The Sony Vaio P70 Series notebook is the world’s lightest notebook; its weight is just 1.10 lbs and its dimension is 245×19.8×120 mm. It has 8-inch wide screen display with 1600 x 768 resolutions. The Vaio P70 notebook is more than your imagine. It is too small you can keep it on your pocket easily and use it anywhere like airport, park etc.
This P Series notebook has excellent features such as Atom Z520 @ 1.33 GHz Processor, 2 GB RAM, Intel US15W Chipset, VRAM, Intel High Definition Audio, 60 GB 4200 rpm HDD or SDD, SD Card Slot, Memory Stick Card Slot, LAN, Bluetooth, WiFi, USB2.0 x2 port, Web Camera, One Seg TV tuner, Qwerty keyboard.
The Sony Vaio P70 is available in three different colors Green, Red and White. It offers 4 hours battery life to its user and it available with Windows Vista OS. Its suggested cost is ¥ 92,500.00.
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Monthly Archives: August 2009
Sony Vaio P70 world lightest notebook
TechCrunch Japan’s Tokyo Camp: 12 Startups Demo Their Wares
Following last week’s startup contest WISH 2009, Japan just got another event that gave twelve selected tech companies the chance to demo their web services, apps and tools (almost all of which are thankfully available in English). This Friday, around 130 guests attended Tokyo Camp [JP], a demo event organized by TechCrunch Japan.
The occasion: The blog, which is one of Japan’s biggest and mainly translates articles from TechCrunch into Japanese, is under new management (by DESIGN IT!, LLC., a Sociomedia (Japan’s anwer to Adaptive Path) group company).
Here are my thumbnail sketches of all of the twelve demos I saw at Tokyo Camp.
I’vRead by Akky Akimoto
Officially launched at Tokyo Camp, I’vRead keeps a record of all books you’ve read via your Twitter account and lets you find users with a similar taste in books. All you need to do is to type the title of the book (or its ISBN or Amazon URL), add “@ivread” to the tweet and (as an option) write what you thought of it. Each of these tweets will then be automatically added to your personal user page on the I’vRead site (you don’t need to register at the site itself, being a Twitter user is enough). Look here for an example.dango
dango wants to empower online game creators worldwide to focus more on the development of content and less on the things they have to deal with after a game is finished, especially the distribution problem. The company of the same name offers a comprehensive, integrated framework called “dango-PLAY”. The system delivers online games to a number of social networks (i.e. Facebook or Japan’s Mixi) and dango’s homepage itself, using a single program and source code (dango is open source [JP]).dango-Play aims at creating an integrated ecosystem for online games by matching users, linking to other games based on the framework, providing SMS services, managing user ID data, freeing developers from tracking user behavior etc. etc.
One of the first games that’s been released based on the dango system is Facebook app “meromero park”, an ultra-cute mix between a social network, a virtual world and a pet-rearing game (the web version has already gained massive popularity in Japan and Taiwan). The Facebook app is available in English and French.
Jin-Magic TCP Traffic Optimization Technology by Akira Jinzaki
A veteran network technology guru and a Chief Technologist in Residence at Breakthrough Partners, Akira Jinzaki has single-handedly programmed what appears to be a powerful TCP traffic controller with the potential to change the way Internet traffic is currently being managed (99% of the Internet traffic is TCP-based). Jinzaki says his Jin-Magic software manages TCP traffic in a cost-effective way that is transparent to the network to get the most out of the exiting plumbing.The software can sit anywhere in the network between the two end-points. WiMAX was used for the demo. Reception in the demo room was 2 to 4 bars out of 6 and TCP transfer rates were at best 1Mbps (with standard set-up). Turn on the Jin-magic on the server side configured to maximize TCP flow, the rates climbed up in the 4Mbps to 7Mbps range. The technology allows providers to maximize service for their investments. It may enable mobile data providers to serve 2 to 3 times more customers with uninterrupted video bandwidth with the existing infrastructure. Jin-Magic can be ported to smartphones, too.
PeKay’s Little Author
PeKay’s Little Author is a Facebook application that lets users create a graphic story using original characters on-screen and print it out in the form of a picture storybook. Alternatively, the virtual storybook (example) can be shared with others online or turned into a web greeting card.PeKay’s Little Author is the brainchild of a well-known Japanese artist. The video below shows how the app works:
IxEdit by Sociomedia
Launched at Tokyo Camp, IxEdit is a JavaScript-based “interaction design” tool for web applications that can be used from within the browser. Web designers can use IxEdit to practice DOM-scripting without having to code anything. The tool allows for elements of web pages that require “interaction”, i.e. pull-down menus, to be created with basic knowledge about HTML and CSS (no JavaScript coding is required).IxEdit can be downloaded for free. View sample elements here.
