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With a sleek new form factor and internal memory instead of an optical UMD drive, Sony's new PSP Go handheld gaming console is a very different animal than the original PlayStation Portable. Naturally, dedicated mobile gamers have been asking what, if anything, could they do with their collections of UMD game and movie discs if they upgrade to the PSP Go.

After initially hinting that current UMD games could be either converted for use on the SSD/Memory Stick-only PSP Go, or physically traded in for a digital download version of the same game, Sony now says that's not in the cards.

"We were evaluating a UMD conversion program, but due to legal and technical reasons we will not be offering the program at this time," a Sony Computer Entertainment of America spokesman told gaming news site Kotaku, which also points out that as recently as June's E3 game industry trade show, Sony claimed to have been "looking into programs for owners who have previously purchased UMD titles and want to exchange them for digital versions."

Sony's European arm, however, is at least offering three free PSP Go downloads (from a list of Sony-published titles) to current PSP owners who upgrade to the new model. No similar plan has been announced for U.S. consumers yet, and in fact, Sony told gaming news site IndustryGamers that the company "will not offer a UMD rewards program at this time," owning to what it calls "a dual-platform strategy."

Now that you've gotten yourself a new ride by trading in your clunker, it's time to do the same with your wireless router.

Meraki, the first networking vendor to bring the Wireless-N standard outdoors earlier this year, launched Wednesday its Cash for Wireless LAN Clunkers promotion campaign.

(Credit: Meraki)

The program is for those who want to upgrade their legacy 802.11b/g network (which caps at 54Mbps) to the 802.11n (which caps at 300Mbps) network with a Meraki wireless access point. The promotion includes a $150 credit for each access point traded in for one made by Meraki.

Note that this is only for enterprise-class access points, so your old home wireless router is not qualified. Other conditions to get qualified include a new purchase of one Meraki 802.11n access point per each traded-in access point; also, the old access point must be from the following vendors: Cisco, Aruba, Meru, Motorola, HP/Procurve, Belden/Trapeze, 3Com, Xirrus, Aerohive, Alcatel-Lucent, Ruckus Wireless, Enterasys/Siemens, Extreme, Nortel, Proxim, Bluesocket, or Tropos.

This means, if you've got yourself an old 802.11g wireless access point from Meraki, you will be stuck with it unless you pay the full price for a new one.

Whether this is a good deal, Meraki's Cash for Wireless LAN Clunkers program will definitely not last as long as the government's Cash for Clunkers; it ends September 30. Until then, you can start trading in your old access point or learn more about this program on Meraki's Web site.

Update, July 30, 10:28 a.m. PDT: The Wall Street Journal has now added a correction to its story: "Correction: It is not clear whether Apple will attend the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. This post previously stated that Apple would attend."

We've heard lots of speculation about the possibility of Apple attending the massive CES trade show in January, but The Wall Street Journal is reporting straight out that Apple plans to attend.

CES is devoting more floorspace to Apple this year. But will Apple attend? The Wall Street Journal is saying it will.

(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET)

If true, this would seem a bit of a schizophrenic move. After all, Apple explained its decision to leave Macworld (which takes place around the same time as CES) by saying that it doesn't need trade shows anymore to get its message across, given its network of retail stores.

We've attempted to reach Apple for confirmation, even given the late hour, but haven't yet received a response.

Although the Journal blog post references a dinner with journalists and Gary Shapiro, who heads the organization that puts on CES in Las Vegas, it doesn't attribute Apple's move to Shapiro. "Apple plans to attend the show's 2010 version, marking the first time in memory the Cupertino, Calif., consumer-electronics giant will be there," the post reads.

And it goes on to talk about how Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Association, has invited Apple CEO Steve Jobs to give a keynote address at the show. "But nobody from Apple has gotten back to him," the Journal post says, citing Shapiro.

Meanwhile, while other bloggers have followed the Journal piece, Engadget's Ryan Block, who says he was at the same dinner with Shapiro, is challenging the report's accuracy. "At no point did Gary even remotely imply that Apple would be present at a future CES." That sentiment was echoed by Engadget founder Peter Rojas in a comment posted to the Journal story, addressing its author, Ben Charny. Shapiro "was very clear that Apple would not be exhibiting at CES 2010," wrote Rojas, who was also at the dinner with Shapiro. "I'm frankly a little shocked that anyone could have come out of the dinner with a post like this."

CNET Editor in Chief Scott Ard, who also was at the dinner, concurred that Shapiro didn't say anything that could be construed as definitive about Apple and CES 2010. He also noted that the Wall Street Journal story didn't attribute possible attendance by Apple to Shapiro.

"Shapiro didn't say anything at the dinner that could be taken as confirmation that Apple would attend," Ard said. "And it's hardly news that Jobs did not return an invite request."

Ard continued: "Ironically, much of the conversation Tuesday revolved around three topics: Apple's plans, CES 2010, and accuracy in journalism. We'll see how this story shakes out--at this point the Journal's post is hard to evaluate because it does not have any sourcing regarding Apple's supposed attendance."

