PSPgo

The PSP Go (model PSP-N1000) is a version of the PlayStation Portable handheld video game console manufactured by Sony. It was released on October 1, 2009 in American and European territories[1] and on November 1 in Japan. It was revealed prior to E3 2009 through Sony's Qore VOD service. Although its design is significantly different from other PSPs, it is not intended to replace the PSP 3000, which Sony will continue to manufacture, sell, and support.

Unlike previous PSP models, the PSP Go does not feature a UMD drive, but instead has 16GB of internal flash memory to store games, video, pictures, and other media.[12] This can be extended by up to 32GB with the use of a Memory Stick Micro (M2) flash card. Also unlike previous PSP models, the PSP Go's rechargeable battery is not removable or replaceable by the user. The unit is 43% lighter and 56% smaller than the original PSP-1000, and 16% lighter and 35% smaller than the PSP-3000.[6] It has a 3.8" 480×272 LCD[13] (compared to the larger 4.3" 480×272 pixel LCD on previous PSP models). The screen slides up to reveal the main controls.

The PSP Go features 802.11b Wi-Fi like its predecessors, but no longer uses a standard USB A-to-Mini-B cable common with many devices. A new proprietary multi-use connector is used for USB connectivity. A suitable USB cable is included with the unit. The new multi-use connector allows for charging and USB similar to previous units, but also allows video and sound output with the same connector (with optional Composite AV cable and Component AV cable), unlike previous offerings which had TV OUT functionality on a separate port to the USB port. Sony also offers an optional cradle for charging and USB data transfer on the PSP Go, similar to previous offerings.


Generation: Seventh
Retail availability
* NA/EU October 1, 2009[1]
* JP November 1, 2009[2]
CPU: MIPS 333 MHz[5]
Storage capacity: Memory Stick M2, 16GB of internal flash memory
Memory: 64 MB RAM
Display: 480 x 272 pixels with 16.8 million colours, 16:9 widescreen TFT LCD, 3.8 in (97 mm)
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11b, USB 2.0 via Media Go Software, Bluetooth 3.0, PlayStation 3
Dimensions:
69 mm (2.7 in) (h)
128 mm (5.0 in) (w)
16.5 mm (0.65 in) (d)
Weight: 158 grams

MiniDisc

A MiniDisc (MD) is a magneto-optical disc-based data storage device initially intended for storage of up to 80 minutes of digitalized audio. Today, in the form of Hi-MD, it has developed into a general-purpose storage medium in addition to greatly expanding its audio roots.

MiniDisc was announced by Sony in 1991 and introduced January 12, 1992. The music format was originally based exclusively on ATRAC audio compression. Recently, the option of linear PCM recording was introduced to attain truly CD-quality recordings. MiniDiscs are popular in Japan as a digital upgrade to cassette tapes, but have not been as popular world-wide.


The Sony MZ-NHF800, a 2004 Hi-MD model.


In January 2004, Sony announced the Hi-MD media storage format. With its release in later 2004 came the ability to use newly-developed, high-capacity 1 gigabyte Hi-MD discs, sporting the same dimensions as regular MiniDiscs.

UMD

UMD Wikipedia

The Universal Media Disc (UMD) is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on the PlayStation Portable. It can hold up to 1.8 gigabytes of data. It is considered the first optical disc format to be used for a handheld video game system.

ECMA-365: Data Interchange on 60 mm Read-Only ODC – Capacity: 1.8 GB (UMD)

* Dimensions: approx. 65 mm (W) × 64 mm (D) × 4.2 mm (H)
* Maximum capacity: 1.80 GB (dual layer), 900 MB (single-layer)
* Laser wavelength: 660 nm (red laser)
* Encryption: AES 128-bit

Despite Sony's efforts, the UMD format has been cracked. Using a combination of unsecure firmware and reverse engineering, the Sony PSP can now use a variety of homebrew games, and backup ISO images. Each disc uses a file system whose format follows the ISO 9660 standard. The ISO image can then be stored on a Memory Stick, and run via a special disc emulator program, such as Devhook. The ISO images cannot be burned to UMD discs as UMD writables and burners are not available. The same game will load much faster and become more energy efficient when stored as an ISO image on a Memory Stick as opposed to the original UMD.

