1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: And today is the conclusion of the Sony story and epic, 4 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 1: if ever there was one, And just to peek behind 5 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: the curtain, the last couple of episodes I recorded, we're 6 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: from a couple of weeks ago. Episodes one and two 7 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:33,319 Speaker 1: I recorded in one go in the studio, and then 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: I had a whole bunch of trips two different locations 9 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: to give presentations, and I ended up uh putting off 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: recording till today, which is a couple of weeks later. 11 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: So if a sound remarkably different from parts one and two, 12 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:51,919 Speaker 1: that's why. So let's talk about Sony and let's kind 13 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: of bring ourselves up to current day. I promise that 14 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: as we get closer to current day, I get less 15 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: and less detailed dates, because otherwise there'd be four parts 16 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:05,039 Speaker 1: to this and I think that's stretching it even for me. 17 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: So in the last episode, I concluded the show by 18 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: talking about Sony's battle in the VCR Wars. But during 19 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: that same time, the company was doing some other stuff, 20 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: So some of this is going to overlap with the 21 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 1: end of the previous episode. Back in nineteen seventy, Sony 22 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: became listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It also 23 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: opened up Sony in Germany. It was eventually called Sony 24 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: Deutschland UH in nineteen eighty. Sony would also open businesses 25 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: in Spain and France and other nations over the next 26 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: few years and would become a truly global company. So 27 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: this was a big move. Remember, this whole company started 28 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: out as a small Japanese organization and now had become 29 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: a multinational global entity. Nineteen seventy nine also saw the 30 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: introduction of one of the most iconic Sony products of 31 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: all time, one of their most successful products, the Walkman. 32 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: Now officially it was called the TPS dash L two, 33 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: and it lacked a recording function. It could play and 34 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: it could fast forward and rewind and stop, and that's 35 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: about it. But some people were saying, well, because there's 36 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: no record function, it's not gonna sell very well. But 37 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: it ended up becoming an insanely popular product, and it 38 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:31,920 Speaker 1: launched an entire new product line of portable tape recorders 39 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: or really tape players because they couldn't record. The company 40 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:41,080 Speaker 1: also introduced lightweight headphones, very important along with the invention 41 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: of the portable tape player, and these lightweight headphone headphones 42 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,399 Speaker 1: were called the m d R DASH three or h 43 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 1: dash ai r hair headphones. C Sony knew that if 44 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: they were to rely upon traditional, big, clunky headphones, no 45 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: one was going to buy a portable tape player. It 46 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: would just not be practical. So they had to invent 47 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: very lightweight headphones that would work with their new product. 48 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: So they did, and that together they ended up being 49 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:17,800 Speaker 1: a big success. Now, the next line, or the next 50 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: evolution of the portable tape player was the w M two. 51 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: This is the traditional, the classic Walkman we think about, 52 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: which launched in one. This was the one that really 53 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,359 Speaker 1: hit it big. They Sony knew from the tps L 54 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: two that they were onto something, but it wasn't until 55 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: the w M two in the Walkman too, that they 56 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: really realized that this was a huge hit. It was 57 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: smaller than its predecessor and also had some other features 58 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: to help improve performance quality, and it became the standard 59 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: portable cassette player. So essentially you either had a Walkman 60 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: or you had some sort of uh portable tape player 61 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: that was essentially a Walkman knockoff. That's really what it 62 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: boiled down to. Also in two, Sony introduced the MP 63 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: d R E two five two, which it doesn't really 64 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: have a very catchy name, but they were the first 65 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 1: in ear headphones or earbuds as we would call them. Again, 66 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:25,000 Speaker 1: that's a standard that you see everywhere today, but at 67 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: the time was completely unheard of. And uh, I really 68 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: can't stress how big a game changer this was in 69 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: the field of music. Suddenly you could take your music 70 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: with you. You didn't have to have a tape deck 71 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,920 Speaker 1: in your car. Most cars didn't have tape decks. In fact, 72 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: some of them still had eight track players. Um, he 73 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 1: didn't have to carry around a big, clunky tape recorder 74 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:51,159 Speaker 1: that had one lousy speaker, so you would get everything 75 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: in Monto. You can actually have stereo cassettes played in 76 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:57,840 Speaker 1: a portable cassette player. You could do things like go 77 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: jogging or workout, stuff that we take for granted now 78 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: because we can do all this stuff with our phones 79 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: these days, or or MP three players if you're still 80 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: sporting one of those, But back at two that was 81 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 1: unheard of. It was huge, and it really changed the 82 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: way people interacted with their technology. In fact, I would 83 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 1: argue that the Walkman is kind of the beginning of 84 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:25,039 Speaker 1: this portable technology craze that has carried up through mobile phones, smartphones, 85 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,720 Speaker 1: handheld gaming devices, all of that sort of stuff. I 86 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: think the Walkman kind of proved that people really wanted 87 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:36,359 Speaker 1: technology they could take with themselves on the go, and 88 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 1: so Sony was a pioneer, not to be confused with 89 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:45,600 Speaker 1: pioneer the sound company in this space. In Sony engineers 90 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,600 Speaker 1: began to work on developing a video camera recorder using 91 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:52,080 Speaker 1: a new type of semiconductor new at that time called 92 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: the charge coupled device or cc D. That's something that's 93 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: still an important component in many, but not all, digital cameras. 94 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:01,919 Speaker 1: There's actually a couple different sensors that are used in 95 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: digital cameras. Some u c c D and some use others. 