“The new design will deliver a hugely improved navigation system, much greater scope for categorization and a dynamic new user interface.”

According to PlayStation, the update will be released by mid-April, which is just two weeks away. A software update to the console will also accompany the new PSN Store. The bad news in all of this might be the fact that no new content will be available until this upgrade is pushed out. Fortunately this shouldn’t affect PlayStation Network game play, accounts, or virtual wallets.

Update: According to the PlayStation Blog, no new content will be added to the PlayStation Store for the next two weeks. (North America) However with the re-launch, plenty of new content will become available including a demo of the highly regarded Gran Turismo 5 Prologue!

Links: us.PlayStation.com

Earlier this year during the Consumer Electronics Show, Netgear announced their new Storage Central Turbo (SC101T). Although it only reached store shelves a few months ago, this is still the newest version of Netgear’s bestselling Storage Area Network (SAN). The SC101T is much faster and much more versatile than its predecessor, allowing for multiple users to access data simultaneously and even protecting music, photos and videos.

The Upload Test:
The SC101T is a great Storage Area Network (SAN) (aka. Network Attached Storage – NAS), providing gigabit speeds. When coupled with a gigabit router, can offer fast backups and data access for networked machines. In addition to allowing 2 SATA hard drives, of any size, to be combined, the SC101T offers amazing upload speeds. After running a quick test, my results showed that it only took approximately 3.5 minutes to upload a 4.5GB file through my gigabit connection versus the 8.5 minutes it took using a standard 10/100 Ethernet connection.

The Throughput Stress Test:
To further test how well Netgear’s Storage Central Turbo would perform, we connected the unit to three wired computers through a gigabit connection and a single wireless media streaming device. After loading up large separate video files on all the units at the same time, our computers and media streaming device continued to receive the data seamlessly. Despite so much data flowing through, the video continued to play without any staggering, delays, or hiccups. It was quite impressive compared to the previous generation of NAS devices.

Setup Utility:
The Storage Central comes with the Storage Central Manager Utility, which is required to be installed on our machines to be able to access the drive or make any administrative modifications. This was one of the main pitfalls to Netgear’s product since the user-interface wasn’t too friendly (still usable). One thing that made us give this a thumbs up was that fact that the drive combinations didn’t need to match and it even supported a RAID configuration.

We highly recommend this to anyone who has multiple machines on a network and manages a lot of media. It is extremely worth the investment to backup your data instead of having to spend a few thousand dollars and go through a long and tedious process to have your data recovered if your Hard Drives fail. For just $150, Netgear’s Storage Central Turbo (SC101T) is well worth the money. This of course doesn’t include any hard drives, but it won’t be too expensive as prices are continuously dropping. A 500GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive costs just $130 now. If this “solution” is too expensive, we recommend just purchasing an external hard drive to backup your important documents. It isn’t worth the pain of loosing years worth of data because of something as simple as a power surge.

Buy Now: Netgear Storage Central Turbo – $143 (No Tax & Free Shipping)
Links: Netgear (SC101T) More Info

This morning, Digg’s founder Kevin Rose announced a few new features that digg will soon be getting. The fist implementation, which will be pushed out tonight, will revamp digg’s user profile system by making it more “social”. Registered diggers will now have the ability to send each other quick messages called “shouts”. When the recipient logs in, a notification will be visible in the headers as well as his or her profile page. With the new “share” feature, users can also send other users links to digg stories. Previously the only method to share a story would have been to send an actual email. Digg’s new favorites feature seems to be replacing the “My #1″ feature. Once a story is dugg the option to add to favorites will become available. As for the profile page, it now displays larger profile pictures, full name, location, member since date, about section, personal photos, recently dugg/comments, favorites, and contact information. (50 new additions!) And just like Facebook, diggers will have privacy settings to choose whether or not to display each component. Only time will tell whether this feature will be accepted or ridiculed by the digg community.

Also, due to popular demand, digg will soon be implementing a pictures section next month. In addition they will also be fixing the problems with the slow comment loading system, offering email alerts, and automatic suggestions based off your digging history! Check back tomorrow to see the what’s changed and if you are in a hurry, a video demonstration is available on Digg’s Blog.

Links: digg.com | digg blog | my profile

Since the digg started, they have had a large issue combating spammers. This eventually lead to an amazing large list of banned sites. About six months ago this site, Skatter Tech, was for some reason added to that list. We had sent digg a few emails requesting the reason it had been blocked, but we received no response. We expected the ban to be lifted, but it never was until now! Digg has apparently lifted the blacklist on thousands of domains and has implemented a new algorithm for submissions to prevent spam from entering the main page. Hopefully the new code will do the trick and lifting the banned sites will not cause an inflation in spam.

Anyways, for our readers, this means the “digg” link found besides the del.icio.us on our permalink pages will now function properly. (No more submission error messages) Finally, if you find any of our articles “digg worthy” you are welcome to submit them.

