VAIO Movie Story, MusicBox And MediaPlus Show That Integrated Software Can Be Useful

During CES 2009, we found a VAIO setup that was showing off some of the various integrated software that comes with most modern VAIO desktops and laptops. The three main softwares included VAIO Movie Story, MusicBox, and MediaPlus. We had a Sony booth attendant at CES 2009 go over some of the functionality of each, so check it out!

VAIO Movie Story/MusicBox/Media Plus from Sony Insider on Vimeo.

Sony’s smart VAIO Movie Story distills complex movie production into three simple steps, freeing you from tedious hours spent mastering difficult and expensive video editing software. Simply import your video and photo data, choose a theme and soundtrack, and click Finish. VAIO Movie Story does the rest, generating a finished movie complete with smooth cinematic transitions, special effects and perfectly timed soundtrack. With support for a wide variety of video formats, VAIO Movie Story makes it easy to share your precious moments with others. You can even save movies in HD video for the ultimate viewing experience.

The intelligent VAIO MusicBox lets you listen only to music that fits (or changes) your mood. Simply select your desired mood from the 24 music channels and VAIO MusicBox automatically plays back the appropriate songs from your collection. VAIO MusicBox integrates with Sony’s SonicStage Mastering Studio Audio Filters, which automatically applies a preset sound enhancer to each song to deliver studio quality sound.

VAIO Media Plus is a software that emulates the XMB found on many Playstation products.

NWZ-X1050/1060 Touchscreen Walkman Lost Footage

Here’s some other footage of the NWZ-X1050/NWZ-X1060 touchscreen Walkman that I shot at Sony’s exhibit during CES 2009 that didn’t make it in our introduction post. I know that some of you out there will find this interesting, I think? Hopefully we can get a review X-Series unit soon – I am dying to try this thing out. Hey Sony, how about you make up for the whole under the glass thing by sending me one early?

VAIO P Completely Dissected

Here’s some cool pictures we took at CES 2009 of the popular VAIO P, which is featured fully dissembled in a glass bubble display. Around the display, a circular shelf featured several VAIO P computers for attendees to play with. Above the laptops were leather-bound cases, which Sony is set to offer in brown, red, etc.

Sony is Getting Greener

Sony is getting greener each day…with its successful recycling program launched last year- Sony’s National Take Back Recycling Program, we have witnessed some interesting developments in solar energy shown off at CES 2009.

One would never think that Sony may some day sell one of those beautifully designed lamps (don’t quote me on that though, as Sony does not have any business plans to get into lighting market and compete with Phillips, GE…you never know though). These lamps were sitting under the light and generated enough current to shine, I mean provide ambient lighting and power a fan.

Sony Ericsson phone pictured here is pretty green too as it was constructed out of recycled materials.

Untitled from Stan M on Vimeo.

Sony Likely To Have Multi-Billion USD Operating Loss

The global recession is tarnishing the crown jewels of corporate Japan; Sony is likely on track to post its first full-year operating loss in its history. Already, the company has damaged its standing with investors by having failed to deliver on earnings promises for seven of the past eight years. Compounding the problem of collapsed electronics demand is the competitive environment: better-positioned, cash-rich rivals like Samsung are prepared to run Sony off the rails.

Sony is likely to post an operating loss of 100 billion yen to 200 billion yen ($1.1 billion to $2.2 billion) for the fiscal year ending March, the Nikkei reported Tuesday. That would be the company’s first operating loss since it went public in 1958. It last posted a loss in 1995, on a one-time charge. The news report sent Japanese electronics stocks sliding, with Sony shares plunging more than 8%.

A full-year operating loss would mean that Sony lost its way during the typically buoyant holiday season since it had posted a first-half operating profit. If the dismal second-half performance continues into the fiscal year ending March 2010, Sony is looking at an operating loss next year of 450 billion yen ($5.0 billion), estimates Tokyo-based CLSA analyst Atul Goyal.

Hope for a second-quarter recovery in 2009 in the tech sector will be “met with disappointment,” according to a Jan. 7 report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Still, the industry slump is only half the picture. Whether Sony’s management is well equipped to face the global recession is open to question. Though the severity of last year’s second-half downturn caught many by surprise, Sony’s dismal history of failing to deliver on its promises signals a management problem.