96 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: This camera was meant to record directly to cassette in 97 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:13,040 Speaker 1: the camera itself. That was also huge in Sony launched 98 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: the BMC one camera, which recorded straight to Beta max tape. 99 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: Is a larger camera like one of those shoulder mounted 100 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: type cameras. The colloquial term for this type of video 101 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,919 Speaker 1: camera recorder is the camcorder, meaning that you use the 102 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: same gadget to both shoot the video and record the video. Again, 103 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: this is something we take for granted today, but before cancorders, 104 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: the way it would work is you used a video 105 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: camera two to convert light into a signal, which then 106 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,799 Speaker 1: you would send over a cable to a recording device, 107 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: which really limited how you could use cameras right a 108 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: video camera. You couldn't just take a video camera out 109 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 1: on the go. It had to have a cable attaching 110 00:06:56,920 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: itself to some sort of storage device that it would 111 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:04,360 Speaker 1: record to the signal to a medium like magnetic tape, 112 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:06,840 Speaker 1: and that would also have to have its own power supply. 113 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: So createing a cam quorter that could do all of 114 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: this in one unit was a big deal. Now. The 115 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: BMC one hundred cost fifteen hundred dollars at launch in 116 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three, and I adjusted that for inflation, so 117 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: in today's dollars that's around thirty six hundred dollars, so 118 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: twice more than twice as much what it went for 119 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty three, so cost fiftellars. If you were 120 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 1: to buy it today, it would be like buying something 121 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: for thirty six hundred dollars. And it was large and bulky, 122 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,560 Speaker 1: but switching to the c c D system is what 123 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: would allow Sony to make things a bit smaller. Sony's 124 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: team was able to create a smaller camcorder using cc 125 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:53,960 Speaker 1: D technology, but it wouldn't be until before Sony could 126 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: market one to consumers, and it was the eight millimeter 127 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,240 Speaker 1: cam quorder called the c c D V eight. Now, 128 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: one of the reasons for the delay was not purely technological. 129 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: Sony wanted to work with other companies to establish a 130 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: standard format so that way they wouldn't enter into another 131 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: VCR like battle on the video camera front. They were 132 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: already fighting Beta Max versus VHS, and they thought, well, 133 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: we don't really want to have thirty different video cassette 134 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: formats out there, because that'll just confuse the marketplace. It 135 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: will mean that consumers will get very upset because they 136 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: can't just buy what they want to buy. They would 137 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:36,719 Speaker 1: be forced to buy all in one system, and if 138 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: that system ultimately failed, then it's wasted money. In other words, 139 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,440 Speaker 1: if I buy Sony's camera and it means I have 140 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:46,439 Speaker 1: to buy Sony's player in order to watch the cassettes 141 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 1: that I record, and then Sony were to go out 142 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: of business. I would never be able to buy more 143 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: cassettes for the player I have, I'd never be able 144 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: to shoot more footage, and I would be stuck with 145 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:01,560 Speaker 1: technology that was obsolete eat. So in order to avoid that, 146 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:06,200 Speaker 1: Sony said, let's all get together and establish a standard 147 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: so that way, no matter who does well or who 148 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,559 Speaker 1: doesn't do well, people will still be able to buy 149 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:17,000 Speaker 1: this technology with confidence. They won't they won't hold back 150 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:20,560 Speaker 1: out of fear that a company might go under and 151 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:24,080 Speaker 1: you'd be stuck with an obsolete piece of equipment. Pretty 152 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:27,720 Speaker 1: forward thinking. As a result, Sony and a hundred twenty 153 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:32,439 Speaker 1: six other companies collaborated on the eight Millimeter Video Conference 154 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: to hash things out. Now, I don't want you to 155 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: think that this charge couple device was super advanced. I mean, 156 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: it was definitely a big step forward at the time, 157 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: but it's pretty primitive compared to today's standards. The c 158 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:49,679 Speaker 1: c D and Sony's camera had a resolution of just 159 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:54,439 Speaker 1: two hundred fifty thousand pixels, not megapixels. Two hundred fifty 160 00:09:54,559 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: thousand pixels megapixel means million, essentially million pixels. The color 161 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 1: are captured by c c ds was vibrant, but the 162 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: resolution was fairly primitive. Now you're looking at a much 163 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: smaller screen, so it didn't matter as much. You know, 164 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:12,720 Speaker 1: there weren't many people who had very big TVs back 165 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: in the early eighties, so even if you're showing it 166 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 1: on a television, chances are the resolution wasn't that big 167 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: a deal because you weren't looking at a huge screen, 168 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: and the smaller screen meant that the lower resolution didn't 169 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:29,560 Speaker 1: show up as much switching back over to audio. So 170 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,720 Speaker 1: in nine we had to backtrack just a bit. Here. 171 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: Sony partnered with another electronics company, Phillips, and Sony and 172 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: Phillips worked together to create a new medium for music, 173 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,800 Speaker 1: and that was the compact disc or c D. Now, 174 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:49,480 Speaker 1: earlier storage media had relied on analog methods, such as 175 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:52,840 Speaker 1: the grooves in a vinyl album or the magnetic information 176 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,839 Speaker 1: stored on a cassette tape, but compact discs were to 177 00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: store information optically digitally in bits, zeros, and ones on 178 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: a shiny disk. A laser would read the information off 179 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:08,559 Speaker 1: the disc, and a converter would change the digital information 180 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: into an analog signal to be played back on speakers. 181 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 1: You have to have your analog speakers. Phillips and Sony 182 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,440 Speaker 1: worked to create a standard so there wouldn't be competing 183 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:22,640 Speaker 1: formats in the marketplace. And originally the CD was only 184 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: meant for sound files. The engineers didn't intend for this 185 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:29,360 Speaker 1: to be a storage medium for all sorts of data. 186 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:31,200 Speaker 1: They just thought, oh, this is kind of like a 187 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 1: vinyl album is for for music. So it came as 188 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: a bit of surprise to them when engineers began to 189 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:41,680 Speaker 1: use CDs to store computer data and not just music. 