Big Questions Surround Sony's Little Gaming Machine

Sony is expected to unveil a new addition to its PlayStation Portable family of mobile gaming units this week. While the new PSP may include smartphone capabilities, at least one report suggests two devices will be delivered in the coming weeks: a gaming-only unit and a smartphone/gaming unit. Whatever the configuration, Sony may also reintroduce UMD capabilities, which were dropped in 2009's PSP Go.

This week, Sony (NYSE: SNE) will officially unveil the PlayStation Portable 2 (PSP2), the sequel to its original PSP mobile gaming device. Several rumors surround the upcoming gaming console, one of which is that it will incorporate a smartphone.

However, a Bloomberg News story, which fueled the latest buzz on the issue, reported that Sony will actually unveil two devices: an updated PlayStation Portable handheld gaming console next week and a game-playing smartphone in February.

In addition, the forthcoming PSP player will likely support discs, Louis Ward, a research manager at IDC, told TechNewsWorld.

Still, confusion over Sony's plans remains.

"I've heard some rumors that the PSP2 will have a cellular component, and others saying it won't," Pietro Macchiarella, a research analyst at Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld.

One and One Makes Two

The new PSP device will be unveiled Jan. 27 in Tokyo, Bloomberg reported.

Sony will unveil the game-playing smartphone at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), to be held in Barcelona, Spain, in February, according to the article.

"I haven't heard anything on this, but it's not for lack of trying," Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst at IDC, told TechNewsWorld when asked if perhaps Sony would unveil a combination PSP2 player and smartphone at the MWC.

"Sony Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY) didn't even hint at anything in its earnings call the other day," Llamas continued. "I know they've been looking at the possibility of such a phone, but it was all research and prototypes and experiment."

Sony Ericsson came into the picture back in November, when The Wall Street Journal quoted its chief executive, Bert Nordberg, as saying he was aware of speculation that the company was working on a smartphone that would leverage Sony's experience in developing the PSP.

Making a smartphone that plays games is technically feasible, Nordberg told the paper; the main challenge would lie in negotiating rights with game publishers.

Nordberg also said, in effect, that Sony Ericsson would demo an interesting product at the MWC and that Android would remain its dominant smartphone platform for at least the next two years.

Sony Ericsson declined to offer further details because it "cannot comment on rumors, speculation or unannounced products," spokesperson Joshua Lefkowitz told TechNewsWorld.

Deconstructing the Gossip

It's not as if a game-playing smartphone would be a ground-breaking product. Even low-cost feature phones can be used for gaming, and smartphone platforms like iPhone and Android can download and play thousands of titles from their respective app stores.

If, however, a smartphone were to be paired up with a PSP2, that could be another kettle of fish.

"So far, gaming on smartphones tends to be pretty casual, with games like 'Angry Birds,'" Parks Associates' Pietro Macchiarella said. "The PSP2 would hit more hard-core gamers, who now spend hours on their PlayStations."

The idea of a PSP2 with smartphone capabilities is "very good and has potential for success" if such a device is indeed launched, Macchiarella suggested. That's because Sony has a loyal customer base and perhaps because PlayStation owners might want to extend their experience to the smartphone, he added.

The Return of the Disc?

The new PSP2 will likely support Sony's UMD discs, unlike the PlayStation Go, which only supported game downloads, IDC's Ward said.

A UMD, or Universal Media Disc, is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on the PlayStation Portable. It can hold up to 1.8 GB of data.

The PSP 2's support of UMD might be welcome news for PlayStation fans. When it was launched, the PSP Go received heavy criticism for its ability to play only downloaded games, rather than games contained on disc cartridges that users could exchange at will.

"The lack of cartridges in the PlayStation Go made it a disaster," Parks Associates' Macchiarella stated.

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A Better Mobile Experience for More People

We want people to have a great mobile experience no matter what type of phone they carry. Smartphones have offered better features for sharing with friends but aren't used by most people around the world.

Today, we're launching a new mobile app to bring Facebook to the most popular mobile phones around the world. The Facebook for Feature Phones app works on more than 2,500 devices from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG and other manufacturers, and it was built in close cooperation withSnaptu. The app provides a better Facebook experience for our most popular features, including an easier-to-navigate home screen, contact synchronization, and fast scrolling of photos and friend updates.

We also wanted to make it available to as many people as possible. Similar to the 0.facebook.com site, we've worked with mobile operators from around the world to let you try this without paying for any data charges. The 14 mobile operators listed below are offering free data access when using the new Facebook mobile app during the first 90 days after they launch.

