Sony has finally unveiled the Rolly after sending out some very fuzzy viral video of the player “in action.”  Here’s a link describing Sony’s attempt to combine an MP3 player with a robot.  My first thought is who is this devise intended for? ‘Tweens maybe, but then the price of $350 leaves me scratching my head.  I scratch my head even further when I realized those little dots that look like feet, may actually be the speakers (???) and there is no head phone plug.  Maybe it’s an expensive cat toy ???   A musical football???  $350!!!  1GB!!!  I think I’ll take the iPod touch or any other less expensive iPod or similar MP3 player from other manufacturers.

Maybe Sony should bring back Aibo and QRio and slap some big speakers on them.  Those would be much more interesting with musical capability and perhaps worth $350.  I thinking I’d be entertained watching a little QRio boogeying down on my desk.  People could bring them to work and we could have a big dance off … or something.  (You just got served).

I first saw a demostration of OLED screen technology at CES2003.  It was demoed for usage in cellphones and portable devices and promised to be one of the keys to lower power consumption (longer battery life).  It looks like the technology is still a few years off from commercialization in TVs (I think there are a few cellphone handsets that have OLED screens).  Here’s an article from CNET that gives a nice summary of the current status of OLED TV.

Sometimes companies don’t know when they have a good idea.  It’s nice to see scientists and engineers, in the end, get rewarded for beneficial inventions  :).  Can you imagine how different the world would be now if the Green movement had caught on during the energy crisis of the 1970’s?

Link to the article.

This is a nice article about the different software, hardware, and services available to digitally preserve your life’s precious media.