Hasta La Gadget!

Straight from Sony’s Google TV unveiling in New York we finally know the official details of its plans, which include four HDTVs (24-, 32- , 40- and 46-inch) with prices from $599 to $1,399, plus a funky white set-top box with built-in Blu-ray player for $399. The 24-inch is a CCFL backlit LCD, while the larger models all feature edge LED lighting, while all of them feature built in WiFi, so no need to go stringing any new network cables to the living room. The only custom app we’re seeing among the preinstalled ones (Netflix, CNBC, Napster, Pandora and more) is a Sony Qriocity VOD player, for more you’ll be waiting for the Android Market to hit in early 2011. If you want to be the first on your block with one, hit up the local Sony Style outlet when they go on sale this weekend, or Best Buy stores starting October 24, meanwhile, check the press release after the break for full specs and details.

Continue reading Sony Google TV HDTVs and Blu-ray player launch details revealed

Sony Google TV HDTVs and Blu-ray player launch details revealed originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve heard about 1TB-sized optical discs in the past, but TDK has now revealed a 1TB monster of its own at CEATEC. Unlike existing Blu-rays which use four recording layers at most, TDK’s creation features 16 layers on both sides of the disc, each capable of storing up to 32GB apiece. If you’re keeping track of the optical storage arms race, that’s seven more gigabytes per layer than Pioneer’s 400GB and 500GB disc achievements made back in 2008. TDK’s prototype also has the potential to leverage existing Blu-ray technologies, since it’s made from a material already found in BDs and shares the same beam aperture. On the down side, the current version’s recording layers measure 260μm — that’s more than twice as thick as its Blu-ray counterpart — and causes aberrations in today’s fat-layer-hating optical lenses. Outside of its Biggest Loser qualifications, though, TDK says “its commercialization depends on disc manufacturers.” Considering the company has yet to sell the 10-layer 320GB discs revealed at CEATEC 2009, however, we’re doubtful this 1TB improvement will hit stores anytime soon.

Filed under: Storage

TDK develops 1TB optical disc, leaves other optical storage feeling emasculated originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week, Sony launched the first commercial 400mW blue–violet laser diode for Blu-ray. The higher-power lasers can perform triple or even quadruple-layer recording at 8X-12X speeds, storing up to 128GB on a single disc.

Sony’s blue-violet laser diode, called the SLD3237VF, will cost about $12. Until the Blu-ray Super-Sized to 128GB, Requires New Player“>multi-layer BDXL spec is supported by players that can read the higher-storage discs, Sony says the new laser will allow a greater range of lenses and prisms to be used in constructing Blu-Ray devices, freeing up some of the restrictions on current hardware. Devices with the more powerful lasers already in place will be easier to upgrade later.

A year ago, Sharp announced a similar technical breakthrough with a 500mW blue-violet laser, with plans to ship in late 2010. Sharp representatives did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

In laboratory experiments, Sony’s Advanced Materials Laboratories and their research partners at Tohoku University have developed blue-violet ultra-fast pulsed semiconductor lasers that can generate as much as 100W. In addition to industrial and nanotech applications, Sony is already experimenting using these lasers to create next-generation optical storage of even higher capacities.

Image above of 100W Experimental Laser by Sony via Semiconductor Today.

See Also:

• Android App Uses Cellphone Camera to Measure Air Pollution …
• Will New Blu-ray Drives Suck Your Laptop Battery Dry?
• Blu-Ray Ups Ante on Data Storage
• Wired 10.06: Start
• Blu-ray Super-Sized to 128GB, Requires New Player
• Refreshed Sony Vaio L Combines Touchscreen, Blu-ray Burner …
• Versatile New Laser May Change Surgery, Metallurgy and More
• Texans Build World's Most Powerful Laser

Image via SonyStyle.com

Are you intrigued by touchscreen, tablet-style media players, but don’t want to give up anything — and I mean anything — from your desktop PC? The refreshed high-end Sony Vaio L is pricey and heavy, but it’s packed to the gills.

Yesterday, Sony announced its holiday-season refresh of the Vaio line of notebook computers (barring the 8″ notebook-not-a-netbook Vaio P, which was updated in May).

The 24″ let’s-call-it-an-all-in-one-notebook-’cause-even-my-lap-isn’t-that-big Vaio L is packing a quad-core Intel processor, a 2TB hard drive, a capacitative touchscreen with true HD resolution, a webcam (well, yeah), an NVidia graphics card with 1GB video-dedicated RAM (on top of the 8GB of regular memory), and (most significantly) a Blu-ray read/write drive.

It’s got Sony’s own touch-friendly media management and editing suite, and also comes with Windows 7 Home Premium, a wireless keyboard and mouse, and a remote control. The whole thing costs $2200 (already on backorder), and the part with the screen weighs 27.6 lbs — about the same as an old 24″ iMac.

So it’s a portable computer, in the sense that you can pick it up and move it from one part of the house to another, but you can’t exactly hold it in your hands. But if your complaint about Apple, Android, or Windows 7 touchscreen tablets has been that “they don’t even have ____,” this Sony is your answer.

If you don’t want all that, you can also get an entry-level Vaio L with “only” a half-TB of storage and no Blu-Ray on clearance for less than $1300. But that might feel a little like driving a Lexus without power windows.

See Also:

• Sony Vaio P Gets Accelerometer, Touchpads, 3G
• Sony Vaio TZ150
• Sony Vaio SZ Premium Model
• Sony Launches 'World's Lightest' 8-Inch Notebook (Not a Netbook …
• Touchscreen PCs Prompt Interface Innovations
• Report: Google Working With Intel, Sony on TV Project

We’d definitely been hearing that Google TV would be hitting sometime in the next month or so, and here we go: Sony’s sending out invites for an October 12 event in New York. We already know we’ll be getting both Bravia Internet TVs and Blu-ray players with Google TV integration, so we’re not banking on any earth-shattering surprises, but you know we’ll be there with bells on, IR blasters set to stun.

Sony holding Google TV event on October 12 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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