Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Remember two years ago when all these laptop batteries kept overheating, and there were laptop-based fires around the nation?  Apparently, Sony does not want this fad to begin again as they have recalled 73,000 Vaio TZ laptops. 

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, the reason for the recall is a possible manufacturing defect that may cause them to overheat.  This defect relates to the wiring at the TZ laptop’s hinge. 

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It seems like even the most simple digital devices such as a digital photo frame are becoming more sophisticated and highly advanced in terms of features and functionality. Take the case of Sony’s Vaio CP1 digital photo frame. This 7-inch frame not only supports wireless connectivity but is packed with radio tuner and displays real-time RSS feeds as well.

The Vaio CP1 digital photo frame also lets users display photos without transferring them onto the digital photo frames storage but instead streaming them from their PC’s. In addition, the digital frame can connect with Picasa, Google’s photo uploading site, to allow viewing of up to four Picasa web albums. Inversely pictures stored in the digital photo frame can be uploaded directly to the user’s Picasa account even without the need to download the photos to a PC.

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PNY and Sony Pictures have recently announced a new flash drive with a full length movie pre-loaded. Marking what is the first time a full length movie has been released on a flash drive comes with none other than the classic title Ghostbusters.

Of course with this being a first its hard to argue that its not a unique idea, but its a idea that seems to be strange. To begin with the flash drive is only 2GB in size, which according to PNY will hold up to 12 hours of video play, 33 hours of music or 1,080 pictures. However you would think if they were pushing this kind of portable storage they would have went for at least 4GB, if not 8GB.

Anyway, for the strange part, its Ghostbusters, sure its a good movie, many even consider it a classic. But keep in mind that this movie was released in 1984, which would make the 25th Anniversary next year. According to the release they are making this available now “just ahead of the 25th anniversary year of Ghostbusters in 2009.” Perhaps they felt the need to build up some hype before the DVD release.

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In time for the Christmas techno-shopping rush, Sony will be releasing a high-end Blu-ray player dubbed BDP-S5000ES in Japan. According to Sony, the BDP-S5000ES is the company’s best Blu-ray player to date.

What makes this Blu-ray player special is its HD Reality Enhancer and Super Bit Mapping technology which enables it to generate images that suit perfectly well with HDTV’s. In addition, the Blu-ray player also boasts of a 14-bit, 297MHz Video D/A conversion circuitry, which further helps in generating clear images.

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Man, I really want to watch television while I’m taking a bath, but I really don’t like that whole “what if it falls in the tub” shock thing. 

Fortunately for me, Sony has made the water-resistant XDV-W600.  It isn’t necessarily water-proof, as it can only safely go under water for about 30 minutes.  I don’t know what happens after your half-hour is up, but if you have the habit of sleeping in the tub, perhaps the XDV-W600 is not for you. 

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Earlier this month, Sony entered the PMP market in China by shipping out their PMX-M80. Today, they have announced another PMP that they plan to sell there as well, however, this is one is more affordable than the PM-M80 and will accompany the PMX-U50 and U53.

The PMX-U55 sports a 2.4-inch screen with a 320 x 240 resolution, supports a few formats including MP4, H.264/AVC Baseline profile, AVI, MP3, WMA, and AAC. It’s only 7.5mm thick, so it’s pretty thin. Battery life isn’t too bad - 12 hours of audio and 5 hours of video playback. The 2GB model is already available, however, it is only available in pink at this time. It will sell for 498 Yuan, which is about $73 US.

Via [PMP Today]

Sony will soon be releasing a feature-rich and yet affordable point-and-shoot joining its Cybershot series - the DSC-T500 digital camera. Featuring a 10-megapixel sensor, this compact digital camera can record wide and full-screen 720p video at up to 30fps in its fine, standard and VGA video recording modes. By standard this is high-enough considering that the DSC-T500 is a digital camera.

The DSC-T500’s movie function is based on the MPEG4 AVC/H.264 codec which produces high-quality video without eating up too much space of the memory card. This movie mode comes even better with a zoom function that works even when the camera is in recording mode. It can record video continuously up to 10 minutes in length and can store hours of video clips depending on the capacity of the Memory Stick. 

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We just have to trust Sony when it says that its new KDL-40ZX1 LCD TV is the world’s thinnest so far. Measuring a mere 9.9mm, this 40-inch LCD beauty weighs 12.2kg. Makes you wonder where it puts all that weight considering that it is so thin?

Anyway, the KDL-40ZX1 is said to feature wireless video reception which Sony has dubbed the Bravia 1080 Wireless. In addition, this LCD panel also features a 3000:1 contrast ratio, a full 1080p HD resolution, three HDMI ports, both a digital and analog tuner, as well as LAN and USB ports. 

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If you’re one of the owners of a Sony HandyCam, chances are you find it a hassle to transfer your recorded videos from your HandyCam to your PC before you can burn them on DVDs. The best solution to avoid these hassles would be to use an autonomous DVD recorder which lets you connect your HandyCam directly to it an directly burn your videos onto a DVD, thus eliminating the transferring of files. This is exactly what the new Sony VDR-MC10 stand-alone DVD recorder aims to achieve.

If you own a 1080i Sony HandyCam you can directly store the videos you captured onto a DVD then play it later using your DVD player. The VDR-MC10 offers a standard HDMI output for high-definition video quality. It also has a 2.7-inch color display and supports various DVD formats including; 12cmDVD, DVD+R, DVD-R,DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW and DVD+R DL. In addition, you can also use the VDR-MC10 to record videos captured using other brands of camcorders.

The VDR-MC10 is set for a Japanese market release around October for an estimated price of around $408. No word yet if the VDR-MC10 will be available internationally.

Via [Akihabara News]

So, what do we have here? Sony New Zealand has started showing some new models of Walkman players on their site. Word on the street say that these new Walkman players donning the model name NWZ-E430 are entry level Walkmans and appear to be a sequel to Sony’s A600 series. But this time, the NWZ-E430 will sport a 2-inch screen and probably up to 8GB of storage.

Perhaps taking a cue from other media players which make it easy for users to load music files onto their media players from their PCs, the NWZ-E430 fully supports drag-and-drop functionality as well as compatibility with a sync software. In addition, said Walkman would also come with an FM tuner, support various music formats to include AAC, MP3 and WMA. It will also be capable of playing MPEG-4 video. Battery time for this new Walkman doesn’t seem to be at par with other music players though, as it can only max out 45 hours of continuous music playing and 9.5 hours of video playback. That would be enough for 3 to 4 full movie watching experience though.

Since, this is all about unofficial leakage, pricing and release date are still unavailable. But we expect this to retail for no more than $200 though, considering that its “supposed” predecessor, the A600 is currently retailing at $100 in the U.S.

Via [Electronista] Via [Sony Insider]