For one of their latest advertisements, Sony and Fallon/London have partnered to transform the Icelandic town, Seydisfjordur, into a giant soundspeaker system.

Sony has released a series of lamp shades made of solar energy panels. Each side is coated with dye-sensitized solar cells that mimic photosynthesis by collecting sunlight during the day to power lamps at night.

Sony Europe announced today that it will power its 32 largest sites throughout Europe, large meaning more than 100 employees, entirely from renewable resources. In a press release, Serge Foucher, Executive Vice President of Sony Europe, stated that the company has reduced its Co2 emission from fiscal year 2000 – 2008 by 90%.
The company has achieved these reduction through energy saving programs on all sites, “eco-thinking” as well as looking at shipping, reducing packaging and product energy use.
Via Environmental Leader

To observe the thirtieth birthday of the Sony Walkman, BBC News Magazine persuaded a thirteen year old iPod user—reared with the coddling comforts of touchscreens and 10,000 song playlists—to trade his player in for its stark ancestor. The piece is an interesting examination of not simply the obvious changes in industrial design and device function since the late 70s, but the ease with which we’ve taken these changes for granted.

As the teen revisits (or more properly, visits for the first time) the dinosaur Walkman, his digital naïvety—the horror that the tape player would be without a shuffle function—is matched by [...]

As part of a Sony initiative, Chinese industrial design students have created a series of innovative products that incorporate an eco-friendly angle.
Sony Sound of Water: Bathman Shower Music Player

This showerhead from Peng Shi-Nan Dong Hwa University captures hydro energy from the flow of water to power the Bathman music player. The style of music is determined by the force of the flow, so a gentle shower gives you softer music, while a strong flow may result in some intense rock music.
Sony Conductor TV Remote

From Donghua University comes the Conductor TV Remote, which is powered by kinetic energy produced when waved [...]

Google have announced that their video-sharing site YouTube will start to offer movies from major studios. CNET reports that the tech company has struck a deal with Sony Pictures, one of the largest Hollywood film studios, which allows YouTube to post full-length movies. Apparently YouTube said that it would add two new tabs to the top of its site – A ‘Shows’ tab which allows you to browse shows by genre, network, title and popularity and a ‘Subscriptions’ tab which will allow logged-in users one-click access to the latest content from their favorite creators.
YouTube

Gadget designers rarely get to think outside the box. Sure, they may get to give things rounded edges or the like, just to spice things up. But it’s the square that fundamentally shapes our technology–from TVs to Kindles.
That is all about to change. In the near future, technology will take on the same twists and curves as our own bodies. Fast Company saw several products from CES as harbingers of the trend, including:

Samsung’s flexible screen/display points the way towards scroll-shaped cellphones–just unroll the screen.
Apple’s new 17-inch MacBook Pro has a lithium battery specially shaped to fit the machine’s innards,  significantly [...]

According to the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), video game sales in the UK has hit an all time record high of 82.8 million in sales.  Consumers spent over £4 billion in total on video game related items and many are pointing to the incredible success of blockbuster titles like Grand Theft Auto 4 and World of Warcraft.  Another reason for growth is the expansion of the marketplace to casual gamers and the ability for each console appeal to different types of gamers.  The Nintendo Wii, DS, Microsoft Xbox 360 and even the Sony Playstation 3 all reported [...]

According to a Wired report, Sony have created a possible killer application for the PS3.

The so far lacklustre PS3 launch could be revitalised by a game that captures the notion of Second Life with the incredibly powerful graphics of the new console.