"The good news in all this," Ard said, "is that Apple will likely have to declare one way or the other what its plans are very soon."

What we do know, however, is that with or without Apple, CES is planning to expand its Apple section from 4,000 square feet to 25,000 square feet. The venue will be called the iLounge Pavilion.

Anyone else having trouble envisioning Jobs in a Vegas lounge, albeit one that starts with the letter i?

This post was updated at 11:28 p.m. PDT with comments from Peter Rojas. It was updated again at 7:04 a.m. PDT on Thursday with comments from CNET's Scott Ard.

If you've got old (working) gadgets to spare, Radio Shack will take them back for store credit.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)

Starting this week, Radio Shack will pay you to bring back your old, unwanted electronics to its stores.

The retailer has launched a new in-store trade-in program that it's describing as a way to instantly upgrade to the latest technology.

It works like this: Bring in working phones, cameras, MP3 players, game consoles, video games, or GPS receivers to a store and an employee will appraise the product's value and offer a Radio Shack gift card for that amount. The gift card can be used right away, but proper ID and a current address will be taken to ensure that the person trading in the items is the actual owner.

While stores will not take large items like high-definition televisions, monitors, and notebook PCs, RadioShack.com will.

A Radio Shack representative adds this tip: Bringing in chargers, manuals, and other accessories that originally came with the device being traded in can enhance the appraisal value.

The trade-in program is handled by a third-party company, CExchange, which says that the old electronics it takes are refurbished and resold. The refurbished items are not resold through Radio Shack, according to a representative for the retailer.

The in-store program is an extension of the online trade-in program that Radio Shack has offered since October 2008.

On Thursday, Amazon announced a new program for customers to trade in used video game titles in return for credit at Amazon.com. The program is launching with around 1,500 titles, all of which can be filtered and searched by platform. Once users have picked out the games they own and would like to exchange for credit, Amazon provides a pre-paid label that covers the cost of shipping. Then, after Amazon confirms that the right games were sent (and not scratched to oblivion), it credits the user's account.

As part of its introduction, Amazon is offering those who trade in their games for credit a 10 percent markdown on games or video game accessories in the next two weeks.

What's a really big game-changer here (no pun intended) is that Amazon is, for the most part, offering higher trade-in prices than companies that have been in this business for more than a decade. And, instead of using that cash as in-store credit to buy more games, Amazon's credit can be used on anything else it sells.

Here are some examples of Amazon's pricing on popular titles from various game consoles compared to two of the largest video game retailers (highest trade-in price is highlighted in bold):

These are just a few of the titles I could find prices for across all three companies, but you can see the trend. One thing worth noting is that Game Crazy has a $9.99-a-year "MVP" program that boosts up its prices ever so slightly, and in some cases a little closer to Amazon's offering. However, for comparison's sake, the prices above were taken from non-MVP trade-in rates. Also, Toys R' Us, which has begun a limited rollout of its own games trade-in service, was not included since it's not yet a national program.

Between this and the casual games download service Amazon launched in early February, it's clear the company is trying to get its foot a little deeper into an industry that appears to be recession-proof. Last year, GameStop pulled in close to $2 billion in sales during Q2, which is due in large part to its trade-in business. With people looking to liquidate assets to pay off debt, or come up with spare cash, it could one of this year's big growth industries.

One thing still missing, however, is a storefront for selling used games back to buyers. Presumably Amazon will either be re-selling these to other used retailers, or building in its own stock of used games into its used items sale option.

Update: Corrected mix-up in sales and profits in regard to numbers from GameStop's Q2 earnings last year

(Credit: SquareTrade)

Apple's iPhone has half the failure rate of RIM's BlackBerry in the first year of use, a study carried out by a mobile-phone warranty firm has found.

The SquareTrade study, released Saturday, looked at more than 15,000 handsets that were covered by the company's policies. It found iPhones had a malfunction rate of 5.6 percent in the first year, compared to 11.9 percent for Research In Motion's BlackBerry smartphones. Palm's Treos fared even worse, with 16.2 percent having some sort of malfunction in the first 12 months of use.

Figures from the analyst firm Canalys, released last week, showed Apple has now overtaken RIM in the global smartphone sales stakes.

Just a day after Apple showed off its new MacBooks, Other World Computing (OWC) announced on Wednesday its 4GB DDR3 memory upgrade kit for the computers.

(Credit: OWC)

The kit includes two matching 2GB modules of PC3-8500 DDR3 memory designed specifically for Apple's new MacBook 13-inch and MacBook Pro 15-inch models. It costs $140 but you'll get a discount for trading in your current Apple standard memory modules.

The company's trade-in program offers $7.50 cash back per GB of old memory, which is a savings, but not such a good deal considering the new kit costs about $35 per GB. Nonetheless, the memory kit comes with a lifetime warranty and a money-back warranty policy.

