NEW YORK, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Corporation of America announced today that Tim Schaaff has been appointed to the newly-created position of Senior Vice President of Software Development, effective immediately. Mr. Schaaff reports to Keiji Kimura, EVP and Officer in Charge of Technology Strategy of Sony Corporation. Mr. Schaaff joins Sony from Apple Computer, where he held various positions including VP of Interactive Media. His many contributions at Apple included managing the development and maintenance of Apple’s QuickTime platform. Prior to working at Apple, Mr. Schaaff worked on the development of the Synclavier music synthesizer at New England Digital.

“Software is obviously a critical element in creating champion Sony products, and in increasing the value of Sony devices and services by ensuring interoperability,” said Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation. “Tim’s expertise is a vital addition to the Sony team, and he will be responsible for developing and deploying a unified, intuitive Sony ‘look and feel’ to user interfaces and functionality across our entire product line.”

“This is a very exciting time to work for Sony,” said Mr. Schaaff. “Under the new management’s initiative Sony is transforming itself by strengthening horizontal coordination and collaboration, including software development. I look forward to making contributions to increase the value of Sony’s products.”

“Having a consistent and scaleable software platform for our devices and services is important in today’s world,” said Mr. Kimura. “Tim’s goal is to unify previously dispersed functions into a single organization that provides important platform support for all of Sony.” Mr. Schaaff will be based in San Jose and will have global responsibility for a newly created team that will include technologists and business planners who will work with Sony’s business units, design centers, product planning and engineering, as well as corporate centers for standards, intellectual property, licensing and business development.

Comments: http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=789

Sony Media Software, a leading provider for award-winning professional video and audio editing applications released a new PSP Media Manager Update: version 1.0a Build 193. A few significant fix…

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From the Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition | Dec 27, 2005. pg. 1

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest memory chip maker, said Monday that it is in talks with Sony Corp. to supply NAND flash memory chips. “We are talking to major companies including Sony to supply our NAND flash chips, but no details have been decided yet,” said Samsung spokeswoman Lee Eun-Hee. Samsung Electronics shares gained 1.4% to end at 654,000 won ($645.24), after hitting a record 663,000 won intraday. In November, a person familiar with the situation said the South Korean firm will supply NAND chips to Apple Computer Inc. through 2010 in a deal valued at several billion dollars, and more than a quarter of Samsung’s total NAND flash output would go to Apple.

From Reuters | By Kim Yeon-hee; Mon Dec 26, 1:35 AM ET

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.KS) said on Monday it may sell NAND flash memory chips to Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp. (6758.T) and others, underpinning expectations for surging demand for the chips.

Samsung shares rose to an all-time high as investors expected these contracts to strengthen the company’s hold on more than half the world’s NAND chip market. For Sony, the possible deal comes as the world’s second-largest consumer electronics maker strives to play catch-up with rivals such as Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) in the portable music market.

NAND memory chips are widely used in music players, digital cameras and mobile phones because they retain data even when the power is shut off.

“Samsung Electronics is considering signing contracts to supply NAND flash chips to major companies, including Sony, but nothing in detail has been decided,” the South Korean firm said in a statement to the Korea Exchange. The statement came in response to a Korea Economic Daily report that quoted an unnamed senior official at Samsung as saying Sony had offered to use Samsung’s NAND flash chips for its MP3 players to be unveiled next year.

The newspaper also quoted the official as saying both companies would probably sign a contract in the first half of next year, adding the contract would exceed Samsung’s sales contract with Apple. The newspaper did not provide a value.

Samsung, which is battling Japanese rival Toshiba Corp. (6502.T) in the NAND flash memory chip market, has been holding down prices to woo more electronics makers to use its chips.

SHARES HIT RECORD

Samsung, the world’s top memory-chip maker, started selling its flash chips in the second half of this year to Apple Computer, the maker of iPod music players.

Explosive demand for NAND chips has been behind a recent rally in Samsung’s share price, along with signs of a rebound in prices of mainstay dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips.

Shares in Samsung, which has a 19 percent weighting on Seoul’s broad stock price index, closed up 1.4 percent at 654,000 won, off a life high of 663,000 hit earlier in the day.

“News of Samsung Electronics’ supply deal with Sony has reinforced growing optimism about bullish demand for NAND flash chips,” said Jae H. Lee, an analyst at Daiwa Securities in Seoul. “Market consensus is that seasonal factors may pressure earnings in the first six months of next year, but profitability will improve in the second half.”

The possible deal with Sony comes after Samsung last month signed to supply flash chips through 2010 to Apple. Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (000660.KS), Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news), Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE:MU - news) and Toshiba also signed contracts with Apple.

Reflecting booming demand for flash chips, Intel and Micron said last month they would form a company to manufacture NAND chips, with an initial investment of $1.2 billion each.

Micron’s Chief Executive Steve Appleton told a Reuters Summit last month that the industry would move in coming years to using flash memory instead of hard disk drives for primary storage devices in notebook computers.

(Additional reporting by Kim So-young)

($1=116.42 yen)

Comments: http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=719

 

NW-A608/A607/A605 Firmware Update 2.0

A new firmware update for the NW-A608/A607/A605 is available as of December 26, 2005 from Sony. The firmware update is of version 2.0 and amount to approximately 6,716 MB.

Problems fixed with this firmware 2.0:
- When charging with the USB Charging AC Power Adaptor or the PC which is in standby or hibernation mode, the battery life might be shorter.
- After NO DATABASE or NO DATA shows up, the unit might not be recognized by the PC though it is connected.

New feature enabled:
WMA format support.
*note: WMA file should have sampling frequency of 44.1 KHz and bit rates:

CBR 32/48/64/80/96/128/160/192/256/320 kbps
VBR 40-75/50-95/85-145/135-215/240-355 kbps

*WMA files which are copyright protected cannot be played from the Network Walkman

Affected units:
Network WALKMAN NW-A608 with firmware version 1.0 and 1.01.

For further information, please read:

http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=701

NW-A1000/1200/3000 Firmware Update 2.01

Finally, the much anticipated firmware update that enables WMA support for the NW-A1000/1200/3000 is available as of December 26, 2005 from Sony. The firmware update is of version 2.01 and amount to approximately 3.2MB.

New feature enabled:
WMA format support.
note: WMA file should have sampling frequency of 44.1 KHz and bit rates:

CBR 32/48/64/80/96/128/160/192/256/320 kbps
VBR 40-75/50-95/85-145/135-215/240-355 kbps

*WMA files which are copyright protected cannot be played from the Network Walkman

Affected units: Network WALKMAN NW-A1000/1200/3000 with firmware version 2.01

For further information, please read:

http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=700

 

We are hosting a full installer for SonicStage 3.3 in our Downloads section, here — use SonicStage anywhere, anytime:

http://www.atraclife.com/downloads/details.php?file=19

Ishii has compiled a superb CONNECT Player FAQ that strives to be the definitive resource for CONNECT Player inquries and woes. With the new Walkmans and CONNECT not even live in the United States this is truly a steadfast move to assure ATRACLife as the place to be for related discussion and tutorials.

You may read it here: http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=650