Sony has attempted to halt this type of exploitation by updating the firmware. Versions 1.51 and later of the PSP firmware have attempted to patch the exploit. Recent games also come with a 'software switch' that force users to update before the game can be played. This has also been circumvented: some applications for 1.50 report the firmware version as being more recent than it actually is, or firmware spoofing, bypassing the need to update. This has since been fixed by Sony and no longer works. Firmware versions 1.5 to 3.73 have been decrypted and 1.50, 2.71, 3.02, 3.03, 3.10, 3.30, 3.40, 3.51, 3.52, 3.60, 3.71, 3.72, 3.73 and 3.80 (as of Dec2007) have been converted into custom firmwares. These firmwares allow people to run ISOs that they own from their XMB interface in addition to other homebrew available.

Cell

Cell Wikipedia

Cell Broadband Engine resource center

Cell Broadband Engine (SONY)

Cell is a microprocessor architecture jointly developed by a Sony, Toshiba, and IBM, an alliance known as "STI." The architectural design and first implementation were carried out at the STI Design Center over a four-year period beginning March 2001 on a budget reported by IBM as approaching US$400 million. Cell is shorthand for Cell Broadband Engine Architecture, commonly abbreviated CBEA in full or Cell BE in part. Cell combines a general-purpose Power Architecture core of modest performance with streamlined coprocessing elements which greatly accelerate multimedia and vector processing applications, as well as many other forms of dedicated computation.

The first major commercial application of Cell was in Sony's PlayStation 3 game console. Mercury Computer Systems has a dual Cell server, a dual Cell blade configuration, a rugged computer, and a PCI Express accelerator board available in different stages of production. Toshiba has announced plans to incorporate Cell in high definition television sets. Exotic features such as the XDR memory subsystem and coherent Element Interconnect Bus (EIB) interconnect appear to position Cell for future applications in the supercomputing space to exploit the Cell processor's prowess in floating point kernels. IBM has announced plans to incorporate Cell processors as add-on cards into IBM System z9 mainframes, to enable them to be used as servers for MMORPGs.

The Cell architecture includes a novel memory coherence architecture for which IBM received many patents. The architecture emphasizes efficiency/watt, prioritizes bandwidth over latency, and favors peak computational throughput over simplicity of program code. For these reasons, Cell is widely regarded as a challenging environment for software development. IBM provides a comprehensive Linux-based Cell development platform to assist developers in confronting these challenges. Software adoption remains a key issue in whether Cell ultimately delivers on its performance potential. Despite those challenges, research has indicated that Cell excels at several types of scientific computation.

In November 2006, David A. Bader at Georgia Tech was selected by Sony, Toshiba, and IBM from more than a dozen universities to direct the first STI Center of Competence for the Cell Processor. This partnership is designed to build a community of programmers and broaden industry support for the Cell processor.

In 2000, Sony Computer Entertainment, Toshiba Corporation, and IBM formed an alliance ("STI") to design and manufacture the processor.

The STI Design Center in Austin, Texas opened in March 2001. The Cell was designed over a period of four years, using enhanced versions of the design tools for the POWER4 processor. Over 400 engineers from the three companies worked together in Austin, with critical support from eleven of IBM's design centers.

During this period, IBM filed many patents pertaining to the Cell architecture, manufacturing process, and software environment. An early patent version of the Broadband Engine was shown to be a chip package comprising four "Processing Elements," which was the patent's description for what is now known as the "Power Processing Element." Each Processing Element contained 8 "APUs," which are now referred to as SPEs on the current Broadband Engine chip. Said chip package was widely regarded to run at a clock speed of 4 GHz and with 32 APUs providing 32 GFLOPS each, the Broadband Engine was shown to have 1 teraflops of raw computing power.

In March 2007 IBM announced that the 65 nm version of Cell BE is in production at its plant in East Fishkill, New York.