Viewsonic has unveiled its latest Android tablet, a $250 'budget' device dubbed the ViewBook 730.

Running Android 2.2 on an ARM Cortex-A8 1GHz processor, the tablet will be released later this month.

Smaller than most of Viewsonic's other tablets at 7-inches, the tablet has an 800x480 LCD LED backlit display, 8GB internal memory, a small VGA webcam, a mini-USB port, a mini-HDMI port and a microSD slot.

The ViewBook 730 also has RiteTouch, for writers who want to use a Stylus.

"We recognized a need for a tablet device that offers users an excellent multimedia experience with a very affordable value proposition," adds Michael Holstein, ViewSonic's vice president of business development. "From the pre-installed Amazon Kindle eReader to full Amazon app integration and Flash 10.1 support, our new ViewBook 730 enables consumers to do all the fun things that they want to do on a tablet without the added cost for features they don't need."

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LulzSec, the hacking group that has hacked multiple Sony sites over the past week, is at it again, this time releasing source code from the Sony Computer Entertainment Developer Network.

Furthermore, the group released internal network maps of Sony BMG. In separate attacks from different groups, Sony Pictures Russia was taken down after an SQL injection and Sony Music Brazil was defaced.

Reads the confirmation post from the group (via Cnet):

Konichiwa from LulzSec, Sony bastards! We've recently bought a copy of this great new game called "Hackers vs Sony", but we're unable to play it online due to PSN being obliterated. So we decided to play offline mode for a while and got quite a few trophies. Our latest goal is "Hack Sony 5 Times", so please find enclosed our 5th Sony hack. Enjoy this 54MB collection of SVN Sony Developer source code. That's hackers 16, Sony 0. Your move!"

Later in the day, the group updated the post:

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: HACK SONY 6 TIMES! Oh damn, we just did it again, please also find enclosed internal network maps of Sony BMG.

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Sony Ericsson has announced 20 new games for the Xperia Play gaming smartphone, including 10 that have been optimized for the device specifically.

There are currently 60 titles available for the Android device.

The biggest new game is probably Minecraft by Mojang.

Minecraft has 8 million registered users and the developer says 50,000 new users join each day.

List of the new Android games for the Play:

- Minecraft by Mojang
- Battlefield Bad Company 2 by Electronic Arts
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Shadow Vanguard by Gameloft
- Desert Winds by Southend Interactive
- Ruined by Bigpoint
- Icebreaker by NaturalMotion
- Sleepy Jack by SilverTree Media
- Cracking Sands by Polarbit
- Aramgeddon Squadron 2 by Polarbit
- Pocket Legends by Spacetime Studios
- Star Legends: The Black Star Chronicles by Spacetime Studios
- Eternal Legacy by Gameloft
- Guns 'n'Glory 2 by HandyGames
- Dungeon Hunter 2 by Gameloft
- Pocket RPG by Crescent Moon Games
- D.A.R.K. developed by Gamelab
- Samurai II: Vengeance by MADFINGER Games
- Vendetta Online by Guild Software
- Order & Chaos - Gameloft
- Happy Vikings by Handy Games
- A Ball Game by Trendy Entertainment
- Lumines by Connect2Media

All of the games will be released within the coming months.

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Sony's E3 keynote has just begun, and we will be reviewing after. For now, watch the live stream here: E3 Sony

PSN Outage

jack Tretton has apologized to everyone affected and to developers who have possibly lost revenue due to the massive security breach.

CinemaNow added

Sony adding free access to CinemaNow later this year.

Ico HD remasters

Will hit U.S. in September. No word on price, but should be great for fans of the originals on PS2.

3D monitor + glasses + game bundle for $500

Sony showed off a nice 24-inch 3D HDTV with cheaper active shutter glasses that also comes bundled with Resistance 3 3D and an HDMI cable for $500.

(Pic via TC)

PS Vita

Officially unveiled as the PS Vita, the NGP packs a significant punch.

For controls, the updated handheld adds dual micro-analog sticks, giving gamers a feature they begged for on the original PSP.

The device has a massive 5-inch multi-touch OLED screen with 960×544 resolution, a multi-touch panel on the back and will run on a quad-core ARM cortex processor.

Sony has added tilt-sensitive SIXAXIS controls, standard and front-side cameras, GPS, an electric compass, Wi-Fi and 3G support, and access to Android gaming.

For 3G, AT&T is the exclusive carrier.

Prices are very decent, as well. $250 for Wi-Fi-only, $300 for 3G starting this holiday season.





Uncharted looks absolutely fantastic, controls and quality.

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Today is Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, where the company is expected to launch iOS 5, Mac OS X Lion and iCloud.