Mobile Vein Authentication Technology by Universal Robot [JP]
Universal Robot’s compact mobile vein authentication software (40KB core module) can be installed on cell phones, for example, and uses the camera to scan your wrist vein for identification. The technology seems to have many advantages: It works fast (I tried it myself), it’s completely software-based, compatible to a variety of CPUs and operating systems, usable for persons doing hard manual labor (who can’t use fingerprints), and most importantly extremely accurate (the company speaks of a false accept ratio of 0.001% and of a false reject ratio of less than 0.1%). The award-winning software works even with cameras with a 1MP sensor or lower.
Kuchikomi@Sousenkyo [JP] by Hottolink
Tokyo-based Hottolink has shown a self-developed word-of-mouth analysis tool (dubbed “Word Of Mouth@General Election Of The Lower House” in Japanese) that’s supposedly able to predict the results of the general election of Japan’s Lower House (according to CEO Koki Uchiyama) that took place just today.The prediction tool analyzes what’s being written in Japan’s blogosphere about political topics dynamically (it updates its projected results daily). Uchiyama said internal tests with previous elections proved to be very promising. We’ll know if the prediction model really works on Monday morning Japanese time after the election results are official (I will deliver an update here later).
LogEarth
LogEarth requires a GPS logger or an iPhone GPS logger app to work. The service then records where you move around in the world (provided there’s a GPS signal) and visualizes your route with the help of Google Maps. The log data can be posted on blogs, too.The 3 Augmented Reality Brothers [JP]
The 3 Augmented Reality Brothers aren’t really brothers, but their augmented reality project certainly had the highest show value at Tokyo Camp. Watch the Japanese video below to get an idea of what these guys are doing (their Vimeo channel is here).AR3Bros episode-i | twitter & AR from ar3bros on Vimeo.
dodaii by Feynman
dodaii is anin-app purchase management ASP created for iPhone devs. The system handles the payment records for companies offering apps in the App Store for a fee. More information on dodaii can be found in this English PDF and here. dodaii is currently in closed beta.
Kanshin Kuukan [JP]
Kanshin Kuukan is a community site that helps its members find relevant products, restaurants, movies, songs etc. based on recommendations from users. The company of the same name showed a demo video of an iPhone app that scans the Twittersphere for relevant tweets and is scheduled for release in December (Japanese only).Manetron
Manetron is an iPhone app that puts a Mellotron (an electro-mechanical, vintage keyboard) in your pocket. The app is available in the App Store for $2.99. Watch the video below to see and hear how Manetron works.Many thanks to all attendees and demo companies who helped making Tokyo Camp a blast. And sorry to everyone who didn’t make it on the guest list this time (just like last time, we were overwhelmed by the response), but another event like this might happen again in the near future. Arigatou gozaimasu!
More pictures from the event were made by alpha blogger Masaki Ishitani and TechCrunch Japan’s translator Umihiko Namekawa.
Information provided by CrunchBase
Top 10 Tactics for Productive Travel [Lifehacker Top 10]
By Kevin Purdy, 9:00 AM on Sat Aug 29 2009, 25,171 views
Being able to work just about anywhere is a mixed blessing. If you’re tired of dying batteries, lost receipts, absent files, and laptop theft paranoia, pick up on our top 10 tactics for a better life on the road.
Photo by n0nick.
10. Keep track of everything
Your car’s parked in section H14 of the airport. Dinner with the clients has been changed to 8 p.m. Your daughter would really love that bag you saw in that little shop downtown, and you must not forget to grab your raincoat from the hotel closet, like you always do. A tool that follows you everywhere, like the brain-expanding Evernote, the very iPhone-friendly reQall, or politely nagging/reminding to-do systems like Remember the Milk or Todoist might be perfect for your needs. Then again, you might be like so many Lifehacker readers and find that, for your task management and remember-it-or-else purposes, pen and paper is the ultimate portable tool.
9. Find your saving grace: free Wi-Fi
$12 per day airport Wi-Fi is like a $60 steak entree at a restaurant with leather seating—it only exists because expense accounts also exist. For those of us footing our own bill, there’s usually a free alternative to the billing demands of coffee shops and air travel waypoints. Gina did us all a favor by rounding up the definitive guide to locating free Wi-Fi, covering the bases from free-as-in-beer offerings to hoping somebody doesn’t mind you’re tip-toe-ing past their very weak encryption. It’s definitely worth the print-out or, more practically, a “Save Page As.”
