Sony’s Blu-ray player continues to help pay the bills for patent lawyers.

Orinda Intellectual Properties is the latest to file a case alleging that Sony has violated some Blu-ray related patents, says gaming website Edge.

Sony has allegedly infringed on a patent that broadly describes "methods for recording and reproducing information via optical disc," according to the Aug. 20 lawsuit in the Texas Eastern District Court.

Orinda has named Sony Corp., Sony Electronics, Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment America as the defendants in the lawsuit.

In addition to royalty payments, Orinda has asked for an injunction on manufacturing, sales and distribution of Blu-ray devices from Sony, which would include the PS3, Blu-ray players and computers. The demand is a standard operating procedure by plaintiffs in most patent infringement cases, though it is up to the judge to make a decision.

This is the second lawsuit that Sony is facing related to Blu-ray. Last year Target Technology sued Sony for a Blu-ray patent infringement. The case was dismissed later.

Photo: Blu-ray Lenses (Flickr/37Prime)

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We have seen our fair share of LP conversion devices in the past, but the LP 2 CD this time round takes a different route by converting all your old records into CD format directly, all without the need for a PC.

Step up, the LP 2 CD: a one-stop-shop for popping your 33, 45 and 78 rpm records direct to compact disc, with zero bother. And because it doesn’t need to run through a computer, you can hook it up to a pair of speakers to use like a regular stereo for records and compact discs. The LP 2 CD cuts out the middleman by incorporating a flash memory and CD burner, so you never need to connect to a PC or Mac at all; it’s all right in one place with no cables for the mice to nibble through. Just whack your old vinyl platters on to the turntable, start playing the record and press the record button on the control panel. Your grooves will be automatically transformed into digital sound files as they play and stored on an inbuilt flash memory that can handle up to 80 minutes of music at once. A nifty track recognition mode senses the gaps between songs and splits the track listing up for you so you don’t end up with one long recording.

The entire LP 2 CD package will ship in a solid metal casing, featuring a high-quality belt-drive, premium tone arm and cartridge. It might retail for a rather pricey £299.95, but think of the benefits of transferring your LP collection (or your grandfather’s) over to the CD format. Time to move on with the times, man, never mind the warm tones that pro-LP folk always tout.

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by Thomas Ricker, posted Aug 28th 2008 at 8:20AM
The wraps are off and we’ve had a chance to get eyes on with Sony’s new Bravia Z4500 1080p LCD. While Japan unveiled the world’s first MotionFlow 240Hz set, this is similar, just 40 frames per second slower. That didn’t stop Sony from making the claim that the Z4500, “provides the smoothest and crispest motion reproduction to be achieved by an LCD TV.” Of course, both are multiples of the industry standard 50/60Hz. Sony’s being coy with the measurements and the price of this set, but with the show model listed as KDL-52Z4500, we’re guessing 52, kid-captivating inches of silky smooth video that looks so good, you may never have to parent again. “Look into the spiral Jimmy, good critter.”

We’ve got a comparison video after the break: 200Hz Motionflow on the left, your father’s 50Hz on the right. We could defintely see the difference in the uh, highly controlled demo. Question is: can you when this thing shows up at the local big box before Xmas.

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV

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Arkon will be making available premium upgrade aftermarket car mount bundles for both the Mio Moov and Navman S-Series GPS, and each of these mount bundles comprise of a custom cradle adapter as well as a location specific pedestal that is meant for use in the vehicle itself only.

Users can choose from a variety of different mounts that attach to the windshield, dash, cup holder opening, lighter socket, sun visor, and air vent locations. Arkon offers the most extensive lineup of car mounting solutions for use with Mio, Garmin, Magellan, TomTom, and other leading GPS makers.

If you’ve grown extremely attached to your GPS navigation system and can’t live (drive) without one, then I would suggest investing a small sum of money (anywhere from $17.95 to $29.95) on one of these puppies.

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It’s not the first time that Apple files patents related to some kind of tablet computer. It has been described as a “big iphone“, or as a full-fledged tablet, but on the latest images, it looks like a large mobile internet device (MID). It’s probably the right format: big enough to read and use the fingers but most likely thin and light. Images in the photo gallery show different situations, including an interesting one with a virtual keyboard. If it was to be priced correctly ($500-$700), it could be attractive. Now, we need to know more about the software, apps compatibility and performance.

