Ad: Manage updates with the Download App
ie8 fix

sony

Sony Ericsson: streaming music made easy

The vast choice of mobile phone accessories gives Crave a pounding headache. We rarely find something genuinely worth spending our hard-earned cash on. "Yet again, mobile phone companies are trying to sell us stuff we don't need," we think to our amalgamated Borg-self. But Sony Ericsson's MBR-100 might just change our mind(s).

This little electro-lozenge enables you to wirelessly blast tunes stored on your mobile phone through your hi-fi system or PC. A refreshing change from music screeching out of annoyingly crap 0.01W mobile phone loudspeakers, perhaps?

The MBR-100 is simple to connect. After … Read more

Sony alarm clock plays spy

The "Dream Machine" as secret agent?

Sony may need to expand into new areas as some of its core businesses continue to suffer (read: iPod), but the spying game hardly seems like a natural fit. In fact, we have no idea why it would even want to develop a combo clock radio and spy cam like the one seen on Uber-Review, other than for the sheer novelty of it.

For one thing, there appears to be an endless supply of covert devices disguised as ordinary household items already on the market. Second, many companies have been specializing in … Read more

Watch out for Bluetooth

Sony Ericsson tends to be serious about Bluetooth and has never been satisfied with producing a simple line of wireless headsets. Granted, some of these products haven't made a whole lot of sense (remember the Bluetooth remote control car?).

Others, like the HCB 300 Bluetooth car kit are indeed functional. Yet the company's MBW-100 Bluetooth Watch is a little harder to classify. It goes beyond entertainment and definitely serves a purpose, but we're still not sure if it's really necessary.

When paired with a Bluetooth phone (it doesn't have to be a Sony Ericsson model), … Read more

Sony VAIO VGF-WA1 shipping soon in North America

Sony's network audio streamer should be hitting store shelves soon. First unveiled at the January Consumer Electronics Show--and no stranger to Crave--the VGF-WA1 is the baby of Sony's VAIO PC division, not the consumer electronics side of the company. While we've seen similar Wi-Fi boom boxes in the past--the Roku SoundBridge Radio comes to mind--the VGF-WA1 is the first I've seen with a rechargeable battery, so you can go truly wireless (for up to 4 hours, according to Sony). In addition to streaming a variety of audio files (MP3, AAC, WAV, and, of course, Sony'… Read more

OK, the Bravia bouncy ball ad was cool. Now let's move on

A few years ago, Sony made a pretty big splash with that advertisement for its Bravia HDTVs that showed a zillion colorful bouncy balls roaming the streets of San Francisco:

It kind of got old when people started spoofing it in Halo (and also when some second-rate nightclub DJs began spinning a lame techno remix of the Jose Gonzales song playing in the background), but now the "colorful balls fall from the sky" ad trend has really gone over the hill. One word: Pokemon. Check out this promotional ad for the new Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl games … Read more

Sony's tapeless XDCAM EX adopts a standard media format

This week, the National Association of Broadcasters converges in Las Vegas for its annual convention, a show we here at CNET usually ignore; after all, while the typical CNET reader may have a room dedicated to the worship of the moving image, we don't expect to see a TV studio in an adjacent shrine. And no, producing YouTube videos doesn't count. However, interesting prosumer news floats down every now and then, and Sony's announcement of its flash-memory-based XDCAM EX camcorder landed gently on my keyboard this morning, via Engadget.

In fact, I usually ignore Sony's XDCAM … Read more

Sony's paper-thin OLED screens

Sony is working on a generation of sickeningly thin OLED displays that make today's LCDs look morbidly obese by comparison. At the cleverly named Display 2007, an international show in Tokyo dedicated to (you guessed it) flat screens, the company showed off a high-definition display with 1080p resolution that is a ridiculous 9 millimeters thick, or just over one-third of an inch, according to Gizmodo. You've really got to see the photos to truly appreciate what that means.

Even thinner, if you can believe it, is another display that measures 3 millimeters thick--about one-tenth of an inch--though its … Read more

Sony kills off the 20GB PS3

Sony is axing the lower-end model of the PlayStation 3, according to the gaming blog Joystiq. The blog quotes Sony saying the 20GB version will no longer be shipped to North American retailers.

The PS3 was initially launched last November amid quite a bit of fanfare. Sony was asking $499 for the 20GB and $599 for the 60GB. The $100 discount on the 20GB clearly wasn't all that attractive as Dave Karraker of Sony America reports that the 60GB PS3s outsold the lower-end models more than 9 to 1.

Getting rid of the cheaper version also kills of any … Read more

The incredible shrinking Walkman

As MP3 players continue their magic shrinking act, it's getting difficult even to identify what they are at first sight. The latest version of Sony's once-venerable Walkman making its Japan debut, for example, could be mistaken for a USB key or dongle, measuring just over 3 inches long and weighing only 1 ounce.

In fact, as Akibahara News notes, the E Series players can be used as a USB drive too. But that would make it a pretty expensive storage device, going for about $92 to $167 for versions ranging from 1GB to 4GB, providing up to 30 … Read more