190 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,040 Speaker 1: That was a big change, and uh really excited the 191 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:49,679 Speaker 1: engineers quite a bit because they just had not anticipated that. Now, 192 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: the original goal when they were coming up, when Sony 193 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 1: and Phillips were cooperating in order to create the CD 194 00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: was create a disc that would be capable of storing 195 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: one hour's worth of music on it. Now, later they 196 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,839 Speaker 1: decided one hour wasn't sufficient. They wanted to go up 197 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: to seventy four minutes. So sixty minutes to seventy four minutes. 198 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: So what was the reason why why go from sixty 199 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: minutes to seventy four Well, the story is, and I 200 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: cannot verify that this is correct, but this is how 201 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: it's reported. The story is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is seventy 202 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: four minutes long, and they felt that a CD should 203 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,720 Speaker 1: be able to hold the entirety of Beethoven's Ninth on 204 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:38,719 Speaker 1: one side. So CDs can hold seventy four minutes of 205 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 1: music because of Beethoven. Now that also meant that it 206 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:46,560 Speaker 1: dictated how big the discs had to be, because it 207 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:49,960 Speaker 1: wasn't like they could cram more information on the same space. 208 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,960 Speaker 1: They actually used the physical space of the disk to 209 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: encode information onto it. So to go from sixty minutes 210 00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:59,319 Speaker 1: to seventy four minutes meant that the discs actually had 211 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:02,840 Speaker 1: to be physice a little larger than they originally hadn't 212 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: had planned on being. So you could say that the 213 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 1: reason as standard c D is the size that it 214 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 1: is is because of Beethoven. And I thought that was 215 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: pretty cool, not only because I'm a technology nerd, but 216 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: also because it happened to like Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and 217 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:22,560 Speaker 1: awful lot that's the one that has owed to joy 218 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: in it. In two, Sony introduced the world's first CD player, 219 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:33,079 Speaker 1: the c d P one oh one two. I was 220 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:35,800 Speaker 1: actually surprised to learn the CD player dates all the 221 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,200 Speaker 1: way back to two probably because I didn't get my 222 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:42,839 Speaker 1: first CD player until I was a teenager, so we're 223 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:47,920 Speaker 1: talking maybe nine, so it had been out for quite 224 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:49,520 Speaker 1: some time, which is actually a good thing, because when 225 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:54,079 Speaker 1: CD players first came out, they were pretty expensive. Uh, 226 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 1: and so c d P one oh one it's sold 227 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:00,240 Speaker 1: for about seven thirty dollars when it went on sale 228 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:04,959 Speaker 1: two today, that would be around one thousand, eight hundred dollars. 229 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,840 Speaker 1: So you'd be spending the equivalent of just under two 230 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: grand to buy just a CD player when it first 231 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:14,040 Speaker 1: came out. Uh, that's a lot of money. Was the 232 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:16,800 Speaker 1: reason why I did not have a CD player until 233 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:19,920 Speaker 1: much later, when the prices had gone down dramatically. But 234 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:22,160 Speaker 1: I wasn't even aware that c d s were a 235 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: thing in the early eighties. To me, music was all 236 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: vinyl and cassette tape, mostly cassette tape at that point. Um, 237 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:31,360 Speaker 1: if I went into a music shop, there'd be a 238 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 1: vinyl section and then a larger tape section. And it 239 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,280 Speaker 1: was years before I started seeing CDs pop up, and 240 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 1: then of course eventually they replaced everything else. Now these days, 241 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:44,320 Speaker 1: we're starting to see vinyl comeback as sort of an 242 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: answer to the all digital model that we've been in 243 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: for the past couple of years anyway. Two, we get 244 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: that first CD player. About a month after the CD 245 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:57,680 Speaker 1: P one oh one launched, Phillips would launch its own 246 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: CD player, but it also can hang some components that 247 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: were designed and built by Sony, so there were even 248 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:07,640 Speaker 1: Sony parts in the second CD player to ever launch, 249 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: even though it was under the Phillips brand name. In 250 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: Sony introduced the world's first portable CD player. So just 251 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: two years after the first CD player comes out, Sony 252 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: introduces the portable one. It was called the D five hundred. 253 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 1: CDs were still very young in nineteen eighty four, however, 254 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:26,440 Speaker 1: and it would take a few years for the format 255 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: to really gain traction on the more established cassette market. 256 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 1: So while the portable model was out, CDs just had 257 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:39,000 Speaker 1: not quite caught on in a big way yet, not 258 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty four. It would take a couple more years. 259 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: It was already pretty clear that they were going to 260 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:48,200 Speaker 1: be a strong competitor against cassettes and vinyl, but the 261 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,360 Speaker 1: cassette tape market was just so entrenched at that point 262 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: that it took a while for CDs to undermine it. 263 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:59,400 Speaker 1: We're gonna get back to more about Sony in just 264 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:02,880 Speaker 1: a min it, But first let's take a quick break 265 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:14,160 Speaker 1: to thank our sponsor. All right, and we're back, and 266 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 1: now let's get into something really juicy. We're at nineteen 267 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,359 Speaker 1: eighty nine. That's the year that Sony would acquire Columbia 268 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 1: Pictures Entertainment and would rename it Sony Pictures Entertainment Incorporated 269 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: in Now, Columbia Pictures Entertainment also has a very long 270 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: history that predates the founding of Sony. You remember in 271 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 1: the last episode I talked about CBS and how when 272 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: Sony purchased CBS Records that that actually predated Sony itself 273 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 1: the company. Same is true with Columbia Pictures. Columbia Pictures 274 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 1: was founded in nineteen eighteen as the Cone Brandt Cone 275 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: Film Sales or CBC Film Sales Company. It became Columbia 276 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,800 Speaker 1: Pictures in nineteen four And yes, I could do a 277 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:05,320 Speaker 1: full episode just about Sony Pictures in Entertainment, no problem. 278 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:12,879 Speaker 1: It would be a full episode complete with drama, betrayal, triumph, tragedy. 