OnJava.com have an interesting article giving an overview of how to use the calculated property feature, forumula, in your mappings.
PSP update will include Internet Browser
Sony will be releasing a firmware update for the PSP on August 12 for the US market. Amongst the new features and changes will be an Internet Browser that will allow users to surf the web via the build in WiFI cabability.
Sony may delay launch of PS3 to maximise profit on PS2
According to this article on Gamespot summarizing a financial analyst’s memo, Sony may delay the launch of the PS3 until 2007 in order to maximise profits and sales of the exisiting PS2 console.
The reason for this is that Microsoft are likely to drop the price of the current XBox to $99 on the launch of the new XBox360. For Microsoft this will still be a loss per box sold. For Sony however, the cost of producing the redesigned slimline PS2 is less than $99, so even if they drop the price to $99 they will still be making a profit. Reducing the price of the PS2 will also be a significant distraction on potential sales of the XBox360.
Sony will also be closely watching the sales of the XBox360 when launched for the holiday season this year. If sales are very strong, then Sony may be forced to play their hand and release in 2006. If Sony believe that they have a product that is so stong that they can afford to take the risk and release a year after the nearest competitor releases their competing product, then either Sony are being too optimistic on the potential demand for the PS3, or they truely have a product up their sleeves that is going to blow the competition away.
It seems sad that the timing of the launch of an eagerly awaited new console with radically new technology and potential comes down to strategic marketing. At the end of the day though both companies are only out to make money, and if this is the best way to acheive that goal then we may be waiting another year to see the fabled PS3.
Terrabyte of disk drive space now possible for desktop PCs
Wow. With the current latest Serial ATA drives (and also regular parallel ATA133 drives) now reaching 500GB, just two of these puppies in your desktop will give you a terrabyte of online storage.
This seems like an out of this world quantity of drive space, but with many home users filling their drives full of MP3s, digital photos, digitial movies, and the ever increasing size of (Microsoft) bloatware, 1,000GB doesn’t seem that crazy nowdays, although just a few years back this would have seen like science fiction.
And the price is not out of reach either. One 500GB drive from Hitachi will set you back somewhere between $380 – $430 (check current prices on http://www.pricewatch.com/