Since Nintendo pushed the envelope, hardware manufacturers seem intent on making new controller types. Now that each of the big gaming companies have at least dabbled with motion controls, biometric feedback seems to be the next big thing. Sony is looking into biometric controllers to measure factors like sweat and heart rate. Not to be outdone, Microsoft is apparently considering a pressure-sensitive controller. The company has registered a US Patent (8,172,675) for a controller with a "pressure-sensitive exterior surface." The patent suggests that device memory could store the output signatures to identify users simply by how they grip the controller. And confirming that these plans relate to gaming, the patent also mentions the device as "a game controller that interacts with a game console service."

The patent makes repeated mention of the controller being used for identification, but doesn't go much deeper than that. Microsoft could potentially find gaming utilities, but doesn't seem to be going in that direction with the initial patent application. As always, a patent doesn't mean a product will ever come to market.

So thin, light and portable, the responsive new VAIO T Series is always ready for action - from campus and coffee shop to that crucial meeting.

Smartly styled in tough magnesium and aluminium, go-anywhere VAIO T Series is tailor-made to handle daily trips to the office or lecture theatre. Blending durability and performance, it's the first Ultrabook to proudly carry the VAIO name. Loaded with the latest technologies from Sony and Intel, VAIO T Series is crafted to help you get more done - and have more fun.

Available in 29.4 cm (11.6") or 33.7 cm (13.3") screen sizes, VAIO T Series slips effortlessly into your bag for easy carrying between home and work.

Sony's VAIO E Series 14P notebooks went Ivy Bridge with model#SVE14A16FGH. This 14-incher (1600x900 pixels) is powered by an Intel Core i7-3612QM quad-core processor (2.10 GHz with 3.10 GHz boost), 4 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, and AMD Radeon HD 7670M graphics. A 750 GB HDD and DVD writer are at the helm of storage. USB 3.0, HDMI and D-Sub, wireless b/g/n, 1.3 MP webcam, and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of it. It retains the E series 14P chassis that's already launched. The leak occurred at Sony Australia, SVE14A16FGH goes for AU $1,499 (US $1,554) Down Under.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) today announced that the open beta of Developer Program for PlayStation Suite (PS Suite) is available to the public starting today. The PS Suite initiative delivers the world of PlayStation to open operating system based portable devices.

With the aim of offering a more streamlined development environment for creating content for portable devices, Developer Program for PS Suite provides developers with an early version of PlayStation Suite SDK (PS Suite SDK) before the official launch later this year. Developers are also able to receive technical support from SCE through the developers forum where developers can exchange useful information.

Kingston launched a fleet of new system-specific SO-DIMM memory packages. Each of these packages contain memory that's tested for 100% compatibility and rated performance on the notebook makes they're specific to. These include HP, Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Sony, and Toshiba. The new packages make it easy for ground-store buyers to pick the right memory for their notebooks off the rack, with minimal help from the storekeepers. Newer batches of Kingston DDR3 SO-DIMM memory for notebooks will implement the new packaging.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced that it will launch "nasne ," a new networked recorder and media storage device with built in 500GB hard disk drive (HDD) and digital terrestrial and satellite broadcast tuners. "nasne" will become available in Japan on July 19, 2012, for a recommended retail price of 16,980 yen (including tax).

By connecting "nasne" to their home network, users will be able to watch and record digital terrestrial and satellite broadcast through dedicated applications such as "torne" for PlayStation 3 (PS3) and "VAIO TV with nasne" for VAIO. Users will also be able to access recorded content from PlayStation Vita (PS Vita), "Sony Tablet" and Xperia. In addition, "nasne" will be able to stream live or recorded television programs simultaneously onto two of these supported Sony products, allowing multiple users to view the same content within the same home network. "nasne" will also link with "G GUIDE TV OUKOKU CHAN-TORU", a television guide web service for PC and smart phones provided by So-net Entertainment Corporation. Through "G GUIDE TV OUKOKU CHAN-TORU", users will be able to schedule recordings of television programs on the go from their PS Vita, PC, tablet PCs, and smart phones.

Sony Corporation today announced that it will be commercializing a next-generation optical disc archive storage system. Sony will also organize an Optical Disc Archive Advisory Group to promote the adoption of this new storage format among the various companies in related industries.

Sony's new system will deliver superior long-term storage capabilities, which are enabled through the use of media built to withstand changes in temperature and humidity, and is dust and water resistance. Furthermore, the new system provides guaranteed intergenerational compatibility and eliminates the need to re-archive copies of past archive data, offering a more user-friendly and dependable long-term storage solution.

Sony Corporation today announced a series of strategic initiatives to be introduced under the new management team established on April 1, 2012. By implementing a rapid decision-making approach that draws on the strengths of the entire Sony Group as "One Sony", Sony aims to revitalize and grow the electronics business to generate new value, while further strengthening the stable business foundations of the Entertainment and Financial Service businesses.

