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

Contrast – Sony Shows Off Their Products 10 Years From Now

During CES 2009, Sony showed off Flex OLED which really opens the door for an entirely new range of products never thought possible. In our Flex OLED video, we showed you a mini display that was able of being squeezed together with no loss in image quality. Now imagine making that display touchscreen in a larger form factor. Sony is already doing just that – Flex OLED products are the wave of the future. Despite booth attendants requesting no pictures taken as well as signs saying so, engadget posted pictures today of Sony’s Flex OLED concept products (mostly plastic shell with OLED screens). While the pictures don’t really show much, what we haven’t seen yet is video of the video playing above these devices.

Let me be the first to say the videos are absolutely incredible – they fully show the direction Sony is going towards with touchscreen Flex OLED. The product series is called ‘Contrast,’ and is a good indication of what Sony products will be like ten years from now. So, to get things really roaring we will be posting one video a day (at noon EST) taken from CES of these ‘Contrast’ products, and I promise you it will be worth the wait. We have three videos, one of a Walkman, Reader, and Vaio Laptop from the future and the functionality of each is shown off. Here are the pictures engadget posted today to tide you over..

If you can imagine it, Sony can make it real.

Sountina Shows Up at CES

At CES we spotted a very interesting speaker hiding behind the plants, near Sony information desk at CES. Yes, you guessed it right – it was Sountina! Omni-directional speaker finally made it to the US shores to be shown off. However, I am pretty sure most of the attendees walked past by it and never paid any deserved attention to this pricey and at the same time one of a kind, Qualia spirited creation. I had a chance to speak to a few Sony employees about it and even surprised a few Sony execs who were at the time hanging around that speaker by asking them why Sountina was being neglected. One of the execs mentioned that I was the first one that actually knew the name of the speaker and inquired about it.

Anywho, Sountina is available for purchase in the US, however will not be sold through its regular channels like Sonystyle stores and dealers. There is a cierge service available at Sony that sells high end products to rich and famous, Sountina will be sold through that service exclusively. Sony sees this speaker to be sitting in luxury hotels and mansions of Hollywood celebs outputting sonic joy to its listeners.

As we mentioned before the cost of this one of a kind speaker is pretty high, around 12 grand. I should have asked if the speaker innards were made of diamonds and gold….

Tom Hanks At Sony’s 2009 CES Keynote And Sir Howard Stringer’s Vision

Here’s part of Tom Hanks appearing at Sony’s 2009 CES Keynote. I am missing a few moments before this started, and I transition it to another scene halfway through. There are some really funny moments in this. Also, Sir Howard Stringer shows off new glasses that are currently under development in Sony labs – they have widescreen 16:9 (presumably HD) quality projected onto the lens. Tom Hanks tries them on and hilarity ensues. If you watch while he has them on you can see that for a moment after the jokes he is blown away by the glasses. It’s very obvious.

Tom Hanks Intro/Tries On Sony’s Futuristic Movie Glasses from Sony Insider on Vimeo.

Sir Howard Stringer goes on to talk about the seven goals for Consumer Electronics and Sony- it’s very moving.

Usher Performs ‘Here I Stand’ Live At Sony’s 2009 CES Keynote

During Sony’s Keynote at CES 2009, superstar musician Usher sang ‘Here I Stand’ to a bewildered group of tired supergeeks. Sir Howard Stringer then went on to interview Usher about his successes and there was heavy mention about Sony Ericsson’s financing of his various tours in 2008. We were able to catch his entire performance in HD. Enjoy!

Here I Stand is the fifth studio album by American R&B singer Usher, released on May 2008 in the United States. Worldwide sales stand at two million copies. The song “Here I Stand” entered on the Billboard charts alone, without being released as a single yet and surprisingly peaked at #23 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs on and #112 on Billboard Hot 100. The song received a nomination at the 2009 Grammy Awards on the category: “Best Male R&B Vocal Performance”.

CEA Really Treated Bloggers Well For CES 2009

I have to tip my hat to the folks at the Consumer Elecronics Association for their outstanding treatment towards bloggers during the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. I was provided a free high-quality carrying bag that I used for most of the show to carry around laptops, a camcorder, business cards, bluetooth microphone and more. The bag has 13 seperate pockets ranging in all sizes and is high quality. Very nice touch. Also, we were provided coupons for free lunch during the course of the entire show – if you got there early enough, it was a boxed lunch that was actually pretty decent (choice of Italian, Club, and other sandwiches) that had a cookie, Apple, chips, etc. Vegetarians were also supported.

The bloggers lounge had high quality internet connections as well as Wifi, multiple couches, tables, and free coffee, soda, water, and more. They gave away free CES-labeled USB thumbdrives (512mb) like they were candy. However, what is truly strange is that CES is NOT blanketed with Wifi. It blows my mind that they don’t have some sort of free or pay-per-use all over the Las Vegas Convention Center for CES, which had 130,000 attendees this year – that is a serious cash magnet. So, the blogger’s lounge was really my retreat to put some of the content up from the last few days.

Everyone was super helpful and it was great to meet other bloggers. Networking is king at CES.

Here’s a shot from the press lounge, not the bloggers lounge, but gives you an idea of the setup. I was sitting in the middle of course, next to an Australian woman who worked for a Paper out in LA. Stan is on the right talking to his wife, I believe. I’ll have to find that Australian woman’s card and edit this post with her name accordingly. She was a cool chick. Before Stan sat there on the right, another beautiful woman sat in his place and I sat in the middle. It was a nice seat, that’s all I can say.

Sony Drops Another New Bluetooth Headset At CES – DR-BT100CX

During CES 2009, Sony showed off yet another bluetooth headset that they are scheduled to release sometime in 2009. The sound driver is a 9mm neodymium magnet. We don’t have much information on these, other than the fact that the model name is DR-BT100CX (in blue and white), and is a receiver with a built in mic with Volume +/-, Play/Stop/Rewind/Fast Forward. It also has useful rechargeable battery function, but we aren’t sure if the battery is removable or not. Profile support includes A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, and HSP. This should be available sometime around Spring of this year.

This information is a Sony Insider exclusive, brought to you here first.