Sony recently made the decision to no longer sell the 20GB and 60GB model Playstation 3’s in Japan due to unsuccessful sales. Instead, they will be focusing on the 40GB model and try to boost sales with new marketing strategies.

Sony also said that the 40GB will not ultimately be the only model available, but instead they’re releasing newer models that will better suit the end user demands and needs in the console. Currently, the 40GB model (launched in November) sells for  ~$364 USD (39,980 Yen), which is less than the 20GB model.

The 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was pretty fun this year, although most of the hype was around different displays from short throw projectors to the 150-Inch Plasma T.V., and even Alienware’s huge Curved Monitor. There was a lot of other stuff that we enjoyed quite a bit that sometimes got buried by the hype, so here’s our list of the top 5 favorite things and their pictures from C.E.S. 2008.

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We all knew when the console/format wars began that only one format would make it to the top. Paramount is poised to jump on the wagon and ditch HD-DVD, closely following Warner Brothers’ decision to do the same. All this crazy love and war brought about single-console and format topics, such as the “Adam vs. Adam” spot on G4 that basically rants to the public about having all developers and console makers to band together and create one ultimate console, eliminating the need for exclusive games and exclusive format rights. Of course, that leaves us vulnerable to a costly monopolistic situation, not so good.

More and more companies are backing Blu-ray which will ultimately end in a bias on the two head to head console, the Xbox 360 and the Sony PS3. Examining the moment now, with the X360’s red ring problem, and the death of HD-DVD, the PS3 seems to be looking more and more attractive to a lot of consumers.

SanDisk’s latest MicroSDHC card has a 12GB capacity. If you’ve ever held one of these cards, you’ll appreciate the true beauty of this article. If you haven’t, we’re talking small. MicroSD is a very small form factor, about the size of a small pinky nail. (The actual memory bank on the whole chip takes up about half the space.)

Currently you can buy the 8GB MicroSDHC cards for around $130. That’s about $16 per gig, and factor in the +$2 per gig on the next model up, we’re talking about $18 per gig on the 12GB model, totaling $216.00 USD is our guess at the price (SanDisk hasn’t released pricing info yet).

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1200FPS is high enough quality to watch something drop in a pool of water and watch every single droplet’s path, and effect on other objects not normally visible to the naked eye. This enables the average user to record super slow-mo clips (Like Myth Buster’s High-Speed camera, just not quite that fast) and play them back at 30-60FPS which can slow it down quite a lot (by a factor of 40 (1200/30=40)).

It can shoot in full resolution at 60FPS for stills, and 300, 600, or 1200 FPS for video. This is an amazing accomplishment for this price range, especially when you factor in the lens quality needed to support the exposure time, and the processing capabilities needed to handle 1,200 images every second.

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Wikia’s founder, Jimmy Wales (of Wikipedia as well) announced the new extension of wikia.com, the Wikia Search Engine. Wikia is adding a few new twists on the whole search engine thing though. They will of course use the ranking and algorithm system that companies like Google, Yahoo, and MSN use today, but they will also allow the users to rank the search results by themselves. This will add human intervention to the rankings, and will eventually eliminate link-spam sites and will promote not-so-well-known sites that have good, rich content get searched a lot more.

You will also be able to attach your profile to certain search results that you feel you are an expert in, or show a particular interest in the subject. Users can also create mini-articles that sit on the top of results pages. As with any Wiki, users will be able to edit them as the wish.

But, best of all, the whole engine is Open Source. (more…)

The LCD screen, which measures 52.9-inches high by 93.9-inches wide, is being manufactured at the new Kameyama plant in Japan. What’s interesting is this is the first plant to begin using eighth generation glass-substrates. The new substance allows manufacturers to make larger televisions at reduced prices, especially in comparison to the current sixth generation standard. (Sony and Samsung both use the Seventh generation, however, and plan to start using the new substrate soon). No pricing was announced during the CES conference. It’s the first prototype of this size to be shown.

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Microsoft’s Xbox Live’s downtime is creating quite a ruckus amongst the gamer community. Microsoft reported that the downtime was the mark of the biggest influx of users they’ve ever recorded. It was a record breaking day. So what? We’re still paying $xx per month to use a service that’s not even available? And besides, when I play games online, the multi-player is hosted right here, locally. So what am I paying for? Microsoft to manage my friends list. Woo… And when it goes down, Microsoft wants to give it’s users a crappy Arcade Game that they would normally probably never even sell in the first place. Thanks MS.

It’s no surprise to me that all of these class action lawsuits are springing up everywhere against Microsoft’s rip-off service. Well I hope everyone enjoys their free arcade game, I’ll be investing in a PS3 for my gaming needs.

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Everyone knows by now about the execution of analog, over-the-air television. The analog channels will go dark on February 19th, 2009. And as promised, the fed is issuing coupons worth $40 each to lessen the cost of the converter boxes (or digital tuners) that will convert your old TVs into new digital tuning TVs. Every household in the US qualifies to recieve up to two of them.

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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has released RIM’s (Research in Motion, makers of BlackBerry) latest patent which details their idea for a new keyboard. It features it’s keys at a 45° angle with a split directly down the middle. I know personally when typing up e-mails and SMS texts on the current keyboard design gives the user particularly sore thumbs and wrists.

The new design is ergonomic and fits the hand quite well. You won’t have to reach across the device or twist your thumbs/wrists to get to the next letter. It doesn’t appear that the key assignments will be much different, although there possibly will be 2 letters per key on most such as the BlackBerry Pearl. Which brings up another point, other then that small triangle in the middle, there doesn’t seem to be much room for the beloved trackball that we ‘CrackBerry’ owners have come to love.