Key initiatives to transform the electronics business are:

1. Strengthening core businesses (Digital Imaging, Game, Mobile)
2. Turning around the television business
3. Expanding business in emerging markets
4. Creating new businesses and accelerating innovation
5. Realigning the business portfolio and optimizing resources

Everyone can express their personal style this spring with VAIO E Series 14P - the 35.5cm (14") notebook from Sony that's made for smarter, easier everyday computing.

At home, on campus or carried easily to the nearest café, new VAIO E Series stands out from the crowd with its soft, discreetly reassuring 'wrap-around' design. Three fresh colours - white, black or pink - are accented by complementary colour flourishes around the notebook's edge, lid, touchpad and keyboard. Chic, individual credentials are emphasized further by the aluminium speaker bezel.

Nikkei, Japanese business daily, today reported Sony to be working on a new round of restructuring that will see about 10,000 job losses (6 percent of its global workforce) by the end of 2012. Suffering heavy losses, the firm has also sought the return of bonuses of its seven executive directors, including Chairman Howard Stringer. Sony is expected to culminate a loss of US $2.9 billion by May, when it releases its annual report. A company representative told The Verge that this report is only a Nikkei story, not an announcement from Sony, and that the company has no comment at the moment.

Treat yourself to a more spacious, relaxed listening experience with a new range of open-type headphones from Sony. Beautifully styled and comfortable to wear, the MA series is tailored for great sound in the home - whether you're watching TV, listening to a hi-fi, gaming or browsing videos on your PC or tablet.

The Full Open style of the flagship MDR-MA900 delivers an extremely natural and expansive soundstage. Enhanced by an elegantly light, high-comfort design in premium materials, it's the closest you'll get to the sensation of headphone-less listening.

Sony may have codenamed PlayStation 4 "Orbis" (IPA: /ˈor.bis/), according to a Kotaku report. The next-generation game console is slated for "holiday season, 2013." This information was sourced by Kotaku, from a reliable source with a good track-record of accuracy. Orbis is derived from the Latin word for "circle", or "to circle/orbit". The term "Orbis Vita" or "Orbis Vitae" denotes "the circle of life." The specifications of Orbis known so far, include AMD-made x86-64 CPU, and an AMD-made GPU, built on the Southern Islands (Graphics CoreNext) architecture. In all probability, it could be a unified SoC, a highly scalar Fusion chip.

The inventor of technology used in data vending systems such as the iTunes and Playstation Network systems has sued Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Inc. and Foster City, Calif.-based Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC for patent infringement.

Inventor Benjamin Grobler is represented by intellectual property attorneys Christopher Banys and Richard C. Lin from the Palo Alto, Calif., office of The Lanier Law Firm. The lawsuits filed on March 27, 2012, allege that Apple and Sony are infringing U.S. Patent No. 6,799,084.

Led by President and CEO Kazuo Hirai, these changes are intended to drive revitalization and growth across Sony's core electronics businesses, and deliver compelling user experiences through convergence of the unique assets in place throughout the Sony Group.

With Mr. Hirai at the center of a management team that will work together with the heads of each business group and platform, this new business structure is intended to establish rapid and optimized decision making processes as "One Sony," that significantly reinforce and accelerate Sony's overall business management. The changes are effective April 1, 2012.

Things on the Chromebook front have been pretty quiet this year but it seems they will change soon as the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has received and tested a new machine running Google's Chrome OS. Seen below is the VAIO VCC111 Series, Sony's very first Chromebook, which features a 11.6-inch LCD screen (made by Samsung), 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, an SSD, an SD card reader, two USB 2.0 ports, a HDMI output, a webcam, and a 4100 mAh battery.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, today announced that the sales of the PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) portable entertainment system reached over 1.2 million units worldwide as of February 26, 2012. PS Vita experienced an initial burst of momentum when it launched on December 17, 2011 in Japan followed by Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. Newly launched in North and Latin America, Europe and PAL territories as well as in Singapore on February 22, 2012, sales have exceeded expectations surpassing over 1.2 million units worldwide, firmly establishing PS Vita as the must-have portable entertainment device across the world. Software sales across the globe have surpassed 2.0 million units at both retail and on PlayStation Network.

"Entering 2012, Lenovo/IBM's rise in reliability will be an important boost for the company. Although Apple's market share has risen over the last 12 months, its reliability has declined. The comparatively smaller Toshiba and Samsung are illustrating interesting reliability trends worth watching over the coming year," stated David Milman, CEO of RESCUECOM. For 2012, Rescuecom now includes all manufacturers with a market share of at least above one percent in this report.

