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Sony Online Service to challenge iTunes selling music, movies, and books as digital downloads
Sony announced in Tokyo today that it will launch a new music, movie, and book downloading service called Sony Online Service. It's going to be an extension of the existing PlayStation Network for a wide variety of Sony devices (not just gaming consoles), and it's likely to bear a striking resemblance to iTunes.iTunes currently doesn't have a strong competitor. Services like Rhapsody and Amazon MP3 offer the same kinds of content, but their sales pale in comparison to Apple's accomplishments. Sony is hoping to do better.
The company's executives also said that they would consider eventually selling third-party apps for its devices through the Sony Online Service.
Around the web: businessweek.com
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Sony PlayStation 3 joins Facebook with firmware 3.10 today
Sony says that more Facebook features are coming, but that it has no plans for Twitter integration.
As promised yesterday, Sony has released firmware update 3.10 for the PlayStation 3 game console. The update adds new theme customization options and a photo grid feature, but the big news is of course the integration with Facebook.
You can now set your PS3 to automatically update your Facebook wall with new trophies, in-game events, and even PlayStation Network purchases. Granted, it's not the elaborate support the Xbox 360 got yesterday, but Sony's defense of that fact makes some sense. A Sony rep said that since the PS3 has a web browser, those features aren't needed in a native app. We'll admit that it's not likely that many people are going to want to manage their Facebook profiles on their PS3s instead of their laptops.
The PS3 therefore only offers features that are unique to the platform—for now. The rep said more features are in the works. Unfortunately, Sony admits it's not working on Twitter integration at the moment.
Around the web: pcworld.com
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Xbox 360 now does Facebook and Twitter, PS3 firmware 3.10 to add Facebook too
Microsoft promised social networking on the 360 way back at E3, but Sony will offer similar features any day now.
As promised, Facebook and Twitter functionality went live on the Xbox 360's Xbox Live network today.
Not to be outdone, Sony yesterday announced on its PlayStation blog that the PlayStation 3 will get Facebook integration in the upcoming firmware update 3.10. The PS3's social networking features will be a little more conservative than what we're getting on the Xbox 360—at least at first. You'll be able to automatically update your Facebook profile feed with Trophy and "game event" information.
Sony hasn't said when firmware 3.10 will go live, but it should be any time now. The company usually doesn't announce firmware updates for the PS3 until they're imminent. With the holiday rush of huge games including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Assassins Creed 2 in progress, we're not sure we'll have time to mess with these new features, but it's nice to know they're there to play with later!
Around the web: pcworld.com
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Google SPDY protocol to speed up the web, Xbox Live gets Facebook and Twitter Tuesday, Microsoft denies Windows 7 was inspired by Mac OS X
Google is working on an application-layer protocol called SPDY (pronounced "speedy") that it claims increases web page load times by as much as 55%. The protocol doesn't replace HTML, but rather augments it, taking over certain tasks where HTML is not ideal. Google has developed a version of its Chrome web browser that uses SPDY, and is opening the project up to the web community for further development and optimization.
The Xbox 360 game console's Xbox Live network will get Twitter and Facebook functionality in an update due out Tuesday, November 17th. The interface fits in nicely with the Xbox 360's other NXE applications.
Microsoft representative Brandon LeBlanc ran a blog post today saying that the marketing manager who said Windows 7 was aiming for "a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics" was "inaccurate and uninformed." He also posted a couple of links detailing the design process for Windows 7.
Thing is, it's very hard not to notice that the new Windows 7 taskbar borrows liberally from Mac OS X's dock. That's not a bad thing, and I've even admitted that the Windows 7 taskbar is superior to the dock in some ways. But hey, you can't go off message, can you?
Around the web: blog.chromium.org (10 comments)
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Google Dashboard brings all your Google app data under one roof, PS3 Netflix discs arrive Friday, T-Mobile HSPA 7.2 service rolling out now
Google just launched a new site called Google Dashboard. It puts all the basic information about your usage of various Google apps like Gmail and Docs in one place, and you can jump from there into any app.
T-Mobile has started rolling out its HSPA 7.2 Mbps 3G cellular data network. It's twice as fast as the previous infrastructure. Only some areas have gotten the upgrade so far, but Android and Me reports that New Jersey, Chicago, Minnesota, Virginia, Arizon, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan, and New York are among them.
