Bluetooth Speakers Resemble Strange Chocolate Candy

I’m sure you’re wondering what in the world that cool little ball is. Don’t worry, I had no idea either. This MBS-100 is Sony Ericsson’s answer to a portable cell phone speaker. The best part about this little guy is that it will actually stream music wirelessly from your phone via Bluetooth.

The internal battery will net you roughly 5 hours of music playback, which isn’t too bad considering that it runs off of Bluetooth. Unfortunately, the MBS-100 is only slated for an early 2008 launch in select Asia-Pacific markets.

Darklite DVD Remote Matches Your PS3

The PS3 hasn’t exactly become the runaway success SONY had hoped, and at the moment it seems like being able to play Blu-Ray DVDs is its most profitable feature. And if that’s the reason you picked one up you might also be interested in the Darklite DVD Remote from Messiah Entertainment.

Pelican intros Controller Charging Station for PlayStation 3

Nyko's SIXAXIS charging dock may serve the same purpose as Pelican's forthcoming device, but we'll give the sexy award to the latter. The Controller Charging Station for PlayStation 3 boasts a very unique, if not admirable design that holds two SIXAXIS controllers above ground and juices 'em up through the exposed mini USB plugs. Additionally, the base of the unit is home to two full sized USB ports (shown after the jump), so there's always the option of charging up four PS3 controllers at once should you choose. The price? $29.99 when it lands in just a few weeks.

Sony Announces the HDMS-S1D Digital Photo Album

Sony announced a new digital photo album called the HDMS-S1D recently that features an 80GB internal HDD capable of storing up to 50,000 digital photos. The photo album connects to HDTV sets via HDMI and has multiple methods for importing photos available.

The S1D can import photos via virtually all memory card formats plus CD, DVD, and USB or over an Ethernet network connection. Once photos are imported, they can be managed with the included remote control. Organization options allow for grouping photos by date or events like birthdays and holidays.

Photos can be rotated, edited and deleted from the system via the remote. The S1D has the ability to arrange photos for a slideshow or into a digital scrapbook with Sony’s x-Application that is included. The application includes 30 pre-loaded music tracks to set your photos to and you can print photos directly from the S1D to your printer. Pricing for the HDMS-S1D digital Photo Album is around $400 and is available at Sony retailers or the Sony Style website.

Joystiq's hands-on with the PlayStation Eye

The fanatical crew of card-and-video-game enthusiasts over at Joystiq have apparently had the unique pleasure of a hands-on with the newest and wackiest PS3 accessory, the PlayStation Eye and its bundled game Eye of Judgment. If you'll recall, the interactive, VGA camera is integrated with the Magic: The Gathering-like game, which uses real cards and a mat that the camera is aimed at. We understand the Joystiq team really put the game (and the Eye) through its paces in a 36-hour, pepperoni-pizza-filled, jolt-drinking marathon, which ended when one of the players' chaotic-neutral wizards cast "sleep" on everyone, but exhausted his remaining mana in the process. Browse on over to the Joystiq'ers pad and get all the nasty details.

Sony's Cyber-shot T200

You may remember Sony's new Cyber-shot T200 from way back at IFA, where we had the great and terrible pleasure of getting our grubby mitts all over it. Well, CNET Asia has gotten their mitts on the device for a thorough review, and we thought we'd bring you the many, many highlights. Overall, they seem to like the design, but aren't crazy about the loss of some buttons, which they say makes the camera feel a little cramped, though the large, 3.5-inch touchscreen display makes up for it. The camera's smile detection -- which is one of its more novel features -- is reported to be inaccurate and touchy, and the speed of startup and first shot on the T200 apparently leaves something to be desired. CNET says that the camera's image quality is "decent," but that they detected noise at ISO 400, and anything past ISO 800 was a nasty mess. Overall, they're not in love, but they do seem to be feeling a strong "like." Browse on over and catch the whole review.

Sony Reader Leaked out

Given the many opportunities Sony's had to demo new gear in the past month, you'd think we'd have seen this earlier, but it looks like the company's latest ebook reader, the PRS-505, will be making its grand debut on the website of Chicago's own Abt Electronics. The update to the original Sony Reader will come in either silver or blue, feature a slightly redesigned layout, twice the internal memory, and may potentially rock what seems like an updated display. No word on any other changes, but it looks like the price is the same at $299.

