Ah, Press Conference day at CES comes to a close with Sony’s annual 4pm Pressor at their booth. They had really bad food this year, ah well. Things kicked off with a performance by Taylor Swift (who is over exposed now, I just don’t get her appeal) and an announcement that she’s going Sony’s new Goodwill Ambassador whatever the heck that means, and will be blogging about her life, ooh, ahh. This is the start of a trend, NBC has Bon Jovi, Sony gets Taylor Swift who is next? I’ll post a bunch of photos from the event this weekend, in the meantime here’s what’s new.
- Jimmy Hendrix full Catalog finally comes to Sony in a brand new licensing deal. They didn’t announce what they would do with the Hendrix catalog, so it’ll be interesting to watch what happens.
- Sony Dash is really cool little Internet device that let’s you capture web snippets on a beautiful 7-inch screen. You can view photos, play video, audio or anything else that can be streamed using available apps and widgets. It’s honestly the best and simplest thing that I’ve seen at CES so far. At $199, it’s not a bad deal. This is something I’d consider purchasing for my mother it’s really cute and capable of doing a lot more than a standard picture frame.
- 3D All the Time – Sony had a slew of announcements related to 3D including some new Bravia Televisions that will have built in 3D, the PlayStation 3 will get a firmware update later this year that will include 3D capabilities, they are the official sponsor of the upcoming ESPN 3D HD channel and are in partnership with Discovery and Imax to create a brand new 24/7 3D Channel that will launch in 2011.In addition to all of that they are going to record the World Cup in 3D and create a full film/documentary of the event. This summer they will start showing 3D Concerts in theaters starting with Kenny Chesney (hold me back)
- Bravia TVs will get new standard “Monolith” design. It’s supposed to be smoother than the old Bravia designs, and include a better variety of viewing angles, but honestly, I own a Bravia and didn’t see much difference. As with every other television at CES this year, the new Bravia’s will include built in wi-fi, and internet television with over 27 channels including Netflix (is there a device Netflix ISN’T on?)
- SD and MicroSD Memory comes to Sony Products – Sony finally throws in the towel and starts delivering devices that work with the SD and MicroSD memory cards, no more proprietary Memory Stick Duos!
- Bloggie Flip Camera – I want to boycott this product based on the dumb name alone, but I have to admit these are really nice little flip video cameras. They come in multiple colors, record onto Mpeg4 and have a nice swivel camera so you can shoot in one direction, then flip the camera towards you for easy video blogging. Camera retails for $179 and $199 and launched tonight. It’s one of Sony’s first devices to include an SD and MicroSD card slots. The new bloggie™ camera models MHS-PM5 and MHS-CM5 include some of the same features and shooting options found in more expensive cameras — such as Face Detection and image stabilization, along with the ability to easily upload content to popular video sharing websites (PC w/ Internet capability required) all in an ultra-compact body.
- Sony Vaio W Green Computer – Sony has launched the Sony Vaio W the first computer to be made out of recyclable parts. 20 percent is made from recycled CDs and other metals and instead of putting it in a box, the computer will come in this cute little bag that’s been recycled from plastic bottles. The little portable will retail for about $450.
- Camcorders – Sony is unveiling 17 new camcorder models, starting with a new prosumer model, HDR-AX2000 that delivers Full HD performance with film-like progressive scan. Effective low-light capabilities are also achieved using three Exmor™ CMOS sensors.Many features found in the prosumer model are also included in two new HD memory Handycam camcorders, HDR-CX550V and HDR-CX150. Both offer Full HD recording at up to 24 Mbps and embedded flash memory, along with superior low-light performance and Sony’s high-speed BIONZ® imaging processor.One increasingly popular camcorder feature is Web connectivity, especially for the growing social media set.