Web Talk

This big monolith which reminds me of the movie 2001: a space odyssey is the brand new portable hard disk drive (HDD) recently released by Seagate called Maxtor Central Axis. Lately the market has been floated by big mass storage devices such as Iomega Super eGo whose capacity reaches stunning figures. The new Seagate’s baby makes no exception. As a matter of fact its capacity  is 1 tetrabyte. With it, you will be able  to store hundreds of movies and millions of songs. Other features include:

1. 7,200 rpm drive with 32MB of cache.
2. 172mm x 63.3mm x 150.3mm and weighs 680g.
3. Support for supports DLNA  such as Microsoft(R) Xbox(R) 360(TM) and Sony(R) PlayStation(R) 3(TM), and UPnP media streaming.
4. Two USB ports.

Maxtor Central Axis is expected to be released in July in the States for $329.99.

Source: Slashgear.com

A few days ago I wrote about the new PS3 update  (version 2.4). Well, since then many things have happened. As a matter of fact that update was withdrawn after a few hours because  of a bug which caused (for a limited number of users)  XBM not to be available. Anyway the good guys at Sony have managed to fix the problem and have now released the new update version 2.4.1. In the official Playstation blog we can read :” We want to extend our apologies to the PlayStation community for any inconvenience. Now we’ll be looking forward to seeing everyone online and racking up those trophies! ” Again, Well Done guys!

After the recent PSP update, Sony has just taken the new PS3 firmware to version 2.4 thanks to a brand new update. Gamers can download it through PlayStation Network directly or the system software updates from the Official PlayStation website.

Here is a  comprehensive list of improvements and new features available in the new PS3 system software v2.4:

Settings Changes

• You can now set the PlayStation 3 system to turn off automatically after updating the system software.
• [Reassign Controllers] and [Controller Vibration Function] have been added as options under [Accessory Settings].

Game changes

• You can now access the (XrossMediaBar) screen while playing PlayStation 3 format software.
  • Only some of the XMB functions can be used during gameplay.
  • If you press the PS button for more than two seconds, the screen showing options to quit the game, turn off the system and other settings will be displayed.
  • The XMB screen is not displayed when you are playing PlayStation 2 or PlayStation format software.
  • The XMB screen cannot be displayed when you are playing certain PlayStation 3 format software titles.
• The procedure for quitting PlayStation 3 format software has been changed.
• You can now collect trophies in games that support the trophy feature.

System changes

• A new “view mode” has been added to the Playstation Store
• [Search] has been added as an option in the browse mode menu of the Internet Browser.
• The [Information] screen has been redesigned and renamed as [Profile].
• You can now perform an Internet search directly from the XMB screen.
• You can now see the system clock on the XMB screen. The date and time that were set under [Settings] > [Date and Time] are displayed.
• When using a keyboard, you can now clear the entire text entry field at once.
• An icon is now displayed when you press the PS button for an operation that cannot be performed.
• You can now turn off the PlayStation 3 system from the XMB screen using the [Turn Off System] option.
• The number of Friends who can be added to a Friends list has been increased from 50 to 100.

Media Changes

• You can now sort items that are grouped in a folder by month or year using the [Film Date] option.
• You can now print images from a playlist that was created under (Photo).
• You can now use a mini-size control panel while playing music.
• You can now play music content encoded in MP3 Surround format.
  • MP3 Surround can only be played in Linear PCM output.
• You can now use the [Frame Noise Reduction] and [Block Noise Reduction] settings for video content that is saved on the hard disk or storage media.
• You can now play upscaled video content that is saved on the hard disk or storage media. When the video content is played, it is upscaled automatically to fit the screen size.
• Upscaling of Blu-ray Disc (BDAV) video content is now supported
• For DTS playback on DVD-Video and Blu-ray Disc media, DTS-ES and DTS 96/24 for DVD-Video and DTS-ES Matrix for Blu-ray Discs are now supported.

If you want to download the new Playstation 3 update version 2.4 visit the official Playstation update page here.

That’s one of those news which could make somebody really happy or really thunderstruck! The endless war between the two giants namely Sony and Microsoft has come to an end, at least in Europe. In fact a few days ago Sony stated “We have sold more PlayStation 3s throughout Europe than Xbox 360 even though they launched 16 months before us.” Mr Reeves, head of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, also said 12 million PSP handheld consoles and 48 million PlayStation 2s had been sold in Europe. Anyway despite all this fanfare both Sony and Microsoft are well behind the fabulous Nintendo Wii.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

It was going to happen of course. After Wii, Nintendo Ds and iPhone it is now the turn of PlayStation 3 to be hacked for homebrew purposes! The guy who made it, is called Dragula96 and it is a very famous PSP hacker. Basically he managed to bypass all PlayStation protections and write a little Hello World proof of concept on the screen, thanks to a 60GB and 40GB PS3, running the current 2.20 firmware. Well, it is not what you were expecting, right? Keep in mind that PS3 homebrew is a pretty new thing, so you will have to wait some more time before seeing games and stuff like that. In the meantime watch the video to discover how it was possible to hack the PS3.

Well, in this case we are about to envy our European neighborhood. In fact it seems that people living in the old, good Europe are close to get PlayTv (that is a piece of software) for their beloved Play Station 3, which will allow to watch TV with the console. The software features include:

• Program guide
• Pause and rewind options
• Recording options
• Ability to work with PlayStation Portable via Remote Play to watch Tv from anywhere with a WiFi connection

No word about the release day or the price has been said yet. For more infos watch the video

This is a news I really want to report because, well, I am a big fan of Wii (I own one of it). I hope PS3 and Xbox guys are not feeling offended but, the guys at iSuppli are projecting that somewhere this year, Wii will overcome Xbox 360, becoming in this way the first console most sold in the world. The analysis puts the number of sold Wii over 30 millions compared to Xbox that anyway will manage to sell a considerable 26 millions, and PS3 that will reach around 25,7 millions. I am more than happy about this news and I hope we will see more consideration from the big game companies toward this little console, that only too often has been neglected. Wi is the real revolution that, thanks to its innovative way of playing and its cheap price, has totally changed the way people play with videogames. Kudos for Wii!

According to some rumors, the 80GB version of the Playstation 3 is dead to make room to a new version that will sport 120GB and will be bundled with the Dual Shock 3 controller. No word on the release day or its price.