The Chronicles of a Sony Ambassador

Awesome photo at Extraordinary desserts in San Diego! Taken with my Sony tx-10! 

An interesting article by Jordan Mallory: 

Competition is healthy for a free-market economy, especially in the consumer electronics industry, and when a product quits being “the” product and becomes “a” product among many, it is ultimately the buyer who wins. At the moment, no consumer product is more the product than Apple’s iPad, so much so that “iPad” is slowly becoming synonymous with “tablet,” much in the way “iPod” became a synonym for “MP3 player.”

Countless Android tablets have failed to change the iPad’s status from “the” thing to “a” thing, and while the majority of them suffer from a deadly combination of cheap construction and high prices, even incredibly well designed examples have failed to compete the wealth of tablet-optimized games available on the App Store.

In an effort to circumvent this ecosystem-wide content drought, Sony has struck a deal with one of iOS’ most prominent developers: Gameloft. The French development studio plans to release 5 titles for Sony’s Tablet P and Tablet S devices: Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD, NOVA 2: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance HD, Spider-Man: Total Mayhem HD, Real Soccer 2011 HD and Green Farm HD.

No word on pricing or availability, however Gameloft says that each game has been “optimized for, and will be directly accessible on Sony’s upcoming tablets.” The press release makes no mention of the Android Marketplace, however it also doesn’t explicitly name the titles as Sony exclusives. Even so, people love them some Gameloft games, and tablet-optimized versions will only help intensify the competitive climate, regardless of whose tablets actually receive the titles. 

SONY ELECTRONICS SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS PROGRAM

Introducing the awards program sponsored by SONY. We all know education is not cheap - and electronics and materials needed for our education is also not cheap. It takes hard work to earn a degree- and SONY wants to help us achieve that. 

 SONY will provide scholarship grants to universities and community colleges across the US.  Student grant recipients will be chosen by their campuses based on financial need and academic excellence and all grants may be added either to an existing scholarship or used to create a new one.  In addition to grants, SONY will also be donating great products such as the VAIO Laptop to deserving students. 

• The Sony Scholarship Awards Program actually has (2) components which we believe make it unique and more inclusive:

 

1)To recognize bright, financially disadvantaged students at select institutions throughout the United States

 

2)And, second, to also recognize top tenure-track junior faculty at these same institutions

 

Sony believes that the co-recognition and pairing of top students together with top junior faculty at many of these same institutions will provide great synergies for collaboration of instruction and research within Higher Education.
Another example of how SONY gives back to the community - and proof of how much SONY values education.

(via ucsdsonyambassador-deactivated2)

Source: wkusonyambassador

By Ben Fritz and Nicole Sperling, Los Angeles Times

September 23, 2011

In “Moneyball,” the sad-sack Oakland A’s defy conventional wisdom by setting records and making the playoffs despite one of the lowest payrolls in Major League Baseball.

As the adaptation of Michael Lewis’ bestselling book hits theaters this weekend, Sony Pictures is hoping to buck the Hollywood wisdom that star-driven sports dramas have limited appeal in this country and do virtually no business overseas.

Only a handful of movies about baseball have been hits in the U.S. — including “A League of Their Own,” “The Rookie,” “Field of Dreams” and “Bull Durham” — and none have generated more than a pittance of ticket sales abroad.

But Sony isn’t selling a baseball movie. It’s selling Brad Pitt.

It’s an unusual move in an age when movie stars no longer guarantee huge box-office returns and are often upstaged by such brand names as “Transformers” and “Harry Potter.” But Pitt remains one of the few actors who is a brand unto himself. The 47-year-old actor continues to have broad appeal around the world, particularly among women who might not otherwise be too interested in a sports film that features no romance or prominent female characters.

It’s no wonder that the superstar’s face and name are as prominent as the film’s title on the posters and billboards. The trailers and most of the commercials promoting the movie focus almost entirely on the emotional journey of Pitt’s character, Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane, and the romance of baseball. Plot points about Beane’s use of statistical analysis to field a team by focusing on players’ ability to get on base are intentionally minimized in the marketing campaign.

“Successful baseball movies have found audiences by selling themselves as being about much more than the sport,” said Vincent Bruzzese, motion picture group president for research firm Ipsos OTX. “There have to be characters whose personal journeys you want to follow.”

A Sony spokesman declined to discuss the “Moneyball” marketing campaign, but the movie’s materials make clear that the studio believes audiences will connect with Pitt’s Beane, a single father and charming underdog who triumphs over adversity.

But in promoting the picture, Sony is making sure to cover all its bases. It is running ads on ESPNduring sports games that lean more heavily on the film’s baseball elements, and is sponsoring fantasy baseball websites. In addition, before “Moneyball’s” premiere Monday night in Oakland, the cast did interviews at the A’s stadium. To help draw in women, the studio is also running TV spots on theLifetime Network and Fox’s “Glee.”