“Seven out of eight years, Sony has failed to meet its own initial operating profit forecast. This is probably the worst track record amongst most major exporters,” Goyal said. “That means that either management is not able to anticipate challenges … or they fail on execution almost every time. Either way, it does not reflect well on Sony’s management.” In October, Sony forecast a full-year operating profit of 200 billion yen ($2.2 billion). During the eight prior years, Sony missed its targets by an average of 40.0% to 50.0%.

The company is further handicapped by the yen’s recent surge. Sony’s likely operating loss is based on the yen’s average of more than 100 to the dollar and 151 against the euro this past year. But if the yen continues to hover around 90 to the dollar and 120 to the euro, Sony faces additional losses of about 275 billion yen ($3.1 billion) next year. Each strengthening of 1 yen against the dollar costs Sony 4 billion yen ($44.7 million) in operating profit, and each time the currency strengthens by another yen unit versus the euro, the firm forgoes another 7.5 billion yen ($83.9 million), according to Goyal.

Article courtesy of Forbes.

Contrast – The Sony Flex OLED Walkman Of 2020?

Sony’s Contrast* Flex OLED Walkman is bracelet style with other form factors possible. We were able to catch footage of its introduction video at Sony’s exhibit during CES 2009. Essentially, this product allows visualization of music while expressing the owner’s personality. The Walkman would be made of high performance flexible bioplastic, which enables the marriage of form and functionality. This is a music player that could happen in five to ten years, according to chatter overheard at CES. We have no idea if Sony is going to stay this course, but it is being prototyped in Sony labs so its a good indication that yes, we will have something very similar to this one day. We can assume that such a slim, almost paper thin design like this would be most certainly possible considering flash miniaturization and wireless headphones capability. Enjoy.

* – A seldom discussed portion of Sony’s CES 2009 exhibit is a new series of products that is referred to as Contrast. This product line is the future of Sony, as it incorporates three main technologies: OLED, touch, and physical flexibility. There were three products displayed – a Flex OLED Walkman, Reader, and VAIO laptop. engadget had some real pictures, but they were just mockups. Now we’re bringing video to the table – video we were able to capture after CES was closed on day 2 that shows off the functionality of these new products. Keep an eye out tomorrow afternoon and the day after for the Reader and the VAIO laptop.

OLED display capabilities in terms of color reproduction are far beyond the average LCD, which means 100% color reproduction across a wider viewing angle. Want to learn more about Flex OLED? Watch this.

This video is a Sony Insider exclusive, brought to you here first. Props to engadget for the IRL pics though.

Video: Robert Burnett Shows Off EA’s Involvement With Playstation Home

Sony’s 2009 CES booth area had a number of Playstation demos, but what stood out to us the most was EA Games involvement with Playstation Home. We were very curious about this after Kaz Harai had announced it during Sony’s CES Keynote. In its current form, Playstation Home is a little dry as it has only a few mini-games, trailers, and so forth. The service desperately needs third-party developers creating additional environments so people actually stay in Playstation Home. Robert Burnett, Senior Producer of EA Sports, took the time to personally introduce EA’s involvement with Playstation Home.

We have a video demo of the new EA lobby, which has a new racing game, golf, and Texas Hold’Em. The poker table was originally full, so Robert had his associate call EA and make the developers get up so we could see it in action.

Robert Burnett Introduces EA’s Involvement In Playstation Home from Sony Insider on Vimeo.

Wearable Walkman NWZ-W202 Gets Real

Sony revealed the W-series Walkman MP3 player during CES 2009, confirming our leak, which boasts an industrial design that is simple and cord-free. Perfect for audiophiles who seek a second device for the gym and leisure use, the NWZ-W202 model eliminates the inconvenience of wires and makes it easier to listen to music virtually anywhere, anytime. Here’s a cool video Sony was showing at the Walkman booth about the NWZ-W202:

In addition to the sound quality provided by its 13.5mm EX headphones that are of similar quality to the EX51, the new W-series Walkman MP3 player also includes Sony’s ZAPPIN function, which offers an effortless way of browsing, searching and listening to music without a display. The ZAPPIN mode, operated with a Jog Dial, helps you find tunes easily by playing popular clips of each song in your device’s music library until a favorite is selected.

Fitness fanatics or those who do anything active while listening to music are freed from headphone cords with the W-series Walkman MP3 player. With its compact, light weight body, this design fits comfortably behind-the-neck. The new player also offers a quick charge feature which allows the device to play back up to 90 minutes of music with only a three-minute charge and up to 12 hours of music with a full charge. With the supplied “Content Transfer” you can easily transfer non-DRM music files by “drag and drop” from online music services such as iTunes to the Walkman device. It also comes with accessories, including a holder and charging stand with a USB miniB plug.

