Sony are keen for us to ‘redefine’ our living rooms with the release of their new VAIO XL1 Digital Living System, a twin box offering combining a high-end multimedia PC with a 200-disc media changer/recorder.
Clad in natty silver and black casings, the combo runs on Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and connects to a television via an HDMI cable, outputting high-definition video and multi-channel digital audio in a single connection.
Boasting unique functionality as the result of a “close collaboration with Microsoft”, discs inserted into the changer are automatically detected by the PC which connects to the Web (via wired or wireless network) to download any available metadata, including jewel case covers and artist information.
A similar process takes place for movies, where an in-depth synopsis and star, cast, director and producer details etc are automatically downloaded and made accessible onscreen through the included wireless keyboard or remote control.
Sony has innovated once again by introducing a product that is a monumental step forward in defining the way consumers enjoy digital entertainment,” insisted Mike Abary, vice president of VAIO product marketing for Sony Electronics in the US.
“With the XL1, users can still manage all their meaningful entertainment content such as downloaded music, home movies and personal photos. But the really groundbreaking functionality is the additional ability to easily organize, sort, and access packaged content – all of the DVD movies and audio CDs that have been traditionally relegated to a bookshelf,” he added.
There’s no denying that the recording functionality seems mighty impressive to us, with the XL1 able to automatically and sequentially record up to 200 audio CDs from the media changer to the hard drive.
Users can also record a series of television show episodes to the hard drive, and transfer them to blank DVDs stored in the changer
Beating in the heart of the XL1 A/V system is a powerful PC boasting an Intel Pentium D dual-core processor, half a gig of DDR2 memory, PCI-E graphics and space for up to three SATA hard drives (RAID ready).
To ensure that your late night listening pleasure isn’t spoilt by the sound of a mass of Boeing 747-like fans starting up, the XL1 system uses liquid-cooled components for quiet operation.
The Digital Living System will be sold as a package and will be available next month for about US$2,300 (~£1,300, ~€1,930).
Sony Ericsson has today announced the launch of their first 3G (UMTS) tri-band GPRS Walkman phone, the W900.
The phone comes stuffed with multimedia widgets, with a built-in FM radio and 2 megapixel auto-focus flash camera offering 8x digital zoom and the ability to record and playback video at a nippy 30fps.
In line with its Walkman branding, the phone has dedicated music controls, letting users scroll through play lists, artists or individual songs, and a bundled LCD remote control.
The W900 UMTS Walkman phone will be commercially available in black or white finished by the end of Q4 2005 in two versions:
Sony Ericsson has beefed up its flagship P-series smartphone range with the new 3G P990 phone.
Naturally, Sony are keen to shove their oar into Blackberry’s waters, with the P990 prepared for all major push e-mail clients enabling full e-mail access with attachments.
The P990 will be the first commercially available smartphone to use the enhanced Symbian OS version 9.1 and the UIQ 3.0 user interface, which has been optimised for one handed use.
Fashion aficionados concerned that the hue of their laptop may clash awfully with their high fashion clobber will be delighted to learn that Sony is releasing their Sony F-type laptops in four stylish colours.
Carbon Fibre Laptops
The Vaio TX series offer a handy AV mode button which makes the machine available for watching movies or listening to music in just 12 seconds with no need to boot up Windows.
Listen to 
Politically, presenting in Tokyo was an important act – delivering this radical message in the home town of Sony’s head office.
In the nine months that its been on the market, it’s sold 6m units worldwide, making it, they claim, the most successful portable games machine to date.
Sony’s new digital compact camera, the DSC-N1, cunningly attempts to combine the functions of a digital camera with a ‘pocket viewer’.
Stored images can be played back individually or as a slideshow, complete with options to add transitions, pans, wipes, fades and zooms, cheesy themes and background music.
“The combination of these functions makes the N1 ‘more than just a camera’, because it takes sharing to a whole new level.”
Although the camera can only record stills in JPEG format, 
Sony’s Playstation has been awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Technology and Advanced New Media for pioneering the 3D polygonal-based gaming experience, by the US National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS).
You can imagine that the awarding of this will make steam come out of the ears of those on the Xbox team at Microsoft
Is it only the cynical that would think that the timing of this award has anything to do with the wider entertainment business (read film) getting more closely involved with creation of film license games? Or even that they’ve finally woken up to the fact that the amount of money spent on video games out-sizes that spent on film.
Sony’s boffins have announced the addition of a new hybrid camcorder/digital still camera to their Cyber-shot range.
Designed to be used with one hand, the M2 features a slightly tilted lens axis which allows a more natural wrist position according to Sony.
This automatically records five seconds of video before the still picture is taken, adding three more seconds of movie footage afterwards.
Those really wishing to inflict pain on their friends could insist on using the Slide Slow plus Movie function.
Sony has announced the ground-breaking Cyber-shot DSC-R1, a high-end enthusiast digital camera offering a 10.3 million pixel CMOS sensor with a fast 24mm -120mm zoom lens.
Supporting the fancy pants sensor is a high quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T 5X optical zoom lens covering 24mm to 120 mm (f/2.8 to f/4/.8.)
The camera’s $1000 price tag puts it in the heart of dSLR territory and we can’t help wondering how it’s going to compete.
No matter how hard we try, when we see someone wandering about with a Bluetooth headset in their lughole we don’t think, “there’s a cool, go-getting professional”; we tend to have an irresistible urge to shout unprintable things in their direction.
Designed to be compatible with Sony VAIO BX laptops, the HBH-608 connects the computer with the headset via Bluetooth making it possible to handle calls over the Internet (VoIP) without faffing about with troublesome phone cables.
“The knowledge from two strong brands in the communications industry comes together in this solution. We believe that our joint experience benefits the user, making telecommunication as smooth as possible.”
Best of all, when you need to pop out for a double skinny frappuccino with Bolivian gnu’s milk, the same handset can be kept in your ear and used with your Bluetooth mobile phone on the street.