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RoughlyDrafted claims to have received an insider tip about what’s wrong with the 3G in iPhone 3G, tying spotty 3G network performance to both the network and the handset. More interestingly, the insider claims the problem has already been fixed.

The report confirms what an analyst told Wired.com weeks ago: iPhone 3Gs were overloading network towers, causing them to spit out poor 3G signal or none at all. The insider says the latest firmware update — iphone 2.0.2 — fixes the problem by distributing the iPhones’ power consumption so the handsets don’t stick to one tower and suck it dry. However, this requires that every iPhone user update to the latest version, because handsets still running iPhone 2.0 and 2.0.1 are continuing to strain network towers, the insider claims.

Intriguing and plausible — and it goes along with the theory we drew from our global iPhone 3G study. We’ll need everyone to be running iPhone 2.0.2 to know for sure. Download that update and spread the word to your iPhone-owning buddies.

The Inside Deets on iPhone 2.0.2 and Dropped Calls [RoughlyDraftedMagazine] (Thanks, Dylan!)

Also see:

• Wired.com’s iPhone 3G Survey Reveals Network Weaknesses
• Angry iPhone 3G Customer Sues Apple
• Apple: iPhone Update Improves 3G Network Performance
• Video: AT&T Blames iPhone 3G For Network Issues
• Opinion: Firmware Update to Fix iPhone 3G? I Doubt It
• Participate in Wired.com’s Global iPhone 3G Study
• What’s Wrong With the 3G in iPhone 3G?
• IPhone 3G Users Heated Over Network Issues

(Photo credit: Fr3d.org/Flickr)

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Photo credit: John Pastor/Flickr

The rumblings in the ground are pointing to an imminent Kindle 2.0, a successor to Amazon’s loved but flawed e-book reader. The Kindle has effectively dropped in price to just $260 (although you’ll to sign up for an Amazon Visa card to get the discount), and the current version is getting pretty old in gadget years.

But what should Amazon do to make it better? Cheaper? Check. Smaller? Hell yes. But we have a few other suggestions that Jeff Bezos might like to take a look at if he wants the Kindle 2.0 to be the best e-book reader on the planet.

Sexier

The current Kindle is ugly. Almost nobody will argue with that. In fact, the only way to make it uglier would be to make it in false-limb-pink. This one is easy: just copy somebody else. A sleek, black slab made from aluminum and glass would do the trick just nicely. Add a couple of buttons to turn the pages and you’re done. And the keyboard? That’s next:

Touch Screen

Those keys need to go. The Kindle is an e-book reader, not an email writer, and the only things you’ll ever need a keyboard for are searching your books and tapping in URLs. A touch-screen keyboard is the way to go — even a crappy one would be fine for such light usage and leave space for the most important part: The screen.

Color

This won’t happen for years given the state of e-ink technology, but this is a wish list, not a spec sheet. Recent talk about comics has got me thinking that a color Kindle would be perfect for the job. The trouble is that standard laptop screens have too low a resolution, meaning that you have to zoom in to get a comfortable level of detail. The Kindle’s screen is a lot higher-res, and not too far off the size of a comic.

It could be the way into the 21st century for publishers, too. I haven’t bought comics regularly for years, since the tough budgeting of studenthood cut out all but the essentials — beer and cigarettes. If Marvel and DC put their entire catalogs onto Amazon, they’d make a fortune. Better yet, the print sales wouldn’t drop — the nerds will still buy copies to slide into acid-free card-backed bags.

Sell it Everywhere

The Kindle is still US only, a rather embarrassing fact given how perfect e-books are for international delivery. We know why: the killer feature of the Kindle is its free, alway-on internet connection and that means negotiating with our evil telco overlords. We’re sure Amazon is on to this already — without connectivity, the Kindle is no better than any other e-book reader.

And if you live in the US, this is still important. The Kindle is arguably at its most useful when you go on vacation — all the titles you want, and none of the excess baggage fees. But as soon as you leave the country, your access is cut off. You’d better make sure you buy everything you need before you fly.

Subscriptions

The Kindle can subscribe to newspapers, so why not books? A monthly fee for all-you-can read would be perfect. But even an Audible-style queue would be good enough: You pay a subscription and get a fixed number of books each month. And those comic books? What about subscribing to those and having the new issue just show up every Wednesday?

