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[jeff_rigby]

Accelerate HTML5 Games 10X With the appMobi directCanvas SDK

The HTML5 development company appMobi announced the release of its directCanvas acceleration technology as an open source software development kit (SDK), as well as new performance statistics detailing the effectiveness of accelerating HTML5 games with directCanvas. The technology is available now for iOS apps and will be released for Android in the first quarter of next year.

DirectCanvas was made open source last month along with a slate of other appMobi technologies, and this SDK fully integrates directCanvas into HTML5 game development. HTML5 games have long been criticized for poor performance speeds when rendering graphics and playing audio, and appMobi’s overarching goal is to bridge the gap between traditional native applications and apps built with open web technologies (HTML5, JavaScript, CSS3) that run in a device’s browser.

In a press release making the announcement, appMobi quoted Henrik Dalgaard, CEO of Tweensoft, an HTML5 game development company:

“We’ve switched all of our iOS games over to use appMobi’s technologies. directCanvas really does allow HTML5 games to perform like native games, even on older devices. The other advantage to us is that with HTML5 and appMobi, we can use the same code and build for iOS, Android and for the open mobile Web.”

Read 20 articles on this and my impression I can't confirm, this is going to become a standard accepted by Khronos. It sounds like NaCl but more tightly tied into javascript with APIs released by Mobi called Direct Canvas to create a standard. It could be native code added to platforms (NaCl) or taking advantage of webkit 2 to create a "direct canvas" that is faster with a tighter smaller loop, some javascript calls bypassed or all javascript calls totally eliminated....drop out of javascript and use OpenGL to directly write to the screen?

We now have two "Console quality" game and application schemes targeted at Android (PS suite and Mobi Direct Canvas) with Google Chrome NaCl targeting PC games. Mobi Direct Canvas could work on all platforms handheld, game console and PC that have a HTML5? WebGL? webkit2? browser. Targeted platforms Android and iOS have or soon will have, in the case of Android, a HTML5, WebGL, Webkit 2 browser.

I find it interesting that ALL three (PS Suite, Chrome NaCl, Mobi direct canvas) released within 30 days of each other 6 months after Apple released webkit2, 3 months after Chrome became webkit 2 and 2 month after Google announced an Android browser rewrite to support a webkit compliant API webkit2 browser.

Anyone have more information on this?

Edit:

PDF explaining direct Canvas "Mobi-Direct Canvas is a javascript execution environment that includes a minimal DOM, primarily to provide access to a partial implementation of a HTML5 canvas that is optimized for iOS. In order to use Mobi-direct canvas your app must be split into two components that will run in the two execution contexts which each have their own view. The appMobi component runs in the top view and should provide the portion of the UI the user interacts with. The direct canvas component runs in it's own view that is beneath the Mobi-app view - it does not receive touch events or UI interaction directly."

OK less threat to PS Suite, webkit 2 required and more probable this becoming a Khronos standard. Works for HTML5 canvas on all platforms? Part technique part minor rewrite to webkit/HTML5 canvas?

 

[jeff_rigby]

Howard Stringer CES Jan 2009 Video CES 7, Seven imperatives for creating the Ultimate User experience. Has he done it? PS3 Firmware 3.0 was a complete rewrite (Oct 2009) with planned features, many of which are just now starting to be implemented.

Of course this CES 2012 is the first opportunity to present the Sony ecosystem that Howard Stringer said: “I spent the last five years building a platform so I can compete against Steve Jobs, It’s finished, and it’s launching now. (Quote was @ end of Nov 2011).

CES 2012: A very important “wedding” is going to happen

A special wedding is going to be held this January in Las Vegas (CES Show). TV is getting married to the Internet. Well, at least, according to Sony. It’s obvious that Sony will be integrating Internet with their future TVs, specifically, the BRAVIA series.

Who’s the bride? And who’s the groom? The beautiful and smart BRAVIA will be the bride while the GROOM will be the Sony Entertainment Network. The PS3 is the Sister and the Sony Entertainment Network is the Groom.

CES 2012: New Sony Ericsson LT28at phone photos leaked Multiple leaks of new WiFi enabled camera phones and Cameras that can WiFi display on PS3 and new Bravia Internet TVs.

CES 2012 is just around the corner. Of course, there’s still Christmas and New Year but for us geeks, the anticipation is already building. One company that will make a big scene at the tech event is Sony Ericsson with new Xperia phones. The line proved to be a bestseller and just yesterday we saw the leaked Xperia Nozomi.

The Nozomi is just one as Sony Ericsson promised that more will be announced this January. No mention of how many but definitely the Nozomi Xperia won’t be alone.

Sony Z Series Android Walkman spotted in FCC

We’ve only been waiting for the Sony Z but looks like the Android Walkman is arriving in the US soon. Why, the media player has been recently spotted at the FCC grounds. It’s yet to be released in Japan before this year ends and US might be the next lucky nation.

The Sony Z Series is packed with the following: 512MB of RAM, 800 x 480 pixels, 4.3″ touchscreen, dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip, WiFi, DLNA and runs Android Gingerbread OS.

Key in an ecosystem besides at least a 4 screen hardware portfolio is DLNA, WiFi and Internet. PS3 as Sister.....Webkit browser disclosure for PS3 March 2011 and Vita with a Netfront NX webkit2 browser (unfinished). An unfinished PS3 webkit browser may be demoed, PS3 will be used to display 4K resolution PICTURES to the new Sony 4K displays. Pictures displayed WiFi from Sony cameras and more.

In Previous years Sony Bravia TVs had Bravia unlimited which included scores of IPTV Apps which enabled 100's of internet video sites. These were Yahoo apps powered by javascript. Internet browsing was not enabled as the TVs did not have CPUs or GPUs powerful enough. This could have been and many expected Bravia unlimited to be ported to the PS3 in 2009 but it didn't happen. Sony had a vision for the PS3 or Sony did not want the PS3 to compete with the Bravia TVs and Blu-Ray players that supported Bravia unlimited? I guess we will find out this Jan 10th at CES if the PS3 Media APP store is going to include 100's of IPTV apps (for sale) that were given away with Sony TVs and Blu-ray players in previous years. My guess is yes, both a new web browser and Apps for sale in the Playstation store ($3-$5 average)

The Sony Entertainment Network is going to be supported on multiple Sony Networked products with the same native language libraries that can support PS Suite on those platforms. So in the future as Sony has said, they might support PS Suite on a Sony Google TV platform.

One side note impacting 4K codecs. Sony has hired software engineers to work on Codecs. Currently the MpegLA MPEG4 codec scheme is a balance of compression performance taking into account the cost for hardware to decode the compressed video. The design was constrained by hardware that existed at that time. It is possible to compress video to a higher degree with less loss if the hardware is more powerful. A point most should already know, the PS3 Cell is 20 times faster than 2009 quad core x86 CPUs at decoding video and the quad x86 CPUs faster than dedicated Mpeg 2 and 4 hardware codecs in CE equipment. This is an important point to keep in mind when arguing that 4K TV is 20 years off or 4K is not supportable on current internet speeds for IPTV.

With a better codec designed for more powerful hardware, Sony 4K blu-ray (late 2012), PS3, PS4 (earliest late 2012) and Sony 4K TVs (?) (possibly Toshiba 4k with Cell processor as well) can display 2K video from Sony (using a new codec) with less loss of quality (possibly 15 % better than 2K blu-ray on 1080P TVs) on the same internet connection than others. Those with 4K TVs can display (depending on internet speeds) a better than 2K picture. I expect this is how Sony who is 1 year late to the party is going to corral the upper end customers that will pay for quality. This will happen late 2012 and 2013 1080P Sony TVs might include a dedicated 4K codec allowing the above for 1080P on Sony TVs from Sony Video Unlimited. PS3 and PS4 would just need a firmware update.

No word on when native 4K content will be available for home consumption, though there is a rumor swirling around CEDIA, mainly the Sony booth, that Sony is working on a new compression standard to fit 4K content onto Blu-ray discs. If this is true (and if it can be done), then 4K may be closer to becoming reality than any of us, present company included, ever thought.

The following is NOT Sony but an example of what's possible, release of the h.265 standard is expected late 2012 with publishing in 2013.

Table 4 of the document compares the compression performance of the HEVC test model ("HM") and the H.264 test model ("JM"). On average, HEVC out-performs H.264 by 39% for random access scenarios (e.g. broadcast) and by 44% for low delay scenarios (e.g. video calling).

This means that the HEVC codec can achieve the same quality as H.264 with a bitrate saving of around 39-44%.

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is a new Standard under development by the ISO and ITU-T. The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) have set up a Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) with the aim of getting the new standard ready for publication in 2012/2013. It's likely to be published jointly as a new MPEG standard and a new ITU-T standard, possibly H.265

Sony has a PDF outlining what's possible using the existing 6 Mhz Broadcast TV bandwidth and the new H.265 codec. 4K TV channels, Multi-viewpoint, full 1080P 3-D, multi-channel Web plus advertising.

H.265 draft specs due out in Feb 2012 Made possible by more powerful hardware and will impact the Mobile market too resulting in less bandwidth needed.

HEVC is being designed to take advantage of increases in processing power in video encoders and devices. The developers of H.264 had elements they wanted to include, “but the computational costs were considered too high 10 years ago,” Blackman said. “You’ve also had research over that time to improve the standard for the next time.”

Sony already has a dedicated hardware codec chip they use for loss-less compression of 4K in 4K video production equipment called the SR codec used by the Sony Beyond HD group.

The following, according to Sony, up-scaling of 2K to 4K is done with the same algorithm the PS3 uses to upscale DVD to 1080P. Sony has not stated whether the Sony 4K projector is using a Cell processor. If it is I expect Codecs used can be updated via firmware.

Sony gives you the 4K experience right now. With an exclusive HD-to-4K algorithm, the projector upscales 1080p to 4K—making all your current Blu-ray Disc™ movies and HD content look even more incredible.

I hope everyone is putting together that Sony is pushing high res CMOS sensors (made by Sony) in Cameras and Camera Phones with TVs-PS3 that can display these High Res images either directly with 4K TV or via Zooming and Playview. They are also supporting extended meta-data with in some cases GPS location information that will I suspect eventually tie into a Picassa 3 like Photo app (With Google Maps) in the PS3 similar to that available on PCs. This type of App may be displayed at CES 2012.

Counting in Pepper, SE will have one smartphone each category at CES (Total of 4). LT28at in superphones, Xperia arc HD LT26i in high-end phones, Pepper in mid-range and ST21i in entry-level devices. See Sony's 4-Step Plan To Destroy Apple "create a flagship device for every consumer product category out there — with the most important being the smartphone."

Sony will be broadcasting live the January 9 2012 Sony Press Conference.

 

[jeff_rigby]

Although Netfront offers a webkit based browser, I don't think Sony's going to use it on the PS3 since they've already made their own webkit port, and are using it for apps. There's a decent chance they'll keep the old Netfront browser for games that use it, since it's going to be much easier on memory usage.

androvsky, I dug up one of your posts to bring up information I developed and edited into an older post.

SappYoda found Vita browser information and provided a Cite and the link he cited led to other information on the Vita browser, intellectual property in the Vita and Open Source Software. Of note, the Vita is using a Netfront Access NX browser just like you mentioned in your post. You are correct in your post, Sony has already provided more than necessary to the PS3 to support the NX browser. Webkit and webcore would be provided by Netfront NX but webkit and webcore were needed for IPTV and probably Portal2. The webkit browser Chrome that is so far not used IS needed for a NX port as that has to be provided by Sony (UI). So we can't rule out NX on both Vita and PS3.

Access does use Gnome Software technology (Cairo since 2007 at least) and can use GTK toolkit and does use Gstreamer on Unix platforms (Vita is Free BSD just like the PS3). (Same as Firefox and Opera).

MAYBE OT but interesting: Google's response to Apple's Siri voice control is Majel and is due out December or Jan 2012.

I wrote about Google’s response to Apple’s Siri voice assistant several months ago and over the last couple weeks I received further details about the secret project. For starters it is codenamed Majel, which comes from Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, better known as the voice of the Federation Computer from Star Trek.

Majel is an evolution of Google’s Voice Actions that is currently available on most Android phones with the addition of natural language processing. Where Voice Actions required you to issue specific commands like “send text to…” or “navigate to…”, Majel will allow you to perform actions in your natural language similar to how Siri functions.

http://morecontrol.com/2010/12/voice-control-and-more-with-google-tv-android-app/

The authors of the Sony Video Unlimited preview App called their development framework Trilithium after the fuel that powers the Star Trek Enterprise's Engines. Javascript is an engine that is being used in the Sony Enterprise Video Unlimited.

Sony needs a simple control mechanism for their new TV mentioned in my previous message. W3C & TV workshops have Sony proposing control by Android tablet, Apple by Siri Voice control and Microsoft and Xbox by Kinect Voice control and Gesture control. It's possible that the Sony S1 Android tablet could voice control the Sony TV or the new Sony TV is a Google TV.

If you noticed, there has been a Microphone icon in Google.com Search input for speech to text. That has been a proposed HTML5 standard since October 2010

The HTML Speech Input API aims to provide web developers with features that are typically not available when using standard speech recognition software to replace keyboard input in a web browser. The API itself is agnostic of the underlying speech recognition implementation and can support both server based as well as embedded recognizers. The API is designed to enable both one-off speech input and continuous speech input requests. Speech recognition results are provided to the web page as a list of hypotheses along with other relevant information for each hypothesis.

The Vita has Handwriting to Text software as part of it's Intellectual Property list.

Over on the new, and very stylish, PS Vita YouTube page (that has a free screensaver), Sony have let it slip that the ultra-powerful PSP successor will have “Voice Recognition Gaming,” so the microphone won’t just be used for Skype and multiplayer matches.

Another Site mentioning Vita Voice Recognition

Sony announced in a recent press conference their plans for the future. The inventors of the walkman, the audio cassette and of the CD are still trying to stay ahead of their competitors. It seems like their next target is improving the latest portable PS. We are talking about Vita, a station that already has a great number of features. It is not enough for them, and a voice recognition feature will make this station the best gaming console around.

The Vita's Netfront Access Browser can support Voice recognition

NetFront supports advanced mobile voice recognition technologies based on the XHTML + Voice (X+V) 1.1 framework. X+V supports voice synthesis and voice recognition of mobile Internet data allowing voice input and output interaction with voice supported Web pages.

With Microsoft Xbox supporting Voice recognition and from leaks coming out of Sony that they were working on it also, I supect it's something we might see on the PS3 and with a greater likely hood in new Sony TVs. Both Xbox and PS3 have been positioned as home Media centers for the living room TV; the PS3's initial design with Blu-ray drive and quotes from Sony employees has confirmed this and more. It's now being used as server for Vita and I expect to see more "server" uses for the PS3 as well as duplication of many of the features in new Sony TVs.

Television Remote controls Samsung, Sony, LG, Vizio

The Clicker's Moment: After 60 Years, TV Remotes Get Zapped With Makeovers
BY MARK WILSONMon Dec 5, 2011

Every TV manufacturer agrees, the remote control will change more in the next three years than it has the previous six decades. But how will it actually change? Sony, Samsung, LG, and Vizio tell us.

Why Has Nothing Changed in Decades?
"Especially in the U.S., there are certain reasons why the remote control has actually not innovated for the last decade or so--it has to do a lot with infrastructure. Cable and satellite provider remote controls are the ones that most consumers utilize...If that's the case, for manufacturers like us, we think, how much more influence could we have if we innovated around the remote? That's sort of the looming question for us." --Mike Abary, Head of Sony Home Entertainment of America.

Television manufacturers told me over and over again that their innovation has been thwarted by our set-top boxes. While Sony may be free to imagine any type of crazy remote scheme to control Sony TVs, it's inevitably thrown by the wayside for the remotes that are packaged, and often preprogrammed, by companies like Comcast and DirecTV.

RVU and Allvid allow a DLNA TV with DTCP-IP DRM to control and display video from a DVR box. It is now possible to throw away the Cablebox DVR remote and only use a TV remote. This and something like Google TV which no longer requires a HDMI in port if connected to a DVR set top box with RVU is going to revolutionize control schemes. RVU was proposed in 2008, the PS3 (androvsky cite) had support for DLNA and DTCP-IP envisioned by late 2009 with firmware 3.0.

RVU revision 1 for thin clients uses a picture of the DVR box Menu generated by the DVR box and displayed on the hardware limited (thin client, Ex: $99.00 Apple TV Box) Revision 2 requires more powerful hardware with webkit support for the UI.

RVU is NOW being implemented by Verizon, Comcast and Direct TV. Samsung working with Direct TV is the first announced with this feature in new TVs available March 2012. TVs shown at CES should feature this and more web (Home Networking) Home control products. Here it is, a video describing Verizon and RVU serving to the PS3 as well as other IP enabled devices like the Xbox

Revolutionary TVs: It's More than Hardware

Everyone is hard at work at developing a "revolutionary" TV. It will change the way you watch TV. It will be so great that you will have to run out and buy one. According to the Wall Street Journal, Howard Stringer, the head of Sony, has stated that there has been a "tremendous amount of R&D" put into a "different kind of TV set". When talking about Apple's potential future TV, Steve Jobs said in the Walter Issacson biography, "I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synched with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it."

Lenovo has also joined the party with the announcement of a smart TV known as IdeaTV. Like Sony and Apple, Lenovo is pursuing a four-screen strategy that lets you consume your media anywhere (TV, tablet, smartphone, computer). Already in the market with their SmartTVs, Samsung is preparing to launch a new version with Google TV as the underlying platform. Despite the initial announcement at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Samsung was wise not to go to market this year given the failure with the earlier version of Google TV. Samsung has stated that their implementation will be differentiated from other Google TV devices. Samsung is also planning to release OLED-based displays at this January's CES. OLED has the promise of a superior picture in a thinner package with less power consumption.

So, will these new products change TV the way we know it? Hard to say, with manufacturers holding their cards close to the chest. The last big change that drove TV sales was the creation of affordable large flat high-definition (HD) screens. However, it was more than the TV manufacturers building HD capable sets. Content creators and providers also bought in and provided HD TV shows and movies (Content providers love the opportunity to reissue old movies in new formats). All of the innovations since then: 3D, TV apps and low power consumption have not helped to stem the shrinking margins in the TV market. The bottom line is that these new features have not provided any compelling value to the consumer.

Whatever the next big change is to TV, the whole ecosystem needs to come along for the ride. I have not doubt that Apple can implement the technology Steve Jobs described above. However, even if higher resolution sets were available tomorrow, it would take some time for the eco-system to catch-up (2160p anyone?). Even though the Internet provides a ubiquitous and instant way to deliver content, the current infrastructure in the United States struggles to deliver 1080P video to the living room.

It seems the real opportunity lies in giving people the ability to watch any content from any location at any time. Instead of "apps", I would prefer recommendation engines that help me discover new shows that I would like (like Netflix does today). The real problem here is with content providers. As long as we live in a world of content windows and bundles, only the technology side of this challenge will be solved. When the studios are willing to change how they license content, that will create the real TV revolution.

Samsung is using BSD Unix just like Sony and is working with QTwebkit2 which also uses Cairo for rendering. Nokia, Intel and Samsung are reasons for QT webkit2 being further along. Last years Sony Internet browser TV used an Opera browser which did not use Cairo or QT-GTK toolkits but did use Gstreamer for AV. It scored better in Browser tests than the Samsung last year QTwebkit1. That might change this year, by March GTKwebkit2 API will be done and QTwebkit2 slightly before?

Game-changers coming together in 2012: RVU, Webkit2, Gstreamer 1.0, H.265 Point, it's all tied together...Sony has been preparing for this with their cameras, 4K resolution, webkit2, DLNA, DTCP-IP in PS3. Why does the PS3 camera have 4 mics, possibly better fidelity needed by voice control? With a Gstreamer core, adding the h.265 codec is very easy and will automatically be supported when used.

More information on new technology
Declarative 3D for the Web Architecture

"Whatever the next big change is to TV, the whole ecosystem needs to come along for the ride." This includes the PS3 Guys.........

 

[jeff_rigby]

The following are only a few of the 17 pages of Sony job listings . These Job listings give us an idea as to where Sony is going. More job listings here, Sony Network Entertainment

1) (Old news) Webkit engineer developing webkit related software for the PS3 and other Sony platforms.
2) Develop and build RIA's (rich internet applications) for PLAYSTATION 3
3) Metadata schema design · Metadata synchronization, ingestion, aggregation, normalization and augmentation from multiple sources Social network integration Back-end and cloud computing technologies: Experience in using cloud computing platforms such as Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure. Sony is building cloud services for use by Sony platforms.
4) development of peripherals and accessory for PLAYSTATION family

The hardware and software infrastructure is now or will be in place for the PS3 with GTKwebkit2 by March 2012. Sony is preparing to support the 50 million+ market that the PS3 represents. It is going to support applications for third parties on Playstation.

May of 2011 http://jobs.climber.com/jobs/Comput...id=Senior-Software-Engineer-WebKit-SNEI-SF-SJ

Software development using Linux and GNU tool chains. * Expert at C/C programming. Desirable:
* HTML 5 and/or JavaScript programming experience. * WebKit, Cairo, or Pixman internals experience. * Graphics programming with OpenGL or similar experience. * Software optimization work; Vector and/or graphics optimizations a plus. * Programming vector processors; Cell Broadband Engine and SPUs a plus. * Software development using Playstation3 dev-tool and PS3 SDK.

The Sony Network Entertainment group in San Francisco is responsible for creating visual experiences for all Sony. The Web Tech' Intern will be responsible for prototyping web based technologies for future applications for Sony's present platforms: mobile, Google TV, PlayStation and desktop. An understanding of JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3 along with a passion for music, movies or games would be preferable for this candidate.

Primary Responsibilities:
* Build interactive prototypes for web platforms (mobile, google tv, desktop). * Communicate and collaborate with engineers and designers across the globe. *
TECHNICAL:
JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3

Primary Responsibilities:
* Develop and build RIA's (rich internet applications) for PLAYSTATION 3 * Work with designers, developers, architects, QA and product managers in developing applications. * Knowledge of languages and software such as JavaScript, HTML5, Flash, Silverlight, JSON, XML. * Additional knowledge of OpenGL, C/C and PhotoShop is desirable. * An understanding of dynamic / programmatic animation. * A good eye for design, aesthetics and layout. * Self motivated and driven to progress.

Personalization & recommendations solutions · Experience in user-profile management and analytics · Experience in iterating and tuning of solutions based on analytics and data mining Metadata management solutions: · Metadata schema design · Metadata synchronization, ingestion, aggregation, normalization and augmentation from multiple sources Social network integration Back-end and cloud computing technologies:

We are seeking a senior network services developer to help shape the team and service architecture that will deliver our core consumer-facing features. Responsibilities will include:
* Designing and architecting secure, maintainable, fast, and scalable service solutions * Contributing in a hands-on fashion * Attracting and coaching top tier talent We are looking for people who have experience in * personalization & recommendations solutions * Experience in user-profile management and analytics * Experience in iterating and tuning of solutions based on analytics and data mining * metadata management solutions * Metadata schema design * Metadata synchronization, ingestion, aggregation, normalization and augmentation from multiple sources * social network integration * back-end and cloud computing technologies * NoSQL or other key-value storage technologies * Hadoop or other map-reduce frameworks * Leading * Drives quality through continuous integration, a rapid cadence, and constant customer feedback * Understanding of tradeoffs between different server-side architectural approaches and technology decisions * Building and coaching a small team through multiple releases * Manages stakeholders and technology partners effectively * 8 years software development * Deep familiarity with Java and JavaScript * BS or MS in Computer Science, or comparable experience * Up to date with current trends in web APIs and service design patterns * Track record of delivering high quality, impactful products & services * Experience in using cloud computing platforms such as Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure * Strong core product development skills - planning, product management, communication & collaboration, customer focus * Deep understanding of object oriented design patterns * A passion for the customer UX and connected entertainment

SCEA R&D is looking for a Staff Level Hardware Engineer to contribute to product level development of peripherals and accessory for PLAYSTATION family. The position comprises broaden knowledge of research, design, develop and manufacturing for consumer electronics related equipment to enhance gaming experience on PLAYSTATION platform. This position includes direct contribution to the peripheral product business and communication with internal and external development partners. The successful candidate will research technologies and design, develop and facilitate manufacturing of electronic consumer products within a fast-paced work environment located near both San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Principal Duties and Responsibilities Identify electronic technologies and components that provide greatest value
Design, assemble, test, analyze, debug, and rework prototype circuits electronic circuits that interface with and/or include microcontrollers or other embedded processors
Capture schematic circuit diagrams, generate net lists, design printed circuit boards and facilitate their fabrication and assembly
Communicate effectively with internal and external development partners, including with management, marketing and software-development teams
Identify ways to improve products and processes At least 8 years of recent hands-on experience developing circuits at PCB level, including power regulation and I/O; experience highly desirable with ASIC design, audio, batteries, Bluetooth, clocks, CVBS, EMI, Ethernet, HDMI, rigid and/or flexible printed circuit layout and fabrication processes, programmable logic devices (PLD/CPLD/FPGA), rapid prototyping, wireless communication (using IR, RF, etc.), TCP, UARTs, USB

PDfs from Sony on HTML5 and Web in Home

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...THsC4QI3Wf7DC266Q&sig2=0LEBaxja2tCUIMEE8TdSmw

US already planning a transition to ATSC 3.0 4k & possibly 8K broadcast TV. I still remember all the 4K is not happening arguments. This is made possible by h.265. Roadmap from others has 2018 as when UHD will make it into Consumer TVs and 2020 till over the air broadcasts; Cable and Satellite TV might be first with 4K.

Sony has a PDF outlining what's possible using the existing 6 Mhz Broadcast TV bandwidth and the new H.265 codec. 4K TV channels, Multi-viewpoint, full 1080P 3-D, multi-channel Web plus advertising.

Anyone think the cell is dead? (h.265 is going to be a computationally intense standard). With a PS3 & h.265, Sony could create their own IP network to compete with Cable TV.

 

[jeff_rigby]

X3D is the next-generation open standard for 3D on the web

It replaces VRML, but also provides compatability with existing VRML content and browsers. Existing VRML content will be played without modification in any X3D-2 browser, and new X3D-1 and X3D-2 content can be read in to existing VRML applications.

VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, pronounced vermal or by its initials, originally—before 1995—known as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind. It has been superseded by X3D.[1]

Sony SNAP now MIA probably replaced by PS Suite (which also uses CairoGL for rendering) had the following statement: "SNAP has a re-architect-ed display model using Cairo evolving over time to use the Collada file format." In a GTK, QT or Firefox webkit based browser for POSIX OS, Cairo = (Cairo+Pixman+Glitz for AA) is used for rendering and X3D will be using Cairo SVG to render using the Collada game asset file format.

Does Sony see static and animated 3D graphics as an attractive feature in Sony UIs and Browsers? The answer to that should be a resounding yes and the SNAP quote reflects Sony thought on this.

 

[yurinka]

With Adobe AIR you can compile your Flash game as a Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Blackberry etc native app instead (let's say an .EXE file for Windows, doesn't need separated Flash Player or browser) than the typical SWF file just selecting an option when compiling, with 0 code changes. That includes native 3D HW acceleration support (DirectX in Windows, OpenGl in the others) and native controls (keyboard, mouse, phone buttons, touchscreens, motion sensors, etc.

Now Xperia Play's Sony Playstation® Certified Game pad specific controls (these analogs in a touchpad) are supported too in Adobe Air. Basically this means that now you will be able to port your Flash games or apps to PS Suite devices with virtually no porting work (so maybe Vita and PS3 too).

http://developer.sonyericsson.com/w...with-adobe-air-gamepad-support-on-xperia-play

I'm an experienced Flash/mobile phone/smartphone developer, and some months ago as a test I tried to compile one of my Flash games for iPod4,iPad2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab with 0 game code changes. It worked flawlessly, but runned a bit slow. I assume than optimizing the render for these devices a bit would be enough.

Thanks to the 3D hardware acceleration support included in Flash 11 and Air 3, Flash is getting 3D games with high end quality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgwi0lWgX8w&feature=player_embedded
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/flash-pla...-the-web-with-stage-3d-hardware-acceleration/

You can play the awesome racing game demo (browser, Flash 11 version) here:
http://alternativaplatform.com/en/demos/maxracer/
I suggest to play the 'high' version, but consider it will take some time to download (145MB)

 

[jeff_rigby]

With Adobe AIR you can compile your Flash game as a Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Blackberry etc native app instead (let's say an .EXE file for Windows, doesn't need separated Flash Player or browser) than the typical SWF file just selecting an option when compiling, with 0 code changes. That includes native 3D HW acceleration support (DirectX in Windows, OpenGl in the others) and native controls (keyboard, mouse, phone buttons, touchscreens, motion sensors, etc.

Now Xperia Play's Sony Playstation® Certified Game pad specific controls (these analogs in a touchpad) are supported too in Adobe Air. Basically this means that now you will be able to port your Flash games or apps to PS Suite devices with virtually no porting work (so maybe Vita and PS3 too).

http://developer.sonyericsson.com/w...with-adobe-air-gamepad-support-on-xperia-play

I'm an experienced Flash/mobile phone/smartphone developer, and some months ago as a test I tried to compile one of my Flash games for iPod4,iPad2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab with 0 game code changes. It worked flawlessly, but runned a bit slow. I assume than optimizing the render for these devices a bit would be enough.

W3C still playing catchup with Adobe?

Couple of things for a Flash or Air developer: It appears the PS3 has the AVM+ open source Flash code released by Adobe which includes "player" as well as virtual engine code. Could PS1 titles be running under that engine on the PS3?


*****************************************************
PCRE is a library (In the Vita) used to parse text and is a necessary part of many script engines like Mono, PHP and others.

If we search for PCRE & Cairo we find it also used in NetBSD and the ES Operating system.

ES operating system

es is a computer operating system developed originally by Nintendo and since 2008 by Google. The operating system runs natively on x86, and includes a kernel written in C++.[1] Additional components include an ECMAScript interpreter, a cairo-based graphics renderer, and a port of Squeak.[1]

http://code.google.com/p/es-operating-system/wiki/BuildingSupportLibraries

PCRE
Cairo
Freetype2
Expat
FontConfig

Which are in the Vita list of Open Source software used. A Sony employee mentioned the Vita OS was taken from an original game OS. If ES Operating system/FreeBSD then Sony only modeled Near and Neighborhood in the Vita from OLPC. Then again, the above libraries can be used with Mono.

http://code.google.com/p/es-operating-system/

We are creating a new pure component operating system named ES. This project was started by Shiki Okasaka and Kyu Ueno at Nintendo largely affected by Rob Pike's "Systems Software Research is Irrelevant" talk in 2000. Since 2008, this project has been hosted in Google Code under the copyright of both Google and Nintendo in hope we can reach more people worldwide.

As we realize ECMAScript/Web based applications are becoming very important and useful, ES operating system has been designed to make the Web Apps APIs as the primary operating system interfaces, and to be an extensible operating system by supporting the component technology from the operating system kernel level as originally proposed for the future direction by Noah Mendelsohn in "Operating Systems for Component Software Environments" in 1997.

In ES operating system every system API is defined in Web IDL, a new interface definition language used for defining APIs for Web Apps including HTML5, Web GL, and so forth. New APIs defined in Web IDL can be dynamically added to the system by loading the corresponding new software components running at the user level.

And upon further reading:

In 2006-2007, Etoys built in Squeak was used by the OLPC project, on their OLPC XO-1 educational machine. It is preinstalled on all of the XO-1 laptops.

So back to the beginning ES operating system requires Squeek which is also in OLPC.

Squeak Etoys was inspired by LOGO, PARC-Smalltalk, Hypercard, and starLOGO (see discussion). It is a media-rich authoring environment with a simple, powerful scripted object model for many kinds of objects created by end-users that runs on many platforms, and it is free and open source. It includes 2D and 3D graphics, images, text, particles, presentations, web-pages, videos, sound and MIDI, etc. It includes the ability to share desktops with other Etoy users in real-time, so many forms of immersive mentoring and play can be done over the Internet. It is multilingual, runs on more than 20 platforms bit-identically, and has been successfully used in the USA, Europe, South America (Brazil, Colombia, Argentina), Asia (Japan, Korea, India, Nepal), and elsewhere.

Also, see Smalltalk Development on XO for a guide to the "full-fledged, general purpose, multimedia ready, integrated development environment" that is inside of Etoys.

Sony could have taken the ES operating system model and replaced the script engine with Mono. It can also be possible that everything uses just about the same open source cross platform libraries. Need more information!

 

[jeff_rigby]

Wild speculation post: Sony Ericsson with a Windows Phone next week at CES

Look, we're not going to beat around the bush here, this post is total wild rumor-mongering, but SE asked us to guess so we are. Sony Ericsson (Netherlands) has put up a Tweet teasing a big announcement next week, presumably at CES:

"We're getting ready for some very interesting news next week...what do you think it could be?"

Normally we'd pass this off as "just another Android announcement" and it could very well be. However and perhaps it is just coincidence but we seem to have caught a theme of tiles throughout the above picture which was posted in conjunction with the aforementioned statement.

My kind of speculation <grin>. Look at the reflection on the tabletop, the red on left and right are framing what is important to the photographer and the red reflection on the Left is not possible from objects in the picture so it was added to balance and frame the important objects all of them in that area and all have the Metro squares. The center guy's glass also has the metro squares. And of course the phone in the girls hand is in the "focus" also.

The folks at Redmond picked up both Microsoft-Sony.com and Sony-Microsoft.com, which has spurred speculation that everything from a Sony-Ericsson WP7 handset to a PlayBox 720 is on its way.

Confirmed in 5 days? 6 months from the Domain name registration till shown at CES...about right time for development after agreement?

Reciprocal agreement with PS Suite showing up in WP7 phones?

I don't know enough about phone OS to say what that looks like.

I think we have to step back to Sony statements that they plan to dominate the CMOS picture sensor market. Your pictures tied to that information would have Sony phones with high end CMOS Exmar-R sensors allowing unheard of video and picture ability in a phone. 16 Megapixel is rumored in one of the high end Sony phones. So a Phone will now do double duty and be your Camera also. Consumers can justify a higher cost for a phone if it replaces a $200 camera or if the Tease is about a Phone + Camera with OLED screen a Sony $300 camera.

More info on the state of GTKwebkit

 

[patsu]

I called it in message #1056 above, Vita release browser would be limited! But

due to the COMPLETE webkit core it scores a 99/100 on the acid 3 test and the webkit2 to GTK API interface is not finished yet.

...

I didn't see this post until now. The PS3 web browser scored 27/100 in ACID3. The PSP web browser is probably equal or worse.

 

[jeff_rigby]

Just got an email that should be considered rumor as the author did not want his name mentioned:

Unlike some, I've been watching your digging up of facts with regards to Vita, the browser libraries and PlayStation Suite.

Now, you didn't hear this from me, but I can confirm that Sony is definitely getting PS Suite out on every phone OS with the strict exception of iOS. Suite is going to be big. It'll be on tablets too.

I've been talking to some ******** developers and they've told me flat out that the launch window will see a bucket load of gaming apps and non-gaming apps launched in quick succession.

I'm not too familiar with the deep technical details such as programming language etc, but I do know a few of the developments in the pipeline.

I've heard that Sony is pushing OS owners and handset manufacturers to have PSSuite pre-installed and visible on the OS of phones/tablets that are coming to retail. No idea how far that is along. Developers are on board and it would be quite a coup for manufacturers to have PlayStation support them.

Keep up the good work.

Most of this is expected and does not need to be confirmed except for every phone OS except iOS. This supports speculation that PS Suite will be on WP7 phones and might help confirm a Sony phone with WP7. Spring 2012 with the official launch of PS Suite....some features demoed at CES?

 

[Takao]

I didn't see this post until now. The PS3 web browser scored 27/100 in ACID3. The PSP web browser is probably equal or worse.

I can't even get the test to run on PSP, lol.

 

[Lagspike_exe]

The upcoming phone announcment is most likely going to be Nozomi.

 

[Utako]

I called it in message #1056 above, Vita release browser would be limited! But

due to the COMPLETE webkit core it scores a 99/100 on the acid 3 test and the webkit2 to GTK API interface is not finished yet.

99/100?

Webkit has A'd the Acid3 test for years now. Every modern browser scores so well on Acid3 that the test is useless.

 

[Takao]

The upcoming phone announcment is most likely going to be Nozomi.

Yeah, that photo tease with the actual pics of the phone match up with Nozomi well.

 

[jeff_rigby]

99/100?

Webkit has A'd the Acid3 test for years now. Every modern browser scores so well on Acid3 that the test is useless.

Patsu is in the business, as you are, and knows that webkit browsers score 99/100. What Patsu, if I understand from previous posts, was really saying was the PS3 needs and will get a browser update.

In BY3d Patsu also stated that the Vita doesn't fare as well in HTML5 compared to Chrome (66 vs 357 on Chrome). HTML5 is a name for a long list of advanced features on top of webkit using in part the webkit API to implement. Patsu was saying, again if I read it right, Vita needs more HTML5 features.

Webcore is done and the browser scores a 99/100 on the Acid 3 test but has few HTML5 features many of which have to be implemented by the platform developer (Sony in this case) and only after those porting webkit2 to the GTK API which is not finished yet. To implement HTML5 RTC (Real Time Communications) Farstream and Telepathy have to be integrated into the GTKwebkit2 port. Part of this (Telepathy) is already in Glib. Farstream is just upperlevel Gstreamer routines which will be in part used to support HTML5 <video> and <audio> not implemented in the Vita port yet (if Vita is using the same framework in the PS3 GTKwebkit disclosure which Netfront Access can use on Unix platforms).

From my post in a PS Suite thread:

My opinion is that several PS suite includes/features are going to be on all Sony networked platforms. Those that Patsu first brought up in Beyond3D....you may have forgotten as it was nearly a year ago <sigh>. Point is CES 2012 is coming in 5 days with the Sony News Conference in 4 days. Sony is leaking and advertising like expected for a ecosystem reveal.

In News articles months ago it's mentioned that the Sony Phone should be their hook to the ecosystem and Sony should concentrate on that. Sony buying out Sony-Ericsson and the teasers and leaks from everywhere about Sony phones at CES would support this. The Marriage announcement for Sony 2012 TV is also a clue.

GTKwebkit2 is not done but Skype, chat and streaming media have software dependencies that were done Oct 2011 with Howard Stringer announcing the Ecosystem is done Nov 2011. Sony can release on Sony TVs the same unfinished webkit2 browser as on the Vita; Netfront Access probably NX. (Webcore is done and the browser scores a 99/100 on the Acid 3 test but few HTML5 features which have to be implemented by the platform developer (Sony in this case) and only after those porting webkit2 to the GTK API which is not finished yet.)

At CES 2012 we should see much of the PS Suite suite of applications that will be included with PS Suite.

More info on the state of GTKwebkit2

 

[MrPliskin]

Patsu is in the business, as you are, and knows that webkit browsers score 99/100. What Patsu, if I understand from previous posts, was really saying was the PS3 needs and will get a browser update.

In BY3d Patsu also stated that the Vita doesn't fare as well in HTML5 compared to Chrome (66 vs 357 on Chrome). HTML5 is a name for a long list of advanced features on top of webkit using in part the webkit API to implement. Patsu was saying, again if I read it right, Vita needs more HTML5 features.

Webcore is done and the browser scores a 99/100 on the Acid 3 test but has few HTML5 features many of which have to be implemented by the platform developer (Sony in this case) and only after those porting webkit2 to the GTK API which is not finished yet. To implement HTML5 RTC (Real Time Communications) Farstream and Telepathy have to be integrated into the GTKwebkit2 port. Part of this (Telepathy) is already in Glib. Farstream is just upperlevel Gstreamer routines which will be in part used to support HTML5 <video> and <audio> not implemented in the Vita port yet (if Vita is using the same framework in the PS3 GTKwebkit disclosure which Netfront Access can use on Unix platforms).

From my post in a PS Suite thread:

No, what he was saying was that the Vita Browser is better than PS3. YOU (again) are putting your own words and spin on something.

 

[jeff_rigby]

No, what he was saying was that the Vita Browser is better than PS3. YOU (again) are putting your own words and spin on something.

You could be right but you are also editing and putting your spin on statements. 99/100 vs 27/100 (Acid test) or PS3 0 vs 357 and Vita 67 vs 357 (HTML5 features comparison with Chrome) is not just the Vita browser is better than PS3 it's MASSIVELY better but every modern browser out there according to Utako; "Webkit has A'd the Acid3 test for years now. Every modern browser scores so well on Acid3 that the test is useless." Patsu knows this. Further over a year ago in the BY3D HTML5 thread, Patsu stated the PS3 will need a HTML5 browser to stay relevant.

Patsu uses few words to make points in contrast to my posts. Utako, in my opinion, which I carefully worded my post to convey, did not understand what Patsu was really saying. Again, my read and I have a high opinion of Patsu who I have found to be very concerned with accuracy. I could be wrong and Patsu was just repeating information that has been posted in this tread multiple times with a projected target audience who may not know.

 

[Luigiv]

I think the 3DS has a higher score

Did some research on this claim (both first and second hand), I can say that this is not the case at all.

3DS does alright with Acid3. It can squeeze a final score of 92 (albeit with a lot of stuttering along the way). By comparison to other console browsers, that's actually pretty good (though obviously worse then Vita).

Vita - 99
3DS - 92
DSi - 59
Wii - 40 then crashes
Ps3 - 27
PSP - 11

I also tested out Browsermark on my 3DS.

Acording to the blog, Vita got a rather pitiful ~11,000 but 3DS was even worse with ~3,300.

For context, the best smartphones can get ~45,000 (according to Browsermark itself), Chrome 16 gets ~185,000 (according to the blog) and my own test of Firefox 8 yielded ~310,000.

So yeah, that makes Vita's the best game console browser yet... but it's still abysmal next to everything else. Still plenty of room for improvement here.

 

[Oni Jazar]

Did some research on this claim (both first and second hand), I can say that this is not the case at all.

3DS does alright with Acid3. It can squeeze a final score of 92 (albeit with a lot of stuttering along the way). By comparison to other console browsers, that's actually pretty good (though obviously worse then Vita).

Vita - 99
3DS - 92
DSi - 59
Wii - 40 then crashes
Ps3 - 27
PSP - 11

I also tested out Browsermark on my 3DS.

Acording to the blog, Vita got a rather pitiful ~11,000 but 3DS was even worse with ~3,300.

For context, the best smartphones can get ~45,000 (according to Browsermark itself), Chrome 16 gets ~185,000 (according to the blog) and my own test of Firefox 8 yielded ~310,000.

So yeah, that makes Vita's the best game console browser yet... but it's still abysmal next to everything else. Still plenty of room for improvement here.

The 3DS has a higher HTML5 score then vita on http://html5test.com/

Nintendo 3DS : 120 + 0 Bonus Points
Sony PSVita : 66 + 0 Bonus Points

 

[Luigiv]

The 3DS has a higher HTML5 score then vita on http://html5test.com/

Nintendo 3DS : 120 + 0 Bonus Points
Sony PSVita : 66 + 0 Bonus Points

3DS has HTML 5 support? Mind blown (guess it's quite limited, though).

Well here's to hoping Nintendo releases a "Browser+" (or whatever they want to call it) that runs as a full app and supports HTML5 media too. This needs to happen, I want my 3D youtube support already!

 

[MrPliskin]

You could be right but you are also editing and putting your spin on statements. 99/100 vs 27/100 (Acid test) or PS3 0 vs 357 and Vita 67 vs 357 (HTML5 features comparison with Chrome) is not just the Vita browser is better than PS3 it's MASSIVELY better but every modern browser out there according to Utako; "Webkit has A'd the Acid3 test for years now. Every modern browser scores so well on Acid3 that the test is useless." Patsu knows this. Further over a year ago in the BY3D HTML5 thread, Patsu stated the PS3 will need a HTML5 browser to stay relevant.

Patsu uses few words to make points in contrast to my posts. Utako, in my opinion, which I carefully worded my post to convey, did not understand what Patsu was really saying. Again, my read and I have a high opinion of Patsu who I have found to be very concerned with accuracy. I could be wrong and Patsu was just repeating information that has been posted in this tread multiple times with a projected target audience who may not know.

No, I'm not. I took everything he said at face value, something you should learn to do instead of trying to spin people's words to carry your own agenda. It's clear at this point that the PS3 isn't getting a major browser upgrade anytime soon, and no amount of spinning someone's words (and putting your own words in their mouth) is going to change that.

 

[jeff_rigby]

Motorola's Connected Home Gateway makes your house smarter, turns it into a 4Home

Motorola's DCX3600 IP Video Gateway marks the set-top's evolution into the entertainment hub of the home. This advanced video gateway enables a truly connected home environment by merging traditional broadcast TV with new IP-based content and capabilities for whole-home media distribution across multiple screens. Consumers can view, record or play video on any networked device, in any room, seamlessly.

At CES 2012, Motorola will be demonstrating the IP Connected Home experience of tomorrow &#8211; with the DCX3600 distributing video to a variety of connected devices, including an IP set-top, DROID RAZR by Motorola smartphone, DROID XYBOARD by Motorola tablet and PS3&#8482; gaming console.

RVU version 2 uses webkit for the User Interface which means that DLNA needs a rewrite to call and use webkit for the UI. A new browser front end will not be needed. What this tells us is that Sony has or will be supporting RVU version 2 which we suspected. Again another planned for use for webkit.

Webkit in the PS3 exposes an API that Sony can use to support this without needing to do the 10% more in supporting a webkit browser from the XMB. My opinion is a webkit browser is coming but it will be GTKwebkit2 and that is not done yet. By March 2012 webkit2 will be ported to GTKwebkit.

The box will also include Motorola's DreamGallery search and discover feature. Motorola announced that Shaw will be the first MSO in North America to adopt DreamGallery; the company said Dream Gallery has several users in Europe.

The new Connected Home Gateway, the DCX3600, will include Televation, the company's wireless streaming video distribution system. Televation incorporates a QAM tuner and a CableCard, so that a Televation-enabled wireless router can act essentially the same as a set-top, so any channel can be delivered to any device in the home, including tablets and smartphones.

The box incorporates a 1.2 GHz processor running Motorola's open 4Home software platform.

The 4Home software supports and abstracts a number of standards and protocols, the company said. That creates a situation in which consumers can plug in the gateway, and the unit will automatically connect home control devices to the home network.

Some of the largest service providers, including Verizon, Comcast and soon at least one other major MSO, are looking to new services such as home automation, home security and energy management as the best new opportunities for expanding their broadband services portfolios.

The new Motorola gateway can automatically and wirelessly pair receiving devices in the home and connect them to the cloud for remote management, Motorola said.

DreamGallery, the search and discovery tool, is cloud-based and designed in HTML5, which means it can be branded by each MSO and quickly reconfigured. Another advantage, Motorola pointed out, is that since DreamGallery works on a variety of devices, service operators will be able to deliver a consistent onscreen experience across multiple devices.

The new box will also incorporate SecureMedia Encryptonite ONET HLS+, a content protection system that Motorola said streamlines the content processing and delivery process for multi-screen applications while ensuring the protection of digital rights.

And, of course, the system incorporates social media. The box will support Motorola's SocialTV Companion Service, which presents users with a dashboard of social applications.

Again, a full browser from the XMB is not needed to support the HTML5 DreamGallery, a "webview" window can be called (already supported by GTKwebkit2) and provide minimal browser features. This may be one of the first applications that will show the XMB has webcore always loaded.

A future version of the Gnome Desktop shell is to be written entirely in javascript. Again to be clear, the look and feel of a desktop is up to the platform developer. It can be written with any of the supported descriptive languages used by webkit like XML which is what the PS3 XMB is currently using. A browser desktop has webcore always loaded and the UI can use any of the webkit features as well as open webview windows.

PlayStation Suite, Sony&#8217;s upcoming software framework that will be used to provide downloadable PlayStation content for devices that meet PlayStation Certified requirements, will be available in Spring 2012.

PS Suite's Mono uses webkit for many features and most likely needs a webkit2 API with a custom UI toolkit probably made by modifying a GTK toolkit; again, that won't be done till the next Gnome cycle which is in March and of course Spring is after March.

 

[herod]

PS4 now seems certain to be shown at E3. There doesn't seem to be any value in any of this PS3-centric speculation. The second half of the 10 year plan is just for FIFA and Madden sequels, as usual.

 

[Dr Frasier Crane]

PS4 now seems rumoured to be shown at an E3. There doesn't seem to be any value in any of this PS3-centric speculation. The second half of the 10 year plan is just for FIFA and Madden sequels, as usual.

Fixed this for you.

 

[herod]

Fixed this for you.

Keep dreaming about the 10 year plan.

 

[jeff_rigby]

PS4 now seems certain to be shown at E3. There doesn't seem to be any value in any of this PS3-centric speculation. The second half of the 10 year plan is just for FIFA and Madden sequels, as usual.

There is less support for the PS4 being shown at E3 than for the 90% done and already disclosed PS3 GTKwebkit2 browser to finally be finished. My impression also, and it is wild speculation, is that the PS4 might be shown at E3.

What is being implemented for the PS3 and MORE will be in the PS4. The software libraries that Sony is using for PS Suite and GTK/POSIX webkit2 will be in the PS4; Right?

The reason for PS Suite delays till Spring 2012 (Gnome cycle?) from Jan 2011 are due to what? That's a 14 month delay. PS3 GTK/POSIX webkit (with Chrome) was disclosed March 2011 (Gnome cycle) but hasn't been implemented yet...Why? Sony's Video Unlimited PREVIEW app was written in 2009 using the same framework and same webkit javascript engine as disclosed by Sony in Nov 2010 in PS3 firmware 3.5 Oct (Gnome cycle) but shown/used for the first time Oct 2010 (Gnome cycle)...why? They are very big and serious questions!

Why does test data from Luigiv & Oni Jazar show the Vita with the newest, should be the most advanced browser, scores massively less in HTML5 tests? Is it because Sony is incompetent or they chose to go with a webkit2 version which is faster and more secure but isn't done yet.

 

[Dr Frasier Crane]

Keep dreaming about the 10 year plan.

Far from it, I'm happy to jump to a new gen soon. What I was trying to say with my edit is that you're reporting the MCV rumour today as an almost fact when it's far from it.

 

[jeff_rigby]

Far from it, I'm happy to jump to a new gen soon. What I was trying to say with my edit is that you're reporting the MCV rumour today as an almost fact when it's far from it.

Gesh, if you are going to tease us at least give us a link. I found it with a little search.

Both the Xbox 360 successor AND a follow up to the PS3 will be shown at E3 2012.

The LA show tease will come as Wii U launch details are locked in &#8211; and should ensure no ground is lost between competing consoles.

It will mark the very first time in the show&#8217;s 17-year history that three fresh, rival console formats will be so directly comparable.

Microsoft has long been rumoured to detail its next-gen plans at E3 2012, and recently signalled to partners this will happen, MCV has been told.

The 360 is one of the longest-serving games consoles in history. But the real surprise is an early move from Sony. Execs at the PlayStation firm have made it clear to third-parties that they will not be left behind this time.

Execs aren&#8217;t expecting price or launch details for the new Xbox or PlayStation. But their unveiling could be a perfect spoiler to the pre-Christmas launch date and price that will be revealed for Wii U in June.

Launch date is 2013 or later for a PS4 (unless the Digitimes rumor is correct). My guess is both Sony and Microsoft are going to announce new platforms and or provide new features to Xbox and PS3 so that some may wait for their console to ship rather than purchase a WiiU earlier.

On December 3rd 2011 during an interview with OPM UK, Ryan teased, "There&#8217;s a bunch of stuff at the back end of the year &#8211; I&#8217;ll just tease you with this because I not going to tell you what because I can&#8217;t &#8211; which I&#8217;m very excited by, and you&#8217;ll hear about [it] over the coming months. [It'll] give you plenty to write about.&#8221;

My post from 6/11/2011 It's now 2012.

Sony Exec talks

Q: How will you respond next year when Wii U arrives?

A: We don't react to other competitors moves per se. We do believe that our content strategy

- whether on the game side or multifunctional entertainment side -

drives significant sales to the PS3. It's still an uber-powerful system and will have

capabilities that are going to be market leading in 2012 and 2013.

We're really bullish on the PS3 over the next several years.

" multifunctional capabilities that are going to be market leading in 2012 and 2013 " What does that sound like, just a new browser or a Gnome Mobile Sony (closed platform) Multimeda flavor Linux or whatever?

IF Sony is waiting for Gnome 3.2 (September 28, 2011) so that they can use the State of the Art GTKwebkit browser and browser desktop features in Gnome 3.2, they will be the first to have these features outside of Linux and the above quote (Market Leader in 2012 and 2013) from Sony will be true.

Downside is this gives us a timeframe for these new features that extends at the earliest October 2011 to the latest 2012.

GNOME 3 released, ushers in an interesting amalgam of iOS and OS X

Release Notes for Gnome 3.0

Again, I am not saying that Gnome 3 will be ported to the PS3 or Vita. What I am saying is that ideas and code from Gnome 3 and the OLPC project have been and will be used in Sony platforms. How much gets ported intact in a recognizable form is debatable and depends on Sony plans for the PS3.

Now tie the above to my post about Sony Job listings. Have we seen "capabilities that are going to be market leading in 2012 and 2013" yet?

Edit the above to be Gnome 3.4 (March 2012) and GTKwebkit2. Gesh guys.......it's coming and Soon! This also describes how Sony is going to deal with the WiiU releasing before the PS3. Lots and Lots of market leading features for the PS3 this year. The Motorola RVU version 2 set top box to PS3 is one of the many features that will show up this year.

OLPC & Squeak Etoys Already starting with educational simple games using move controller for children coming out of Europe. For the most part PSN (downloadable only) inexpensive with multiple simple and small titles. Amy from the same company is also Inexpensive, downloadable only and instead of a full game in one download, the game is split up into individual modules with different locations along the story line, each module $10.00.

Squeak Etoys was inspired by LOGO, PARC-Smalltalk, Hypercard, and starLOGO (see discussion). It is a media-rich authoring environment with a simple, powerful scripted object model for many kinds of objects created by end-users that runs on many platforms, and it is free and open source. It includes 2D and 3D graphics, images, text, particles, presentations, web-pages, videos, sound and MIDI, etc. It includes the ability to share desktops with other Etoy users in real-time, so many forms of immersive mentoring and play can be done over the Internet. It is multilingual, runs on more than 20 platforms bit-identically

Sounds familiar doesn't it?

There is no "Clearly a browser is not coming". Clearly it's 90% done and only a very very small chance that it might not be implemented. What would be Sony's reason for not paying for a programmer to finish the browser front end? What...6 months of one persons work or weeks if porting an existing browser. $50K at most...how much does Sony spend on one 30 second TV ad? How much does a new browser add to the perceived value of the PS3? Would it be a feature that would help keep a PS3 owner using the PS3 rather than buying the WiiU when it comes out?

Sony Live press conference Monday Jan 9, 2012 at 8PM Eastern time

 

[jeff_rigby]

Leaked Sony CES booth pic shows video-editing software

Some leaked images from the Sony CES booth are making their way across the internet. Here is a break down of what it can mean from Sony.

The picture from Sony’s booth at CES apparently show a blurry picture of what could be PlayMemories Studio. That application is expected to be a video-editing package made for the PS3; allowing editing and effects to pictures and images including 3D possibilities.

PlayMemories Studio is a “computer software for viewing, organizing and editing digital photos and videos.” according to the official trademark registered by Sony.

You don’t have to wait too long for the official information however, CES 2012 starts on Tuesday.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/08/PlayMemories-studio-ps3-video-editor-leaked-at-CES/

 

[jeff_rigby]

Sony Bloggie on the CES show floor?

Well hello there little guy. Sent in by a tipster and purportedly from the CES show floor, what you're gazing at looks an awful lot like something from Sony's Bloggie line. The silver pocket camcorder doesn't look like any model we've ever seen before, but boasts "Live Broadcasting," a WiFi certification and support for FaceBook and YouTube.

Speculation: Used with PS3 for Augmented reality games in and around the Home and with a rewritten PS3 Video Chat program.? Three/5?

 

[Pie and Beans]

You are reaching further than you have ever reached. The PS3 already has a camera attachment.

 

[androvsky]

You are reaching further than you have ever reached. The PS3 already has a camera attachment.

Well, in that case, it literally is an attachment, as in not wireless, but... I agree. There's nothing to hint that Sony's going to do anything to tie it to the PS3 in any interesting way.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

Not only that, but Niagara is an actual river in the US/Canada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_River

The falls have moved approximately 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) upstream from the Niagara Escarpment in the last 12,000 years, resulting in a gorge below the falls. Today, the diversion of the river for electrical generation has significantly reduced the rate of erosion.

The Niagara Gorge extends downstream from the Falls and includes the Niagara Whirlpool and another section of rapids.

Sounds familiar? Another subtle hint for HTML5 STREAMING capabilities coming for PS3 (in native webkit app?) very soon.

 

[theBishop]

Sounds familiar? Another subtle hint for HTML5 STREAMING capabilities coming for PS3 (in native webkit app?) very soon.

Needs more unrelated open source whitepapers for me to believe.

 

[Hanmik]

Not only that, but Niagara is an actual river in the US/Canada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_River





Sounds familiar? Another subtle hint for HTML5 STREAMING capabilities coming for PS3 (in native webkit app?) very soon.

I LUV U...

 

[Joe Molotov]

Water is the source of all life. Source Engine 2 coming to the PS3, with Half-Life 3 a PS3 exclusive this Christmas?

 

[jeff_rigby]

Well, in that case, it literally is an attachment, as in not wireless, but... I agree. There's nothing to hint that Sony's going to do anything to tie it to the PS3 in any interesting way.

Yup, a speculation and only supportable if Sony is to have an ecosystem with wireless cameras streaming to PS3, Blu-ray players and TVs. Only Software required to implement.

Chatting via Skype on a Sony TV and want to show the new wallpaper in the den to Mom or the new baby in the crib....lots of uses in addition to filming stand alone outside the home. This is an example of synergistic ecosystem usage; cost for Sony to implement (Software only) Vs WOW factor and customer perceived value.

To what is the camera "live broadcasting" ? I believe confirmed from the Sony press conference, live streaming through Skype running on another device.

"capabilities that are going to be market leading in 2012 and 2013"

PlayMemories Studio

Available starting in spring 2012 at PlayStation®Store (paid)

Taking advantage of the extremely high processing power of PS3®, users can freely zoom and scroll videos and photos, and even easily edit HD video content as if they were playing a game. Crisp handling of large-sized images which has been unimaginable in the past has now become possible on PS3® with this application. Handling the images has become as comfortable as playing a game by using a DUALSHOCK®3 wireless controller. Also, it is possible to remotely use the service with PlayStation®Vita or PSP® (PlayStation Portable) , via Remote Play*1.

A free trial version of the application for a limited time will be available.

Organizing & Viewing: In addition to the videos and photos stored on PS3®, content stored on cameras, external hard drives and storage devices connected via USB can be viewed without the need to transfer to PS3®. Also, users can easily search and sort images by date or location.

Editing: By using action tags, adding visual/sound effects such as slow motion and frame by frame playback or inserting captions and scripts to the images are as easy and enjoyable as playing a game.

Sharing: Easily Upload to Facebook®, PlayMemories Online and more.

Consumers are growing to expect that phones, tablets and other handheld devices will ship with basic video editing functionality. With the use of GES, manufacturers can quickly and easily add support for such features on their devices. Our editing libraries aims towards low CPU overhead and as minimal loss of quality through lossless editing.

The GStreamer Editing Services are a C based library, built on top of GStreamer and the gnonlin plugins, with an API making it very easy to build a graphical user interface on top of it. So far we have worked user interfaces for the GStreamer Editing Services using HTML5, Android, Qt (QML) and GTK+ toolkits.

Spring for PS Suite and the above Playmemories Studio. By spring GTKwebkit2 will be done.

Scripts added to images? What are they planning? Gstreamer with Cairo bindings can overlay and manipulate video so a Playmemories edit could include scripts to manipulate video and pictures like we see with the PS3 XMB "What's New" and more. http://www.pitivi.org/manual/effects.html The editor is non-destructive so scripts are used in the editing file. With the final output, scripts manipulate the video and a video file playable on any platform is generated. Original files remain intact and the editing file which does not contain anything but scripts can be saved also.

Scripts can go further than this but would require support on each platform. Sony could create a new Open Source Standard for scripts included with images and Video. This could be fully supported on PS Suite platforms making it attractive. So we now have key words; PlayView, PlayMemories....what else? Is Playview to be able to view media with scripts including multi-gigapixel pictures?

The power in webGL / Flash / Silverlight to manipulate Video and pictures would be very easy to include as in the PS3 it's just Gstreamer with Cairo bindings and the editor is Gstreamer based. androvsky do you agree?

I think most now know that the PS3 March 2011 GTK/POSIX webkit disclosure and the functionality we have seen proves a webcore is in the PS3 and uses Cairo for rendering and Gstreamer for AV and Gstreamer with Cairo bindings for WebGL AV manipulation. Only missing is a browser front end for a new PS3 browser and if Sony is waiting for the GTK API to be finished for webkit2; that should be done before March sometime.

Patsu should be happy as it looks like in the Press conference video that pictures and videos can be sorted in a Calender format and by Geolocation (saw a globe view of Earth); "Organizing & Viewing: Calendar View and Map View "

If using Gstreamer for editing on PS3:

Core

GLib
low-level - Provides us with the implementation of fundamental types and algorithms. It is a base upon which, everything is constructed.
-In PiTiVi, I see the GLib basic types (gboolean, gchar, gint, gfloat, gdouble etc)-

GObject
With the GObject, GLib provides us with the implementation of an object-oriented framework for C.
-In PiTiVi, I see the gobject functions (http://www.pygtk.org/pygtk2reference/gobject-functions.html

GStreamer
A multimedia framework that allows us to do anything multimedia-related. It is very flexible and uses elements
that are packaged in the form of plugins.
These elements can be codecs/demuxers/lmuxer/effects etc.
One set of these plugins are the GNonLin plugins, which are the ones who implement anything related to the logic
of video editing in GStreamer. Mainly, handle the timing of reading different multimedia files.

GES (GStreamer Editing Services)
A library created on top of GNonLin plugins, making the use of GNonLin plugins easier to use. It wraps the
GNonLin elements by offering an API of higher level.

In Pitivi, the GNonLin plugins were used directly, up to now and this is why the porting to GES will facilitate
a lot the design of the project.
So, we are using GStreamer via GES and the most objects used are GES ones (even if they come from GStreamer classes).

UI

GTK+
Toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. Providing standard widgets and event handling. Based also in GLib.

GooCanvas
One of GTK+ widgets, used for drawing.

All of these components are based in GLib and communicate through it and its signals.

So, if I just want to add quickly GES in the PiTiVi' s wiki diagram (https://wiki.pitivi.org/wiki/Architecture), I would add it here:

If not using Gstreamer on PS3 then very difficult to write and it won't take advantage of Gstreamer on other platforms to leverage IP. Code can not be supported on other platforms. PS Suite on PS3 becomes incompatible with PS Suite player applications on other platforms and most likely HTML5 <video> will not be supported.

 

[jeff_rigby]

Sony BDP-S790 Shipping in April 2012

Their new flagship blu-ray play is the Sony BDP-S790, and it&#8217;s most proud feature is it&#8217;s ability to output and upscale &#8220;any content&#8221; to 4K. There aren&#8217;t exactly a massive range of 4K HDTVs on the market right now, but if you&#8217;re lucky enough to own one, or want to be ready for the future the BDP-S790 should be grabbing your attention.

The Sony BDP-S790 also features built in Wi-Fi (802.11n) and gives you access to Hulu, Netflix, Panadora and others, but the very cool feature with the BDP-S790 is that it supports Skype if you connect and optional website. You can also share to Facebook and twitter via the new Sony Socialize app. As you would expect from their flagship blu-ray players the Sony BDP-S790 also supports 3D.

Sources told DigiTimes that the PS4 will go into production at the end of 2011 for a 2012 launch. Apparently Sony will manufacture 20 million PS4 consoles for 2012.

Could the Digitimes rumor be confusing the Sony 2012 announced at CES blu-ray players that upscale to 4K with a PS4? Best guess is the BDP790 would have a Cell processor and might include Motion control tech. The total sales of 20 million seems about right if close to 2013 Sony announces that the 4K upscaling players will support 4K media when h.265 is released. And in addition it can NOW support streaming 1080P and 3-D IPTV if it used a draft version of h.265 which Sony could support on both ends.

Sony 4K TV already has a 1080P to 4K upscaling using the same tech used in the PS3 to upscale from 480P to 1080P. There is no need (at this time) for the Sony blu-ray player that upscales to 4K. I can envision may uses for a Cell equipped Blu-ray player including viewing of Media from Sony cameras including features mentioned coming for Playmemories Studio for PS3 this spring and the above blu-ray player is April 2012 = Spring.

It was previously confirmed that the PlayStation Vita would have an internet browser, but Famitsu (via Gamasutra) has now revealed the first details. According to their report, the browser will support cookies, Javascript 1.7 and HTML5, but not Flash.

You can't have javascript 1.7 and have HTML5 so the author must have meant a UNIX (Vita is BSD Unix) webkit port using the most popular UI toolkit or GTKwebkit and at Vita release Dec 17 the GTKwebkit2 version was 1.72 with a similar unfinished HTML5 feature set.

Netfront Access NX browser uses Webkit and can use the GTK toolkit for UI. Since the PS3 webkit disclosure lists GTK_library and has GTK to POSIX changes we can assume GTK or modified GTK is used. IT also contains a reference to GeoClue_library which can only be used with a handheld so a guess is that the same core webkit is being use in both Vita and PS3 which would be a modified GTKwebkit2. In a Netfront NX port, the platform developer (Sony) is responsible for the UI and for the choice of UI toolkit

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=33393912&postcount=1056

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=33534457&postcount=1094

Netfront NX browser

 

[Massa]

The Vita web browser doesn't use GTK+, Clutter, Mono or any GNOME-related library.

http://scei.co.jp/psvita-license

 

[jeff_rigby]

The Vita web browser doesn't use GTK+, Clutter, Mono or any GNOME-related library.

http://scei.co.jp/psvita-license

I already mentioned and covered this briefly in one of the cites listed in my last post.

Mono is being used for PS Suite. If you purchase the rights to use Mono (developed by the same guy who co-created Gnome) from Xamarin you don't have to disclose it. Same applies to parts of Gstreamer from Collabora-Fluendo.

GTK+ is another issue as it requires disclosure and can't be purchased as there are too many contributors. Mono, a Gnome technology requires GTK+ for the developer tools but can use other toolkits for Mono on platforms to help match the look and feel, I think there are currently 4. Sony's PS Suite is going to use their own custom UI toolkit. My point is that it looks like they are using GTK and heavily modifying it with multiple not implemented s and those that are implemented with Changes to the Cairo routines to make it a custom Sony RendererthemePOSIX. How many changes needed before they don't have to disclose it as GTK in the Vita disclosure I don't know.

There is also that Xamarin would be required to disclose the use of GTK not Sony when used with PS Suite and if the Vita UI is using Mono purchased from Xamarin as speculated by others it might also explain their being no Cairo or Pixman disclosure for the Vita outside of Cairo and Pixman for Webkit. Cairo is also require by Mono for rendering, it's one of two rendering backends used by Mono and the other is generally only used on windows platforms.

Also, Netfront would be required to disclose GTK being used with the Vita browser as the UI toolkit like UI provided by Sony to Netfront, is part of the Netfront browser front end.

I am not as certain of this as I am of the PS3 webkit port with Cairo and Gstreamer in the PS3 since Firmware 3.0 (2009). Have you reconsidered your similar statement about the PS3?

Snippet from PS3 webkit disclosure

$(CAIRO_LIBS) \ Cairo SVG library
+ $(COVERAGE_LDFLAGS) \
+ $(ENCHANT_LIBS) \...............Front end API for a spell checker and more. Needed because of multiple language spell checker backends
+ $(FREETYPE_LIBS) \...............Default Font Library & Pango is supposed to be included in latest version
+ $(GAIL_LIBS) \......................GNOME Accessibility Implementation Library
+ $(GEOCLUE_LIBS) \...............No need for this on the PS3, NGP will use!
+ $(GLIB_LIBS) \......................low level C cross platform lib (needed for just about everything webkit & cairo & Gstreamer)
+ $(GSTREAMER_LIBS) \...........Gstreamer AV library *
+ $(GTK_LIBS) \.......................GTK toolkit library Implements many of the Xwindows GDK wrapper functions without needing Xwindows or GDK
+ $(HILDON_LIBS) \..................Icons and control panels (touchscreen
+ $(JPEG_LIBS) \......................Jpeg compression picture library (Video too?)
+ $(LIBSOUP_LIBS) \................HTTP library
+ $(LIBXML_LIBS) \
+ $(LIBXSLT_LIBS) \
+ $(PANGO_LIBS) \...................International Fonts Cairo-pango = SVG international fonts eventually to be part of Freetype above.
+ $(PNG_LIBS) \.......................PNG picture library
+ $(SQLITE3_LIBS) \.................Data Base Library

 

[Massa]

There is also that Xamarin would be required to disclose the use of GTK not Sony when used with PS Suite and if the Vita UI is using Mono purchased from Xamarin as speculated by others it might also explain their being no Cairo or Pixman disclosure for the Vita outside of Cairo and Pixman for Webkit. Cairo is also require by Mono for rendering, it's one of two rendering backends used by Mono and the other is generally only used on windows platforms.

Also, Netfront would be required to disclose GTK being used with the Vita browser as the UI toolkit, as UI provided by Sony to Netfront, is part of the Netfront browser front end.

This is incorrect. If Sony is distributing the software then they're the ones that have disclose the copyright notices, not any third party.

The snippet you posted is from a Makefile and doesn't mean anything. If you download WebKit directly from webkit.org you'll see similar things in the GNUmakefile, but that doesn't mean Apple or KDE or any other users of WebKit use GTK+. We know for a fact that most of them don't. All that snippet means is that some files from webkitgtk are merged in upstream webkit, and webkitgtk is only one of the many wrappers available for WebKit. Sony is likely using a custom one for the Vita.

 

[jeff_rigby]

This is incorrect. If Sony is distributing the software then they're the ones that have disclose the copyright notices, not any third party.

The snippet you posted is from a Makefile and doesn't mean anything. If you download WebKit directly from webkit.org you'll see similar things in the GNUmakefile, but that doesn't mean Apple or KDE or any other users of WebKit use GTK+. We know for a fact that most of them don't. All that snippet means is that some files from webkitgtk are merged in upstream webkit, and webkitgtk is only one of the many wrappers available for WebKit. Sony is likely using a custom one for the Vita.

1) What I posted is a snippet from the Sony PS3 DIFF file that has the location of the files INTERNAL to SONY, they are not copies from make files. The Vita webkit disclosure on the other hand has every make file for webkit including GTK and for that you are correct, it does not confirm GTK or any one branch of Webkit. I've already mentioned this in the cited previous post. Please understand that I appreciate criticism and your arguments are valid but so far I have already gone down those roads. For instance the PS3 diff files also mention that if the HTML5 build is to support <video> then Gstreamer has to be included (Just like Firefox and Opera).

The current PS Vita software disclosure is from Japan and copyright laws are different there. Trying to make sense of it at this point is going to lead to confusion.

What Sony is using for a UI toolkit for the Vita has to match what Netfront Access supports and is also available for BSD UNIX. IF you look at the UI toolkits what does that leave? QT, GTK and others....what others for Unix? Netfront was big in supporting a Linux browser with GTK/Cairo and Gstreamer in 2007. GTK is the most popular UI toolkit for both Linux and Unix right? A modified GTK toolkit with most of the features stripped out would be a subset and could be supported by Netfront.

 

[Massa]

The Vita does NOT use GTK+ *at all* as proven by Sony's own website. Unless of course they decided to respect the license for every piece of open source software they use in the Vita *except* for GTK+.

The Gstreamer project never required copyright assignment from contributors so if Sony wanted to hide that they're using it (for no plausible reason, mind you) they would have to hunt down and pay off every single contributor... ok then.

 

[jeff_rigby]

The Vita does NOT use GTK+ *at all* as proven by Sony's own website. Unless of course they decided to respect the license for every piece of open source software they use in the Vita *except* for GTK+.

And GTK is not listed for any networked platform except possibly the PS3 and for that it's heavily modified. SNAP contained Gstreamer, Cairo and GNU software references but mentioned no Toolkit had been developed YET.

Webkit code disclosed in the PS3 is from early 2010 (carry-over from the Charles Ying disclosed 2009 webkit supported Video Unlimited) before or during the period where SNAP had no UI Toolkit and PS3 Webkit disclosure is a heavily modified GTK.

The only point I'm making is that they could have HEAVILY modified GTK to some point that legally they did not have to list it but similar enough to simplify Netfront Access supporting it for the NX browser.

QT is considered a different toolkit even though it can be used as a drop in replacement for GTK provided you take into consideration the differences between GTK and QT calls. QT can be used by Mono and other Gnome software. QT and GTK both require cairo and glib support and any modified or Sony developed Toolkit would require the same and would be just as usable with Mono or Gnome. The more you diverge from GTK the harder it will be for Sony to use the GTKwebkit branch or use Gnome & GNU software and toolchain.

Just as there are eGlib libraries with Glib calls removed that are not needed in embedded platforms, GTK contains features not needed in embedded platforms....Strip GTK of features not needed and change the look and feel by rewriting Cairo routines then call it something else like a POSIX theme or POSIX toolkit; this is what was apparently done in the PS3 webkit disclosure. The GTK port is a POSIX port to Linux-UNIX and uses the webkit POSIX branch with GTK toolkit, QT uses exactly the same. The PS3 port used a Heavily modified GTK toolkit with many not enabled GTK supported features.

The Gstreamer project never required copyright assignment from contributors so if Sony wanted to hide that they're using it (for no plausible reason, mind you) they would have to hunt down and pay off every single contributor... ok then.

The Gstreamer core and many of the plugins are written by employees of Fluendo or Collabora. Fluenda also purchased rights to codecs from Mpeg LA to use with their proprietary (owned) gstreamer core. There are "good" and "bad" Gstreamer plugins with "good" plugins usable in projects without copyright issues and there is code and plugins for DRM in a separate parallel Gstreamer branch that was started in I think 2004 when a big stink about Gstreamer supporting DRM was news in internet blogs.

As you know, it's not about hiding that they use certain software as in BSD required disclosure but the requirement of LGPL and GPL that they have to disclose the Code. LGPL allows linking to code without requiring disclosure but if they even link to GPL code then all code like Codecs and DRM have to be disclosed.

The WEBCore is GPL but Webkit is LGPL. The difference is deliberate, the core (GPL) MUST be disclosed and privately developed code must be disclosed. LGPL allows linking to that code without having to disclose and Webkit is the LGPL part that is used to interface with the WebCORE on one side and the Platform on the other.

Sony is supporting CairoGL with OpenGL they developed and I think code that was BSD so they don't have to disclose SPU-GPU code. They have to disclose Cairo and they did it with almost no changes which would seem to indicate they provided a OpenGL API to Cairo. OpenGL provides a separation point below which code Sony wants to keep secret does not have to be disclosed. It's less efficient but legally necessary.

Apparently the Gstreamer design with "plugins" does something similar to Webkit-Webcore and CairoGl-OpenGL. The Gstreamer Core is "owned" and the DRM DASH player is owned allowing Gstreamer to not have to disclose DRM, Codecs and SPU code. Plugins may be used that require disclosure without a requirement to revel core core or DRM code. Gstreamer Plugins can be developed by Sony and they do not require disclosure.

All the above is by design as "Legal" issues are taken into account. Mono, considered a Gnome program developed by the same guy who co-invented Gnome has a model similar to Gstreamer another Gnome project. Both require Glib, both are object oriented and both handle the open source/proprietary issue in a somewhat similar manor. Mono has a core, the VM that is developed only by in house programmers but can be linked to with ONLY by LGPL code, Gstreamer has a Core and can be linked to Legally by LGPL code. Gnome is more than just a collection of efficient cross platform libraries that with Glib have an efficient model and can talk to each other with D-buss and low level telepathy which are parts of Glib, it is a design that allows for Free to use as well as proprietary for sale versions. The developers/inventors of Gnome wanted their cake and eat it too, the best of both worlds.

And <GRIN> I did the research to educate myself because of your first post stating Gstreamer and Cairo were not part of the PS3 conflicting with my view and my second statement that the PS3 most likely used a Linux kernel. You were correct that the PS3 did not use Linux, we now know it uses BSD Unix so that they don't have to disclose code. But I was correct about Gstreamer and Cairo but Sony was only using the Pixman part of Modern Cairo until they disclosed it March of 2011. As far as I'm concerned, the PS3 is settled but Vita is still open to speculation but with the Sony ecosystem giving support to some of the Same software libraries being used across all platforms. Gstreamer and Cairo for sure, webkit, Glib but everything else open.

 

[Massa]

The LGPL doesn't require you to publish the code for your *own* program when you write one using an LGPL licensed library. It still requires you to disclose copyright information when you redistribute LGPL code in source or binary form, like pretty much even the most permissive software licenses. If Sony were using GTK+ or Gstreamer they would have listed them just like they listed WebKit, because the license requires them to.

The Gstreamer core as well as the three official plugin sets (good, bad, ugly) are owned by multiple people and not one single company. You can write your own plugins and players without publishing the source code for them, but when you redistribute Gstreamer itself you have to make the source code available to anyone, and you have to include the Gstreamer copyright notices with your program.

As for SNAP it was an incredibly short lived project based on the GNUstep platform, which includes its own toolkit. It's not at all relevant to anything Playstation.

 

[jeff_rigby]

The LGPL doesn't require you to publish the code for your *own* program when you write one using an LGPL licensed library. It still requires you to disclose copyright information when you redistribute LGPL code in source or binary form, like pretty much even the most permissive software licenses. If Sony were using GTK+ or Gstreamer they would have listed them just like they listed WebKit, because the license requires them to.

The Gstreamer core as well as the three official plugin sets (good, bad, ugly) are owned by multiple people and not one single company. You can write your own plugins and players without publishing the source code for them, but when you redistribute Gstreamer itself you have to make the source code available to anyone, and you have to include the Gstreamer copyright notices with your program.

As for SNAP it was an incredibly short lived project based on the GNUstep platform, which includes its own toolkit. It's not at all relevant to anything Playstation.

Everything you are stating is correct for the Open Source version of Gstreamer plugins but not for the parallel OEM version and Gstreamer core.

I tagged an announcement by Collabora that they were hiring Christian, Edward and Wim from GStreamer, formerly of Fluendo, with the comment &#8220;Is this how Free Software acquisitions work?&#8221;

That got some response in the comments, and especially from Julien Moutte, CEO of Fluendo.

First, let me say that I wish the project well. I&#8217;m convinced that GStreamer is a core part of Collabora&#8217;s activity, and that GStreamer consultancy will make up a decent chunk of revenue for them. I also expect that Fluendo will continue to invest in a core technology that they depend on for their growing range of products, and that others depending on GStreamer such as Nokia will continue to support and encourage its development.

Julien confirms that Fluendo are continuing investment in GStreamer (great!), and affirms that all of a sudden, it&#8217;s just become a much more open project, since people are spread across many companies.

Also SNAP did not have a UI toolkit, it was "in development" during its short life.

 

[Massa]

Gstreamer is an open source project that doesn't require copyright assignment, meaning it's owned by dozens of people (including Fluendo, Collabora and independent developers). There's no such thing as a proprietary version of it.

 

[jeff_rigby]

Gstreamer is an open source project that doesn't require copyright assignment, meaning it's owned by dozens of people (including Fluendo, Collabora and independent developers). There's no such thing as a proprietary version of it.

In that regard I think its prudent to mention that we are currently working on DRM support for GStreamer at Fluendo currently. The goal is to have a framework for using various DRM systems with the GStreamer framework without interfering with the way GStreamer currently works. Opera DRM is one system we are looking into implementing support for as a proof of concept. Since its free software it fits well with our goal of releasing our DRM integration stuff as free software too (although it will allow for closed source modules to be made for things like Windows Media DRM and Fairplay for instance).

The DRM work has included a lot of thinking on our part about the implications and I think its safe to say that we love DRM as little as everyone else. On the other hand we have also seen that a lot of doors get closed on us, GStreamer and GNU/Linux due to lack of DRM support, which means people in those cases go with a Windows based solution instead. Which of course is no win for free software.

Of course all that said, we are running a business at Fluendo and making money is of course one of our main objectives (companies who don&#8217;t have that objective tend not to be around for long for some reason), so I am not claiming we are altruism incorporated. But we do try to do morally &#8216;the right thing&#8217; in the way we operate and do right by the community we sprung from. So I hope we do not anger the community to much by our current work.

GStreamer: A multimedia framework I started in 1999, it has since become the de facto standard framework for most distributions, and has also been adopted by the majority of embedded multimedia systems produced by companies like TI, Nokia, Palm, and others.
GStreamer DRM hooks: Contracted by Fluendo to develop the necessary hooks and infrastructure to enable third parties to write DRM-capable modules for GStreamer.

https://core.fluendo.com/gstreamer/trac/browser/trunk/gst-fluendo-drm/gst-plugins-base.diff?rev=467

Nothing that I can find is definitive, Massa could be correct in his read.

 

[Massa]

Fluendo doesn't fully own any version of Gstreamer, they can't relicense it under a proprietary license. What they do is develop proprietary add-ons that work on top of Gstreamer. Anyone using or distributing the open source software that is Gstreamer must respect its license, whether they also use proprietary add-ons from Fluendo or not.

There is no proprietary version of Gstreamer.

 

[jeff_rigby]

Fluendo doesn't fully own any version of Gstreamer, they can't relicense it under a proprietary license. What they do is develop proprietary add-ons that work on top of Gstreamer. Anyone using or distributing the open source software that is Gstreamer must respect its license, whether they also use proprietary add-ons from Fluendo or not.

There is no proprietary version of Gstreamer.

So Sony is violating the terms of the license? Sony is not using Gstreamer in the PS3 at this time but every other Sony platform is using it and plans to use it in the future with the Webkit port and has not been using it with IPTV?

Netflix is using QTwebkit for IPTV and QTwebkit like GTKwebkit would use Gstreamer. Mono uses Gstreamer to support Moonlight.