Sony PSP owners to make VoIP calls soon

While there are way more DS Lite owners than PSP owners around, the latter's numbers are by no means a minority. PSP owners will soon be able to make voice and video calls to other PSP owners and selected BT cellphones via a WiFi connection. The software used will be provided by BT, and there are plans for these to call PCs, fixed lines, and cellphones in the future. The service will initially be available in the U.K. and is not compatible outside of homes and selected BT wireless hotspots. This news is great, but I sure hope Sony remembers this painful lesson - it is games that move consoles, whether they be handhelds or otherwise.

FCC Approves iPhone

The Federal Communications Commission approved Apple’s iPhone, clearing the way for the combined phone and music player to hit the shelves. Apple expects to begin selling the iPhone in late June.

Some of the FCC documents confirm a few features of the phone, including it will have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and will operate in the 1900MHz and 850MHz frequency bands.

That means that despite the phone’s high price, users won’t be able to roam with it into Europe, where operators use different frequencies. The phone uses GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology and the EDGE (Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution) wireless data standard. Apple has said the phone will ship initially only in the U.S. but many GSM phones today, even on the low end, are capable of operating in both Europe and the U.S.

Eager potential users who hoped for a faster data connection will be disappointed that the approval is only for EDGE. Many operators, including Apple partner AT&T, have upgraded their networks to deliver download speeds of about 500K bits per second or more, more than twice as fast as EDGE.

Sony Debuts Micro Size DAV-IS10 Home Theater System

Sony dropped some big news at it's New York event Wednesday night. It debuted the new DAV-IS10 DVD home theater system. What sets it apart from the rest is the size of the satellites. As you can see from the pic, they're just a few notches bigger than a quarter. The 2.1 system will debut in July. It'll also be able to upscale DVDs to near HD quality. It'll sell for $799. – Louis Ramirez

SonyDAV-IS10

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IBM's New CPU Hits 4.7GHz without Breaking a Sweat

While Intel and AMD continue to duke it out on the CPU front, the guys at IBM have unveiled a new dual-core processor that can hit 4.7GHz without sucking up so much power. As an added "up yours" to Apple, the new processor, dubbed the Power6, was described as being fast enough to "download the entire iTunes catalog" in a single minute. The CPU will be used mainly for high-end servers. Perhaps someone at Apple right now is smacking their forehead as they yell out "doh!"