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.

Give Sony credit for this one. The PSP now sports VoIP capability, and it’s not from industry standard Skype.

No, Sony has gone with JAJAH on this one, and the result is something that you can get right now on your PSP, with just a few clicks and no software to download. That’s right, the browser handles everything, including taking what little money you’ll have to pay for this service.

As you can see from the photo, the interface is rather familiar-looking and all you have to do is type in the phone number for the call process to initiate.

What’s more, Sony is promising to retrofit its other gaming consoles to reflect the JAJAH partnership.

Sony reveals new details for BD-Live Interactivity.

It is recommended that PSP Blender members do not update their firmware to 3.10 for the time being.
Sony released their PlayStation Portable firmware update, 3.10 and now makes demos even easier to check out.

Sony announced the release of the Sony PSP firmware 3.10. It includes Conserve Memory to optimize your Internet browser to see more data while using less memory. Also included with this firmware update is Dynamic Normalizer in the sound settings allowing automatic volume adjustment settings for playback of music and other audio sources with variable output levels.

Sony is also making it easier to check out their demos. Demos are downloadable at the official Sony PSP site as well as at the PlayStation site.

Some of the demos that can be downloaded are Killzone: Liberation which is a third-person shooter putting players into 16 intense missions to rescue hostages from the evil Helghast. Other demos include Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2, both of which are set for release in the next few weeks.

If everything goes according to play, eyeVio — the new video sharing service launched by Sony — will get bought out by Google, just like YouTube before it. Then again, I don’t think Sony is as willing to sell off portions of its business.

The eyeVio service is scheduled to launch in Japan (only) today, providing users with a space where they can share “my life, your emotion.” Whatever that means.

Videos can be remotely uploaded via portable devices (like cell phones and web-connected PDAs) using the mobile version of the site (m.eyevio.com). On the flip side, videos can be downloaded in PSP-compatible formats for later viewing. They’d probably work on iPods too, but Sony wouldn’t say.

Will this be another PS3? Powerful but with no one caring? Or will it be the killer app to revitalize interest in the PSP? Considering that Japan is currently Nintendo-land, I think it’s pretty safe to draw certain conclusions.

Sony has announced the launch of the Go! Cam, a camera that will allow PSP users to take pictures and videos. The camera, that has a 180-degree vertical swivel base, is very similar to the PS3 eye camera. The edit software bundled with the camera will allow users to edit photos, videos and audio clips on the PSP. Apart from these functionalities, the camera also has an in-built microphone.

According to sources in Sony, considering a 4GB Memory stick Pro Duo, the camera will be able to store up to two and half hours of videos and over 40,000 photos. And that’s not all. Users will also be able to upload all the pictures and videos on to the internet directly from the PSP.

You’ve got to pat Sony on the back for giving it the good, old college try. After the Lumines hack debacle, Sony is trying to fight back with a 3.51 update that has been added today over at their Japanese site which would close up holes in the PSP’s security . Other than just the security fix, there isn’t much else you would need the update for. There is no added functionality included in the update and none of the currently released games will require it. But if you just love updates, and hate hacks, you’re more than welcome to go pick it up.

First and foremost we recommend that you do not update your firmware to 3.50 if you wish to partake in the homebrew scene. Once more information is available on special editions, custom editions, or 3.50 downgrades we will post details here.

Details about the update:

To coincide with the recent Playstation 3 V1.80 update, which amongst other things added Remote Play ability allowing anyone with a PSP to access their PS3 over the Internet, Sony has now also released a new v3.50 PSP firmware update, adding support for remote play over the internet, and RSS Channel Guide has been added as a feature.

Sony-Ericsson believes it can negotiate the balance between serious gaming and phones, according to a patent just granted to the company. Although titled a “Mobile Information Terminal Apparatus” in the description, the patent describes a device similar in shape to the Sony PSP Game system but with a unique swiveling screen similar to that of the Samsung i7. The LCD could rotate either 90 or 180 degrees to move the attached directional pad to a more comfortable position for gaming or (at the mid-point) a widescreen display for movies. A second directional pad would sit among the buttons with a layout that prevents accidental number presses during game sessions. Software would also play into the advancement. The phone would always monitor incoming calls and could pause a game to handle the conversation, Sony says. Code could optionally be written to provide different resume options, including both the immediate pause point, the start of the current level, or shutting down the game entirely if the phone call prompts a change in plans.

Although Sony-Ericsson hasn’t provided any immediate indications that it will release a phone based on the patent, the filing would allow the company to do so without worries about copies. It would also reflect Sony-Ericsson’s current approach to phones, which has produced numerous phones based on the Bravia and Cyber-shot lines from Sony.

[via Unwired View]

It has been announced that Sony Corp. will launch a slimmer model of its PlayStation Portable handheld game player in September, in its latest attempt to ignite demand for its game hardware and compete better with Nintendo Co. Ltd.

Both Sony and Nintendo released their handheld gear, the PSP and DS, respectively, late in 2004, but sales of the PSP, which can play movies, music and games, have recently been outshined by the DS.

“From a distance, this PSP might not look very different from the current model … but when you have it in your hand, the difference becomes quite clear,” Sony Computer Entertainment Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai said. “It’s actually 33 percent lighter than the current PSP. It’s also 19 percent slimmer.”

Hirai, who replaced Ken Kutaragi, known as the “Father of PlayStation,” as head of Sony’s game division earlier this year, made the PSP announcement during a presentation at the E3 video game exposition, the industry’s biggest event.

Nintendo sold 23.6 million DS units in the year ended March 2007, outpacing PSP shipments of 8.4 million.

Underlining its lead both in the console and handheld markets, Nintendo last month zipped past Sony in market value and bumped the Tokyo-based electronics conglomerate off the list of Japan’s 10 most valuable companies.

A Sony spokeswoman said the slimmer PSP would retail for about $170, the same as the current PSP. Nintendo’s newest DS model, the DS Lite, sells for $130.

Like Sony, Nintendo last year launched the lighter version of the DS, accelerating already white-hot demand for the handset. The DS Lite has two screens, opens like a book and allows gamers to control play with a stylus, instead of manipulating a keypad.

Nintendo executives said on Wednesday that portable sales made up 50 percent of its hardware sales in 2006, compared with just 30 percent in 2002.

PRICE CUT

On the console side of its game business, Sony this week cut the U.S. price of its PlayStation 3 by $100 after seeing the PS3 far outsold by Nintendo’s Wii.

“This new price went into effect on Monday. Since then sales of 60-gigabyte PS3 have doubled at top five retailers,” Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said during the E3 presentation.

Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 and the Wii have outsold the PS3 by several times in the crucial U.S. market, leaving Sony, which has dominated the game industry over the past decade, in the unfamiliar position of playing catch up.

Its high price and scarcity of attractive titles have been cited as main reasons for the PS3′ slow start.

Even after the price cut, the PS3 costs $20 more than the most expensive version of the Xbox 360, and twice that of the Wii, whose $250 price and motion-sensing controller have made it a best-seller despite its lack of life-like graphics.

In a bid to send a message that strong PS3 titles are in the pipeline, Sony showcased some 50 upcoming games at the presentation, including the latest installments of blockbuster fighting game “Metal Gear Solid” from Konami Corp.  and popular in-house racing title “Gran Turismo.”

During the presentation, it was indicated that “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots” will not be available until early 2008, giving hard-core gamers one fewer reasons to rush to store shelves.

Following the announcement, shares in Sony were up 0.3 percent at 6,350 yen by midday on Thursday, roughly in line with the benchmark Nikkei average.