During the next few months, we plan to make the app available through more carriers in other countries so you can have a great mobile Facebook experience no matter what device you use.

Launching today on m.fb.snaptu.com/f:

• Dialog (Sri Lanka)
• Life (Ukraine)
• Play (Poland)
• StarHub (Singapore)
• STC (Saudi Arabia)
• Three (Hong Kong)
• Tunisiana (Tunisia)
• Viva (Dominican Republic)
• Vodafone (Romania)

Launching soon:

• Mobilicity (Canada)
• Reliance (India)
• Telcel (Mexico)
• TIM (Brazil)
• Vivacom (Bulgaria)

Mark, a program manager at Facebook, still loves his flip phone.

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Report: Apple’s Supply Chain Not So Green After All

Just when Apple was starting to draw praise from environmental groups in the U.S., a new report focused on its supply chain is pointing more fingers. A group of Chinese nongovernmental agencies issued a report that accuses Apple, and other IT companies, of working with suppliers that have used chemicals that have made their workers sick. In a ranking of 29 tech companies on the environmental aspects of their supply chains Apple came up dead last.

Specifically the report points to Apple’s connection to a company called Wintek, which the group says is a major supplier of Apple iPhone touch screens. The report says Wintek introduced a chemical solvent called N-Hexane that is used for cleaning glass in 2008, and this solvent has made workers at its plant sick. In the video clip that the group made about the report, a Wintek executive says “our main client is Apple.”

Apple maintains that it makes all its suppliers sign a “code of conduct” contract, and that its suppliers are audited and monitored to make sure they adhere to the contract. In response to the NGO report, Apple is telling the media (like this PC World report) that it “is committed to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply base.” Apple issues annual Supplier Responsibility Progress reports, and in its most recent report it says:

The companies we do business with must provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made.

The sticking point it seems for the NGO groups is that Apple didn’t want to provide the groups information about its suppliers.The Wall Street Journal quotes the deputy director of one of the NGO groups, Wang Jingjing of the IPE, who says out of 29 tech companies “Apple is the only one company that did not respond to our investigation requests. And Apple is the only company that chose to always avoid us.”

Apple is famous for maintaining control over all aspects of its products, and has seemed to balk at answering to yet another group of environmentalists. Apple drew criticism from Greenpeace a couple years ago for not disclosing its carbon footprint. But then in late 2009 released its carbon footprint, and a new carbon accounting system that accounted for the projected carbon footprint of its products in the market (an unusual move for a gadget maker). It was another indicator that Apple does things Apple’s way.

While Apple might have rejected answering to this group of environmentalists, public attention has seemed to work on Apple in the past.Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted that Greenpeace’s criticism of Apple was one of the motivations behind Apple unveiling its carbon footprint and Job’s pledge to make “a greener Apple.” Apple has since moved up in the ranks of Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Gadgets report.

This isn’t the first time that Apple suppliers in China have come under scrutiny. Last summer Apple supplier Foxconn was in the news for a spate of worker suicides.

As our Apple Blog noted on Friday, the issuing of the report was clearly timed to be released in a week of record earnings for Apple. In addition, support for political reform of worker conditions has been weak in China, and “the collective might of politically and economically influential multinationals like Apple and HP — pushed into action by bad PR — seems too good an opportunity to miss.”

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BCCI controlled IPL 2009 finances

The BCCI had the final say on the management of the IPL's finances when the league was moved to South Africa in 2009, and in some cases framed the plan to be adopted, according to correspondence between the various officials involved. This is contrary to the recently reported deposition of senior board officials, who told a parliamentary committee that is probing the Twenty20 tournament's finances that several transactions were carried out by former IPL chairman Lalit Modi.

Official documents acquired by ESPNcricinfo suggest that the board was not only aware, at the highest levels, of the accounting and financial transactions required to move the event to South Africa, but also played a large role in advising Modi on how to carry them out.

Board president Shashank Manohar, secretary N Srinivasan and current IPL chairman Chirayu Amin recently appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance over allegations of foreign exchange violations related to moving the tournament to South Africa. The parliamentary committee had expressed its opinion that opening and operating a current account in South Africa through an explicit arrangement with Cricket South Africa (CSA) could be construed as violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act as the BCCI had failed to ask the RBI for permission. The committee also asked the officials about the funding patterns of the IPL and the method of payment of players' salaries.