Other than the upgrade kit, OWC also offers system memory for all previous Core 2 Duo MacBook and MacBook Pro models, including the still offered MacBook "White" 2.1GHz, in a 4GB DDR2 Memory Upgrade Kit, priced at $69.99.

Citing economic troubles, Ziff Davis Media has canceled this year's DigitalLife Expo, a trade show held each fall at New York's Jacob Javits Convention Center.

"The poor economic conditions have created a very different and difficult dynamic for us this year, and we weren't confident that we could present a show experience that was consistent with the successes of prior years," DigitalLife Vice President Paul O'Reilly said in an e-mailed statement. "Hopefully, a bigger and stronger DigitalLife will return in 2009. We will make additional announcements about the future of the show when details are available."

Besides the economic issues, DigitalLife had additional problems. Namely, last year's expo just wasn't very good. It couldn't define itself as a worthwhile alternative to the Consumer Electronics Show, it was short on new product debuts (with the exception of some cool new iRobot toys), and the show floor's highlights were an awkward mishmash of electronics, Web start-ups, and products with which most geeks were already very familiar. It was a noticeable downturn from the more happening DigitalLife 2006.

Until the cancellation, the beleaguered Ziff Davis' apparent strategy was to put more of a focus on gaming for the 2008 edition.

Furthermore, this spring a blow was struck to the city-sanctioned "Digital Technology Week" that had surrounded the expo for the past few years: Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordained the first annual "Internet Week New York" in early June, leaving Digital Technology Week to languish in the Department of Redundancy.

The only "Philips" you'll see at CES 2009 will be at the Funai booth.

(Credit: CNET)

Philips will not be exhibiting at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. The Philips brand, however, will still be on display at the Las Vegas Convention Center, thanks to the expanded presence of Funai--the Japanese company that will be producing TVs sold in North America under the Philips name starting later this year.

A Philips representative confirmed to CNET that the Dutch electronics giant will not have a presence on the show floor at the mammoth Las Vegas trade show, verifying rumors that had surfaced earlier this year.

Traditionally, the Consumer Electronics Association's massive January event is used by industry stalwarts to highlight emerging trends and key products that will be introduced over the course of the subsequent year and beyond. Philips' exit from that high-profile showcase comes in the wake of its recent announcement that it's outsourcing TV production to Funai for Philips- and Magnavox-branded sets sold in the North American market.

Indeed, Funai is doing its part to fill the void left by Philips' exit from the show. A spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association, the industry group that runs CES, had this to say:

Philips has been a pioneer in the consumer technology industry, and a well-known brand for consumers in the U.S. and around the world. The recent license agreement between Philips and Funai was a strategic business decision between two consumer technology companies. CEA respects the strategic decisions that all of our 2,700 exhibitors make regarding their business model and the International CES. We look forward to welcoming the Philips brand back to the 2009 CES in a new way, through its partnership with Funai, which has significantly increased exhibit space for the 2009 show to approximately 10,000 net square feet.

Keep in mind that 10,000 square feet may sound like a lot, but it's small potatoes compared with the megabooths that house major manufacturers like Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, and--up through last year--Philips.

While not having to pay for all that space on the show floor will undoubtedly save Philips considerable expense, it will also mean forfeiting the publicity and intangible buzz that comes from being at the center of the industry's biggest annual event. Just last year, for instance, the company snagged the Best of CES award for its energy-efficient Eco TV (though its admittedly impressive low power consumption couldn't overshadow the middling picture quality evident when we reviewed the final product).

The company could still use the show as a springboard for new product announcements, however: it's all but certain Philips will still have some personnel on hand at CES for meetings with journalists, analysts, retailers, and other industry insiders. And plenty of CES no-shows still crank out the press releases during that week--with the seemingly endless list of gadget blogs and tech sites covering the show, all a company really needs is a product photo and a descriptive blurb to get some virtual ink.

To be sure, skipping CES doesn't necessarily confine a company to also-ran status. Nintendo and Apple, two of the hottest names in the industry, have long since spurned the Vegas show. Likewise, Onkyo and Yamaha have opted out in recent years. Furthermore, Philips is quick to point out that the company is still producing, selling, and marketing all of its own non-TV products for North America. And it will continue to produce TVs for other global territories--most notably Europe--where its brand remains stronger.

Still, when one considers that Funai already produces electronics that are sold under the labels Sylvania and Emerson, you have to wonder: is Philips on the road to joining those once hoary companies as a ghost brand--a holding company that just licenses its Western name to give better brand cachet on store shelves to an anonymous Asian manufacturer? Maybe, maybe not. But skipping the world's biggest consumer electronics show doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

What do you think: Is the Philips brand in decline? Does Philips' no-show mean CES is losing some of its luster as the consumer electronics industry's ultimate sneak preview? Or is this just more "inside baseball" industry gossip that will have little impact on the future of consumer electronics? Share your thoughts below.