279 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:16,120 Speaker 1: But do you know what that would mean? Fourteen more 280 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:19,679 Speaker 1: Sony episodes? And I think you guys would kill me 281 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:21,400 Speaker 1: at that point. But if you want me to do 282 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 1: an episode or two about Sony Pictures specifically, please let 283 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:29,320 Speaker 1: me know send me a message. In the meantime, I'll 284 00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:32,120 Speaker 1: give you kind of the cliffs Notes version of what 285 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:36,960 Speaker 1: Sony Pictures is all about. So Columbia had changed hands 286 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:43,160 Speaker 1: several times before Sony purchased it. In Coca Cola purchased 287 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: the company, but then in Coca Cola spun the company off, 288 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,120 Speaker 1: and then that was bought by TriStar Pictures to become 289 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: Columbia Pictures Entertainment before Sony scooped it up. Now, some 290 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:58,240 Speaker 1: of the famous stuff Columbia Pictures made before Sony bought 291 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:03,919 Speaker 1: them included nearly two hundred three Stooges shorts. The company 292 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: also distributed Mickey Mouse cartoons for Disney. It was also 293 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: a player in the classic television world through its division 294 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 1: that was called Screen Gems. Because of Columbia, we got 295 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 1: shows like The Monkeys, I Dream of Genie, The Partridge Family, 296 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: and Bewitched. Famous movies produced by the company include The 297 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: Bridge Over the River, Kuai, Oliver, which is the musical 298 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:33,920 Speaker 1: adaptation of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, Easy Rider, Stir 299 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: Crazy Stripes, Twittsie, The Karate Kid, Ghostbusters, the original version, 300 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:45,359 Speaker 1: and more. Sony spent four point nine billion dollars to 301 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:47,879 Speaker 1: buy the studio and millions more to get it up 302 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 1: to speed. Besides Sony Pictures, the company also created a 303 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: another company to handle more art house style cinema and 304 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:00,600 Speaker 1: they called that one, Columbia TriStar Pictures, and Sony spent 305 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,119 Speaker 1: another four point eight billion dollars and a leveraged buyout 306 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 1: of Metro Metro Goldwyn Meyer or MGM Studio. Now, this 307 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:10,919 Speaker 1: was also the division of Sony that was hit by 308 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:14,359 Speaker 1: the infamous hack in two thousand and fourteen, in which 309 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:17,240 Speaker 1: an enormous amount of data was stolen from Sony and 310 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 1: distributed on the web, revealing company strategies, employee salaries and more. 311 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:24,720 Speaker 1: So let's talk about this hack for a second. I 312 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,160 Speaker 1: know this is jumping to just a couple of years ago, 313 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,919 Speaker 1: but it relates to the entertainment branch of Sony. So 314 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:35,359 Speaker 1: a group called Guardians of Peace or GOP took credit 315 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:38,119 Speaker 1: for the hack, and they said that their purpose for 316 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,119 Speaker 1: the hack was because Sony had an upcoming film at 317 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:43,680 Speaker 1: the time called The Interview. And if you don't remember 318 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,920 Speaker 1: what the interview is about It's a comedy about two 319 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:51,639 Speaker 1: uh documentary or slash filmmaker types, an actor and a 320 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:56,760 Speaker 1: director who get pulled in to become assassins. Their job 321 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:02,800 Speaker 1: is to assassinate North Korea's leader, Kim Jong and some 322 00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 1: security experts said that the attack on Sony originated from 323 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: North Korea or agents working on behalf of North Korea, 324 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 1: and that this was all politically motivated. That in other words, 325 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:18,720 Speaker 1: North Korea was insulted that this movie was going to 326 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:22,160 Speaker 1: become a thing, and so set hackers on Sony, who 327 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:28,159 Speaker 1: then penetrated Sony's security, ransacked the databasis for tons of information, 328 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,159 Speaker 1: including things like people salary info, and then leaked it 329 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:36,520 Speaker 1: to the media. Now North Korea denies these allegations and 330 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:40,479 Speaker 1: says that while it thinks the hackers were brilliant and 331 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 1: wonderful people, they did not actually tell the hackers to 332 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,440 Speaker 1: do this. So North Korea saying, hey, it wasn't us. 333 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: We think it's awesome, but it wasn't us. Now that's 334 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 1: not the only opinion about the hack. There are other 335 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 1: security experts who think perhaps it was not North Korea 336 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:01,159 Speaker 1: or agents working on behalf of North Krea, that perpetrated 337 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: the hacks. Some people say, no, it was probably someone 338 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:08,080 Speaker 1: from the inside who already had access to all of 339 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:12,320 Speaker 1: this stuff. They didn't break into Sony's database. They had 340 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: access to it because they were an employee for Sony 341 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: and for some reason they got upset at Sony. You know, 342 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,480 Speaker 1: maybe something happened, maybe they were let go but still 343 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 1: had access to Sony systems, or maybe there was some 344 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 1: other perceived slight and that as a result, they stole 345 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,560 Speaker 1: a ton of information and then leaked it to the press, 346 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:35,240 Speaker 1: saying that, you know, maybe that was really like a 347 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: kind of internal revenge story and not an external hacker 348 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:43,159 Speaker 1: at all. And then either someone else came forward to 349 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:48,199 Speaker 1: claim responsibility a k a. Guardians of Peace, or the 350 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: person on the inside who did all the stealing created 351 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,400 Speaker 1: Guardians of Peace in the first place, just to kind 352 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: of cover the tracks. We don't really know the answer 353 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 1: to this. There are a lot of security experts who 354 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:01,240 Speaker 1: say it was definitely North Korea or someone working with 355 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,440 Speaker 1: North Korea. There are some who say, I don't see 356 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 1: evidence of that. I think it was an inside job. 357 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,440 Speaker 1: I was more of an inside job kind of person, 358 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:14,679 Speaker 1: believing that narrative more than the North Korean narrative, but honestly, 359 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: completely objectively, I do not know what is the truth. 360 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 1: I do not know if it was in fact a 361 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,720 Speaker 1: North Korean hacker or someone working under the direction of 362 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 1: North Korea, or if it was an inside job. I 363 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:32,399 Speaker 1: have no way of knowing. And the only reason I 364 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:37,600 Speaker 1: leaned towards inside job was just that the security experts 365 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,560 Speaker 1: I follow, many of whom were you know, talking about 366 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:44,639 Speaker 1: this at length when it happened. I thought that that 367 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:48,560 Speaker 1: was the most likely of the possibilities, But honestly, it 368 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:50,800 Speaker 1: could be either way, and I have no way of knowing. 369 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,440 Speaker 1: Very interesting story, though. I would love to do a 370 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:57,200 Speaker 1: full story about the Sony hack that goes into deep detail, 371 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:00,879 Speaker 1: but to be perfectly honest, I don't have a whole 372 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:02,720 Speaker 1: lot more information on it. I would have to see 373 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:05,080 Speaker 1: if I could get in a security expert in to 374 00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:08,159 Speaker 1: talk about the investigation. It may very well be that 375 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: there's some evidence that has a much more definitive answer 376 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:16,639 Speaker 1: to who perpetrated this, and I'm just not aware of it. 377 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:19,640 Speaker 1: Entirely possible, but let's get back to the main timeline. 