The first data are starting to appear on sales of Sony’s revamped Playstation 3 “Slim” since price cuts went into effect at the start of September. The data are good. The question is whether they are good enough.

In Japan, research company Enterbrain says that Sony sold 150,252 PS3 Slims in the four days between its launch on September 3 and September 6. That is the highest weekly sales number Sony has recorded for the PS3 since its launch in 2006 and also compares well with products past, such as the 170,779 units of Nintendo’s DSi handheld console sold during its first two days in the shops last autumn. Continue reading "A good start for the PS3 Slim - but is it good enough?"

It is one of the most hotly anticipated apps yet to appear on the iPhone.

From today, Spotify – the digital music application credited by some for finally luring listeners away from online piracy – can sit alongside iTunes on Apple’s mobile, as well as on phones running Google’s Android software.

On the PC, Spotify allows its users to listen to any of its millions of tracks for free, supported by advertising. On a mobile, users must upgrade to its premium subscription, which costs £9.99 a month or £119.88 a year (and also provides ad-free listening on the PC). Continue reading "Hands on with the Spotify iPhone app"

Pico projectors - miniaturised projectors that are the size of a cellphone or can even fit inside a handset -have failed to meet the projections of analysts.

Last year, they predicted 2m-3m units would be shipped in 2009, but it now appears that only around 250,000 units will ship this year.

However, a pickup is expected as the technology improves and consumers are “wowed” by demonstrations of it in more consumer electronics devices. Continue reading "Pico projectors - the little big picture"

The semiconductor industry appears to be recovering rapidly from the recession, according to the latest industry figures.

Sales in July were down 18.2 per cent on the same month last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

However, that compares to an average monthly fall of 25 per cent in the first six months of the year. Continue reading "Semi industry looking more chipper"

The Applesphere has been abuzz this morning about the possibility of Steve Jobs giving a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

This emanates from a Wall Street Journal report of a dinner hosted by Gary Shapiro, Consumer Electronics Association president, in San Francisco on Tuesday night.

I was also at the dinner and have a transcript after the jump of the CEA president’s comments, which reveal Apple will have a big presence at CES, but only through third parties. Continue reading "What the CEA really said about Steve Jobs"

Augmented reality is a many-rendered thing, a buzz phrase augmented itself by an expanding definition. Some technology applications don’t really seem to fit the description as they jump on the bandwagon.

Take Mattel’s announcement of “augmented-reality technology” being included in its toys at this week’s Comic-Con show in San Diego. Continue reading "Avatar takes toys into alternative reality"

The pace of announcements surrounding next generation e-book readers and competition for Amazon’s Kindle family of devices is quickening.

Earlier this week Barnes & Noble announced that it was opening an online e-book store with 700,000 titles and had struck a strategic partnership with Britain’s Plastic Logic which is planning to launch a new reader aimed at the business market next year. (The Financial Times has also announced a partnership with Plastic Logic.) Continue reading "AT&T signs up with Kindle rival"

Apple’s iPods on occasion catch fire or explode, but federal officials and the company have declined to issue a recall because the accidents are so rare, according to a Seattle television news report. After battling for months, station KIRO obtained 800 pages of documents from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Those files include 15 complaints of smoking or fire, including some depictions of iPods igniting while teenagers slept. With 175m units sold, however, fewer than one in a million have been reported for that defect to the CPSC, though of course, not all such problems are reported. This being America, litigation is pending.