On Tuesday, Sony announced that in 2004 they would introduce versions of a music player for as low as $60 aimed at unseating the popular Apple iPod. With no details, it's unclear how competitive this low end player would be.
Of further interest, Sony detailed plans for upcoming Playstation Portable (PSP) devices which Sony claims "will be the Walkman of the future."
The upcoming portable gaming platform due by the end of 2004 will be multifunctional devices featuring games, music, videos, and communication abilities.
One recent Wired opinion column called for Sony to leapfrog the portable music player and embrace portable video players after having let Apple dominate the portable digital music player market. This initiative may partially fulfill that author's wishes.
Sony is felt to have been slow to embrace the digital audio market due to internal conflicts with their Music Division and concerns of losing revenue to digital piracy.
Update: Apple-X.net consolidates reported specs and a concept photo for the PSP device. The device will feature a 16:9 ratio screen, MPEG4 decoder, AAC, ATRAC3 and MP3 support. (No WMA mentioned) The products based on this platform are said to feature a wide range of configurations as well as price points.
Wednesday July 29, 2026 11:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is developing an all-new operating system that is essentially a mix of tvOS, watchOS, and iOS, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In a report this week, he said the operating system will feature a grid of icons, widgets, and apps, along with customizable clock faces.
The new software platform is intended for Apple's long-rumored smart home hub. With built-in facial recognition,...
Wednesday July 29, 2026 12:03 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple this year acquired Israeli startup Q.ai for close to $2 billion, according to the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone maker Beats in 2014.
This is also the largest known Apple acquisition since the company purchased Intel's smartphone modem business and patents for $1 billion in 2019.
Q.ai...
Memory prices have doubled, Macs and iPads have gone up, and iPhones are expected to follow. Ed Zitron – who writes the Where's Your Ed At newsletter, hosts the Better Offline podcast, and has been described by Politico as the AI boom's most "acerbic gadfly" – has spent years arguing the buildout driving those costs will never pay for itself.
We asked him what happens to Apple if he's...
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a ~5.5-inch outer display and a ~7.8-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.