378 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: So Sony, that that hack caused Sony endless amounts of grief. 379 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,240 Speaker 1: There were plans that were revealed that Sony had not 380 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,679 Speaker 1: made public. The the salary things caused a lot of 381 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:37,159 Speaker 1: issues internally. It was a huge demoralizing force within Sony pictures. Uh, 382 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,919 Speaker 1: and it the ramifications of that are still being felt today. 383 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,359 Speaker 1: All right back to the main timeline. This makes us 384 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: jump back to Sony launched an HD capable television set 385 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:56,360 Speaker 1: with a sixteen by nine ratio. Now, televisions before, I'm 386 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 1: sure a lot of you remember this, maybe not all 387 00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: of you. Uh, their standard ratio was four by three, 388 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:08,440 Speaker 1: meaning that you know, you're talking about width versus height, 389 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 1: so four units by three units or sixteen units by 390 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,680 Speaker 1: nine units. And then you you know, by figuring out 391 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:18,440 Speaker 1: the width, you know what the height is going to 392 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:21,560 Speaker 1: be because of this ratio. So sixteen by nine is 393 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,720 Speaker 1: what we usually call wide screen, right, that's the standard 394 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: wide screen. They're also sixteen by ten there, you know 395 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: it's not sixty nine is not the only standard out there, 396 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:36,040 Speaker 1: but it's the most common one. Now in launched it's 397 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,800 Speaker 1: sixteen by nine ratio HD capable TV. It was a 398 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:44,399 Speaker 1: thirty six inch television called the k W dasht h 399 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:49,760 Speaker 1: D That was however, it wouldn't be until nine three 400 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: and the Digital HD TV Grand Alliance that HD signals 401 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: would become more common and standardized. You can tell that 402 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,879 Speaker 1: companies were hoping that three D technology would follow a 403 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,880 Speaker 1: similar path as HD, and the ideas get the technology 404 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,080 Speaker 1: that can play this stuff out there first, and then 405 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: hope that the standard you create is compatible by the 406 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,200 Speaker 1: time it actually starts to perpetuate out in the wild. 407 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:18,479 Speaker 1: So we've seen that with HD and we're seeing it 408 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:22,280 Speaker 1: now with two K and four K video. They were 409 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:24,200 Speaker 1: hoping for the same thing with three D, but that 410 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 1: did not happen. I think consumers by and large have 411 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:34,000 Speaker 1: rejected three D television for multiple reasons, but the same 412 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,520 Speaker 1: thing was true of HD at the time. They weren't 413 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:38,520 Speaker 1: sure that this was going to become the new standard. 414 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:40,919 Speaker 1: They were pushing for it. But if you were an 415 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: early adopter of HD television's in the very early days, 416 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:48,359 Speaker 1: that was there was hardly anything for you to watch 417 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:53,000 Speaker 1: in HD. There was like a cable channel that was 418 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,760 Speaker 1: broadcast on a lot of cable providers that gave very 419 00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:02,160 Speaker 1: beautiful pictures of like sunrise is in sunsets or ocean life. 420 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,879 Speaker 1: But it took a few years for HD signals to 421 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:10,480 Speaker 1: start broadcasting at at a high enough density where buying 422 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:15,240 Speaker 1: an HD television had some returns on it. Otherwise you 423 00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:19,639 Speaker 1: just had an expensive, pretty TV that was showing Standard 424 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 1: definition because that's all there was now. In while playing tennis, 425 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:30,959 Speaker 1: Achio Marita suffered a stroke and sadly, from that moment 426 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,000 Speaker 1: until the end of his life, he would be bound 427 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,200 Speaker 1: to a wheelchair and he would pass away at age 428 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:41,000 Speaker 1: seventy eight in nine, so one of the the founding 429 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: voices of Sony passes away seventy eight years old. In 430 00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:52,639 Speaker 1: Sony also in formed a new company, Sony Computer Entertainment, Incorporated, 431 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,640 Speaker 1: later rebranded as Sony Network Entertainment and later still as 432 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,320 Speaker 1: Sony Interactive Entertainment, and it would become a whole owned 433 00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:04,680 Speaker 1: subsidiary of Sony itself in two thousand four. This new 434 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: branch of Sony was formed in partnership with the Sony 435 00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:10,680 Speaker 1: Music Entertainment Japan division and focused on developing products for 436 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:14,440 Speaker 1: Sony's entry into home video games. They wanted to get 437 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,679 Speaker 1: into that market in the early nineties because it was 438 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: it was ripe, it was one of those it was 439 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: starting to come become really competitive again and the first 440 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: major product would come out that was the original Sony PlayStation. 441 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: Now again, I could do another full episode or two 442 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:37,719 Speaker 1: or three about Sony Interactive Entertainment. I could even do 443 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,720 Speaker 1: one or two at least on the Sony PlayStation, and 444 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,639 Speaker 1: probably someday I will. But just like Sony Music and 445 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: Sony Entertainment Sony Pictures, UH, this series would go on 446 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:52,680 Speaker 1: forever if I included it at this point. So again 447 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 1: I'm going to give you the high points, and then 448 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:56,800 Speaker 1: later down the road, if you guys want to hear 449 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: a full episode or two about Sony PlayStation or Sony 450 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:04,399 Speaker 1: Interactive Entertainment, I'll do it. Then here are the big points. 451 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 1: Before the PlayStation, Sony had actually entered the console market 452 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:13,879 Speaker 1: through a partnership with Nintendo that happened in Night. Sony 453 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: and Nintendo worked together to create the Super Disc CD 454 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:19,880 Speaker 1: ROM attachment for the S and E S or Super 455 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:25,200 Speaker 1: Nintendo Entertainment System, but there were some licensing issues and 456 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 1: some other bureaucratic nonsense that prevented the Super Disc CD 457 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:34,280 Speaker 1: ROM attachment from ever being released. So Sony made it, 458 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:39,200 Speaker 1: but it never hit store shelves, so that project was 459 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 1: a bust. But in Sony tried it again. This time 460 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 1: they worked with Phillips to help create the Phillips c 461 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: d I, which was a CD based entertainment system Compact 462 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:54,320 Speaker 1: disc Entertainment system, and that ended up being a commercial flop. 463 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:58,360 Speaker 1: It was competing against too many other systems and the 464 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 1: market was just so diluted that it didn't get any traction. 