F55
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Sony's Phil Molyneux talks 4K strategy, with Spike Lee as exhibit 'A'
Sony's consumer electronics COO Phil Molyneux has a story to tell about his company's deep plunge into 4K, so who better to help than veteran auteur Spike Lee? The filmmaker's foray into crowdfunded cinema production is well-known, and it turns out that he's using the company's 4K CineAlta PMW-F55 digital cinema cameras on the project, entitled Da Sweet Blood of Jesus. The pair spoke at our Expand event in New York, where Molyneux said he had to drag 50 people together from across Sony's divisions to make 4K content distribution happen. Meanwhile, Lee, a moderate technophobe, detailed his first crowdfunding experience and how Kickstarter told him that there would be a "backlash." Sony's level of commitment to 4K with its production and consumer cameras, projectors, players and TVs begged the inevitable question: What about Ultra HD content? Surprisingly, Phil acknowledged the silo-like nature of the sprawling electronics giant, saying that it often "hasn't worked well together for the greater benefit of the consumer experience." Because of that, he said he brought about a group of people from the company's various divisions together to figure out how to create a 4K consumer distribution network, first announced at CES this year. Having brashly committed to launching the service by the end of the summer, the team managed to get it up just before Labor Day with 70 films (all produced, unsurprisingly, by Sony Entertainment), a feat he described in retrospect as "tremendous."
Red sues Sony over patents, wants disputed F-series cameras 'destroyed' (updated)
We reported that Sony was going "Red hunting" with it's new F-series pro camcorders, but it looks like Red has flipped that scenario. It's suing Sony for allegedly violating two of its patents -- asking for an injunction to stop sales plus an award for damages, and even that that the F5, F55 and F65 models in question be "delivered up and destroyed." The Hobbit camera-maker claims the video cams have "resulted in lost sales, reduced the business and profit of Red, and greatly injured the general reputation of Red." The patents involve Red's implementation of RAW video, but no details were given as to how it thinks those processes were infringed. Anyway, you can now add high-end video cameras to the growing playbill of patent follies. Update: Red leader Jim Jannard has issued a statement on Reduser as to why the company felt it needed to sue Sony. We have taken a bit of flak for filing a lawsuit against Sony Electronics. #1. Sony stepped up and finally supported 4K from cameras to displays. That is helping to cement 4K as the real cinema standard. Good. We actually have a Sony 4K 84" display and Sony 4K projector at RSH for reference. But... #2. We are heavily invested in concepts, inventions, designs, development and manufacturing of RED cameras, REDRAY and the RED Projector. Each is unique and has motivated the industry to get better, for the benefit of all. We don't mind others joining the 4K revolution... quite the contrary, we embrace it. What we don't accept is others just borrowing our technology, intentionally or unintentionally. We admire invention and happily pay for and license great technology from other companies when it is useful to our program. #3. We have created many jobs in the US leveraging our vision and technology and we will aggressively protect our employees. Every single job matters. It is a magic trick to build a camera in the US, especially at the highest level. This cannot be done if others are allowed to just take what we have done and use our work as their own. #4. Our customers have invested in our technology. They need to be protected and their investment needs to be protected. We have an obligation to our customers so they will not have their investment diluted by a proliferation of the proprietary technology they invested in. We don't mean to be heavy handed. We saw 4K as the future standard in 2005. We have endured comments that "RED was a scam". "1080P was good enough." "What does a sunglass guy know about cameras?"... as well as others I would never publish. Patents are here for a reason. They protect IP. Receiving a patent now means that you have an obligation to protect it... or they have absolutely no value whatsoever. We are anxious to resolve this and have everyone move along. But in the end... our ideas, employees and customers matter. We will tenaciously protect all of them. [Thanks, Andrea!]
Toshiba announces Centrino 2-based Satellite Pro S300, Tecra M10 and Tecra A10
Get ready for a flood of Centrino 2 laptops, kids -- hot on the heels of Intel's big announcement and Sony and Lenovo's updated lineups comes Toshiba with the new Satellite Pro S300, Tecra M10 and A10, and Qosmio X305, F55 and Cell-based G55. The Qosmios actually aren't that new -- all three of them were initially announced back in June, but they're actually available now, with the gaming-oriented X305 exclusive to Best Buy. The $1,299 Satellite Pro S300 (pictured) is a little more interesting, with a 2.4GHz P8600 Core 2 Duo on Centrino 2's 1066MHz bus and Intel 4500MD integrated graphics powering a 15.4-inch display, as well as sleep-and-charge USB ports and a docking port. The more business-oriented Tecra lappies also get a similar Centrino 2 treatment, sharing a motherboard design to reduce repair costs. The $1,399 M10 sports a 14.1-inch screen, while the 15.4-inch A10's pricing hasn't been announced. Pictures of the new Tecras after the break.Read - Satellite Pro S300Read - Tecra A10 and M10Read - Qosmio X305Read - Qosmio G55Read - Qosmio F55
Toshiba intros Qosmio G55, X305 and F55 gaming laptops
Not like it's any surprise, but Toshiba has just certified that the potent Qosmio G55 we peeked earlier this week is indeed more than a figment of someone's imagination. The 18.4-inch (that's the screen size) laptop is the world's first to pack the Cell-based SpursEngine, which Tosh is re-christening the Quad Core HD processor. Moving on, we've got the 17.1-inch X305, which includes a GeForce 9800 GTX, DDR3 memory, up to 400GB of HDD space and a red-flamed Rouge design. Lastly, the F55 comes in with a more common 15.4-inch display, GeForce 9700 GTS card and integrated GPS receiver / Garmin mapping software. The whole lot packs HDMI ports with REGZA LINK technology, Feathertouch multimedia buttons, an eSATA port and Harman Kardon speakers with a built-in "subwoofer." Check 'em out later this summer for a pretty penny.
