Sony annouces the pending death of MD

Having been a long time supported of the MD Format it was truly sad to hear the Sony have started to move away from their format and support MP3s. The dominance of Apple's IPOD in the portable music scene has caused Sony to re-evaluate their reliance on Mini-disc and the ATRAC3 format. Their shift to incorporate ATRAC3PLUS (as an alternative to the MP3 file format) on CD Portables was an attempt to move into the PC based music.

Although ATRAC3PLUS may have benefits in music quality compared with MP3s Sony’s entrance into the PC based music has probably come too late to make an impact.

Sony Electronics has released the first of its digital audio players
to support the popular MP3 format, marking a significant shift in its
music strategy.

As expected, the company announced in Europe two flash memory-based
devices, the Walkman NW-E99 and NW-E95, which can natively play songs
in MP3 and its own Atrac file formats. The move discussed by the
company on Monday diverges from its previous position of not
supporting MP3 because of its lack of security measures and
susceptibility to easy file sharing. However, the company has been
suffering for its stance, costing it valuable market share in the
digital audio player market to Apple Computer with its iPod hard
drive-based devices.

Sony has historically been a leader in the portable device market,
thanks to its Walkman line of tape players. However, the company
missed the boat with digital audio players, insisting that device
owners convert MP3s to the proprietary Sony format. The company is
making the change to capture a better place in the market.

Sony Electronics says it is looking to be more open in its support of
technologies, formats and standards. The company hopes to nurture the
developing world of networked devices, in which different consumer
products can play digital content sent over wired and wireless
networks.

The company also is considering the use of other formats in its
devices, according to Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics
consumer and commercial sales. The look and feel of the software used
with its devices and its music download service, Sony Connect, also
will undergo major improvements.

May 19 Draws Closer

After the release of the Starwars Trilogy on DVD (which on a side note amazed us with it's tranfer quality considering the age of the content) and the obvious effort that was put into the restoration looks like Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith is well on it's way. Teaser trailers for the new movie and the new game have been released.

I'll let the trailers speak for themselves.. (be warned there looks to be a few spoilers in the Game Trailer)

Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith - The Game

Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith - Movie Teaser

Sony sheds new “Dark” on Projector Screens

Good news on the those who are looking for watching a projector in the lounge room (I know the article is a little old but thought it was still worth listing) and are having trouble with ambient light. "Sony has developed a new projector that can give a bright, unfaded picture without the need to eliminate ambient light. The secret is that they project onto a black screen instead of a white one.

Their screen uses species filters so that white ambient light is absorbed, but the red, green, and blue light from the projector is reflected. Sony sees a possible use in home entertainment systems because of the ability to have a much bigger picture than conventional TVs as well as businesses adopting the projectors for presentations."
No word yet on when Sony will have the technology in production but it will put projectors firmly on the map as a TV set replacement.

Sony's Screen Technology

Quoted From the Wall Street Journal

In TV technology, everything is changing fast. Fat tubes are being replaced by flat screens, square screens by movie-style rectangles and standard pictures by high definition.
And now, white projection screens are being challenged by dark ones.

In apparent defiance of color theory -- that dark surfaces absorb light and white surfaces reflect it -- Sony Corp. has unveiled a black screen that allows a regular digital projector to vividly display TV images and business presentations in a brightly lit room. It continues a trend that began two years ago when Stewart Filmscreen Corp., a leading U.S. maker of screens, began selling a light-gray screen that enhanced the images from projectors using digital chips.
Tokyo-based Sony showed a 160-inch-diagonal version of the screen last week at the Infocomm trade show in Atlanta, after showing 80- and 100-inch versions in a living-room mockup at an industry conference in Seattle three weeks ago. At both events, it made a splash.

"No other technology attracted so many people to stand around and look at it and say 'Wow,' " Richard Doherty of Seaford, N.Y., consultants Envisioneering Group, says of the Seattle demonstration.

Sony hasn't decided when to begin selling the screen, how to price it, where to sell it first or whether to let other manufacturers use the technology. Sony has both commercial and consumer versions of the screen in the works.

Read the full article here.

The Loewe Xelos has Landed

Well the TV upgrade has finally happened, The Loewe Xelos has taken up prime position as the new display in the system. After much negotiation and research the decision fell squarely on a CRT. Having been through Plasma, Projector and Rear projection the CRT still offers the best picture. This of course means the beginning of the Upgrade cycle. So looks like a New TV and Component Stand are on the List.

The set is currently hooked up with a IXOS Component to SCART lead from the DVD. I'm still waiting to hook up the STB via a RGB-RGB SCART but the picture is still gorgeous on S-Video

Loewe Xelos Product Sheet

The Death of the GTV

It's a sad sad day today. A long standing beauty of the Alfa world met its demise this week. This has be a friend’s project car for many years and was a beautiful machine. It will be sorely missed.