The computer reliability report scores for 2012 are:

1. Lenovo/IBM (281)
2. Toshiba (190)
3. Samsung (156)
4. Apple (151)
5. Asus (126)
6. HP/Compaq (100)
7. Dell (68)
8. Sony (64)
9. Acer (40)

Sony Corporation today announced that the National University Corporation, Tokyo Institute of Technology and Sony have jointly developed a radio frequency ("RF") LSI and a baseband ("BB") LSI that enables millimeter-wave wireless data transfer at the world's fastest rate of 6.3 Gb/s. This technological achievement was adopted for presentation at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) to be held in San Francisco from February 19, 2012 as academic paper No. 12.3 wherein details of the technology will be disclosed.

Today Fox Business is reporting U.S. and European regulators approved Google Inc's $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility on Monday and said they would keep a sharp eye on the web search giant to ensure patents critical to the telecom industry would be licensed at fair prices. The U.S. Justice Department also approved an Apple Inc -led consortium's purchase of a trove of patents from bankrupt Canadian company Nortel Networks.Both the Justice Department and European antitrust authorities said that they would monitor how patents are used to ensure they comply with antitrust rules. Antitrust enforcers on both sides of the Atlantic are concerned that patents essential to ensuring communications devices sold by different companies work together are licensed for a reasonable fee.

PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) hits shelves this month and GameStop (NYSE: GME) is giving consumers a first glimpse at the highly anticipated new handheld system. More than 3,300 U.S. GameStop stores now have playable demo units that provide a first-hand look at PS Vita's exciting new technology. In addition to the five-inch OLED multi-touch screen, front and rear touch pads, dual analog sticks, dual cameras and six-axis motion sensing system, players can experience a variety of games, including:

Sony Corporation ("Sony") today announced that Kazuo Hirai has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2012. Sir Howard Stringer, currently Chairman, CEO and President, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors in June, 2012. Mr. Stringer recommended to the Sony Board of Directors that Mr. Hirai, currently Executive Deputy President, be his successor as President and CEO. Mr. Stringer will continue as Chairman of Sony Corporation until his ascension to the Board Chairmanship, which will become effective upon Board approval following the annual meeting of shareholders in June, when the current Chairman, Yotaro Kobayashi, will retire. Mr. Hirai is also expected to be appointed to the Board at the June shareholders meeting.

Sony kicked off this week by announcing updates for four of its VAIO laptops, the Z, S, E and C Series models. Starting at $1949.99, the 13.1-inch Z Series machine is getting multiple new options including fresh Core i5 and Core i7 CPU options, RAID 0 SSD setups, LTE mobile broadband, and a Carbon Fiber Silver coating.

The 13-inch and 15-inch S Series laptops also get the latest 2nd-gen Core i5 and i7 processor options, but they can offer Hybrid Graphics with either an AMD Radeon HD 6470M (512 MB VRAM) or Radeon HD 6630M (1 GB VRAM) discrete graphics card. The 13-inch model starts at $799.99, while its 15-inch sibling (which boasts a Full HD IPS display) starts at $979.99. Both upgraded S Series laptops will become available in early February.

Japanese company Elecom unveiled a nifty new gadget for those on the move, and don't mind long sessions of thumb-typing, the TK-FBP029 Mini Bluetooth Keyboard. Measuring 146 x 78 x 21 mm, and weighing 96 g, the keyboard features a clam-shell form-factor like the electronic pocket organizers of last century. The keyboard works over Bluetooth 3.0, and is compatible with Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad), Apple Mac OS devices (Macbook, Mac, Mac Pro), Windows devices (Windows PC, Windows Phone, Windows Embedded), and even Sony Playstation 3. The hinge of its lid can get locked into an obtuse angle, letting you place a portable device (such as your iPhone) on it. It comes in lid color options of black, white, and hot pink. The company did not give out pricing information.

At CES 2012, Sony announced it is expanding its line of SD cards with a new flagship series designed for ultra-high speed interface (UHS-I) compatibility, giving DSLR users superb speed and high performance. The new cards are available in capacities of 32 GB (SF-32UX), 16 GB (SF-16UX) and 8 GB (SF-8UX).

The new cards offer significantly higher transfer speeds up to 94 MB/s (read) and 45 MB/s (write, for SF-8UX, write speed is 22 MB/s), ideal for the burst shooting and HD video modes of today's DSLR cameras and HD camcorders (based on Sony tests and dependent on host hardware). They can also realize rapid data rates when transferring content - even large, high-resolution HD files - back to their PCs. And when used with non-UHS-I supported hardware, the new Sony cards will still maintain Class 10 speed.

At CES 2012, Sony unveiled its enhanced USB memory MicroVault line. The new models (USM-Q, USM-P and USM-M) range from ultra-fast, high performance devices to stylish, easy-to-use models - all designed to meet consumers' various needs.

"Everyone has different requirements for what they want to do with their photos or videos, so why should all storage devices be the same?" said Viviano Cantu, Director of Consumer Media for Sony Electronics. "We're offering something for everyone with this enhanced line of USB memory devices."