Sony’s video download cards revealed?

The Wall Street Journal — citing “people familiar with the situation” — claims that Sony is poised to enter video-downloading services whole-hog. Think Go!PSP, only extended with new “products and services to let users download television shows and movies” to Sony’s sweet, suite of PS3s, PSPs, and Bravia televisions “similar to the way” people use the Apple ecosystem. Go!PS3, Go!Bravia, Go!Rolly? Sure, why not. Unfortunately, the WSJ piece doesn’t provide any dates or any real details to speak of. Regardless, none of this comes as a surprise what with PS3s doubling as DVRs in Europe, video-capable Walkmans finally released in the US, and the looming shutdown of Sony’s ATRAC-based Connect music services. Hell, Stringer already ceded portable music dominance to Apple back at the June shareholders meeting in Tokyo where he noted that Sony has “worked very hard to catch up so that in the age of video we will not suffer as much as we did in audio.” We’ll see. Hey Howie (sorry, Sir Howie), we hear NBC could use a new on-line storefront soon. You know, quick-wins and all.

Sony's NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610

So long ATRAC, hello NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 Sony Walkmans. The A810 we've seen before, twice in fact, but this is the first time the S610 (pictured) has wiggled free from the rumor mill all dolled-up in full specs and pricing. The S610 series packs the same QVGA resolution in a slightly smaller 1.8-inch display and still one-ups the A810 with an FM tuner bunged inside. Both support USB Mass Storage file transfer, AVC (H.264/AVC) and MPEG-4 encoded video, and AAC, MP3 and DRM'd WMA audio formats without bothering us with any of that icky ATRAC stuff or their much maligned SonicStage software. Sony's also making nice by bringing their B100 series of Walkman DAPs to town in 1GB ($60) and 2GB ($80) models. The S610 series starts at $120 for 2GB on up to $210 for the 8GB compared to a $140 to $230 range for the same capacity A810 models. All available in September, pre-sales now.

The VAIO music streamer

When you use our coupon code before August 31st at Sony.com, you’ll save $50 off the Sony VAIO Digital Music Streamer.

The VAIO music streamer a very convenient audio device that can be used for more than playing back music.

In addition to being able to take this device from room to room, you can also use it as an alarm clock and integrate it into your home audio system. Control the stand alone device either by remote or through the LCD touchscreen.

Sony has set up Playstation 3 kiosks at Shinhan Banks in Korea

Looks like people have a reason to go to the bank, even if you don’t have any money to dump into it.

Sony has set up Playstation 3 kiosks at Shinhan Banks in Korea. Besides the conventional print ads and commercials, it looks like Sony is pulling out all their ideas trying to get consumers to play their games. Forget BestBuy, they’re pioneering into banks.

And banks aren’t the only place their trying to tap into. In Mokdong, Seoul, a public demonstration of the Playstation 3 was setup in a multiplex theater.

What’s next?PS3 booths in McDonalds!?

Sony Walkman E010

Sony has teamed up with the Abiste Corporation to come up with this limited edition Walkman E010 lineup. These players are going to come in pink, violet, black, blue and gold colors in addition to the removable caps being lined with Swarovski glass crystals.

Don’t get too excited though. If you’re wanting this ASAP, you’ll still have 2 months just like everyone else after you’ve placed your order.

How much are these you ask? The 1 GB is going for $134, the 2GB $160 and 4GB is $210.

PSP wireless heartbeat sensor hack

It's amazing what homebrew coders for the PSP are able to come up with, especially when you consider that the "solutions" don't really solve anything. If you've ever hankered for a heartbeat recognition ability for your portable gaming machine, then here it is. One guy called Art simply soldered a coiled copper wire across the microphone input, which allows it to pick up the signal from a wireless heartbeat sensor. The result isn't visually impressive -- he hasn't coded a graphical readout yet -- but it should definitely inspire confidence in the homebrew community's ingenuity. PSP pull-ups anyone?