Mac OS X Lion

The company says there are now 54 million Mac users, globally. Growth has beaten the market for 5 years now, "thanks to products like MacBook Air."

Notebooks like Air, Pro are now 73 percent of all Apple PC sales.

With OS X Lion, Apple has added 250 new features including: Multitouch Gestures (momentum scrolling, multitouch taps, pinch to zoom); Full Screen Apps (quick control to toggle apps to FS); Mission Control ("a single unified interface accessible via a gesture that offers a bird's eye view of whats going on at your Mac.") Launchpad, Resume and Autosave are now added, like iOS.

Best of all, the download will only be 4GB and cost just $30.

iOS 5

Apple says there are now over 200 million iOS 5 devices, with iOS being the top mobile operating system on the market (44% share).

25 million iPads have been sold since launch in 2010. iTunes hits 15 billion downloads, top retailer for music in the world.

iOS 5 Beta will be released for Apple TV, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4 CDMA, iPod Touch 3Gen, iPod Touch 4Gen and all iPad models.

The iBookstore has 6 major publishers now, with 130 million books. The App Store has hit 425,000 apps and 90,000 native iPad apps. 14 billion app downloads and $2.5 billion paid out to developers.

iOS 5 will have 1500 new APIs and 200 new features: New notification center including swipe down from top to pull list of events (just like Android) for missed calls, weather, mail, alerts, etc. Push notifications will be more subtle, on top of screen not in center. Can see notifications on lock screen. Tap on notification to go directly to app. News Stand adds mags/newspaper subscriptions in one place.

Twitter has been integrated, with single signon for Twiiter in every app. Camera has Tweet option and Twitter is integrated into Maps and browser.

Safari adds new Reader and Reading List. Tabbed browsing being added for iPad.

Reminders: iOS adding events/to-do list reminders, which will use GPS for location.

Camera icon is updated, and can be accessed from lock screen. Use volume buttons to take the pic. Can edit photos from within gallery. The Mail app has been updated to include rich text formatting, bold/italic/underline, flagging and search as well as support for S/MIME for enterprise users.

iPad also gets thumb keyboard, if you drag keyboard it splits and repositions to make for easier thumb typing.

iOS 5 is also finally PC-free, meaning you no longer need to connect the devices to the computer to setup. All updates are OTA now, as well. No more need for iTunes.

Death To BlackBerry

Apple has launched iMessage, "the best messaging app out there." The service works between iOS customers, iPad/Touch/Phone just like BlackBerry Messenger. The service can send texts, photos, videos all sent with encryption and pushed to all iOS devices. Group messaging, typing indication, delivery receipts and more now standard.

iCloud

Steve Jobs has introduced the iCloud service, which will be completely free, killing off MobileMe.

Take a picture or add music to the iCloud, it is synced to all other iDevices instantly and automatically. "It just works." Contacts, Calendar and Mail, Apps, iBooks all synced to all devices.

You can backup everything wirelessly to the cloud via Wi-Fi, including app data and device settings.

Similar to Google Docs is "Documents in the Cloud." Work on Pages, Notes, Numbers and continue on other devices.

Photo Stream allows you to take photos on iPhone, share them on iPad without needing to move them. Auto-uploaded to Cloud and synced to Mac, iOS devices.

iTunes in the Cloud available also, for free. Buy an app on iPhone, its on iPad instantly.

Everyone gets their very own Data Center. No sharing.

"One More Thing...": If you have thousands of songs you have ripped yourself, you can get that music on your devices. For $25 a year, you can take all that music, upload it, Apple will convert it to 256kbps AAC DRM-free for you.

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Microsoft's E3 keynote went off today with none too many surprises, but the company did show off some very interesting new uses for the Kinect motion control system, among other new launches.

Modern Warfare 3

First off, the company showed the much-hyped Modern Warfare 3, using some Kinect controls:

Kinect Fun Labs

The company introduced Kinect Fun Labs, which allows gamers to put together a 3D avatar of themselves. Fun Labs will use Kinect and recognize your facial features, like hair/nose/mouth, as well the clothing you are wearing and create an avatar from what it sees. (Pic via BI):

Voice Control

Voice recognition will be HUGE with Kinect, allows gamers to search Bing using voice control, as well as find movies and games on Xbox Live without needing to hit a button.

The same voice control works in-game for some Kinect games, like Star Wars.

Swing a lightsaber

With the brand new Star Wars Kinect game:

Xbox Live TV

Xbox Live TV integrates TV into the Dahboard. You can search Netflix, Hulu and now YouTube as well as other TV programs. Each can use voice control.

More details coming in future, including price.

Cloud storage for game saves

Login and have all your achievements, profiles, game saves and more available in the cloud with no more need for memory card.

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