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Sony Japan has introduced two new Blu-ray recorders, the Sony BDZ-A70 and BDZ-T90. You got to give it to Sony for coming out with something new for every consumer product that they release. In the case of these two Blu-ray recorders, Sony has made their hard-drives compatible with Sony’s own portable devices, the Walkman and PSP.

Both the Sony BDZ-A70 and BDZ-T90 boast of 2 terrestrial digital tuners and 2 digital BS 110 analog TV tuners. Both recorders can easily connect to a PSP, Walkman and some NTT Docomo FOMA mobile phones for transferring recorded videos. The Sony BDZ-A70 has a 320GB HDD while the Sony BDZ-T90 has 500GB HDD.

Set for release in Japan sometime during the last week of April, the two Sony Blu-ray recorders will retail for around $1,600. As always, it would take some time before these two BD recorders reach the US market.

Via [I4U] Via [Sony Japan]

Sony has long been claiming that all its consoles have a 10-year life cycle. Its claims of console longevity seemed inflated at first, but once you take into account the life cycles of its past consoles, those claims hold some merit. In North America the PSP reached its third anniversary on March 24, 2008, and if John Koller, senior marketing manager for the PSP, is to be believed then even the handheld is supposed to have a 10-year life cycle.

Read more [Gamertell]

All the major players in the tech industry are starting to get really serious about touch screens, if they haven’t been already in the past year. One such company is Sony Ericsson, one of the leading mobile phone manufacturers in the world. A newly discovered patent application it’s filed back in 2006 reveals that it has plans of making a similar device to the Apple iPhone, blending the features of a cellphone, music player, mobile computer, and even that of a Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) into one awesome handheld multimedia device.

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Sonys CES site has got the rumors up and running with mention of “a Skype client for the handheld console” which translated could mean Skype on your PSP.

With the UK about to see a partnership between BT and Sony regarding VoIP it would sort of make sense for the US to follow suite, and lets face it VoIP is one of the key trends we have already predicted for 2008.

Via [Pocket Lint]

After all the hubbub over Sony bragging about their Emmy - the online bitching followed by Sony’s retraction - and the Academy’s eventual clarification of the award(s), Nintendo took its good ol’ time to brag about its Emmy. Sending out a press release just after CES on Jan. 12, 2007, the somewhat slower response allowed enough time for all the facts to come in for a brief, cool-headed and accurate PR response. Bureaucracy might have had something to do with it, but the delay paid off as Sony’s efforts pretty much backfired with online fans.

The Emmy for Nintendo was for its development of the D-pad. If you’ve ever seen the guts of an Atari 2600 joystick, it’s easy to see how that technology could be turned into a stickless, button-based controller. It took the Nintendo tech to work out better specs and put it into the flatter - and far more sturdy - NES/Famicom controllers which reached the US in 1985.

Not to leave the other game-related Emmy winners out of the picture, John Carmack and id Software respectively won for contributions to rendering technology as the lead programmer on Doom and technological leadership in rendering breakthroughs with Quake’s technology. Also, Microsoft won one for DirectX, and Sony grabbed a second Emmy for the Xross Media Bar GUI - originally used on the PSX (media center) and now part of the PSP and PS3.

Read [Nintendo] Site [National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences] Via [Kotaku]

Americans have been stuck with the black PSP since the device’s US launch back in March of 2005.  Sony is now ready to add to the colors available in Japan with the new champagne-colored unit.  Luckily, Sony will not be charging a premium for it - in Japan anyways. The device will sell for 20,790 yen - AKA $175.  Look out for it to hit on February 22.

Read [PSPFanboy]

Sony announced at CES 2007 that they shipped 1 million PlayStation 3 game consoles to North America by the end of 2006. They further explained that the PS3 reached the 1 million mark faster than either the original PlayStation or PS2, though some reports indicated only 800,000 units sold. Also, 1 million is only half of Sony’s original, promised goal of 2 million shipped by last year’s end.

The announcement was not a big consolation to gamers who still don’t have the pricey system or who paid a small fortune to get one close to the initial release. The Xbox site naturally claims PS3s are just sitting on shelves while the Wii is consistently selling out. The good news is that Sony is committed to each of their products for 10 years, so you’re likely to get a semi-affordable PS3 before then. Oh, and the European launch is still on track for March 2007. (Whoopie for that.)

See Gadgetell’s Sony Press Conference recap for more PS3 and PSP details.

Read [Home Media] Read [Blogging Stocks] Read [TeamXbox] Read [TechSpot] Read [PSU] Review [PS3]

The smallest things can make me so very happy. I’m tired of spending so much money on overpriced Memory Stick Duo cards for my PSP when 1GB and 2GB SD cards are so inexpensive. The Dragon Double Expand Memory Converter is a simple adapter that allows PSP owners to use two - yep, TWO - SD, Mini SD or MMC cards in place of the memory Stick Duo. It plugs into the memory card port and, thanks to the flexible cable, wraps around and clips into the two holes in the back of the PSP. I’m not too thrilled about making my PSP thicker but since it is priced at just $19.95, I might have to buy one if Santa doesn’t put one in my stocking.

Order [Mod-Chip] or here [Divineo] Read [Dragon Electronics]

Remember way back when we brought you information about the GPS Receiver for PSP?  Well now it’s finally launch time, in Japan that is.  According to Play-Asia.com, the new PSP attachment will cost just $60 and work with a few titles at launch.  PSP News is reporting it will work with Minna no Golf-jou, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Planetarium Creator Ohira Takayuki Kanshuu: Home Start Portable, and Navigation Soft.  No word on pricing or availability in the US at this time.

Read [PSP News]

At a rate of 60,000 per day, Sony is pumping out new, larger capacity Blu-ray discs for the holiday season. These new discs hold 50GB, twice as much as the already new Blu-ray discs before them, allowing even more space for bonus features, and better quality audio and video. Since May 2006, Sony has shipped three million Blu-ray discs to 35 suppliers.

Movies on the Blu-ray 50GB discs from Sony and other movie studios for this holiday season include: Click, Talladega Nights, Unforgiven, The Searchers, Kingdom of Heaven, Black Hawk Down, Enemy of the State, Flightplan, The Descent, Superman, Underworld, Terminator 2 and many more. Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) already has three Blue-ray movies planned for January 2007: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Casanova and The Guardian. If you’re bettin’ on Blu-ray movies, better pray they don’t go the way of Sony’s other entertainment disc formats including the Minidisc and the UMD… or maybe you want them to fail so you can get them on sale?

Read [Home Media]