465 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:06,160 Speaker 1: It was also pretty expensive. Now, the original PlayStation when 466 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,480 Speaker 1: it was in its original design, not the one that 467 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 1: went to store shelves, but in development in Sony, the 468 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 1: original PlayStation could actually play S and E S cartridges. 469 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,840 Speaker 1: It actually had a cartridge port as well as the 470 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 1: CD drive, but Sony only made two hundred of them, 471 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 1: and then they decided to change the design, so they 472 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:29,840 Speaker 1: got rid of the cartridge port at that point, So 473 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: those two hundred were the only ones ever made that 474 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,800 Speaker 1: could play both PlayStation games and S and E S games. 475 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 1: Now at the time where they took the cartridge port out, 476 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,560 Speaker 1: that's when the product became known as the PlayStation X 477 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:48,320 Speaker 1: or PSX and it launched in December in Japan. The 478 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:50,080 Speaker 1: rest of the world would have to wait until the 479 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:54,920 Speaker 1: fall of for it to debut. Now, the original PlayStations 480 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: competitors included the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Turbographics sixteen, 481 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 1: the Sega Genesis, and the Panasonic three d Oh. And 482 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: now we're talking about my childhood. I mean I remember 483 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:07,960 Speaker 1: all of those systems coming out. I didn't known any 484 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 1: of them. The only console I had owned really at 485 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: that point was an Atard and then the video game 486 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,440 Speaker 1: crack market crashed, and when the Nintendo came out, my 487 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 1: parents weren't so keen on spending a huge amount of 488 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 1: money on buying yet another console, so understandably, and I 489 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:29,000 Speaker 1: did not have a source of income to save up 490 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 1: for such a console. So I would occasionally play S 491 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:35,160 Speaker 1: and E S at a friend's house, and uh, I 492 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:37,600 Speaker 1: would it would? I think it would be until college 493 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:45,240 Speaker 1: before I really started playing PlayStation games. So the PlayStation 494 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:50,360 Speaker 1: did very well in this market, largely because it's graphics 495 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:53,480 Speaker 1: quality and sound quality were so much better than most 496 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:55,680 Speaker 1: of the other systems out there. I think the Dreamcast 497 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:57,760 Speaker 1: could give it a real run for its money, but 498 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,600 Speaker 1: no one was supporting the dream Cast. It's just sad. 499 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: I love the Dreamcast, by the way. Also, I love 500 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: the PlayStation. I'm not particularly picky here. I'm not taking sides, 501 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,480 Speaker 1: but I am sad that the Dreamcast never really had 502 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: the success that it deserved. But the PlayStation did really 503 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: well and it would eventually rise up to become Nintendo's 504 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 1: chief rival. At that time, Nintendo had been dominant with 505 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:26,400 Speaker 1: the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo, but now the 506 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 1: PlayStation was really challenging the company. Now, since then, we've 507 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:33,040 Speaker 1: had several evolutions of the PlayStation, and like I said, 508 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:35,520 Speaker 1: I could do a full PlayStation episode sometime in the future, 509 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: but I'm not going to do one now, So I'm 510 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:41,040 Speaker 1: not going to go through every iteration of the PlayStation. 511 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,520 Speaker 1: We're up to PS four now, we're actually at the 512 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:46,720 Speaker 1: second generation of PS four, but I'm not going to 513 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 1: cover all of those. So listen out for a PlayStation 514 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: episode sometime in the future and I will get into 515 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,840 Speaker 1: that story at that point. Back to Sony. In they 516 00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 1: released the first consumer digital video cam quarter the d 517 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: c r v X one thousand and that same year, 518 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:08,040 Speaker 1: the company established the Sony Communication Network Corporation, and as 519 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,240 Speaker 1: the name indicates, this is the branch of Sony that 520 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: became an Internet service provider. So now we've got Sony 521 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:20,320 Speaker 1: that is in charge of creating content like Sony Pictures 522 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: and Sony Music. And we also have Sony the Internet 523 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:27,600 Speaker 1: service provider, and we already have an early example of 524 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,920 Speaker 1: a potential conflict of interest where a company is both 525 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,160 Speaker 1: providing internet service and the stuff that could be delivered 526 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:38,640 Speaker 1: over that service. Um Sony also participated in creating the 527 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:43,520 Speaker 1: standard known as the Digital Versatile Disc or DVD, so 528 00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:47,120 Speaker 1: Sony had a voice at the table when that standard 529 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: was being created. In Sony launched the popular cyber Shot 530 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:57,200 Speaker 1: brand of digital camera still camera h This was the 531 00:32:57,200 --> 00:32:59,800 Speaker 1: first digital camera I ever owned, was a cyber shot. 532 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,080 Speaker 1: It was actually probably a cyber shot too, or something 533 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,640 Speaker 1: that probably wasn't the original, but I did own a 534 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 1: Sony cyber Shot. It was a pretty decent little digital camera. 535 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:12,200 Speaker 1: In Sony introduced the world to a robotic dog named 536 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:16,360 Speaker 1: Ibo a I b O. And that was the year 537 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:21,520 Speaker 1: that the shiro Kia Department Store, the original home of 538 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 1: what would one day become Sony, closed and closed in January. 539 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:32,080 Speaker 1: All right, we're in the home stretch, but before we 540 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:35,600 Speaker 1: get there, let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. 541 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:46,240 Speaker 1: All Right, we're back, and now it's the year two 542 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: thousand on October two, Sony would partner with Pioneer and 543 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:56,240 Speaker 1: unveil DVR Blue. Now this is the technology that would 544 00:33:56,240 --> 00:34:00,480 Speaker 1: eventually evolve into Blu Ray. On November one, two thousand, 545 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:05,120 Speaker 1: Sony announced the Ultra Density Optical or u d O format, 546 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:09,120 Speaker 1: which was the blue laser optical format that again would 547 00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:12,839 Speaker 1: become Blu ray discs. In two thousand two, Sony would 548 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:15,319 Speaker 1: go all in on the new format, and now it's 549 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,800 Speaker 1: officially called Blu Ray. But also in two thousand two, 550 00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:24,719 Speaker 1: Arrival would arise and face off against Sony and the 551 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:27,920 Speaker 1: Blu Ray standard. And actually it was a couple of them, 552 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:32,319 Speaker 1: is Toshiba and NYC primarily, and Toshiba and NBC came 553 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:37,520 Speaker 1: up with a different format called HD DVD. So here's 554 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:43,759 Speaker 1: the high definition war, the standard beyond DVD, and we 555 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 1: see another format war come out. And I remember in 556 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,880 Speaker 1: the last big format war, Sony was