s-1

In the last several decades, Sony has been known for its esoteric commercials featuring inanimate objects doing extraordinary things that often reflect design elements that inspired the featured product. In other instances, Sony advertisements are a visual odyssey meant to inspire the consumer, and are only loosely related to the product in question. The Japanese company has released another bizarre video in a five-part series on YouTube, dubbed "Two Will," which teases the upcoming S1 and S2 tablets.

In contrast to the darker, shadow play-themed video in part one, this one presents a more complicated Rube Goldberg-like contraption. Bouncing colorful balls cause the S1 tablet to roll sideways on a track, which is set up with rubber "fingers" that compose an e-mail message in the Android (Honeycomb) operating system. The message "Comfort with the smooth touch" is labeled below. The mind should be boggled at this point, but perhaps it's a svelte way to say communication is fast and easy. We'll see about that.… Read more

Seems like the lucky folks at German tech site Golem have gotten themselves Sony's S1 and S2 tablets. This 18-second video showcases the S2's operating system, which, as expected, appears to be Android.

We'll let the video speak for itself. … Read more

Sony is using over-engineered delight to promote its upcoming S1 and S2 tablets.

In a two-minute video, Sony takes viewers on a playful ride through a Rube Goldberg Machine. Though the focus of the video isn't apparent at first, toward the end of the clip, the company's S1 and S2 tablets are shown. The video ends with the line: "To be continued."

According to a description of the clip on YouTube, the video is the first of five in a series showcasing the company's tablets. Sony did not say when future videos will air.

Sony … Read more

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Facebook launches Facebook Deals in a few, select cities

Facebook also rolls out the Send button, which is similar to the Like button, only not so public

Sony plans this fall to launch two tablets that will run Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" and have access to PlayStation content.

Yahoo buys IntoNow, a social network for couch potatoes

The Barnes & Noble Nook Color gets an update that allows it to run apps

T-Mobile pulls the Bobsled app because it was confusing Facebook users

Sony made it official today in Tokyo, disclosing two new tablet designs that will run Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" software and have access to PlayStation content.

The Japanese company said in a brief statement that it is "developing two tablets," including the S1 which is "optimized for media entertainment" and the S2 (both codenames), aimed at "mobile communication and entertainment."

The tablets, with the official moniker of "Sony Tablet," will become available worldwide starting in the fall.

The S1 has a 9.4-inch (1280-by-800) display and front and rear cameras, … Read more

The recent shoveling of 3D movies, video games, and TVs/monitors down consumers' throats reminds me of that show "Ed." Remember it? Neither do I. I just remember hearing how it was "America's favorite show," yet I didn't know anyone who actually watched it.

Now I'm not saying 3D technology is as useless and pointless as "Ed," but so far, 3D hasn't proven itself worth paying five bucks extra for. I guess we have James Cameron, in all his audience-manipulating genius, to thank for making "Avatar" such a … Read more

Just as it is in Hollywood, thin is in in the monitor market. A good 60 percent of the monitors I've reviewed recently have touted thin profiles, afforded by their LED backlights.

Ironically, however, the last four Acer monitors I've reviewed have been anything but thin. Luckily, Acer seems poised to change this as this week the company unveils its new S1 Series of monitors. The S1 Series includes 20-inch, 21.5-inch, and 23-inch models, ranging from 13mm thick for the 20-incher and 15mm for the 21.5 and 23-inchers.

According to Acer, the LED backlights in each … Read more

Wouldn't it be nice if you could browse and play back your entire Blu-ray movie collection with the click of a button? For $1,499, the S1Digital 100-disc Blu-ray changer delivers this level of convenience and the flexibility to download metadata and cover art automatically over the Web. All you need is to hook up the jukebox to a Windows Media Center-compatible PC and install its bundled My Movies software to access up to 1,000 Blu-ray, DVD, and CD titles through the intuitive WMC graphics user interface.

By connecting this S1Digital box to a Windows Home server, users … Read more

I heard the NuForce Icon (briefly) at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest last year, and the little bugger was astounding. The anodized aluminum chassis is available in four snazzy colors. It feels well made.

Stereophile's Wes Phillips reviewed it for real. He even had the nerve to hook up the teeny NuForce Icon to a pair of Definitive Technology Mythos STS SuperTower speakers, and Phillips was bowled over by the sound! The sheer incongruity of the match-up was disarming, but in the end Phillips heard the limitations of the NuForce Icon. Used as intended driving small speakers, it's … Read more