Over to you. Suggestions. as ever, go in the comments.

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Sony is in full swing at this years IFA and the new Sony KDL-40ZX1 takes the crown as the world’s thinnest LCD HDTV.  The Sony ZX1 will be available as the 40-inch KDL-40ZX1, which quality became one of the most exciting new HDTVs we have seen in a while.  Halving the previous “world’s thinnest” by almost half the Sony KDL-40ZX1 is stunning at just 9.9mm thick.

Sony has achieved this record thinness of the Sony KDL40ZX1 by using a new engineering technology which uses side-mounted LEDs to illuminate the screen rather than a usual backlight array.  This leads to the KDL-40ZX1 being just 9.9mm thick, which is the same as a CD case.

Feature wise the Sony KDL-40ZX1 features 100Hz / 120Hz (Europe / US) MotionFlow with IB reduction (image blur) for 100fps / 120fps high frame rates to keep the image judder and motion blur free with sharp images.  Sony’s latest Bravia Engine 2 image processing is featured to improve image quality frame by frame, boosting contrast, colors and reducing noise.

The Sony KDL-40ZX1 is also the first to feature Bravia 1080 Wireless technology to maintain the amazing simplistic look of the KDL-40ZX1 by eliminating ugly cables.  The two part wireless system uses a super fast connection to wirelessly deliver high quality HD signals from the Media Receiver, which has a MPEG4 AVC HD tuner.

There is a single HDMI input directly on the Sony KDL-40ZX1 and an additional 3x HDMI inputs on the media receiver. Thanks for the RF remote control, the media receiver can be placed anywhere in the room, and out of the way if desired, as the RF remote does not need to be in direct site.

The Sony KDL-40ZX1 aka world’s thinnest HDTV looks very impressive, attractive and feature full. From the Japanese prices, it should cost about $4,470 U.S

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Toshiba loves the idea of convergence and practiced it by launching the new DV Series at IFA. This new DV Series feature HD-ready LCD TVs that come complete with built-in DVD players, and that’s about as far as Toshiba can go since they were the ones who produced the now defunct hd dvd, the only rival to Blu-ray which has quality that is on par. Still, in addition to a DVD player, each TV will feature a built-in Integrated Digital Tuner, HDMI connectivity, 1,000:1 contrast radio, support for Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Sound, and a resolution of 720p. Available from October onwards, the DV Series will come in 19″ and 22″ sizes.

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One of the coolest features of the current generation of consoles are their wireless remotes. Not being tethered to the system means users can finally sit back and enjoy their gaming experience from as far away as they would like. Of course the downside of this is that users have to rely on batteries to power their controllers. Batteries run out and have to be replaced, which ends up being inconvenient and expensive. Plus, they always seem to die at the worst possible time.

The ChargeBase 360 from popular accessory maker Nyko is designed to be a solution to the battery problem. As the name would imply the product is a base for your Xbox 360 controllers. When you are not using your controller you just need to drop it in the base and let the rechargeable NiMH batteries do their thing. The two included batteries replace the battery holster in your Xbox controller, which holds two AA batteries.

The ChargeBase is a dual controller dock which you can plug into any AC outlet. It charges the included batteries in two hours after which it will give you 25 hours of play time. For hardcore gamers this will not only mean you don’t have to worry about having AA batteries on hand, but you can also feel good about the environmental friendliness of rechargeables. There are two batteries included so you can power both your controllers or swap within on controller.

From a design standpoint the ChargeBase is relatively easy on the eyes. It matches the coloring of the Xbox 360, which could be a good or bad thing, depending on your living room, and it is small enough that you can tuck it away. An added benefit it that once you have it you will stop dropping your controllers all over your room when you are done with them–a little organization never hurt anyone. Wall mounting seemed like it would have been obvious given the ChargeBase’s design, but it is used lying down on its base.

The unit costs $40, so given than AA batteries cost under $2 a pair (even for fancier ones) it’s going to take you some time to earn back the cost of the device. This will help if you have two controllers that get used often and if you take some amount of pleasure from knowing that landfills are not being packed with your used batteries.

Overall, Nyko has put out another solid product. Consumers will get just what they are expecting–a place to charge and store their controllers along with two rechargeable batteries. On one hand you might not want to put any more money into your video game setup, but the ChargeBase 360 will be a useful addition for many people, especially dedicated gamers.

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