backing Beta max 557 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,200 Speaker 1: and the company lost. Beta Max did not become the 558 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 1: standard for home entertainment VHS did. So I've done a 559 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:01,239 Speaker 1: full episode, actually a couple of them, about Blu ray 560 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:03,520 Speaker 1: versus h D d v D. You might even remember 561 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:06,799 Speaker 1: that way back when we first started tech stuff, my 562 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:09,279 Speaker 1: co host Chris Palette and I had actually visited c 563 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:12,799 Speaker 1: e S that year. Those two thousand eight that was 564 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:15,960 Speaker 1: the year when h D DVD pulled out of c 565 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,760 Speaker 1: e S at the last minute, leaving a big empty 566 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:23,759 Speaker 1: spot on the show floor. Essentially, that was when the 567 00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:27,879 Speaker 1: HD DVD standard gave up the ghost. It had been 568 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 1: a war from two thousand two to two thousand and 569 00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:33,440 Speaker 1: eight which one was going to become the standard? Was 570 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,279 Speaker 1: it gonna be blu ray or was it going to 571 00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:39,800 Speaker 1: be h D DVD, And for a while h D 572 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:44,440 Speaker 1: DVD was. It looked like it was dominating, but eventually 573 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,720 Speaker 1: Blue ray one out, and it is in many ways 574 00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:51,240 Speaker 1: the superior format when you get to certain technical specs, 575 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:56,280 Speaker 1: but we all know that it's not necessarily the best 576 00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:01,560 Speaker 1: format that wins. Sometimes other elements will allow one product 577 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:04,200 Speaker 1: to win over another one. It doesn't necessarily mean that 578 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:07,319 Speaker 1: the one that one was the better product. In this case, 579 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:09,680 Speaker 1: I think blue ray really was, even though at the 580 00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:13,480 Speaker 1: time I was kind of supporting h D DVD because 581 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:17,040 Speaker 1: it was cheaper when like those those players and the 582 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:21,160 Speaker 1: formats were less expensive than Blue ray. But again, like 583 00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:25,839 Speaker 1: all technologies, if enough people adopted over time, that technology 584 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:30,080 Speaker 1: becomes less expensive because of manufacturing improvements and other issues 585 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:35,480 Speaker 1: that reduced the cost of producing the technology. So if 586 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:38,319 Speaker 1: you stick with it long enough and if enough people adopted, 587 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:42,040 Speaker 1: prices come down. Um, both of those things are important 588 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:45,719 Speaker 1: for that to happen. Though, so Blue Ray one out. 589 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:50,520 Speaker 1: Uh this time, Sony would end up backing the the 590 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:55,799 Speaker 1: successful format In the format wars. Back to two thousand one, 591 00:36:56,600 --> 00:37:00,960 Speaker 1: Sony established the Sony Ericsson Mobile communication branch. Today it's 592 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,759 Speaker 1: just called Sony Mobile. So then they got into the 593 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,480 Speaker 1: cell phone industry. You know, they had already been in 594 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:10,960 Speaker 1: internet service providers, they had gotten into computers, they had 595 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:14,840 Speaker 1: gotten into television's. Uh, you know, they were they're essentially 596 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:17,400 Speaker 1: branching out as much as they could and getting involved 597 00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:20,760 Speaker 1: in as many different industries, especially in the electronics field, 598 00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:25,440 Speaker 1: as possible. In two thousand three, Sony would actually introduce 599 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,960 Speaker 1: the Blu ray disc player. In two thousand four, they 600 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:33,120 Speaker 1: introduced the first four K l c D panel. Now, 601 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:36,840 Speaker 1: this was the first panel to actually meet four K specifications, 602 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:40,719 Speaker 1: the ones that had been suggested by a consortium of 603 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:43,319 Speaker 1: trying that was trying to define what four K would 604 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,399 Speaker 1: actually be. Sony made the first panel that actually met 605 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:50,960 Speaker 1: those specifications. Sony also would found another company in two 606 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:55,520 Speaker 1: thousand four, Sony Financial, which means yes, Sony does in 607 00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:59,400 Speaker 1: fact have a bank, along with several other financial services. 608 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 1: So if you look at Sony the company, the big company, 609 00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:05,759 Speaker 1: and you look at the different businesses that Sony is in, 610 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:11,200 Speaker 1: they can be divided up into specific disciplines or divisions. 611 00:38:11,239 --> 00:38:15,800 Speaker 1: You've got financial, you've got music, you've got movies and TV, 612 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: and you've got electronics. So you've got a couple of 613 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:23,640 Speaker 1: different ones. In entertainment. Actually you could argue entertainment is 614 00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:26,760 Speaker 1: music and movies together. And maybe instead of saying music 615 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:31,799 Speaker 1: and movies, say entertainment. And then maybe Sony computers like 616 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:36,280 Speaker 1: our computer games video games. So you've got video games, movies, 617 00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:40,600 Speaker 1: and music. You've got electronics, and you've got this financial branch. Big, 618 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:43,279 Speaker 1: big divisions within Sony, each one big enough to be 619 00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:48,279 Speaker 1: its own company with its own subsidiaries. In two thousand five, 620 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:53,000 Speaker 1: Sony would acquire MGM. As I mentioned earlier. One other 621 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,280 Speaker 1: major event from that year, in two thousand five, Sony 622 00:38:57,320 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 1: would name Sir Howard Stringer CEO. Now he was the 623 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:07,560 Speaker 1: first foreigner to run a major Japanese electronics firm. They 624 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:15,120 Speaker 1: very unusual. Normally, Japanese businesses end up electing Japanese leaders 625 00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:19,800 Speaker 1: to be to take over these big positions for multiple reasons. 626 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:23,719 Speaker 1: There are linguistic barriers and cultural barriers. It's just very 627 00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:26,279 Speaker 1: different ways of doing business in Japan versus in other 628 00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:29,440 Speaker 1: parts of the world. In fact, Sir Stringer ran into 629 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:31,799 Speaker 1: or Sir Howard, I should say, you say sir and 630 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:35,560 Speaker 1: then the first name. Sir Howard ran into this during 631 00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:39,400 Speaker 1: his tenure as CEO. He ran into these these barriers 632 00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:43,600 Speaker 1: between the way Westerners do business in the way um 633 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:48,280 Speaker 1: Japanese business owners do business, and it caused some friction. 634 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:53,480 Speaker 1: Sir Howard also focused very heavily on the entertainment side 635 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:55,520 Speaker 1: of Sony, and it's not a big surprise. He had 636 00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:59,120 Speaker 1: previously been president of CBS Incorporated, and before that he 637 00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:03,520 Speaker 1: had worked on various CBS properties, so he came from 638 00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:05,520 Speaker 1: that background. It was not a huge surprise that he 639 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:08,440 Speaker 1: would really focus on the entertainment side. And this was 640 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:10,840 Speaker 1: the era of Sony that saw things like the Spider 641 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:14,360 Speaker 1: Man franchise launch again that that would be the um 642 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:19,640 Speaker 1: Sam Rainy Spider Man movies in two thousand seven, Sony 643 00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:22,120 Speaker 1: would move its headquarters to a new building in Japan 644 00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:26,040 Speaker 1: called Sony City, at least that's what's nicknamed. And the 645 00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:29,399 Speaker 1: company also released the first oh Led television in two 646 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:33,840 Speaker 1: thousand seven. In two thousand nine, Sony would develop an 647 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: authentication technology that maps the veins in your finger. It's 648 00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:42,600 Speaker 1: called Mofira m O F I R A, And that's 649 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:45,960 Speaker 1: pretty cool. It's not just it's not reading your fingerprint. 