8. Tether your phone for emergency email & directions
From experience, we can tell you that even a great 3G cellphone connection feels a little slow when sent through a laptop browser. That said, Wi-Fi is sometimes an absolute no-go, and you’ll need to find out exactly how to get around that parade to the conference center or dash out a long enough email that cellphone-keypad typing isn’t feasible. Before your trip, or with some time in your hotel, you can enable tethering on an iPhone or your Palm Pre, or tether an Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, (jailbroken) iPhone, or even (older) Palm OS phone with PdaNet. Android owners can also root their phones for the easiest Wi-Fi tethering we’ve ever seen.
7. Protect your laptop
First things first: If your laptop and all its data access aren’t tucked behind great but memorable passwords, they need to be. Beyond that, tools like Laptop Alarm for Windows can help prevent your system from being nabbed while it’s running (hello coffee shop snatchers), while LaptopLock is the best post-theft data protector and thief finder we know of for Windows systems. Mac users have the similarly clever iAlertU to use the MacBook’s webcam that works as a car alarm for your laptop, snapping a picture of the thief and sounding an alarm when a potential thief tries grabbing your armed laptop, then emails the pic to you so you can hopefully identify the culprit. (Original post)
6. Get set up with smart SMS services
For at least a year, I carried an iPod touch around with my “dumb” cellphone, using the iPod’s Wi-Fi and apps when I could, but using text message services whenever I really needed to pull up information or send myself something important. What I learned was that a host of services can work almost entirely through SMS, but they don’t all promote that fact very well. Google Calendar can send you today’s or tomorrow’s agenda, Amazon can price items for you, Twitter can set a timer and text you back (assuming you have direct messages sent to your phone), and many other services offer similar functionality. Even if they claim it’s an email service, you can send an SMS to that email address to follow through—all great reasons to claim your constant texting is really just practice for faster productivity. (Original post)
5. Get better life from batteries
First of all, get yourself a spare battery for rechargeable devices like your laptop or other gadgets. Use your spare batteries fully when you’re going to use them, then recharge them to around 50-percent full and keep them someplace cool, like wrapped in a paper towel inside the fridge, to increase their shelf life. Keep your cell phone out of your pocket if you want to extend its battery life (the extra heat decreases its battery life). Every so often, charge your battery all the way full, then run it completely down to recalibrate its sense of how much it can hold. Don’t run your battery somewhere it will get very hot, and turn off Wi-Fi and fancy graphics effects when you’re really just editing a Word document. Those are just a few of the take-away battery tips we’ve collected and dissected over years of use and discussion, but they’re a pretty good beginner’s course in squeezing every last bit of rare travel power from your devices. (Original post)
4. Carry an Altoids-sized “survival” kit
We’re fans of Altoids tins, as they’re durable, compact, inexpensive, and they come with a tasty treat. They can also fit easily in your pocket or go-bag and are perfect for carrying essential medical and mending gear, which will make you the hero of anyone who nicks themselves, or even needs to know which way is North in a strange city. If you’re less of a survivalist and more of a maker, you could check out the “maker’s tin,” for a big dose of DIY ingenuity in a tiny metal container. Make sure to pack it in a way that lets you keep it in your laptop/to-go bag at all times, so you’ll always be the guy who’s surprisingly prepared on every trip.
3. Manage your travel expenses
If the back of your wallet or bottom of your purse isn’t quite cutting it as a receipt management system, try out a system like Xpenser, which lets you call a free number and simply ramble out something like “dinner 58 with Albertson Associates;” alternately, you can quickly add your expense via their web site or SMS. You’ll later see a $58 dinner cost neatly tagged to the right date and client. Your accountant, your tax preparer, and your former shoebox stronghold will appreciate your small efforts. If you’d rather mail copies or take digital photos or scans of your receipts post-facto, Shoeboxed has you covered. (Original post)
2. Float between online and offline files
Until I’d talked to four different people last week who didn’t know that Zoho, Google’s Docs, Calendar, Reader, and Gmail services, Remember the Milk tasks, and many other services could be managed offline with Google Gears, I’d though it was an old-hat piece of advice. Consider this a friendly reminder, then, that the five minutes it takes to install Gears, click the “Offline” or green check mark icon on the Gears-supporting web site, and synchronize your online life is entirely worth it. And if you haven’t grabbed a free account from Dropbox, SugarSync, or another cross-platform, web-accessible synchronization service, that, too, will be a lifesaver on some rainy day when you’re much too rushed to prepare all your files before you head to the airport.
