The Sony Walkman has been around for decades. When I was a kid, the name was tied to big yellow cassette tape players. Later the Walkman was a huge set of earphones with a silver antenna a mile long for tuning FM radio. Today the Walkman name is on mobile phones and MP3 players.

Sony has announced a new top-of-the-line Walkman MP3 player called the X-series. The series has integrated Wi-Fi, Slacker Radio, YouTube and integrated noise reduction technology. The device is optimized for both audio and video with a 3-inch OLED touch screen with high contrast and fast response rates.

Sony is preparing not one, not two, but three entry-level Alpha digital SLRs for a launch in the near future. A drop-down menu on the company’s UK support page gives it away, revealing the A330 and two lenses (50mm and 18-55mm) when choosing from cameras, plus an analyst’s Twitter update has also revealed the existence of the A230 and the A380. No details about either of these cameras.

Apparently the models are all direct upgrades to the A200, A300 and A350. The A200 and A300 have been entry-level models with fixed (A200) and swivel (A300) LCDs with 10.2-megapixel sensors and live view on the A300. The A350 has largely been a higher-resolution version of the A300.

We wish we could say that this came as a surprise, but nope, we kinda figured that the little Rolly was on The way out. The Sony Rolly has been discontinued in the U.S. The good news is if you are located near a SonyStyle store, go check it out to see if they have them in stock. Thy are having a fire sale with a price of $99. That’s $300 off the original price.

Again, this is no big surprise. The Rolly was a $400 dancing egg. You do the math. But we can’t help wondering what Sony will dream up next to take its place. Maybe a little dancing and hopping cube. Think Rubik’s cube meets Disco.

Sony’s E3 press event is just over one month away. The rumors are already flying. We told you about PSP’s overhaul, but now Variety is reporting that the PlayStation 3 motion sensing controller will be appearing on stage.

Word is that third-party developers have already been asked to implement the functionality into their upcoming games. You guys interested in the PS-Wii?

Sony introduced the Z5500 line. A trio consisting of 40-inch, 46-inch and 52-inch models, the set boasts Motionflow 200Hz technology, DLNA certification, the outfit’s BRAVIA Engine 3, its own ‘draw the LINE’ design concept, a 1080p panel and a CI Plus interface.

You’ll also get an integrated MPEG-4/AVC HD tuner, BRAVIA Sync (HDMI-CEC), an auto shut-off function, a dedicated ‘Energy Saving Switch’ and AppliCast, which lets users access a range of online services (RSS feeds and all sorts of other widgets) via the built-in Ethernet jack.

We’ve seen our share of gaming and gadget rip-offs, but this is one of the most blatant knockoffs we’ve seen in a while. Look familiar? Why it looks exactly like a Sony PSP. And while the PXP-900 clones the style, it doesn’t bother with the titles, instead, sticking to retro gaming ROMs.

The PXP-900 can handle classic titles from the NES, Famicom, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Super Famicom and SEGA MegaDrive. Onboard storage is 2GB, and it functions as a PMP too, playing up to 25fps 320 x 240 video in a bunch of formats on a 4.3-inch display.

Rumors of a major PSP hardware redesign have repeatedly surfaced over the last several months. There have been claims that the UMD disc drive is gone, and others pointing to a second analog stick and sliding screen. 1up cites some sources directly involved with the new system and says that Sony will unveil their revamped PSP at this year’s E3 conference in June.

Here’s the breakdown. The UMD is gone, replaced with options for 8GB or 16GB of built-in flash memory. Three rumored names include PSP Slide, PSP Flip, and PSP Go!. That last borrows from Sony’s Go! brand and has us thinking there might be a built-in camera. The same D-pad, analog nub, and face button configuration, but they now slide out from the bottom of the unit.

Sony has released a few new Bluetooth 2.1 headphones to delight your ears and hearts. They come with echo and noise cancellation technologies for a better experience. The duo in question consists of the Sony DR-BT100CX and DR-BT101.

They come with controls for volume, play and skipping tracks and of course you can either accept or reject incoming calls. The DR-BT100CX has USB charging with 8 hours of playback and silicon ear buds, while the DR-BT101 has a 30mm neodymium driver and 12 hours of non-stop audio playback.

Sony’s latest attempts at the projector market come in the form of these latest two models, the VPL-EX7 and VPL-EX70. Both of these models have the ability to throw a 60″ screen at 1,024 x 768 resolution from a distance of 1.8m, with a short focal lens.

The VPL-EX70 is labeled as BrighEra with a 900:1 contrast ratio and a brightness of 2600 lumens, while the VPL-EX7 has a 500:1 contrast ratio and a 2000 lumens brightness. There is no word on pricing yet.

With every release of new PSP firmware, Sony’s handheld gets closer to the PS3 as far as features. Firmware update 5.50 will installed the “Information Board” to the XMB, letting PSP users get the latest news from Sony whenever new additions are available.

Some other super-amazing updates include creating and accessing sub-directories on the Memory Stick, on the browser side there’s a trial of Trend Micro’s “Kid’s Safety” service and Internet search games.

You’re probably getting mighty sick of that all-black DualShock 3 controller. Colorware is one option, but who wants to lay out that much money just to paint a controller? Luckily for you GameStop has your back. Assuming you like silver.

Today, the website has a listing for a silver version of the wireless SIXAXIS controller. It’s actually been available on the Japanese market forever, but those of us in North America can finally have a crack at it now.

There are all kinds of nifty spy gadgets you can buy to get your sleuth on, but if those products aren’t doing it for you, Sony has something new that you may want to check out. According to a site called Siliconera, Sony has filed a patent for a remote-controlled car that would use the PSP as an interface.

It’s equipped with a camera to feed video to the PSP and users would be able to upload the footage to a website if they want. But that’s not all. The patent mentions an augmented reality racing game. The game recognizes real objects as elements in the racing game, so basically, you build your own track from stuff ou have around the house.

Sony won’t be happy until we have PSPs in all of the skittles colors. They love to dish out candy-colored PSPs. The next mouth watering color may be lime green, if this image is accurate.

It was supposedly leaked from inside a Sony factory. But hey, they may have just been having some fun. Who knows. May be just a prototype. The question is do you want a lime colored PSP? Or is it too much? Ready to taste the rainbow?

Now you can enjoy Rock Band while on the road to your next gig. That’s because the game is coming to the Sony PSP. To celebrate, Sony is releasing a limited edition Rock Band Unplugged PSP Entertainment Pack.

You get a piano black PSP-3000, a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo and a PSN downloadable movie voucher for School of Rock. Very clever. Rock Band Unplugged will merge some key gameplay elements from the original Rock Band as well as its sequel, with a bunch of new songs and some features that are unique to the PSP. Like loneliness and isolation.

The unthinkable has happened. For the first time in 16 months, sales of the PS3 in Japan jumped 80% in the last five weeks of March compared to a year ago. At the same time, demand for the Wii went down by almost 63% to 99,335.

You can chalk up at least part of this to the release of a few new popular games like Resident Evil 5. Which helped up the PS3’s sales figures beyond the Wii’s for the first time since November a few years ago. It should also be noted that nearly everyone in Japan seems to already own a Wii.