, too appetizing for all the homebrew users out there to pass up. In addition to officially sanctioned (albeit tempermental) full resolution video support, Sony has upped the ante by offering 3.30 users 6-months of complimentary access to T-Mobile WiFi HotSpots, available at over 8000 locations across the US including Starbucks, Borders, FedEx Kinko’s, Hyatt, Red Roof Inns, Sofitel and Novotel Hotels, and select airports. Yeah, for free.
To access the service, follow this guide. Have an innate distrust of guides? We’ll condense it for you: turn on your PSP within range of a T-Mobile HotSpot, select the T-Mobile HotSpot icon under Network Settings, select [Use Promotional Access] if you ain’t got an account already, and then get your game on! Now, if only more PSP games supported Infrastructure mode.
Took quite a while, but finally it’s here. The Sony PSP Firmware 3.40 first appeared in Korea, and was later rolled out to Japan. Well, we already got quite a glimpse of the changelog from both Asian official sites, but here’s a more English-friendly translation What’s new in PSP FW 3.40? Thought you’d never ask…
Game
- New for 3.40: Support for PLAYSTATION Network titles has been expanded.
- New for 3.40: Saved data from PlayStation format software can now be used on both PSP and PS3 systems.
- New for 3.40: [Certificate Utility] was deleted.
- Information that was displayed in [Certificate Utility] can be checked by the following method.
- Select the icon of the game you want to display information for, press the button, and then select [Information] from the options menu.
- New for 3.30: Support for Playstation Network titles has been expanded.
Network
- New for 3.30: Support for thumbnail images of items has been added under [RSS Channel].
Video
- New for 3.30:Support for thumbnail images of videos that are stored in the “VIDEO” folder of Memory Stick Duo media has been added.
- New for 3.30:The following types of files can now be played in the “VIDEO” folder.
- – MPEG-4/H.264 AVC Main Profile (AVC CABAC) video files of the following sizes: 720 X 480, 352 X 480, or 480 X 272
- *Depending on the data type, some files cannot be played.
Settings
- New for 3.30: [Use Wireless Hotspot] has been added as a feature under [Network Settings].
As we have previously mentioned, this PSP Firmware 3.40 has already been decrypted. To reiterate what we have said in an update of the South Korean site article, “apparently, the keys haven’t changed - this means that Team C+D’s decrypter for firmware 3.30 will work on FW 3.40.” Unfortunately there have been no other specific updates regarding this, and while there hasn’t been anything yet, just sit tight and click on the download link below.
Download: Sony PSP Firmware 3.40 (US)
GOOGLE POWERED MULTIMEDIA SEARCH
This thing does
Info:
For some reason, this tool is not working 100%. Everytime I do a search, all I see is a standard google start page. But when I hit the back button of my browser (Firefox) and do he search again, everything works fine.
Supported files:
Audio: mp3, mp4, wav, wma
Video: mp4
Archive: zip, rar, tar and gz
Torrent
Iso Images: iso, cso,eboot
After a long wait, Team M33 has released the long awaited custom firmware 3.80 M33. This release brings the changes found in the official 3.80 Sony firmware, including internet radio, but it also brings the ability to run homebrew applications and backed up ISO games. One of the coolest features added to 3.80 M33 is the ability to upgrade your PSP using the Network Update functionality of the XMB menu. This means that you will no longer have to follow M33 upgrading guides, as everything will be handled by the automatic system.
Visit Dark_Alex’s website to download 3.80 M33 and see it’s included readme.txt file.
Visit qj.net for complete release information.
3.80 M33 Requirements
- Memory Stick
- PSP running 3.52 M33-3 or above
3.80 M33 Change Log
- HEN core: user mode can load now signchecked files from flash.
- Recovery: flash1 format will create flash1 directories after format.
- This could fix some flash1 issues with the previous versions.
- Network update from dark-alex.org page. By default is enabled. You can turn it off in recovery (when off, network update will download sony updates as usual).