1. Properly pack your laptop/go bag
We can’t tell you exactly what you’ll need for every trip, but we can suggest the cables, containers, notepads, spare batteries, portable Wi-Fi routers, and many other items that have saved our editors’ and readers’ travel-weary butts on many occasions. A week-long, ever-so-slightly-navel-gaze-y series on what our editors pack in their laptop bags culminated in a multi-bag roundup. Further back, our endlessly creative and forward-thinking readers offered their own views at their daily and long-distance travel bags in three photo-stuffed installments. Peruse, poke fun, but more than anything, take them as examples of how you can make life on the road a bit more comfortable and predictable.
That’s how we roll, at least when we’re heading out farther than the coffee shop or coworking spot. Tell us, and your fellow weary wanderers, your most essential, trip-saving tips and tactics in the comments.
RSS is how the news flows
Home > Archive > 2009 > August > 26
RSS is how the news flows
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 by Dave Winer.
To Sam Diaz who says RSS was “a good idea at the time but there are better ways now,” I have many things to say.
1. People confuse RSS with Google Reader. Let’s be clear that there’s a difference. Google Reader is an application that reads RSS-formatted data. There are many other applications that read and write RSS.
2. I think Google Reader was, on the whole, a good thing. It’s probably the best reader of its variety. You have to go find the new stuff in Google Reader. I prefer a reader that finds the new stuff for me, and presents it in reverse chronologic order. This is known as a river of news reader.
3. Diaz more or less says that’s his preference too. Interesting.
4. My newspaper doesn’t tell me how many articles I haven’t read going back to the date of my birth. I bet it would be in the millions. Why should I care. This was the worst idea ever in news readers.
5. The core problem — so many programmers who write RSS software are not themselves news junkies. If they were they’d know when they got it wrong. News is about what’s new! Show me the newest stuff first. Sorry to all the articles I didn’t read, maybe in the next lifetime.
6. He may not use a RSS reader, but the news is still getting to him through RSS.
7. If all the RSS on the planet were all of a sudden to stop updating (key point) the news would stop flowing. Any news guy or gal who thinks they could get by without RSS — think this through a bit more. We all love the Internet, but don’t shut off your gas and electric because your computer and router wouldn’t work without electricity. Same with RSS and news. RSS is how the news flows, whether you see it or not. If not RSS, something exactly like RSS.
8. The Internet is layered. New technology comes on line building on tech that already existed. RSS was like that. It built on XML and HTTP, which built on text and TCP/IP. The new things that Diaz likes so much, in exactly the same way, build on RSS.
9. When news authors don’t understand how technology evolves, they propagate incorrect notions to everyone else, including would-be inventors, who have to figure it out for themselves, and then convince investors and partners they know what they’re doing — when they just read in ZDNet that things don’t evolve at all. So Mr. Diaz does us all a disservice.
10. I object when technology writers tell the story of technology incorrectly. People say I should just be happy to see my name in the story, or in this case something that I fathered. No deal. I want the accurate story out there. I want people to understand how technology really works, because that’s central to users being empowered by it, instead of being controlled by it.
Bonus: Marshall Kirkpatrick, my partner in the Bad Hair Day podcast (tomorrow 7PM Pacific) has his own excellent rebuttal to the Diaz piece.
Tweetmeme launches massive upgrade to Version 2
Tweetmeme launches massive upgrade to Version 2
By Martin Bryant on August 28, 2009
UPDATE: The new version of Tweetmeme is live. Our initial thoughts, including screenshots, are below the original post.
You may have noticed that we haven’t had retweet buttons on today’s posts here at The Next Web. Why? They haven’t been working. Tweetmeme, the company behind our retweet buttons, took the service down for maintenance this morning with no warning and it’s still down now.
There’s good reason though, Tweetmeme Version 2 is launching imminently.
The upgrade sees the service take a step forward following the recent launch of competitor Retweet.com (which, it has been claimed, uses Tweetmeme code). Tweetmeme is also working with JS-Kit to incorporate Tweetmeme into its Echo blog comment system.
Here’s what’s planned:
The upgrade is called Tweetmeme ‘V2’ as today’s release really is a complete revamp of the site that encompasses a total rewrite of the scoring system, filtering engine and a whole raft of user interface enhancements and tweaks. It also incorporates the new commenting system.
UPDATE: The new version is now live. So what’s it like?
The first upgrade we looked at is the analytics feature. For each retweeted post you get graphs for tweets in the past hour, tweets in the past day, a pie chart showing where tweets came from and analysis of recent retweets:
In addition, there’s a new comments tab allowing comments to be posted directly to Tweetmeme’s site. This can be posted to Twitter (via OAuth) with a link back to the discussion on Tweetmeme. Comments are displayed in pseudo-realtime like Facebook – a notification inviting you to refresh the page to see them. As you can see, Nick Halstead, CEO of Tweetmeme, replied to my comment. These replies can optionally be sent as Twitter replies too.
