Sony Announces PS3 "Slim"

At a a press conference in Cologne, Germany at the GamesCom Expo on Tuesday, Sony confirmed a newer, slimmer PS3 is coming. It will release in the first week of September.

The exact dates of launch are September 1 in North America and Europe, September 3 for Japan). The slimmed-down PS3 will retail for $300, or 300 euros, or 29,980 Yen.

Sony says the device has the same features and functions as the "old" PS3 but is 33% smaller, 36% lighter, and ships with a 120GB hard drive. In anticipation of the new release and in hopes of finding anxious "suckers," er, buyers, existing PS3 SKUs will seen their prices dropped $100 apiece tomorrow. Of course, why anyone would buy an old model with the new one coming out in a few weeks, and with a larger HD would be beyond me.

Full specs:

• Product name: PlayStation 3
• Product code: CECH-2000A (Charcoal Black)
• CPU: Cell Broadband Engine™
• GPU: RSX
• Audio output: LPCM 7.1ch, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD, AAC.
• Memory: 256MB XDR Main RAM, 256MB GDDR3 VRAM
• Hard disk: 120GB 2.5" Serial ATA
• USB 2.0 ports: 2
• Networking: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T), IEEE 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 (+EDR)
• Controller: Wireless Controller (Bluetooth) x 1
• AV outputs: HDMI x 1, AV MULTI OUT x 1, Digital out (optical) x 1
• Resolutions: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i (for PAL 576p, 576i)
• BD / DVD / CD drive (read only): BD × 2 (BD-ROM), DVD × 8 (DVD-ROM), CD × 24 (CD-ROM)
• Power: AC 220 – 240, 50/60Hz
• Power consumption: Approx. 250W
• External dimensions (excluding maximum projecting part): Approx. 290 × 65 × 290 mm (width × height × length)
• Mass: Approx. 3.2kg
• Included in box: PlayStation 3 system × 1, Wireless Controller (DUALSHOCK 3) × 1, AC power cord × 1, AV cable × 1, USB cable × 1

President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) talks up the new slim PS3 below.

The Average Gamer is Fat, and Depressed. Oh, and Older Than We Thought.

A new study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University and Andrews University concludes that the average age of video-gamers in the U.S. is in the range 35–54. It also says that those gamers are fat, and miserable, though differences exist across genders.

With regards to the weighty "fat" conclusion, it's unclear if those surveyed had Nintendo Wiis with "exergaming" titles or not.

The study, "Health-Risk Correlates of Video-Game Playing Among Adults," published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, analyzed data from 552 adults in the Seattle-Tacoma area. The subjects ranged in age from 19 to 90. About 45% of respondents said they played video games often.

Female video-game players reported greater depression and lower health status than female nonplayers. Male video-game players reported higher BMI and more Internet use time than male nonplayers. Both female and male video-game players show greater reliance on the Internet for social support.

The study was conducted in 2006, but results were not analyzed until 2008. The theory had already been posited that video gamers wouldn't be as healthy as non-gamers, and that's what seems to have been the result of the study. Dr. James B Weaver III, PhD, MPH, National Center for Health Marketing, CDC, Atlanta, writes in the article:

"As hypothesized, health-risk factors – specifically, a higher BMI and a greater number of poor mental-health days – differentiated adult video-game players from nonplayers. Video-game players also reported lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status, and to mental-health concerns. Internet community support and time spent online distinguished adult video-game players from nonplayers, a finding consistent with prior research pointing to the willingness of adult video-game enthusiasts to sacrifice real-world social activities to play video games."

To translate the above: video gamers are fat, depressed, introverts, and prefer to play video games as opposed to real-life interaction with people. A sad combination, to be sure.

However, as I said earlier, the health-related consequences of video gaming are different depending on gender. Since the study noted that women gamers are more depressed than non-gamers, the study suggests that women gamers may be self-medicating, essentially "forgetting their troubles" during the game.

On the other hand, men suffer more from issues with higher body-mass indices or BMI (translation: they're fat) and isolation issues, and thus prefer to play video games with a social aspect (MMORPGs?). This, according to researchers, also and tends to demonstrate that the association among sedentary behaviors, physical inactivity, and overweight status observed in children and young adults may extend into adulthood.

Since the health-related effects of video-gaming on people differs depending on gender, the researchers suggested that interventions be differentiate by sex. Naturally, they also stated that more research needs to be done.

Why the Seattle-Tacoma area? According to the researchers, both because of its size as the 13th largest media market in the United States and because its Internet usage level is "the highest in the nation."

Teens and Cell Phones Inseparable: Survey

Kids and cell phones. You can't live with 'em, and you can't live without 'em. I'm speaking of the kids, actually, as cell phones, most teens would say they can't live without, period.

