In the wake of customer outrage over a price bump on two of Whitney Houston’s greatest hits albums in the United Kingdom iTunes store, mere hours after she passed away last Saturday, Sony is rolling out the obligatory, “sorry we tried to capitalize on a super famous person’s death” apology. [More]
Sony Apologizes For Accidentally Capitalizing On Whitney Houston's Death With UK Price Hike
By February 15, 2012
Sony Responds To Bummed Out Fans By Raising The Price On Whitney Houston's Album
By February 13, 2012
While fans of Whitney Houston mourned her death, fondly remembering belting her tunes into hairbrushes in bedrooms everywhere, Sony Music appears to be primed and ready to make a big stack of cash off our nostalgic appreciation, hiking up the price of her greatest hits album hours after her demise on Saturday. [More]
How To Transfer PSP Games To The Vita
By February 13, 2012
Due out Feb. 22, Sony’s PlayStation Vita handheld can’t play physical games from its predecessor, the PSP, because the Vita lacks a disc drive. But many of the PSP’s downloadable games will work on the Vita, and you can transfer them over via a relatively simple — if time-consuming — practice. [More]
Sony, Game Developer Scheme To Plague Gamers With More PS3 Microtransactions
By January 24, 2012
Angling to get in on the microtransaction gaming action that’s all the rage online and on mobile devices, Sony and a game developer are reportedly hammering out policies to allow games to nickel and dime players to a greater extent. [More]
What The Heck Is 4K And Should You Spend $25,000 To Get It?
By January 10, 2012
Several manufacturers are showing off so-called 4K technology — which promises TV pictures at four times the top resolution of current HD — at the Consumer Electronics Show, including Sony, which expects to have a 4K projector on the market in a few weeks, for $25,000. Assuming you have $25K burning a hole in your pocket, and a vacant wall in your home theater, should you rush out and buy one? [More]
Read The Fine Print Before Taking A Great Gadget Deal
By December 29, 2011
Carolyn bought a Sony Blu-ray player for her husband for Christmas. The player’s box boasted of its streaming capabilities, but to use them, she would need to purchase a separate wireless adapter. No problem – she picked up an inexpensive one at the store and gave that to her husband as well. She missed one detail: the only compatible adapter must be ordered directly from Sony, and costs $75. Sometimes, great holiday season electronics deals aren’t what they seem at first glance. [More]
Sony's Next Handheld Requires Sold-Separately Memory Cards
By December 23, 2011
Due out in February, the PlayStation Vita starts at $250, but those who would like to be able to save their games will need a proprietary memory card that isn’t included with the device. Unlike Sony’s last handheld, the PSP — which accepted relatively cheap run-of-the-mill memory sticks, the Vita demands special memory sticks that range from $20 to $100. [More]
Consumerist Post About Broken Laptop Gets Reader Full Refund Within 3 Hours
By December 15, 2011
Once again, Costco saves the day. Last week, we posted the story of Tom, who bought a Sony Vaio laptop from Costco only to have it malfunction a little more than a year after purchase. Sony didn’t seem to want to fix the problem at all, and Costco employees were very kind but couldn’t intervene. Only a few hours after that post went up, Costco contacted Tom, and gave him a full refund for the computer’s purchase price. [More]
Sony Will Make "Moneyball" Downloadable Before Offering It On Disc
By December 5, 2011
As watching movies online — legally — becomes more popular, discs are gradually moving to the wayside. Sony is helping things along in this direction by announcing it will offer Moneyball online Dec. 22, 19 days before it hits shelves on Blu-ray and DVD. Indie films often get this sort of treatment, but it’s rare that you see a major studio film take the increasingly popular distribution plan. [More]
Sony Wants To Compete With Cable, Satellite TV Providers
By November 17, 2011
Not content to let the likes of Netflix and Xbox pass it by in the realm of TV streaming, Sony is reportedly trying to swing deals with major networks in order to secure rights to programming. The idea seems to be to turn PlayStation 3s and Sony’s internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players into competitors against cable boxes and satellite receivers. [More]
Sony Clamps Down On Downloaded Games Sharing
By November 8, 2011
Sony currently lets you store downloaded games on a total of five PS3s or PSPs, but it’s cutting back on those limits. Starting Nov. 18, you’ll only be able to store a game on two PS3s or two PSPs. Some games, such as PlayStation 1 classics and PSP Minis, are playable on both systems, and you can play those on two PS3s and two PSPs each. [More]
Sony Rewards Item Not Such A Great Deal Once You Actually Want To Buy It
By November 4, 2011
Jonathan has a Sony Rewards credit card with Capital One, and tried to use his accumulated points to buy an AV receiver, Sony’s “deal of the week,” from the rewards site. There’s a special price this week for members, only 24,000 points. Great! Jonathan has that many points! Only the site won’t let him (or anyone) buy the item for the advertised sale price. [More]
Good Night, Sony Dream Machine
By October 27, 2011
The Sony Dream Machine isn’t an iconic, distinctive product like the iMac or the Dyson bladeless fan. It is, however, ubiquitous: if you’ve never owned at least one, you’ve surely stayed in a hotel or guest room equipped with one. They’ve been on the market for 30 years or so, and have come equipped with FM dials, tape decks, CD players, and iPod docks. Now Sony is discontinuing the long-lived, diverse brand with the evocative and ironic name. [More]
93,000 PSN Accounts Suspended After Latest Attack
By October 13, 2011
PlayStation announced they’ve suspended 93,000 PSN accounts after the latest attack against their network. [More]
Big Sony Bravia TV Fire Recall Is Only In Japan, But US Models May Be Affected
By October 12, 2011
Headlines are blaring about the 1.6 million 40″ Sony Bravia TVs getting recalled for fire and smoke risk, but they’re overlooking a key fact. The recalled models were only sold in Japan. No recall has been issued in America. However, there are 400,000 models that were sold in the US that contain the same component that prompted the Japan recall. Here are the Sony Bravia TV model numbers you should check to see if you have. [More]
Sony Says All Future Sony Games Will Require Code To Play Online
By October 4, 2011
Out to swipe some profits from the used video game machine, some publishers have moved toward packing new games with codes that unlock online features and selling the codes to those who buy the games used. Sony is going all-in on the tactic, announcing all games it publishes, starting with next month’s Uncharted 3, will be stuck with online passes. [More]
Movie Theaters May Start Charging For 3-D Glasses
By September 28, 2011
In case you thought that part of that higher ticket price you pay for seeing a 3-D movie goes to pay for the glasses required to see the often poorly done, post-production 3-D effects, you’re mistaken. It’s the studios behind these big-budget cash-ins that have been footing the bill, but that could all change in the next year. [More]
Instead Of Fixing His Computer, Sony Sends Him 7 Other Customers' Broken Ones
By September 21, 2011
A man was waiting for Sony to send him a box and a shipping label so he could send his laptop off for repair. Instead, he got sent broken computers from seven other Sony customers. [More]