This is obviously an attempt to get more conversation happening directly on Tweetmeme. How likely this will be to happen, I’m not sure – Tweetmeme has always been about tracking Twitter links, not content discussion. Still, it’s an interesting move and one that sets it apart from Retweet.com.
Here’s the full changelog straight from Tweetmeme:
Highlights· The new ‘retweeting’ commenting platform
· A new user timeline that shows retweets and comments in a river.
· V3 of our Filtering Engine, codenamed ‘Pickle’
· Better RSS feeds (by Category, Channel, User or Domain)
· Simple story analytics (to be followed next week with full analytics package)
· A new bookmarklet that lets you find any webpage back on TweetMeme.
· A new ‘tweets’ analyzer that only shows ‘unique’ tweets for one particular story.
Ranking ContentThe new site will have more varied and better quality content, this is achieved through better scoring of stories including a new ‘kudos’ score for individual Twitter users, plus we have a new ‘reporting’ mechanism allowing our users to flag content as abusive, spam or ‘This Sucks!’</p>
Filtering Content
The filtering engine is now at Version 3 codenamed ‘Pickle’ – this is our most advanced system yet allowing the real-time filtering of 10’s of millions of stories per day based upon our own programming language ‘Pickle Code’. This release is future proof for scalability and also allows us to plug in new data sets as they become available. Included on the right is a screenshot of our tool that allows us to drag and drop rules that produces ‘Pickle Code’ – In the coming weeks we will do a feature on the architecture of this new system.
Commenting + Partnership Announcement
The new commenting system also goes live, this includes the ability to retweet individual comments (when they are good!) replying to multiple users, live updates and a really tight integration into Twitter.TweetMeme is also working with the team at JS-Kit to import the comments into the Echo. TweetMeme will also be recommending and distributing Echo as the preferred solution to track the distributed conversation on blogs.
11 useful Windows apps that tie in to your GMail account
Filed under: Features, Windows, E-mail, Google, Lists
11 useful Windows apps that tie in to your GMail account
by Lee Mathews (RSS feed) Aug 28th 2009 at 2:00PM
Love your GMail account but want to do more with it? If you’re a Windows user, there are plenty of great (and free) apps that take advantage of your massive inbox in the cloud!
GBridge sets up a Hamachi-like VPN and offers loads of cool features for your Windows desktop, including file sharing, backup and synchronization, and remote control via VNC. Since the developers added support for Google Apps domains, this has become a great way to keep your office team connected.GMail Drive is an oldie but a goodie. I’ve got several of gigs available, and there’s no chance I’m going to fill that up with actual email anytime soon. Plug GMail Drive into Windows, and you can drop files into your extra space just like any other folder on your system.
g2peer allows simple file sharing with your friends via your GMail account. Don’t need the other features from GBridge? g2peer is a good option. Your pals at the other end don’t even need to install the app to get files from you since it supports “command line” interaction via GMail – check the help page to see how it works.
GMail Backup gives you an easy way to save a copy of your precious cloud-based inbox on your local system. This app requires IMAP access to GMail, so make sure you’ve enabled it in your preferences. GMB also has a restore feature – which makes it a handy way to migrate from one GMail address to another should you ever need to do that.
GPhoto Space provides you with one more place you store and share photos online. Why bother? Maybe you don’t want to set up a Flickr or Picasa Web album. Maybe you just want a mostly private place to store some photos for personal viewing.
Affixa offers an easy way to tell Windows GMail is your default mail client and to send file attachments right from your desktop. If you’d rather not bother with a desktop email app and IMAP or POP access to GMail, Affixa is a handy way to bridge the gap between your PC and the cloud.
Pidgin, though it doesn’t technically provide any straight-up GMail functionality, does let you chat with your GMail contacts who are signed in to chat. The newest version even provides Google Voice and Video support.
Digsby, of course, will let you chat with those people too – you’ll just need to use Tokbox if you want voice and video chat. It does, however, support incoming mail notifications. As always, we recommend grabbing the alternate installer.
Gmail Notifier Plus (right) makes a slick little addition to your Windows 7 desktop, with jumplist support and the ability to check multiple GMail accounts.
The GMail Reader Gadget is one of the best options available for your Windows 7 or Vista Sidebar – assuming you’re into gadgets, of course.
Got another favorite app that plays nicely with GMail? Share it in the comments!
