Hasta La Gadget!

Are you one of the “small number” of folks with a PlayStation 3 that was bricked in this week’s 4.45 firmware update? Though Sony’s been aware of the issue since the update launched, apparently a fix isn’t coming until June 27th — that’s nine days after 4.45 launched to an unsuspecting populace. The PlayStation Europe Twitter account announced as much this morning in a tweet. “We have identified the issue related to PS3 software update (4.45) that impacted a small number of PS3 systems earlier this week,” the feed reads.

“A new system software update is planned to be released on June 27 that resolves that issue,” it adds. There’s also a bit of an apology, but that won’t do much for the folks who are without their PlayStation 3 for the next six days. PlayStation’s US arm also confirmed that the update will arrive in North America on the same date.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Sony

Comments

Via: The Verge

Source: Sony, @PlayStationEU

Nearly all motorcycle jackets available today have bits and pieces that are CE certified but never before has an entire garment—not just the elbows, shoulder and back armor—been CE certified for rider safety, like Alpinestars’ Atem jacket and suit. After a 12 month-long gestation period and a myriad of new testing processes, the Atem is about as high tech as any modern high performance motorcycle.

Read more…

Neither of Sony’s two previous smartwatches were runaway hits, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped the Japanese electronics giant from taking another crack at the concept. A slew of tweets hash-tagged #itstime started appearing on the official SonyXperia account the other day, and they hinted heavily that the company is preparing to show off yet another smartwatch at the Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai next week.

Sony seems content to keep all the juicy details under wraps for now, but it’s holding press conferences in Shanghai and Germany next Tuesday so all will be revealed in short order. Of course, if Sony really does bring another smartwatch to market, will it actually sell? Sony hasn’t exactly had the best luck pushing its Xperia smartphones (though the flagship Xperia Z seems to be doing pretty well), so pushing yet another smartphone-centric accessory into the field may prove problematic.

To Sony’s credit, it looks like the company is even more cognizant of the developer community than before — as they should, since apps crafted for the wrist-worn gadget will really determine whether people take the plunge. Sony’s second smartwatch (called, unimaginatively, the SmartWatch) was eventually augmented by some 200 custom applications in the Google Play Store, and Sony recently sought to make the thing even more useful by letting developers cook up their own firmware for it.

Still, I can’t help but wonder if Sony would’ve taken another chance on a smartwatch if it weren’t for some popular, buzzy startups. The meteoric rise of the Pebble and the wrist-worn gadgets that appeared in its wake signaled a resurgence and popularization of a concept that’s been kicking around with varying degrees of success for years. Subsequent (and persistent) rumors that Apple, Samsung, and even Google are eagerly eyeing up the smartwatch market may have only added fuel to Sony’s competitive fire. The company been churning these things out for the better part of 6 years now — hopefully this time they’ve got enough experience under their collective belts to really crack the formula.

There’s a certain irony to the Impossible Instant Lab taking a long time to develop, but we won’t mind (much) now that it has a solid release date. The instant photo kit ships to stores on August 29th, when it will cost the same $299 that The Impossible Project promised during its crowdfunding campaign. Compatibility hasn’t changed much since then — you’ll need to use at least an iPhone 4 or fourth-generation iPod touch, and there’s no immediate support for devices using Android or other platforms. If that’s no barrier, however, you can bring your digital photos to the analog world in a matter of weeks.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals

Comments

Source: The Impossible Project

"Oh, um… hey, Google Maps Car."

Read more…