The board reportedly admitted that mistakes were made, but claimed that certain transactions were carried out by Lalit Modi, then the IPL chairman, and they had simply approved those in good faith. However, documents show the BCCI was involved in managing the IPL's finances every step of the way. At the governing council meeting on March 22, 2009, Manohar stated that the board would open an account of US$ 10 million to cover the expenses of holding the IPL in another country "after seeking clearance from RBI and that the account would be operated by the treasurer MP Pandove."

Once the decision was taken to move the tournament to South Africa, Srinivasan outlined the RBI restrictions on operating an account in a foreign country in a letter dated March 24, 2009 that was sent to Modi and Manohar, and suggested that CSA operate the account under the supervision of the BCCI. "The payments that are made would be monitored by us and would be made after only after ensuring that proper authorisation is received from IPL Chairman and Hon. Secretary, BCCI," Srinivasan says. The letter also states that after the expenses were approved by Modi, they were to be sent to Srinivasan "for final authorisation." Meanwhile, Pandove was to "oversee this operation and will be responsible for reconciliation of the accounts, including tax matters".

The agreement to stage the IPL in South Africa was then signed with Cricket South Africa on March 30, 2009 by Srinivasan. Subsequently, a number of emails were sent by Prasanna Kannan, the IPL's chief financial officer, detailing the transactions that had been carried out and the various tax concerns arising out of hosting the tournament abroad. In an email dated April 3 that was sent to Modi, Srinivasan and Pandove, among others, Kannan outlines a discussion with the South African Revenue Services (SARS). SARS requires 15% of the players' fees to be paid as withholding tax, and in another email dated April 9 sent by the board's internal auditor, the BCCI states that it "will help the franchises in fulfilling these obligations and pay the withholding tax in South Africa."

Another email dated April 10 lays out the amount of money that had been dispersed to each team up to that point and how much was still left in the bank. In the same email, Kannan asks the secretary and treasurer "to approve a further transfer of US$ 10 million to CSA". The documents make it clear that the BCCI was not only involved in the decision-making process, but was overseeing it as well.

The 2009 IPL was moved at the last minute over security concerns arising out of the tournament overlapping with the Indian general elections.

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Ali Zafar sings the Official World Cup 2011 Song

Earlier we reported based on an event page that Atif Aslam will be doing the official World Cup 2011 song. However, soon ahead, we realized, that was not true and the event page was fake! Since the video shoot was still being done at Qadaffi stadium, we looked deeper into the matter to get artist’s name and found out something really interesting. It’s prince of pop, Ali Zafar, who has sung, composed and written the official cricket world cup 2011 song. Cricket World cup is a big occasion for us and probably one of the very few sources of excitement left for us. It makes all the more sense for us to celebrate it as much as we can. Another source for us to celebrate is our music. These two combined together is a lethal combination. And who better to sing for this joyous moment than our very own most celebrated Ali Zafar. Ali Zafar is singing, writing and composing the world cup song, video for which is in the process of shoot, confirmed us Ammara, Ali Zafar’s media publicist. Normally the biggest stars and singers are chosen by Multi nationals all over the world to render the world cup song for sports like Shakira was chosen for football with Waka Waka. And surveys put Ali Zafar on the top of the list for our region. It is heard that Ali Zafar took special time off from his bollywood ventures and locked himself in the studio for one week to compose, arrange and write the song. Seems like we have a winner this time, if not in the game then probably in the song. Listen & watch Non- Official World Cup 2011 Video Song Related posts: Atif Aslam as a part of the Official Music Video Of Wordcup Cricket 2011 ICC World Cup 2011 Video Song For Pakistan Team Ali Zafar 3rd Album: Jhoom set to release on February 14, 2011.

The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the tenth Cricket World Cup and will be hosted by three South Asian Test cricket playing countries: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It will be Bangladesh’s first time co-hosting a Cricket World Cup. The World Cup will use cricket’s One Day International format, with fourteen national cricket teams scheduled to compete. The World Cup will take place between February and early April 2011, with the first match to be played on 19 February 2011 with co-hosts India and Bangladesh facing off at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
The World Cup was also supposed to be co-hosted by Pakistan, but in the wake of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights.The headquarters of the organising committee were originally situated in Lahore, but have now been shifted to Mumbai. Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final. Eight of Pakistan’s matches have been awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh.

De Ghuma Ke -- ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Theme Song

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Official Theme Song

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Official Theme Song

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