A new Pew Internet & Life Project survey (.PDF) shows that, unsurprisingly, cell phone use is continuing to rise among teens.

Specifically, the first Pew survey in 2004 showed that 45% of teens (vs. 65% of adults) had a cell phone. As of 2008, that number had risen to 71% (vs. 77% of adults). The survey had 914 respondents in 2004, vs. 2,134 respondents in 2008. Data was collected from those 12 - 17 years of age.

Age tends to affect both ownership and activity. Only 52 percent of 12- to 13-year-olds own a cell phone. At age 14 the percentage leaps to 72%, while more than 17-year-olds owned their own cell phone.

In terms of activity, only 28% of 12-year-olds talked with their friends daily via cell phone, while more than 70% of 17-year-olds did so. Text messaging showed a similar gap, with That also holds true for texting, as 25% of those aged 12 - 14 text daily, while 51% of teens aged 15 - 17 do so.

It should come as no surprise that the most popular activity for teens is ... text-messaging. Among all teens, 38% of all teens do this on a daily basis, while 26% send messages daily via social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, MySpace) and 24% use instant messaging. Sadly, a mere 29% spend time with their friends face-to-face, something that psychologists, and even the Pope, have warned about.

Texting is more popular among girls, probably also unsurprisingly, with 42% sending text messages to friends daily, while about 34% of boys do the same.

By age 17, about 82 percent of the survey's respondents owned one. But the cell phone isn't the most frequently- used communications device; that's still the landline, Pew found, with 88 percent using it versus 66 percent for cell phones.

Also noted by Pew, the more money, the more likely teens would have a cell phone.

• Households earning $30,000 or less: 62%
• Households earning $30 - 50,000: 63%
• Households earning $50 - 75,000: 72%
• Households earning more than $75,000: 79%

In terms of what teens desire most, or at least, have the most, is something you might think of, as well, as popular electronica amongst teens: a game console (78%). Next was an MP3 player (74%). The cell phone was a close third.

Wikipedia Launches Official iPhone App

The Wikimedia Foundation, the organization behind the online encyclopia-like wiki Wikipedia, has launched its own iPhone application. While there were third-party iPhone Wikipedia applications, this is the first official release from the Foundation.

Wikipedia Mobile is free, just as the site is, in the App Store. Here's how the app is described:

Wikipedia is now officially on the iPhone! This is our official application and we are working hard on making the absolute best Wikipedia app out there.

This app is focused on being very simple and very fast. Over time, we'll add features based on requests.

The code is 100% open source and community built. If you are a programmer and good at JS/HTML5, then come and help us out!

Yes, yes, they're trolling for developers, too. One thing, though: they're not kidding when they say they will add features. For now, the application is little more than a wrapper around the mobile version of the Wikipedia site. One advantage, admittedly, is that you can save your search history.

Let's bring on those feature requests!

Apple, AT&T, Google Respond to FCC Over Google Voice Rejection

Early this month, the FCC sent requests to AT&T, Google, and Apple, asking them a series of questions about the way applications are accepted or rejected from the App Store. This all began with the rejection of Google Voice, BTW. The deadline was August 21st. Naturally, all 3 companies waited until the last minute, but they did respond on Friday.

You can expect that all three responses would be full of legalize, and you'd be right. Here's a summary of what they said, however.

AT&T: We did nothing wrong. We have no control over the App Store. We weren't asked about Google Voice.

“To that end, let me state unequivocally, AT&T had no role in any decision by Apple to not accept the Google Voice application for inclusion in the Apple App Store. AT&T was not asked about the matter by Apple at any time, nor did we offer any view one way or the other."

Here's the full response they sent to the FCC:ATT Response to FCC iPhone Letter 082109 as Filed

Apple: We did nothing wrong. The App Store is wonderful. Google tried to muck with our wonderful UI. And we haven't rejected it!

Contrary to published reports, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it. The application has not been approved because, as submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail. Apple spent a lot of time and effort developing this distinct and innovative way to seamlessly deliver core functionality of the iPhone.

View their response to the FCC below:Apple Response to FCC

Google: We (obviously) did nothing wrong (except that we redacted the good parts of the letter). Oh, and our web app version of Google Voice is going to be really lame compared to a real app.

View Google's full response:Google Response to FCC

I'm hoping this isn't done. Many would obviously love to see Google Voice in the App Store. Personally, if it's not there when iPhone OS 3.1 is jailbroken, I might just consider jailbreaking my iPhone.

App Store User Review Gaming Uncovered

It's not the first example of end user review gaming, (anyone recall the Belkin Amazon.com review "scandal" from January?) and there's no reason to believe there isn't a lot more of this going on than you might think. In fact, a leaked document shows end user review gaming is happening in the App Store.

