Sony’s S-series Walkman is their new high-end digital audio player that is not only their slimmest player to date, but has active noise cancellation and the SensMe music suggestion engine. Sony bundled 3.5mm EX headphones with the S-series players, as well as a pass through cable that connects to an in-flight entertainment system and uses the noise cancelling capability of the Walkman. In addition Sony released their midrange E-series and entry-level B-series Walkman players.
As we saw in the Sony IFA 2008 Liveblog, these new Sony Cybershot digital 10.1 megapixel cameras also shoot HD video (720p, though that’s not mentioned in the press release.) The T500 has a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with 5x optical zoom, 3.5-inch touchscreen, eight-person face tracking, and something called “Double Anti-blur” technology which combines high sensitivity (for fast shutter times) with optical image-shake reduction. It can also connect directly to your HDTV and do slideshows, music and video shows without needing a PC. It’s due October, price info still to be announced. Press release below.
Hookai. I’m lining up to get into Sony’s press conference. They have some things under wraps, including a mega-TV with super-smooth video action and what could be some Walkmen. Hmmm, I love the smell of new plastic in the morning. More info and photos following up shortly. Keep watching this space.
Testing your blood glucose levels if you’re a diabetes sufferer may not mean hauling around large-ish devices now that the True2Go from Home Diagnostics has won FDA approval. It’s the world’s smallest, “about the size of a quarter”… it’s just about the same size as an iPod shuffle. It’s small enough to twist “on to a vial of test strips so diabetics can better manage their diabetes with the convenience of on-the-go testing,” which is darn convenient, and it uses 0.5 microliters of blood and has a test memory display. No word on pricing or release timings yet. [Medgadget]
It’s been a long while since we mentioned Philips range of Pronto home-control remote systems, but Philips hasn’t forgotten them: it’s been making the mega-remotes even more mega with the upcoming TSU9800. With a bigger touchscreen (6.4-inches, folks), and an dock that also does ambient lighting, it can also be mounted on the wall of your swanky Wi-Fi-enabled remote-controlled house to let you switch on “audio/video servers” for which it gives “feedback information such as album/DVD art and song information.” Philips has also updated the software used to program the remote through a PC, and now ProntoEdit Professional 2.0 lets you drag and drop design your configurations and user interfaces for the 9800. Swish indeed: which is why it’s due to cost US$2,400 when it’s out in September. Press release below.
As well as crazy thinness, Sony’s other upcoming TV releases include crazy contrast: one million to one. The XR1 series of Bravia’s will be 1920 x 1080 pixel full-HD models, featuring tri-colour RGB LED backlighting for an improved colour gamut, and dynamic switching backlighting tech to generate that enormous contrast ratio (it’s about 3,000:1 in static mode.) There’s a 10-bit Bravia 2 Engine processing the images inside, with separate algorithms for SD and HD picture sources, 120Hz Motionflow tech to improve smoothness, the usual range of connectors plus an extra USB port for connecting digital cameras. The XR1 will be in 46- and 55-inch sizes, for around US$5,500 and US$6,800, due October 10 in Japan at first. [AVWatch]
Like a regular Squeezebox, the Squeezebox Boom streams music from a PC or internet radio station over 802.11g. Unlike the classic, it has a pair of 3/4-inch soft dome tweeters and 30inch woofers biamped with 30 watts of juice.
Sony Japan’s ZX1 series 40-inch display is only 9.9mm thick at its narrowest, and 11.8kg. The display itself has only 1 HDMI port, while a wireless box can send the 120Hz, 1080p display up to 1080i images over a 5GHz channel many suspect is WHDM. That external port box will have 3 HDMI, 2 component, s-video, VGA, and even USB, mouse, and LAN port. All menus will be driven through an XMB Playstation-style crossmedia interface. Check out our hands-on of the skinny TV at IFA here. [Sony JP via Sony Insider]
The Gadget: JBL’s On Stage IIIP, which plays nicely with your iPhone
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Three’s latest mobile content offering isn’t that they’re taking episodes of TV shows and shortening them for mobile phone viewing, but the TV shows that they’ve selected to offer.
I mean, there are lots of great 1/2 hour TV shows out there that would benefit from being made into Minisodes. Who’s the Boss, The Young and the Restless and The Partridge Family aren’t exactly what springs to mind, although I do have a soft spot for Married With Children.
The minisodes are cut back to between four and six minutes long, which make them perfect for watching on the go. So long as you’re prepared to sacrifice a little plot, character development and entertainment, that is.
The good news is that the minisodes are free for 3 customers, so they probably are a good way of killing time while you wait for the train or bus. It’s only available in their 3G network areas though, which is a good thing considering their 2G roaming costs.
[Three]