- Nids resolver for various kernel libraries.
Looks like Sony tried to slip us one in their latest PSP Firmware update. Sure it’s got a new memory saving mode for the PSP’s web browser and support for new PlayStation Network games, but what they didn’t tell you is that for homebrew fans Firmware 3.10 will secretly brick your PSP. Anyone out there install the new update?
PSP Firmware 3.1 Hits [Kotaku]
Sony reveals new details for BD-Live Interactivity.
Sony kicked off its CES conference today with some big news highlighting several planned BD-Live interactive features coming to Blu-ray in 2008. During an interactive demo on the show floor, Sony revealed a series of interactive features currently planned for the BD-Live networking capabilities.
The first feature previewed was one that would allow viewers to send ringtones to their personal mobile phones, including content from the movie itself. Viewers could extract lines of dialogue from the movie or other audio clips.
More excitingly revealed was that Sony is planning select Blu-ray titles that will include a version of the film encoded for the PSP, thus making the film portable. However, Sony didn’t announce a planned release date or titles that will include this new feature.
Stay tuned for more details on this hot new development.
An official ISO loader has been found in the latest Sony PSP firmware updates (both 3.50 and 3.51). The file, np9660.prx, has been presumed to run downloaded PSP games (the encrypted ISO image) off of a memory stick.
The presence of the ISO loader may not be significant on its own, but the speculation is that it may be the first steps for a games-on-demand service where full PSP titles (not just PlayStation One emulations) will be made available for download and play, sans UMD. It’s an interesting possibility but at this point just rumors and speculation.
One of the great things about the PSP is the awesome ability to use a web browser at any wifi spot you encounter. Well sometimes I want to see Youtube content to a freind but the PSP has a VERY old version of flash and because of this Youtube does not work under normal circumstances.
Now there is a way to view all you favorite Youtube videos on the go. A new site that has launched, and is still in beta actually, is set to make thing alot easier for the PSP user.
The only drawback is that you still need a PC to do this, yeah I know it sucks, but it is a step in the right direction.
Here is how to watch all you favorite YouTube vids on the go.
- Find a video you want to watch, in this case I will point to a video I made of me playing Outrun 2006 on a dual monitor setup direct feed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTkazvfVtLk (yes I know I suck LOL)
- Go to http://vixy.net/ and copy and paste the URL (web address) into the provided space
- Select the mp4 format (iPod/PSP)
- Hit the convert button and wait for the conversion to take place
- when it is done you will be taken to a download page, but the PSP can not download these videos with the URLs this site spits out, so we use a trick go to http://lix.in/ and copy and paste the download link into the space provided, you can’t miss it… no I mean it, and hit “Protect Link”
- you now have a short PSP freindly url you can use on the PSP web browser to download the newly converted video
- click all links needed to get back to the download page and hit save on the PSP and then make sure you save to the /VIDEO folder of your PSP
- after a bit of a download your video is now on you PSP memory stick ready to watch anywhere you take you psp to
Enjoy your new ability to take Youtube with you on your PSP
Stuff magazine is running a rumor item on the possibility of an upcoming Aibo, the robotic dog, working with the Playstation Portable and Playstation 3. The rumor goes that the Sony Aibo PS, as they call it, is being resuscitated by Sony’s Playstation division in an attempt to "bolster the PS3’s arsenal."
The Aibo PS will appear with its own avatar within Home and react in the real world as he does in the PS3’s upcoming interactive environment, according to the article. The rumor article goes on to say that you will be able to download new personalities for the dog from the Playstation Network and that the dog will be fully controllable using a PSP via WiFi. The dog’s head camera will send a real world vid feed to the PSP’s screen as well. The Dpad will control walking movement and the four main buttons will deal with head movement, which seems odd.
The Stuff folks rate this rumor as having a 53 percent probability. Seems like a cool concept, but I wonder if there’s the market for it to hit the real world. Who am I kidding? A remote control dog that can send live video from its head, sign me up for a baker’s dozen.