Reverb Communications is a PR firm that specializes in video games on several platforms. Their site describes the advantages of Reverb thusly:

At Reverb Communications, we specialize in launching new videogame titles and videogame peripherals with our distinct integrated approach. From messaging and PR planning to sales calls with retailers, Reverb provides REAL SOLUTIONS that directly contribute to your bottom line.

Real solutions like paying for reviews, apparently. Here's what the document shared with Mobile Crunch says:

Reverb employs a small team of interns who are focused on managing online message boards, writing influential game reviews, and keeping a gauge on the online communities. Reverb uses the interns as a sounding board to understand the new mediums where consumers are learning about products, hearing about hot new games and listen to the thoughts of our targeted audience. Reverb will use these interns on (redacted) products to post game reviews (written by Reverb staff members) ensuring the majority of the reviews will have the key messaging and talking points developed by the Reverb PR/marketing team.

In other words, ensuring the majority of reviews will be positive.

Additionally, the company indicates it will tailor the reviews to appear from different age ranges, including keywords that "resonate" with the demographic. They start the reviews on the day of launch.

The cost: $0.75 per app download. Not just taking the word of the tipster, MC did some homework, found apps belonging to clients of Reverb Communications, and by cross-checking reviewers against other Reverb Communications' clients, found an astounding coincidence: some reviewers seemed to only give 5-star reviews, and only for Reverb clients, no one else.

As Ricky Ricardo would say: Reverb, you got some 'splainin' to do.

Install Any Windows 7 Version From One DVD

Let's be clear, this is a way to try, not indefinitely use different versions of Windows 7 from one DVD or .ISO image. A small tweak will allow users tech-savvy enough to get a taste of all the versions of Windows 7.

Now, why do you need a little technical expertise? You need to remove a file from the DVD or from the .ISO image. As Windows Secrets notes, all you have to do is delete the ei.cfg file.

This means that you can start with a Windows 7 Home Premium (or whatever) DVD and install any version you want, though of course you'd need a compatible activation code to keep that version. To make things easier for you, the ei.cfg file is in the sources subdirectory (WS didn't indicate its location).

It's simple enough: if you have an .ISO file use an appropriate .ISO imaging program to delete the file from it, then save the image and burn it. If you have the DVD you can use the same program to rip the DVD to an .ISO image, then delete the file, and reburn it.

Once deleted, you'll get a menu of choices, as shown above. You can select any version of Windows 7 to install, and thus try out any version, to see if you really, really want to buy that version.

Also, while the standard trial period is 30 days, just as with Windows Vista, you can extend that through the use of Microsoft's Software License Manager (slmgr), which ships with the OS.

If you install Windows 7 sans activation key, you have 30 days to try the software. Using slmgr, you can "rearm" and restart the clock. If you right-click on the Computer icon, and choose Properties, under Windows Activation, you'll see the number of days left in your trial period.

To restart the clock,

• Click Start, All Programs, Accessories. Right-click Command Prompt and choose Run As Administrator. If necessary, enter your administrator password.

• Type "slmgr -rearm" and press the Enter key.

• Restart Windows 7.

You can rearm a total of three times. Wait until the end of each period and you get a total of 120 days of use. Want to try another version? You can do a clean install.

Which version are you readers going to install?

iPhone Outsold All Windows Mobile Phones in Q2: Analyst

Technology industry analyst Canalys released a report on Q2 2009 earlier this week, that stated what we already knew from prior such analysis: that smartphone sales continue to be strong. Not just that, though: Windows Mobile continues to sink, with the iPhone outselling all Windows Mobile devices.

Nokia retained its lead with 44.3% of smartphone shipments, and RIM continues to be second with 20.9%. Meanwhile, the iPhone came in at third with 13.7%. When looking at different platforms, the top three were the exact same as above, with Symbian representing Nokia, but Windows Mobile came in at 9%, fourth place among platforms.

Also of note is that the touchscreen form factor that the iPhone made popular continues to be popular. 39.6% of all smartphones sold have touchscreens, compared to 12.3% being keypad-based devices like BlackBerry and just 10.7% being keyboard devices like those sold by HTC using Windows Mobile.

Despite the absence of Palm's webOS in the list of platforms above, Chris Jones, Canalys VP and principal analyst, had some good things to say about Palm:

“As a relatively small company, Palm has shown what creative leadership and focused investment can achieve. By going back to its roots and developing its own operating system, it has produced an innovative and differentiated product. Investors have responded to this, with its share price growing over 70% this year. Palm still has plenty of challenges ahead – it must find the resources to launch the Pre on the global stage, while continuing to fund development of its product pipeline. But it is remarkable how much better the prospects are for this company than just one year ago.”