Motion Control – The Art of Motion Control: Beyond the Hype
The Art of Motion Control: Beyond the Hype
By Hubert Nguyen, Posted on Jun 4, 09 12:22 AM PDT
[E3 2009] I don’t think that anyone had envisioned a post-E3 motion controller war, but that’s what’s happening in the forums and elsewhere right now. After the cool on-stage demos from Microsoft and Sony, gamers are split on what’s “better”, Sony’s Motion Controller magic wand or Microsoft’s full body project Natal. Our first take was that Project Natal was “better, but let’s try to go beyond the hype to review how each technology works, how it could be used and which might ultimately win.
The Nintendo Approach
Let’s establish some facts with the precursor: the Wiimote. Wiimote is a two sensor system made of one 3-axis rotation sensor and one optical (IR) sensor located in the pointer lens that tracks where on the screen the Wiimote is pointing at, relative to the sensor bar that comes with the console. An additional Nunchuck that also contains a motion sensor can be connected by a cable to the Wiimote. The recently introduced Wii Motion Plus is an add-on to the Wiimote that contains an angular rate sensor that can help differentiate between “twisting” and linear (movement) motion, thus making the overall motion sensing and interpretation more accurate.
Note that all these sensors only know what’s happening (rotation, acceleration) relative to their own position. They are the center of their small universe. Because of that, every Wii game is using some sort of context to “guess” how to interpret the data. They often need a “start position” that will tell them what the point of origin is (archery or golf are good examples) or games like Tennis sense simple swings and mostly adapt themselves, depending on the player’s position on screen. It’s robust because there are no external factor that can interfere and it’s arguably an efficient way to tackle the problem.
The Sony Approach
The Sony Motion Controller also use a motion sensor but it is augmented with visual information fed by a camera that can see a tracker (the glowy end of the remote). The presence of the motion sensor in Sony’s product is significant because that’s what propelled the visual motion tracking from “relatively bad” to “really cool”. Why? Because optical (color) tracking alone was simply not good enough. But when combined with a motion sensor, it actually surpasses the Wii Motion Plus.
Thanks to the internal sensor, the Sony Motion Controller knows exactly what orientation/acceleration it currently has but it also knows exactly where it is in space and what kind of motion the controller is really doing in the real world. Unlike the Nintendo solution, Sony has much less “guess work” to do because it can “see” what’s going on, although we think that games will still have to make some assumption about the current activity.
Optical tracking is not without challenge. Some external factors such as strong lights or sensor occluders might be problematic, but overall, Sony has done a good job of demonstrating the capability of their concept. We will know for sure when this will be an actual product but Sony’s motion sensing solution is theoretically superior to Nintendo’s. The controller itself will have buttons, so it is something that players should be accustomed to.
The Microsoft Approach
In short, Microsoft senses more: color, depth and voice. From a high-level, takes a visual approach to the problem, but the additional depth perception helps Microsoft overcome the barrier onto which Sony’s EyeToy color-based approach crashed. That makes it less prone to color interference, except for occluders (too much junk in your place) and even then, a simple subtract operation can probably wipe out the static object (including you, if you’re a couch potato). Anyhow, by using a virtual skeleton of the player (created once, then stored), Natal is capable of figuring out the body’s motion, including its position in space. Microsoft’s Natal greatest strength is that it can scan full body motions, something that neither Sony or Nintendo are capable of doing with their motion sensing solutions. Natal should, in theory, be much better for a boxing/fighting game or for the next Dance Dance Revolution type of products. It could also teach you to swing perfectly by comparing your skeletal motion with Tiger Wood’s…
It is however far from being a product and while we think that it mostly works, we wonder how much setup is involved. The video footage that shows how Natal works in the living room
is a concept, Microsoft warns, and while we hope that it will be as good in reality, we are cautiously optimistic.
Theoretically, with Natal you could also hold a rolled-up magazine and use it as a “sword” – no accessory needed. In its promotional video, Microsoft hinted that you could use any objects with Natal and it depends entirely on the application. We have heard that Microsoft has already approached game developers, and that so far, it is “very usable”.
Conclusion
We thought that Sony and Microsoft would have come up with something to counter the Wiimote years ago, but “late” is be better than “never”. Both companies have realized that non-hardcore gamers represent their future growth – that’s what Nintendo itself said too- and if they want to cash on this new manna, they have to have motion-based games that seem so popular.
On the paper, Microsoft’s solution looks to be the most flexible one, but as always the content (and pricing) will dictate its success. In our view, the lack of button is a problem (do you believe in gestures for everything?) that is easy to solve with a cheap, small, wireless controller. But, because it is so different (superior?), developers might take a wait-and-see approach before creating games that cannot be ported to PS3 and Wii even if we expect an initial rush to be bundled with the hardware when it launches.