Sony is taking a page from its own marketing playbook, hoping that “Moneyball” will mimic the performance of a drama it opened this time last year about a seemingly obscure topic that wound up catching on with audiences.

“What Sony is doing with ‘Moneyball’ reminds me of what it did for ‘The Social Network,’” said Jim Gallagher, a consultant and former Walt Disney Studios marketing president, referring to the Oscar-winning drama about the origins of Facebook. “They’re taking a subject matter few would care about and making it all about the people involved.”

Two years ago, “Moneyball” was almost benched just days before Brad Pitt was set to board a plane to Phoenix to begin filming his passion project. Then-director Steven Soderbergh had just submitted a new script to Sony co-Chairman Amy Pascal, who balked at the filmmaker’s nearly $60-million budget and his interest in peppering the movie with documentary-style interviews with actual baseball players.

Rather than torpedo the project completely, Sony rejiggered it with a new screenplay draft from “Social Network” writer Aaron Sorkin and a lower budget (closer to $50 million). The studio hired “Capote” director Bennett Miller in April 2010 and began production that July.

“Moneyball” is expected to open with a box-office take between $15 million and slightly more than $20 million, according to people who have seen pre-release audience surveys. That means the film will have to generate strong word of mouth to keep it in theaters for many weeks to come to be a sizable hit.

“The Social Network,” which had a similar production budget, went from a $22-million opening to a $97-million final domestic take.

It is unclear at this point whether “Moneyball” will follow in “The Social Network’s” footsteps and become a top contender in Hollywood’s upcoming awards season. Many in the industry are convinced that Sony will mount an aggressive Oscar campaign for Pitt, whose performance is being buzzed about by those who have seen the picture.

What appears less likely is that “Moneyball” will mirror “The Social Network’s” strong performance overseas given that its subject matter is “America’s pastime.” Still, “Moneyball” may do at least some business in baseball-obsessed countries like Mexico, where it debuts in October, and Japan, where it launches in November. Next month it will be the closing-night movie at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Pitt is sure to be a draw overseas. Whether he plays a man aging in reverse in character drama “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” or outlaw Jesse James in the little-seen drama “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” Pitt’s films have consistently generated more box office from foreign moviegoers than Americans over the last decade.

In Europe, where Pitt is particularly popular and “Moneyball” will roll out in November and December, the trailer features even fewer shots of baseball fields than the one playing in the U.S. and focuses more on Beane’s relationship with statistics whiz kid Peter Brand (played by Jonah Hill) and the duo’s struggle to win.

“Brad Pitt garners a ton of media attention overseas,” said Randy Greenberg, a consultant and former head of Universal Pictures International theatrical marketing and distribution.

The actor, who is currently shooting “World War Z” in Glasgow, Scotland, will be doing publicity in Europe and traveling to both Japan and South Korea to promote the film.

Although “Moneyball” is likely to surpass “A League of Their Own’s” foreign take of $25 million — a record for a baseball movie — it might not be by much.

“They’ve got their work cut out for them,” Greenberg said. “It’s a very tough movie. A very American type of movie.”

wkusonyambassador:

Something cool!!

This a a “Minute in Madrid” taken with the SONY BLOGGIE on the back of a motorbike. Originally posted on SONY Electronic’s Facebook page.

Source: wkusonyambassador

Article by Will Greenwald:

Sony is hoping to spark new interest in the PlayStation Move game control system for the PlayStation 3 this holiday season with several new games and updated support for additional titles.

The company recently announced that four new Move games and two downloadable content expansions for current PlayStation 3 games will be out before December.

The PlayStation 3 already got the LittleBigPlanet 2 Move Pack: Rise of the Cakeling this week. The pack comes with 12 new levels, a new power-up, and several new level design gadgets that use the PlayStation Move controller.

October will see the release of Everybody Dance and the DLC content pack Infamous: Festival of Blood for the game Infamous 2. Everybody Dance brings dancing to the PlayStation 3, using the PlayStation Move controller and PlayStation Eye camera to watch players’ moves for 40 different party tracks. Infamous: Festival of Blood is a bit less family friendly, bringing vampires to the ruined city of San Marais and PlayStation Move support to Infamous 2. The Move support will also be available to players who don’t want to pay for the DLC through a separate update.

EyePet & Friends and Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest will ship this November, bringing two new full PlayStation Move games to the PlayStation 3. EyePet & Friends is a follow-up to EyePet that adds support for multiple pets. Medieval Madness is a fantasy adventure that uses the PlayStation Move controller to fight with swords, archery, and throwing stars.

For more, see PCMag’s review of the PlayStation Move and the slideshow below.For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

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hmmmm….

