Sony Recalls 440K Vaios

Relatively few affected by outage

(NEWSER) - Sony’s recently beleaguered Playstation Network, Sony Entertainment Network, and Sony Online Entertainment services have been the target of another attack, the company announced on its Playstation Blog yesterday. This time, the ne’er do wells tested “a massive set of sign-in IDs and passwords against our network database,” Chief Security Officer Philip Reitinger writes. Roughly 93,000 accounts were breached, though the company was quick to note that that amounts to less than 0.1% of its users. More»

Facing Microsoft, search giant aims to expand market for Chrome

(NEWSER) - Google Chrome, languishing in the browser wars, will get a substantial boost thanks to a deal with Sony—which is shipping new Vaio PCs with Chrome pre-installed. Google is also talking to other computer manufacturers, the FT reports, as it attempts to weaken the dominance of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which commands 68% of the field. Google Chrome, despite good reviews from techies, has only a 2% share after a year. More»

Sony's tiny new laptop is slow and has woeful battery life

(NEWSER) - Sony’s new netbook, the Vaio P, is about the size of "one of those plastic folders waiters use to bring you the check at a restaurant," but the pricey gadget is "very slow and has poor battery life," writes Wall Street Journal tech maven Walter Mossberg. It draws envious glances from passers-by, but they're no compensation for its tortoise-slow processor, dreadful battery life, and memory-hogging Vista Home Premium OS. More»

Global downturn, strong yen reverse earlier expectations

(NEWSER) - Sony announced today that it would go down to its first annual loss in 14 years, after having forecast just months ago that it would turn a profit. The Japanese electronics giant said it expected to lose $1.7 billion, the result of declining demand from the global recession. The BBC reports that Sony has also been hit hard by the strong yen: 80% of its sales come from overseas, and currently the Japanese currency is its highest against the dollar in more than 13 years. More»

(AP) - Sony is slashing 8,000 jobs, or 4%of its global work force, aiming to cut costs by $1.1 billion a year as a global downturn and stronger yen batters profits at the Japanese electronics maker. Sony, which has 185,000 employees worldwide, said today it will complete the layoffs by the end of March 2010. Some 80% of Sony's sales come from overseas. More»