Around the web: googleblog.blogspot.com
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New York Times editor Bill Keller says Apple tablet is "impending," Sony PlayStation 3 gets Netflix streaming, Facebook Share adds counter and other new features
Bill Keller is the Executive Editor of The New York Times, so he ought to have some inside information about what the company is up to. And when speaking to an audience of fellow insiders, he named "the impending Apple slate" as one of the devices The New York Times plans to bring its digital content to.Streaming movies and TV episodes from Netflix have been a source of bragging rights for Xbox 360 advocates, but Microsoft's exclusivity deal seems to have ended, as Netflix and Sony just announced that within a few weeks the PlayStation 3 will offer Watch Instantly content as well.
Facebook has revamped its "Share" feature, which folks with websites use to embed a button that helps readers share content with their Facebook friends. Like competing services, Facebook Share now shows a total share count so you can see how popular an item is on Facebook, along with a few back-end improvements.
Around the web: gawker.com (4 comments)
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Steve Ballmer says Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on is coming, Bing Facebook search to go live within two months, Microsoft stores open in Scottsdale and Paris
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Gizmodo in an interview today that the Xbox 360 gaming console will finally get a Blu-ray add-on, though he didn't say when it will arrive or how much it will cost. He backtracked a bit to a "no comment" when Gizmodo pried for more information.Yesterday we found out that Bing will offer live search of public Facebook status updates. Now we have a vague time frame: the feature will go live sometime within the next two months.
Coinciding with the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft has finally opened the doors to its retail store in Scottsdale, Arizona (the Phoenix area) and its "Windows cafe" in Paris.
Around the web: Gizmodo (4 comments)
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Researcher: YouTube has no bandwidth traffic costs, Microsoft store grand opening rumored to be October 22, Google Street View taking suggestions for off-road trike project
Google spends almost nothing on bandwidth from ISPs, the chief scientist at Arbor Networks says. The company uses up 10% of all bandwidth on the internet — 6% is used by YouTube specifically — and traditional pricing models don't apply. Instead, the company uses something called "dark fiber" and trades bandwidth with providers.
Tipsters have told Engadget that the first Microsoft retail stores will open on October 22nd to coincide with the Windows 7 launch, and that they'll have everything from a Genius Bar-esque help desk to 94-inch displays with attached, playable Xbox 360s.
Google is now using a trike to snap Street View photos of places where the good ol' Street View van can't reach. It's accepting submissions of recommendations as to where it should send that trike next.
[Image courtesy of Engadget.]
Around the web: Epicenter
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NVIDIA Tegra chosen for new Nintendo DS, Wi-Fi tech upgrade would enable P2P Wi-Fi on any device, Finland declares broadband internet a legal right
NVIDIA's Tegra platform, which includes both a CPU and a GPU, has been selected as the basis for the hardware of the successor to the wildly popular Nintendo DS handheld gaming console.The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced that upgrades to the standard Wi-Fi technology will enable direct connections between Wi-Fi enabled devices without a WLAN router in between, with a maximum radius of 300 feet. The technology is expected to debut in the middle of 2010.
The Finnish government has passed a law that guarantees broadband internet access to all 5.5 million residents of the country. It's the first country to guarantee its citizens broadband — an impressive feat, considering that many other countries are struggling to guarantee much more basic needs.
Around the web: brightsideofnews.com
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FCC details new net neutrality plan, Netflix hands out $1 million prize and starts new contest, Square Enix prez predicts new Nintendo Wii in 2011
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski gave a speech detailing his plans for enforcing network neutrality. The full text of the speech is available at the new website openinternet.gov, and GigaOM has written up a good bullet point summary.Netflix awarded a $1 million prize to a group of people who managed to make a sort of "if you liked this, then you might like this" movie recommendation algorithm that beat the one that Netflix has been using up to this point. The company then announced a new prize, this time for whichever team can come up with the best algorithm that makes recommendations based on demographics.
Yoichi Wada — president of the illustrious video game developer and publisher Square Enix — said that he believes Nintendo will release a new Wii console with HD graphics in 2011, leveling the technical playing field with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which will each get their own motion control solutions to match the Wiimote soon enough. He said he's skeptical that motion control will make waves on the 360 and PS3, though.
Around the web: openinternet.gov
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Sony PS3 Slim image gallery
