Flexible gadgets are undeniably sexy – but Japanese electronics giant Sony wasn’t content stopping there. For their newest display, they decided to also throw in ultra-thinness (just 80μm or a bit thinner than a human hair) and the energy-saving power of OLEDs into the mix. The new prototype is so bendy that it can be wrapped around a pencil. From electronic newspapers to LED garments, just think about the applications such a display could be used for!
 

Asia-Pacific, May 7, 2010 – Sony is bringing the stunning technology that revolutionized consumer displays to its line of professional monitors. The new PVM-740 is the first field display to use an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) display panel with Sony’s unique Super Top Emission™ technology to efficiently deliver superb high contrast and vibrant color images, even in adverse lighting conditions.

The days of the 3.5-inch floppy disk are now officially numbered.

Sony, which boasts 70 percent of the anemic market, announced Friday that it would end Japanese sales of the ancient storage medium in March 2011, according to a report in the Mainichi Daily newspaper.

The 3.5-inch floppy was a ubiquitous and necessary component for storing and transferring files between personal computers for nearly three decades. Sony pioneered the 3.5-inch floppy disk in 1981, eventually replacing the 5.25-inch floppy disk that had previously been the popular storage format.

The whole process sounded relatively straight forward. Once the screws were removed, the case parts were clipped together and needed to be pried open with a credit card. Whilst he was poking around he managed to de-solder the white keypad light and re-soldered some amber coloured LEDs to match his cars interior light.

He is also considering swapping the microUSB jack with a miniUSB one, as he doesn’t have enough miniUSB cables. Personally I’d just buy some more cables but then I’m not a hardcore ninja modder like McKebapp!

Sony Ericsson will continue to support the Xperia X10 Android smartphone throughout the lifespan of the handset. Despite some of the recent criticisms regarding Android 1.6, it says that a big update will land in H2 2010 (most likely a new version of Android) but it won’t stop there and will continue to develop for the phone to keep it fresh.

Sony reportedly believes that Nintendo's foray into the 3D space with its 3DS isn't a very good idea.

Speaking to IGN in an interview, Sony director of hardware marketing John Koller said that he's not quite sold on the 3DS and wonders if it will enjoy the kind of broad market appeal some of Nintendo's previous portables have, due to Nintendo's perceived young audience.

Second go at digital recording peripheral

Sony is having a second go at releasing a digital recording device. Torne which will be released in March in Japan is the second time that Sony has released a digital recording device.

The first was PlayTV which is Sony Europe's HDTV tuner & recorder and which has been available in Europe since fall 2008. The torne is a terrestrial digital tuner that connects to the PS3 via USB cable.

It offers players an easy and colourful interface that lists programs. It's possible to look up programs and search the menu by genre or keyword.

For nearly 20 years Sony in Japan has been plagued by the myth of the "Sony Timer" – but is there really a kill-switch that destroys your device just after its warranty runs out? Many Japanese genuinely believe that there is.

It was the recall of more than 4.1 million Dell laptops containing faulty Sony batteries in 2006 that jump-started a rumour that has been around for decades. From 1980 to 2006 geeks and tech-obsessed Japanese had joked about the existence of the timer, creating sarcastic manga and venting anger through online forums.

Over the Christmas holidays the rumour mill started churning out a claim that Sony is considering ditching its Cell chip in favour of something more Intel flavoured. Several news sites picked up the story that Sony had a guts-full of the Cell and wanted to move to a multi-core chip from Intel.

However the move has left many scratching their heads. The Cell is still a good chip with many advantages in performance and creative research this generation. Its reliability has also seen the beast wired up to many DIY supercomputers.