This morning Sony released firmware 4.45 for the Playstation 3. While normally we wouldn’t write a news piece about a simple firmware update – this one is pretty important. The update isn’t important because it introduces some exciting new feature or improvement. It is important because you should avoid it, at least for the moment.

The main functionality for the update has to do with turning off trophy notifications when playing a game. Unfortunately it is also locking up quite a few consoles, making them unusable. Right now a 77-page thread on the PS forums is full of complaints about the firmware. Apparently it simply won’t make it past the PS3 logo after installing the update on reboot.

The only current fix is to take your hard drive out of the PS3, and switch it. Odds are Sony will find a better way to fix the problem than that soon enough – but unless you want to risk a pretty serious problem, we recommend waiting to download this until Sony gets things figured out.

As a PS3 owner, I’ve been very happy with Sony’s update process and reliability. Unfortunately, sometimes glitches like this happen. The important thing to know is that Sony is likely already working hard on a solution.

Did you update to 4.45 firmware today? Did all go well, or are you now dealing with a completely bricked console? Let us know how the installation went in the comments below!

Source: Geek

The post PSA: Do NOT Install PS3 Firmware 4.45, Could Brick Your System appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Scientists at Nottingham University are currently working on a new method of treating children suffering from lazy eye. The new treatment uses video games and special glasses, which is already proving to be very effective.

The problem with the current treatment is that children are required to wear an eye patch over their good eye for extended periods of time. The results are usually poor, as patients are reluctant to put the patch on. In comparison the new video game based treatment is not only fun but appears to work even after just a few short sessions.

Developers working on the project have created ‘shutter glasses’. The lens covering the good eye shows static content while the other eye sees the action in the foreground. When combined, users experience the game just as they would playing normally.

Nottingham University are now teaming up with Sony Europe to adapt some current Playstation 3 games for use in the ground breaking treatment.

[ Source ]

The post Sony Team Up with the University of Nottingham to Treat Lazy Eye appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The good news is that Sony is on your side. If you get software update 4.25 on your PlayStation 3, Sony is going to offer you an upgraded 1GB of online game save storage. What this means is that, if you are a PlayStation Plus member, you can have your game saves backed up to the cloud. Should anything happen to your PS3 or should you move to another PS3 console, all of your game saves are there for you.

What you have to do is to go the PlayStation Store on your PS3, install software update 4.25, and then go to Game column in the XMB. Under that, you’ll find the Saved Data Utility as usual, but it will also give you access to your online storage folder. You can fiddle with the settings, but it’s recommended that you get all of your game saves (as long as they’re compatible) to upload automatically. One gigabyte isn’t as good as the 48GB you get when you buy a SGS3, but game save files are so small anyway.

Just as an aside, all you Xbox 360 people have a similar function on your consoles. Microsoft has cloud storage for saved games too.

[Source]

The post Update PS3 Software to 4.25, Get Free 1GB Cloud Storage appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Do you enjoy watching videos on Youtube through your smartphone? If you wish you could easily share this videos on the big-screen quickly, Sony has exactly what you are looking for, if you happen to be an owner of a PlayStation 3 in North America. The new YouTube app for Playstation is free from the PS Store and adds quite a few unique changes.

The new Youtube experience has a better search system, is designed to work great with the big screen, and even allows you to sign in to find the latest videos from existing YouTube subscriptions you might have. HD and official music videos are included in all that the new version has to offer.

The most impressive feature has to do with using your phone to control YouTube though. With the new connectivity, you can find a video you like on the little screen and quickly push it over to your PS3 for big-screen viewing. While viewing the video, you can pause or change it right from your smartphone. Microsoft has also expressed interest in pairing the Xbox 360 with tablets and smartphones. The Nintendo Wii U makes use of its own screen-based controller. The era of smartphone and tablets as controllers in the living room has clearly arrived.

[ source ]

The post Sony Playstation’s Youtube App now allows you to control it with your Smartphone appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It’s the jailbreak heard round the world. Based on Geohot’s success in earlier, similar lawsuits, we assumed that his proceedings with Sony over the PS3 jailbreak would follow suit. Well, not exactly. Sony is successful in its first stab.

No, George “Geohot” Hotz isn’t going to jail just yet, but the judge overlooking the “jurisdictional discovery process” proceedings has ruled that Sony can have information from at least four major sources.

It can have info from: Bluehost, which hosts Geohot’s site, for who downloaded the jailbreak; Twitter, for any tweets made by Hotz; Google Blogspot, for any comments made on Geohot’s blog; and YouTube (also Google) for user data related to who watched Geohot’s jailbreak video.

My first gut reaction was that Sony was not only going after Geohot for offering the jailbreak, but also all the people who ended up using it. SCEA might take that path a little later, but for now, this user info is meant to maintain that “many of the downloaders and commenters are from Northern California and that Hotz’s hacking efforts were aimed at Californians.”

I call bull — anyone with a PS3 could be interested in this kind of stuff — but Sony is trying to prevent the case from moving to New Jersey from the Bay Area. Jersey is where Geohot hacked his PS3 in the first place.

[via Wired]

The post Sony Scores First victory in Geohot Lawsuit Proceedings appeared first on Mobile Magazine.