By Richard Lawler  posted Sep 7th 2011 6:47PMHands-OnThere’s a new king atop Sony’s line of ES projectors: the VPL-VW1000ES. Presented at CEDIA this afternoon, it bypasses all the beamers Sony’s delivered for home use so far — including the recent VPL-HW30AES and VPL-VW95ES models — by featuring a stunning 4K resolution, four times that of standard HD projectors based on an all new SXRD panel. Scheduled to go on sale this December it also claims a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 2,000 ANSI lumens of brightness that allows it to project on screens of sizes up to 200-inches. Whether or not you can scrape together the ducats for a 4K projector this Christmas, there are other options for home theater nuts in the form of two new receivers for the ES line that will also be available. The STR-DA5700ES and STR-DA3700ES will ship in November but more than their hardware specs, they feature a new onscreen UI that’s supposed to be easier to use. The only device at the presentation with a pricetag was the HMZ-T1 3D viewer we tried out at IFA last week, which has been announced for the US in November with a price “around” $799. Expect more in person pics in a moment, meanwhile the press releases after the break have all the information currently available.

Update: Now with more pictures. During the presentation Sony showed a 4K clip from its upcomingSpiderman flick on a VPL-VW1000ES that looked every bit as beautiful as you might imagine. Also in the gallery is a shot of the new “activity based UI” for the receivers that looks at least something like the graphical upgrade the XMB has always needed. You’ll also spy one more device, the funky new SA-NS500 Network Speaker. It’s a portable sound blaster with 6 hours of battery life and AirPlay compatibility for $399, shipping in November.

An interesting article by Geoffrey Morrison: 

Boldly baldly, Geoff tries the OLED head.

(Credit: Geoffrey Morrison, photo taken by Dennis Burger)

Don’t let the picture fool you; it’s not as awkward as it looks. Perhaps that’s not the most auspicious start, but come on, it’s a video visor. You’re not going to look elegant. The HMZ-T1 from Sony has a pair of 720p, 0.7-inch OLED screens, integrated headphones, and a head-clamp that’s equal parts necessary and weird.

Christopher MacManus wrote up the heads-up display news here, but at the CEDIA Expo yesterday, I tried it on and gave it a peek.

It doesn’t weigh a lot, and it’s adjustable for most heads. I’m a sort of worst-case scenario for this thing in many ways: no hair to grip out back, and glasses up front. Yet the head-clamp slides in and out, the headphones pivot, and you can slide the eye pieces so they’re directly in front of your eyes. It ends up fitting pretty well. The cushioned front forehead pad holds the visor far enough away that glasses aren’t a problem.

Sony claims “an immersive experience, which is similar to watching video on a large screen approximating 150 inches from 12 feet away (750-inch virtual screen, virtual viewing distance approximately 65 feet away).” While this sounds impressive, it’s misleading. Like all head-mounted displays, it actually looks like you’re viewing two tiny screens a few inches from your face. Yes, they fill your field of vision similar to the screens mentioned above, but as someone who has had a 150-inch screen, the effect isn’t the same.

However, unlike every other head-mounted display I’ve ever used, the HMZ-T1 is actually watchable. The high-resolution OLED screens are vibrant and contrasty, and the pixel structure is just barely noticeable.

The demo video was the trailer for “The Amazing Spider-Man.” The opening cityscape had the deep blacks I expect from OLED, while the city lights still popped. The colors throughout were rich without being overly saturated, and skin tones seemed natural.

The 3D effect was rather mild, with only a slight amount of separation foreground-to-background. I wonder if this is intentional. Is a more substantial 3D effect off-putting that close? Not sure.

I don’t expect to see scores of people wearing these things commuting to work or chilling out in their backyard, but I have to give Sony credit for having the best head-mounted display I’ve seen. For what that’s worth.

The HMZ-T1 will be available in the United States in November for $799. Conversely, you could just buy an iPad and hold it closer to your face.

Here’s Sony’s blurb on the HMZ-T1:

Sony’s Personal 3D Viewer head-mounted display is the world’s first personal, wearable OLED HD/3D TV. The HMZ-T1 viewer has a unique form factor that allows users to simply slip the device onto their head and immerse themselves in a virtual theater experience. Announced at IFA last week, the innovative device is designed to deliver an image that appears to be on a theater-size wide screen (750-inch virtual screen from 65 feet away), using miniature720p OLED screens developed by Sony. Displaying high-quality HD video with high contrast and fast refresh rates, the device is capable of enhanced 3D display. The viewer can enjoy a more natural 3D video experience that is completely free of crosstalk since each eye has its own display.

Leveraging Sony’s legacy in top-quality personal audio products, the HMZ-T1 head mount display also delivers virtual surround sound. Sony’s proprietary signal processing technology powers two integrated headphones which bring the equivalent of 5.1-channel sound to accompany the stunning visuals. Available in November, the HMZ-T1 head mount display will retail for about $799. Perfect for the cinema enthusiast or avid gamer, the innovative personal display lets viewers experience 2D or 3D content comfortably for hours on end.

Sony HMZ-T1

(Credit: Sony)

Sony HMZ-T1

(Credit: Sony)

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20103231-1/hands-on-sony-hmz-t1-head-mounted-3d-oled-display/#ixzz1XiFJmA2N