Sony’s solution is factually better than Nintendo’s and uses relatively known and proven concepts. It looks close enough to be a product, so we don’t expect bad surprises at this point. Sony’s Motion Controller might not be as “cool” as Microsoft’s Natal, but it might be enough to get new gamers on-board, and that’s what counts in the end. We think that because it is closer to Nintendo’s solution, game developer might port their Nintendo titles to the PS3 easily.
Nintendo seems to be the “loser” of this story, but the low price of the Wii will protect them in the short term, and they have another year before competitors have real products. Conceptually, they too could come up with a vision-based solution, although the weakness in processing power would probably come back to bite them in the butt. Another non-negligible fact is the incredible branding credit that Nintendo has acquired in non-gaming (aka new customers) circles. Finally, the Wii might be just “good enough” for these games – at least for this round of consoles. For sure, Nintendo will have to find another trick for its next-generation console.
The gaming world just entered into a new motion sensing arms race. Prepare for sweating!
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dqbeast 1 month ago
First I would like to state that I own a ps3 and that I think its a pretty good console with great games. I believe xbox’s natal will be fun. It will be a good add on to the 360 to play fighting and some sports games. But in the end I believe that the ps3 motion sensing controllers have more potential due to having a controller and buttons. This will make it easier for game companies to make more in depth like the wii has. Natal on the other hand will have fun mini game style games that will be cool to pick up and play. In the end though, hard core gamers like myself wont really care about the motion sensing and would like to play re5 or lp with their normal controllers.john prince 1 month ago
ps3 has most potancalnatal sucks i tryed it
wii will lose this war in the end
Jerome 2 months ago
Not a bad article, but you messed up on a big point.The Wii’s control system does allow for absolute positional tracking. The PS3′s scheme achieves this with a fixed-position camera tracking mobile round shapes of a particular color, while the Wii uses a mobile infrared camera to track two fixed points of infrared light. The Wii’s method will entail the reference points not being visible to the camera at times, but this will also happen, though less frequently, with the PS3′s. With either system, internal sensors alone will be relied on for measuring position and orientation until the reference point(s) is/are visible again. In fact, the Playstation Eye camera only has a resolution of 640×480, nowhere near enough, by itself, for the “sub-millimeter accuracy” claimed in the demo. This shows that the internal sensors can track motion and orientation with a higher degree of accuracy than the camera, and mainly rely on it to prevent drift, or accumulated error. This would also hold true with a Motion Plus-equipped Wiimote. The only thing standing in the way of a Motion Plus game tracking absolute position would be the lack of proper calibration options in software.
Facebook User 2 months ago
Porting Wii titles to PS3 ? You gotta be kidding. Audiences, prices, hardware, differ so wildly that ports between those two are more than unlikely.
No buttons to Nadal a problem ..? What about those on the 360 controller !? Games will most likely let you use both. I see much more potential in {controller+body motion} control schemes than the latter alone.I agree with the bulk of you analysis though.
Smartq7.com 2 months ago
I like it. All games company are innovating. I think that is a good thing!———————
get Smartq7 at “www.smartq7.com”strider_mt2k 2 months ago
Good stuff!
I was wondering about that stuff!I just gave my wife a Wii for her birthday, so motion sensing been a topic of discussion.
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PlayStation 3 Slim Review: The Same For Less
By Jason Chen, 4:00 PM on Tue Aug 25 2009, 53,355 views
The single largest roadblock that prevents most people from picking up a PlayStation 3 is the price. Sony’s just taken that roadblock and shrunk it. You’re now $100 more likely to buy a PlayStation 3.
The Difference
The PlayStation 3 Slim is actually more similar to the current PlayStation 3 fat than you’d think. Sony has been slowly phasing out features in the PS3 for a while, dumping USB ports, dumping card readers and dumping the PlayStation 2 backward compatibility. So the step to a Slim, now, isn’t actually that steep, compared to what you’d get if you switched from a launch PS3.
What you do get with the Slim is a smaller size, a reduced power consumption rate and a lower price. The lower power usage partially comes from the 45nm manufacturing process, and provides a 34% decrease in power consumption. (It’s also 32% smaller and 36% lighter). And, the Slim adds the ability to bitstream Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio, which only matters if you’re an audiophile with a modern sound system. You also get a new matte finish, which makes the console look less “premium”, but eliminates the crazy fingerprint and dust problem the original had. Overall, it’s a net gain in goodness.
The Experience
Because it’s basically the same console, the only differences you’re going to notice are audible ones. Like we said in our hands on, the disc drive in the PS3 Slim is louder than in the original PlayStation 3. Think of it like a laptop optical disc drive vs. a desktop optical disc drive. When you’re seeking around, it makes a louder grinding noise than its larger counterpart. This noise makes no difference in Blu-ray movie watching, since it’s all sequential, and is only occasionally encountered in games, especially since many game install bits and pieces to the hard drive.