The NWZ-W202 will be offered in black and pink, has about 2GB of internal storage and will cost about $70. Other territorial colors include Violet and White. Of course, true Sony Insiders knew about the NWZ-W202, as we announced it the day before CES.

Is The World Ready For A Modern Wi-Fi Camera? Sony Thinks The DSC-G3 Is It

During the 2009 Sony CES Keynote, Sir Howard Stringer unveiled the slim and stylish 10.1 megapixel DSC-G3 Cyber-shot digital camera. With built-in Wi-Fi and an intuitive Easy Upload Home Page make it a snap to upload your photos and videos to popular sharing sites directly from your camera, and even send email notifications to friends and family. Packed with impressive features, this camera comes equipped with Digital Portable Photo Album, Optical SteadyShot™ image stabilization and Intelligent Scene Recognition. Plus, with 4GB of internal memory, you can save hundreds of images and view them on the dazzling 3.5″ touch screen LCD.

A powerful 10.1 megapixel 1/2.3” Super HAD™ CCD image sensor helps you capture gorgeous images with superb contrast and clarity down to the finest detail. Featuring 921K pixels, the ultra-bright, high-contrast LCD screen with a wide viewing angle is among the highest resolution screens available on a compact digital camera, and displays your images with astonishing visual clarity.

The newly developed Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens enables close-up shooting up to just under ½” (1cm) from the subject (in Magnifying Glass Mode), complimenting the 4X optical zoom. Measuring just over 5/8” (16.4mm), the DSC-G3 is slim enough to slip into a pocket, so you can take it with you wherever you go.

The DSC-G3 is exclusively available in black from SonyStyle for $499, a price that Stan and myself balked at but I’m sure it will gradually come down if this device proves to be successful. The camera was easy to operate and I liked the UI, but Stan didn’t think that the UI was an improvement over the DSC-G1. Wifi was decent, but the connection at the show was weak so I couldn’t really tell if it was gimmicky or not. It kept disconnecting at CES, but I have full faith in Sony that this device will be flawless with Wifi.

Built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g connectivity1 lets you connect your Cyber-shot DSC-G3 camera to your home network and just about any accessible wireless hotspot and upload photos and videos directly from the camera. In addition, the DSC-G3 comes with complimentary access to AT&T hotspot locations including Starbucks. Complimentary access is offered until January 31, 2012.

The in-camera Easy Upload Home Page lets you upload photos and videos directly from your DSC-G3 to popular sharing sites without the need for a computer. After the initial set-up, the DSC-G3 remembers your user settings and provides easy and convenient uploading to your favorite sharing sites, including YouTube, Picasa Web Albums, Shutterfly and Daily Motion. The camera allows you to browse and view your pictures posted on popular sharing sites directly from the camera, as well as send e-mail notifications to friends and family with links they can follow to view your uploaded images.

Other features:

• Face Detection technology detects up to eight individual faces and controls flash, focus, exposure, and white balance to deliver accurate, natural skin tones with reduced red-eye for beautiful images of family and friends.
• The popular Smile Shutter™ technology automatically detects and captures smiling faces. Simply choose the Smiley Face feature and the camera will capture a smile the moment it happens. You can also select subject priority (Adult or Child Priority or touch subject on screen) and indicate the degree of Smile Detection Sensitivity to high (small smile), medium (laugh) or low (grin).
• In addition to High Sensitivity Mode (ISO), you can select up to eight ISO settings (Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200) when shooting in Program Auto Mode to adjust sensitivity to your shooting conditions.
  Intelligent Scene Recognition
• Intelligent Scene Recognition (iSCN) Mode automatically detects eight different types of scenes and selects the appropriate camera settings: Backlight, Backlight Portrait, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Twilight using a Tripod, Portrait, Landscape and Macro. iSCN has 2 modes: Advanced and Auto. In Auto Mode, the camera takes a single shot using the optimal settings. In Advance Mode, the camera takes a picture with the current settings and only if necessary takes a second picture with optimized setting.
• The new Anti-blink function works to help counter blinking and squinting. When the camera is set to Portrait Mode, the Anti-blink function captures two images, recording only the photo with less squinting. If a blink is detected in other shooting modes, a warning will be displayed after you take the shot.
• Choose from fourteen convenient photo modes to quickly adjust for specific shooting conditions. Photo modes include Auto, Program Auto, Easy Shooting, High Sensitivity, Landscape, Soft Snap, Twilight Portrait, Twilight, and scene selections such as Beach, Snow, Fireworks, Underwater, High Speed Shutter and new Gourmet Mode. Gourmet Mode lets you capture mouth-watering culinary creations with all the color and clarity of images you see in gourmet magazines.
• Capture VGA (640 x 480) audio/video clips at a high frame rate (up to 30 frames per second9). The maximum length of time you can shoot continuously is approximately 10 minutes.
• You can fire up to 100 shots at approximately .62 second intervals (at any resolution; VGA to high resolution mode).