(P.S. The digg logo in the image atop can be downloaded from DevianArt.)

Links: digg.com | digg blog
Related: Digg Search Widget

After the launch of firmware v3.00 in November and following a series of bugfixes, Sony has finally pushed out v3.11. From our perspective, there’s not much this update will offer to the majority of PlayStation Portable owners unless they currently stream content from a LocationFree base or plan to purchase games through the PlayStation 3 Online Store.

PSP v3.10:

• Support for PLAYSTATION Network titles has been expanded.
• Support for the MPEG-4 AVC format has been added under [LocationFree Player].
• [Conserve Memory] has been added in [View Settings] under [Internet Browser].
• [Dynamic Normalizer] has been added as a feature under [Sound Settings] in [Settings].

PSP v3.11:

• Support for PLAYSTATION®Network titles has been expanded.
• [Reset Game] has been added as an option to the menu for PLAYSTATION®Network titles.

Also, as always, to update your PSP to latest firmware you can either download the file directly to your PSP using a WiFi network or download the update to your computer from PlayStation.com and copy it over to the PSP. Also note that upgrading to the latest firmware will prevent homebrew apps from functioning. If you wish to run your own applications you may want to try installing the v3.10 custom firmware.

Links: PSP System Update | Instructions
Related: PSP v3.10 Custom Firmware (for homebrew)

Only a month after the launch of the all new thumbdrive-like ‘E’ Series, Sony plans to release the new tiny S2 Sports Walkman for consumers by Setepmber 15, 2006. The S2 walkman will be available in 1/2GB models, which both include a FM Tuner, 1-line OLED display, and ~18hrs of playback.

Sony “NW-S2″ Sport Walkman Breakdown:

• NW-S203F – 1GB – $119
• NW-S205F – 2GB – $149

Today a 2GB iPod Nano ($199) plus the Nike equipment ($29) will cost a whopping ~$230. However the 2GB S2 Walkman, with all necessary equipment, costs $150. The S2 includes the standard features offered by the Nike+iPod including the pedometer, stopwatch, and calorie counter, but for a bonus the S2 features a FM Tuner and auto Walking/Running Playlists. The S2 is also more compact, tops the nano’s battery life by 4hrs, and is water-resistant (not water-proof).

Similar to the ‘E’ series the S2 Sport Walkman will support playback of Mp3 and non-DRM WMA/AAC plus Sony’s ATRAC3 format. Unfortunately the only DRM enabled songs the S2 supports must be purchased on the Connect Music Store. Another drawback is the fact that music can only be transferred to the S2 using Sony’s Sonic Stage application. Other than the faulty software, the S2 has amazing features in its tiny shell such as the quick charge technology meaning 1min of charge equals 1hr of playback. Overall I would recommend this over the iPod+Nike combo for runners since it is cheaper, has plenty more features, and its hard keys make navigation easier when jogging than touch-sensitive iPods. (click thumbnails for larger pics)

Links: SonyStyle.com | Sony Press Release
Related: Sony ‘E’ Series Walkman | iPod Nano

Despite a later than expected launch, Sony Electronics has finally released the new “E” Series Network Walkman in the United States. The new and improved “E” Series is available in six colors and comes in capacities ranging from 512MB-2GB. All models have an embedded OEL 1-line display, a FM tuner, and an estimated 28 hours of battery life.

Sony ‘NW-E00′ Series Breakdown:

• NW-E002 – Blue – 512MB – $69
• NW-E003 – Silver – 1GB – $99
• NW-E003 – Pink – 1GB – $99
• NW-E005 – Green – 2GB – $129
• NW-E005 – Black – 2GB – $129
• NW-E005 – Violet – 2GB – $129

These new devices support playing not only MP3, but also WMA, AAC, and Sony’s ATRAC3. Unfortunately all of these must be DRM-Free, except of course for the music purchased from Sony’s Connect Music Store. Other than the fact that you must use SonicStage (aka. Connect Program) to transfer music back and forth, this device is a great bargain. A 1GB iPod Shuffle currently costs $99, but for only $30 more you can get an extra 1GB of storage, an OEL display, and built in FM tuner.

This portable is a good deal price-wise or vs. the iPod Shuffle, but is a downgrade on specs when comparing to its predecessor. The older NW-E407 players, although more expensive, had 55hrs of battery life and a 3-line OLED display. Sony has obviously cut down on those features to create a more reasonable priced player. One major improvement is that this player now is in the form-factor of a thumb drive, therefore no extra cables are necessary to transfer music or data. Another neat feature these devices have is the “quickcharge” batteries, meaning that 3mins of charging will offer 3hrs of playback. I recommend this over the iPod Shuffle for price and specs and have to say that it is better than most in its class. It is available on SonyStyle, Amazon, and reaching most retail stores now.

Links: SonyStyle | Press Release
Related: Sony E Series Walkman Introduced | Connect Store