Other than that, yeah, it plays the same PS3 games, and it watches the same Blu-ray movies.
The Takeaway
Think about the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation 3 Slim like this. You have two wives (I don’t know, imagine you’re Bill Paxton). Ninety-five percent of the time, they both do pretty much the same things. One is slightly chubbier, the other is slightly svelter. The skinnier one is quieter most of the time, but can get yappy when she can’t find something. The thinner one also costs you a little less money, and…has a matted finish? This metaphor isn’t going anywhere good, but you get the point. They’re basically the same console, except now it’s thinner and cheaper.
So the only question now is whether or not you should buy a PlayStation 3 now, or wait until September for the PS3 Slim. Both options are $300, but if you want the ability to install Linux, you’ll have to get the PlayStation 3 fat. Then again, the three of you who want that probably already have a PS3.
By lowering the price and making a more economical console, Sony’s finally more or less evened the hardware landscape with Microsoft, and continued to ensure that the PS3 is still the best-value-for-your-money Blu-ray player. Now all that’s left is getting some more games on there. [Amazon]
Lighter, thinner, less power hungry
Matted finish and new “squarer” styling might appeal to some, repulse others
Needs a $24 stand to be stable in the vertical position
PlayStation 3 Slim Review: The Same For Less
By Jason Chen, 4:00 PM on Tue Aug 25 2009, 53,355 views
The single largest roadblock that prevents most people from picking up a PlayStation 3 is the price. Sony’s just taken that roadblock and shrunk it. You’re now $100 more likely to buy a PlayStation 3.
The Difference
The PlayStation 3 Slim is actually more similar to the current PlayStation 3 fat than you’d think. Sony has been slowly phasing out features in the PS3 for a while, dumping USB ports, dumping card readers and dumping the PlayStation 2 backward compatibility. So the step to a Slim, now, isn’t actually that steep, compared to what you’d get if you switched from a launch PS3.
What you do get with the Slim is a smaller size, a reduced power consumption rate and a lower price. The lower power usage partially comes from the 45nm manufacturing process, and provides a 34% decrease in power consumption. (It’s also 32% smaller and 36% lighter). And, the Slim adds the ability to bitstream Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio, which only matters if you’re an audiophile with a modern sound system. You also get a new matte finish, which makes the console look less “premium”, but eliminates the crazy fingerprint and dust problem the original had. Overall, it’s a net gain in goodness.
The Experience
Because it’s basically the same console, the only differences you’re going to notice are audible ones. Like we said in our hands on, the disc drive in the PS3 Slim is louder than in the original PlayStation 3. Think of it like a laptop optical disc drive vs. a desktop optical disc drive. When you’re seeking around, it makes a louder grinding noise than its larger counterpart. This noise makes no difference in Blu-ray movie watching, since it’s all sequential, and is only occasionally encountered in games, especially since many game install bits and pieces to the hard drive.
Other than that, yeah, it plays the same PS3 games, and it watches the same Blu-ray movies.
The Takeaway
Think about the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation 3 Slim like this. You have two wives (I don’t know, imagine you’re Bill Paxton). Ninety-five percent of the time, they both do pretty much the same things. One is slightly chubbier, the other is slightly svelter. The skinnier one is quieter most of the time, but can get yappy when she can’t find something. The thinner one also costs you a little less money, and…has a matted finish? This metaphor isn’t going anywhere good, but you get the point. They’re basically the same console, except now it’s thinner and cheaper.
So the only question now is whether or not you should buy a PlayStation 3 now, or wait until September for the PS3 Slim. Both options are $300, but if you want the ability to install Linux, you’ll have to get the PlayStation 3 fat. Then again, the three of you who want that probably already have a PS3.
By lowering the price and making a more economical console, Sony’s finally more or less evened the hardware landscape with Microsoft, and continued to ensure that the PS3 is still the best-value-for-your-money Blu-ray player. Now all that’s left is getting some more games on there. [Amazon]
Wireless Ebook Readers: Which One’ll Burn Down the Bookstore?
By matt buchanan, 5:00 PM on Tue Aug 25 2009, 17,660 views
With the Sony Reader Daily Edition, the 3G-enabled ebook reader battle is pitched. At the end of this year, it’ll fight Amazon’s Kindle 2 and DX and Plastic Logic‘s eReader to the death. Here’s how they all stack up now:
Aaaand we can’t not do a proper sizemodo, naturally:
