Sony has a new ALTUS audio product range for the iPod/iPhone. The “premium” ALT-SA31iR multi-room iPod package is comprised of an iPod / iPhone docking station and a pair of wireless speakers, along with an AM / FM tuner and an LCD-equipped S-AIR remote commander.

The AIR-SW10Ti iPod docking station adds a wireless subwoofer, while the ALT-SA32PC multi-room audio package has an S-AIR transmitter that connects to your PC via USB and a pair of wireless speakers. While the ALT-A33PC has an identical USB S-AIR transmitter, but also includes a universal receiver with analog audio inputs.

Those rumors of a price cut coming from Sony on the PS3 have been swirling for months. There have even been lots of game developers that have pressed Sony to cut the price of tits console but Sony has kept insisting no price cuts were coming.

Sony is expected to make a big announcement at Gamescon today. The expectation is that the PS3 Slim will be unveiled and the PS3 will get a price cut. Kmart has jumped the gun, placed the PS3 slim up for preorder, and has run an ad that talks about the new lower price PS3.

NVIDIA GPUs have been at the center of some notable issues with laptops. The GPU was a weak link in some Apple notebooks when the new Mac models with NVIDIA GPUs debuted. Sony is also having a problem with the GPUs in some of its notebooks.

Sony is warning owners of its Vaio laptops that the GPUs from NVIDIA inside the machines may be faulty. The fault could cause the GPUs to overheat and ultimately fail. Sony says that it is offering free repairs and an extended warranty on certain Vaio models that feature NVIDIA graphics made with faulty die and weak packaging.

Sony is working hard to try to improve it’s batteries, and so it’s announced a new lithium-ion battery that should be more stable, as well as last much longer than typical batteries. This is thanks to olivine-type lithium iron phosphate for the cathode material, which helps boost the battery’s life to about four times that of conventional lithium ion batteries.

It will also have 80% capacity retention after 2,000 charge-discharge cycles. The biggest news is that it offers a promised 99% recharge in only 30 minutes.

Sony has introduced the Party-Shot personal photographer. The camera dock is designed to work with the DSC-WX1 and DSC-TX1 Cyber-shot digital cameras and can be programmed to tilt up to 24 degrees and pan a full 360 degrees to capture any subject you like.

It might not put any paparazzi out of work, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. It can also detect faces and then take a decent photo. It will cost you $150 and will be released in September.

Well, it’s about time. We first saw the 400 disc MegaChanger in May and we had hoped that it would be out by now. Looks like the wait is almost over though. Sony has officially announced plans to release the BDP-CX7000ES in August for $1,900. Yeah, it’s pricey, but that’s about $300 cheaper than the price we had listed in May.

You are getting a lot for the money. Assuming you have 400 discs. This baby will handle any Blu-ray Disc, DVD or CD and works with the latest codecs delivered via bitstream or LPCM. Your other option is to hold off for a few months for the BDP-CX960, which is $800. But there will be no RS-232 and IR-in.

Sony has done well with the S-Series Sony Walkman. That’s no surprise with it’s super-thin form, music and video capabilities, long lasting battery, FM tuner, etc. Well, the folks at Sony Insider caught wind of this picture from one of their sources and the theory is that this is the successor to the S series.

It looks great in red, blue, pink and black. Interestingly it appears to have speakers on the front. Awesome for those who like to use their music players without headphones. The design is pretty eye catching and it looks larger.

Sony has some plans to add facial recognition capabilities to their PlayStation Eye webcam, trying to one-up Microsoft’s Project Natal. According to Kish Hirani, Sony Europe’s head of developer services, the functionality will soon be added to the existing hardware, with developer libraries available for games studios so that they don’t need specific coding for the new system.

According to Hirani, the technology will be able to “detect gender and even the age of the face, separate facial features such as the nose, eyes and ears, and even detect whether you’re smiling or not.” Sounds a little too good to be true. It will also work with the upcoming Sony Motion Controller, with the Eye camera tracking X, Y and Z motion by using the area of the glowing sphere.

You will now have access to Netflix on Sony’s line of Internet-ready Bravia TVs. Newer sets come with built-in support while older models will need the add-on Internet Video Link. You can Watch Instantly and stream movies or TV shows straight on your set, though we aren’t sure if the footage is in HD or not.

The update will be available later this fall alongside competing services already live for Sony’s TVs, including Amazon Video On Demand and Sony’s own movies. Sets already have access to non-commercial video services like Crackle, DailyMotion and YouTube as well as radio from Slacker.

It’s about 60 percent smaller in size, which is nice, but aside from that Sony’s new VRD-MC6 DVDirect looks and acts like the previous VRD-MC10 and VRD-MC5. It can take 1080i video with 5.1 audio from your Handycam’s drive or Memory Stick and shoot out an AVCHD DVD that plays back on compatible Blu-ray drives.

You can also bring in SD video over FireWire, composite, or USB to churn out regular DVDs with automatic chaptering and custom menu backgrounds, or you can just drop in an SD card full of photos and MP3s to create a slideshow.

When I was roaming the halls of CES in Las Vegas back in January I spied the Vaio P from Sony and while they wouldn’t call it a netbook, I know a netbook when I see one. The little machine was weird and had a price much higher than the typical user would spend for the performance the rig delivered.

Sony has finally announced a machine that they aren’t embarrassed to call a netbook; specifically the machine is the Sony Vaio W. Technically Sony calls it an “Internet book” but we know what Sony means.

Sony has a fancy new seal that they want to start slapping on new products. Specifically onto approved third-party peripherals for their game consoles. It could mean that we can expect better accessories or it may be a bunch of BS that does nothing but add a seal to products.

Before we can even guess what to expect, we have to wait and see who opts into the plan, and what nature of product they can get away with making. Hopefully it means better quality all around.

Sony products just got more stylish with the Vaio Signature collection. The collection comes in a variety of designs to please just about any taste. You can get options like a Vaio in Crocodile skin, or a higher end Vaio P with a 256GB SSD and 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor.

The one above is the Kaleidoscope Vaio Z, which looks pretty trippy if that’s your style.There’s also a VAIO TT dressed in Electric Blue. These models are limited in availability, so if you want one, you better hurry.

Sony showed off its new Vaio P back in January at CES 2009. The little machine was nice looking, but the odd size that is long and thin left a bit to be desired in my book. The screen was freakishly narrow and wide making for some strange font sizes.

Sony has now announced that it is shedding Vista as the OS of choice for the expensive Vaio P and going with Windows XP. I think the addition of Vista to begin with was a way for Sony to justify that the P wasn’t a netbook — which it is.

Sony has been offering its line of Alpha DSLR cameras for a while now. Many of its cameras are not targeted at entry-level DSLR users in price of features. Sony has announced full details for its new DSLR cameras including the a230, a330, and a380 cameras.

We talked a bit about the cameras earlier this month, but at the time no details were available. We now know that the a230 and the a330 are both 10.2-megapixel cameras. The a230 is being billed as the lightest and most compact DSLR camera body ever offered at 15.9-ounces.