Here are some images of the DSC-G3 we took at CES 2009:

Sony Wins Big At CES

Sony won more than twenty awards at the 2009 CES in nearly every product category they have major investments in. Sony really won big in the TV and digital imaging category. We think they would have done better in the personal audio related awards if they let the press actually play with the Touchscreen Walkman! The award givers include respected groups, such as the CEA, Home Theater Specialists of America, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Sound & Vision, CNET, and even a couple of Emmy’s. Great job to everyone at Sony!

ENGINEERING/TECHNOLOGY

• Tech and Engineering Emmy® Award, Serial Interface and Protocols for Server/VTR Control Award, Sony (professional group)
• Tech and Engineering Emmy® Award, HDMI Development Award, Sony, Panasonic, among others

TELEVISION

• Consumer Electronics Association 2009 Innovations and Design Award Honoree, Eco-Design and Sustainable Technology Category, Sony BRAVIA® KDL-40V4100 LCD HDTV
• Product of the Year, Home Theater Specialists of America, Sony KDL-55XBR8 LED LCD HDTV
• Global Media Award, Outstanding Platform – Hardware, BRAVIA Internet Video Link (The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Consumer Electronics Association)
• Popular Science Editor’s Choice Award, Sony “Eco” BRAVIA LCD HDTV Series, Sony KDL-52VE5, -46VE5 and -40VE5
• Popular Mechanics Magazine Editor’s Choice Award, Sony “Eco” BRAVIA LCD HDTV Series, Sony KDL-52VE5, -46VE5 and -40VE5
• Sound & Vision Magazine Editor’s Choice Award, Sony XEL-1 11-inch OLED TV
• Sound & Vision Magazine Editor’s Choice Award, Sony VPL-VW70 SXRD Front Projector
• Sound & Vision Magazine Editor’s Choice Award, Sony KDL-55XBR8 LED LCD HDTV

DIGITAL IMAGING

• Consumer Electronics Association 2009 Best of Innovations Award, Sony Cyber-shot® DSC-T700 Digital Camera
• Consumer Electronics Association 2009 Innovations and Design Award Honoree, Digital Imaging Category, Sony Cyber-shot T500 Digital Camera
• Consumer Electronics Association 2009 Innovations and Design Award Honoree, Digital Imaging Category, Sony HDR-CX12 High-Definition Hard Drive Handycam® Camcorder
• Consumer Electronics Association 2009 Innovations and Design Award Honoree, Digital Imaging Category, Sony HDR-TG1 High-Definition Memory Stick Handycam Camcorder
• CNET’s 2009 Best of CES, Digital Photo and Video Category, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G3 Digital Camera
• CNET’s 2009 Best of CES, Digital Photo and Video Category, Sony HDR-SR520V High-Definition Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder

VAIO® NOTEBOOK

• Popular Mechanics Magazine Editor’s Choice Award, VAIO P Lifestyle PC
• CNET’s's 2009 Best of CES, Computers and Hardware Category, VAIO P Series Lifestyle PC

HOME VIDEO

• Consumer Electronics Association 2009 Innovations and Design Award Honoree, Eco-Design and Sustainable Technology Category, Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray Disc Player

HOME AUDIO

• Popular Science Magazine Editor’s Choice Award, Sony BDV-IT1000ES Blu-ray Disc Player Home Theater System

PERSONAL AUDIO

• Consumer Electronics Association 2009 Innovations and Design Award Honoree, Portable Media Player Category, Sony NWZ-S738FBNC Walkman® Noise-Cancelling Digital Music Player
• CNET’s 2009 Best of CES, MP3 and Portable Video Player Category, Sony W-series Walkman MP3 Players