Sony’s PSN outage is in its second week as of today since 19 April, but good news is coming from PlayStation Blog rep Patrick Seybold, as he’s just posted an update on the current situation. We’ve already known that our personal information has been taken, but many users are still very concern over another important issue: “When will it god damn get back online? I want my Portal 2 co-op!” Hopefully I get it right.

Yes, good news indeed, as Mr Seybold said that Sony expects to have “some services” up and running within a week from yesterday. He also mentioned that important personal information like credit card numbers database was encrypted and there is no evidence anything was taken, but that’s a possibility that still cannot be ruled out completely, as Sony is still not able to comprehend the damage that has been dealt.

Also, Gamasutra reports game developers are getting new SDKs with updated security features as well. When the service comes back up, expect a mandatory system update that requires a new password before getting back to your Mortal Kombat or Portal 2-related plans for the weekend.

[PlayStation Blog via Gamasutra]

We already know that Intel’s next big thing, the Sandy Bridge E series processors will be coming in the fourth quarter this year with quad- and six-core processors. But now a leaked roadmap is showing the specs of the processors that we’re highly anticipating.

According to the slide, we’ll be seeing a 3.6GHz clock and 10MB of cache, but it is not entirely unlocked, unlike the six-cores, which might limit overclocking to some extent. The two six-cores will end up with 3.3GHz and 3.2GHz clocks, as well as 15MB and 12MB of cache respectively. Both will be fully unlocked, just like how the i7-2600K processors are.

These processors will most probably be running on X79 chipsets and will be utilizing 32nm production process. 22nm production process will only come in 2012 in the form of Ivy Bridge.

SOURCE via xfastest

If you’ve not known, Sony’s online portal the PSN for the PlayStation 3, where players get to connect online and play multiplayer with everyone else, has been down on April 19^th. At first, Sony did not comment on the issue, but later on stated that the PSN outage was caused by “malicious actions”.

Yes, the PSN was attacked by hackers, and thus far we’ve received unconfirmed news that this might be caused by a group called ‘Anonymous’, which backs Wikileak and Julian. Of course, this is just speculations.

Sony UK has mentioned that all information of PSN and Qriocity users have been obtained, including your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date, but they still can’t confirm the state of the breach, and that they are working with outside experts to “understand the scope of the breach” before posting the full lowdown earlier today. For those interested, Sony has a lengthy FAQ page regarding this incident.

Sony’s failure to report the status of the breach has caused Connecticut Senator Blumenthal very angry about the situation, “demanding answers” from SCEA president Jack Tretton.

Here’s what Sony UK indicates was exposed:

• Name
• Shipping address
• Billing address
• Country
• E-mail address
• Birthdate
• PSN/Qriocity ID
• PSN/Qriocity password
• PSN/Qriocity security question and answer
• Purchase history

SOURCE via PlayStation Blog

We’ve heard it, seen so many rumours about it, and now finally it goes official, as in officially announced by Apple. Apple has finally announced it will release the white iPhone 4 tomorrow around the world.

In US, it’ll be on both AT&T and Verizon, which means CDMA version white iPhone 4 is also available. Other than a proximity sensor tweak nothing else has changed on the device, and so the pricing remains the same: $199 on contract for the 16GB model, $299 for 32GB.

So, is this worth going for an ETF contract voiding?

The Deutsche Bank has released a report that claimed that Motorola’s Honeycomb tablet, the Xoom, has sold just 100,000 units, in reference to a Dow Jones news report. This number is gained by counting the number of users of the new Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system which is so far exclusively available on the Motorola tablet.

Despite the low volume in contrast to the number of Apple’s sale volume, the firm calls it “a good start”, and estimate the figure to rise to 150,000 in the second quarter, when the Xoom gets into more countries. The second quarter will also see more Honeycomb tablets being launched, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and LG Optimus Pad.

Sales number of Apple is in million as usual. DigiTimes report sources in the touch panel supply chain for Apple iPad 2 claimed that Apple took delivery of between 2.4 to 2.6 million in the tablet’s launch month, which was last month.

Looking at the ratio, the Motorola Xoom is being outsold by 25 to 1 compared to Apple’s brand new iPad 2, which means that the Android platform still has a long ladder to climb before going head to head with Apple.

SOURCE via PCR-Online

If you don’t want to get caught using that awesome Internet Explorer 9, and thinks that Firefox is too common, then the next best thing should be the round and colorful Chrome from Google. It’s from Google, so it’s indirectly awesome, and what’s more the new icon looks simple yet charming.

The latest stable version Chrome 11 is finally here, with a decent list of security and bug fixes, though Google oddly says that those changes “may be kept private until a majority of our users are up to date with the fix.” The new version also delivers speech-to-text and, perhaps more importantly, text-to-speech. There are other enhancements too, though I doubt you’d care anyway.

Let’s rush and download it!

SOURCE via Google

Pioneer has sent in to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) an unnamed double-din headunit, and then some rumors surfaced onto the net, claiming to be insiders of Pioneer. This double-din headunit is codenamed SPH-DA01 and is rumored to be called the Pioneer AppRadio. Woot, what a daredevil name it has. Hopefully no lawsuit will follow this innocent newcomer.

It’s common for Pioneer to send in new car audio players to FCC for approval, but what’s so special about this particular? Well, the name itself is already very suggestive. The UI of this player is said to mimic iOS experience, despite not actually running on iOS. I wonder what Apple’s stand on this is.

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When people talked to me about Air Guitar, I laughed at the concept of faking your jamming sessions. Then there’s this Airpiano that started in 2008 when a design student Omer Yosha made it popular. Again, the idea is quite stupid, though some would say it’s cool and magical. I mean, waving in the air as if you’re a guitarist or pianist? Play some proper musical instrument please.

But now, Airpiano is getting real. I can’t seem to find the words to describe this new flick, so you’ll have to let the video explain everything. It’ll cost you €1,099 (about $1,607) if you’re in Europe, though I’m not sure if you can get it anywhere else in this little earth.

The theremin-like Airpiano doesn’t actually produce any sounds itself, instead it uses proximity sensors to feed MIDI and OSC (open sound control) signals to a computer over USB, allowing musicians and non-musicians alike to command soft synths with only the majestic wave of a hand. It’s more realistic then your Air Guitar you know, I still find it stupid to do so, then the traditional string instruments.

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