650 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:49,760 Speaker 1: It actually looks for how the veins in your finger, 651 00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:54,920 Speaker 1: how how they are aligned inside your finger that's unique 652 00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:58,480 Speaker 1: to you. So using a little near and for red, 653 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:02,000 Speaker 1: you can look into a person's skin and see that 654 00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:05,719 Speaker 1: network of veins. And since it's a unique identified to 655 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:09,200 Speaker 1: the individual, you can use it for authentication. Pretty cool. 656 00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:12,200 Speaker 1: Also in two thousand nine, Sony would unveil a new 657 00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:18,160 Speaker 1: slogan for the company called make Believe, Make Period Believe 658 00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:23,920 Speaker 1: Period In Sony would open up the three D Technology Center. Now, 659 00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:26,440 Speaker 1: Sony was just one of several companies that were really 660 00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:29,239 Speaker 1: pushing for three D television to become the next big, 661 00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:33,200 Speaker 1: definitive step in home televisions, and most consumers, like I said, 662 00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:37,520 Speaker 1: resisted that trend. Here's the reason why television companies keep 663 00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:40,600 Speaker 1: doing this kind of thing. You know, you might think, 664 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:45,120 Speaker 1: all right, well, first we got widescreen TVs and h 665 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:49,160 Speaker 1: D t vs, then we got flat panel TVs, and 666 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:51,640 Speaker 1: then after that, uh, you know, once we got the 667 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:53,799 Speaker 1: h D t vs, we started to get things like 668 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:58,359 Speaker 1: three D television, even thinner television. Then we went two 669 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:02,280 Speaker 1: K and four K and some prototype eight KSE sets 670 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:07,279 Speaker 1: as well as curved TVs, and now we're talking about 671 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:11,640 Speaker 1: high dynamic range Television's the reason you see these trends 672 00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:15,319 Speaker 1: is that companies want to sell TVs, but TVs are 673 00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:18,280 Speaker 1: tough to sell, right. You know, most of us don't 674 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:21,239 Speaker 1: buy a television and then the next year say, oh, 675 00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:23,200 Speaker 1: there's a newer model with more features. I'm going to 676 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:26,399 Speaker 1: go buy a new TV. Because they're really expensive. Most 677 00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:29,600 Speaker 1: of us can't afford to just keep upgrading our TVs 678 00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:33,320 Speaker 1: regularly every couple of years. It's one of those purchases 679 00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:35,640 Speaker 1: that you buy and then you pretty much use it 680 00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:40,000 Speaker 1: until either it stops working or you're just like, no, 681 00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:44,960 Speaker 1: it's really need a new TV. So companies keep coming 682 00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:47,960 Speaker 1: out with these new technologies as an incentive to get 683 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:50,399 Speaker 1: people to go out and buy new televisions, I mean 684 00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:54,080 Speaker 1: other otherwise you don't have a business. But it has 685 00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:58,000 Speaker 1: been tough going for three D television's. I know a 686 00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:00,800 Speaker 1: few people who have said that they like them. I 687 00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:03,239 Speaker 1: don't know any personally. None of my friends, as far 688 00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:06,440 Speaker 1: as I know, actively use a three D television. Some 689 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:10,200 Speaker 1: of them might own three D capable TVs. Um There's 690 00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:12,359 Speaker 1: one friend I have. She might actually have a three 691 00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:14,839 Speaker 1: D television that she uses as a three D TV 692 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,840 Speaker 1: because she's kind of a techno geek on a level 693 00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:22,160 Speaker 1: that is admirable, and she has a job where she 694 00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:25,480 Speaker 1: can afford that kind of stuff. She's awesome. But I 695 00:43:25,520 --> 00:43:27,960 Speaker 1: have not actually asked her if she has a three 696 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:30,480 Speaker 1: D television or uses her three D TV if she 697 00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:33,080 Speaker 1: does have one. So yeah, most of the folks I 698 00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:35,239 Speaker 1: know they didn't like the idea of a three D 699 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:37,640 Speaker 1: television for multiple reasons, one of the big ones being 700 00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:40,120 Speaker 1: they didn't want to have to wear a special pair 701 00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:42,920 Speaker 1: of glasses just to watch their television, not in three 702 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:46,400 Speaker 1: D mode anyway, because it meant that you had to 703 00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:48,520 Speaker 1: have an extra piece of equipment. That's another one that 704 00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:51,279 Speaker 1: you can misplace. It makes it harder to like you 705 00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:53,600 Speaker 1: have to track down where your your glasses are. If 706 00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:57,040 Speaker 1: their active glasses instead of passive, you have to charge them. 707 00:43:57,120 --> 00:44:00,399 Speaker 1: It's just a level of involvement that will lot of 708 00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:04,239 Speaker 1: television viewers just don't want. They would rather have the 709 00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:06,799 Speaker 1: technology built into the television in such a way where 710 00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:10,279 Speaker 1: you don't need an extra device or peripheral in order 711 00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:12,759 Speaker 1: to enjoy it. And there are other reasons as well, 712 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:17,719 Speaker 1: I'm sure. But anyway, three D tele Technology Center probably 713 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:21,200 Speaker 1: not seeing the success of some of the other divisions. 714 00:44:21,239 --> 00:44:25,879 Speaker 1: Maybe they have some involvement with PSBR, which launched this year, 715 00:44:26,719 --> 00:44:29,000 Speaker 1: in which case that could end up being a success. 716 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:32,359 Speaker 1: It's a little early to say right now. In two 717 00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:35,960 Speaker 1: thousand and ten, Sony also introduced a new cyber shot camera, 718 00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:39,520 Speaker 1: this time according to Sony, So the first cybershot camera 719 00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:42,880 Speaker 1: was all one word in Sony's literature. This is actual 720 00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:46,520 Speaker 1: Sony literature I used for these notes. So the original 721 00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:51,839 Speaker 1: still camera cybershot is one word. The version on their 722 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:58,080 Speaker 1: materials they have cybershot hyphenated. I don't know why, but 723 00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:01,280 Speaker 1: this Cybershot was the world's first digital still camera capable 724 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:07,080 Speaker 1: of recording full HD progressive video. That's kind of cool. Uh. 725 00:45:07,120 --> 00:45:10,160 Speaker 1: Also around this time. Soon, he began developing wireless communications 726 00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:13,880 Speaker 1: technologies to allow various electronics to communicate at high speeds 727 00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:16,439 Speaker 1: with each other. The goal here would be to cut 728 00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:20,280 Speaker 1: down on cables. You know, have wireless transmission of data 729 00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:23,120 Speaker 1: between your various components so that you don't have to 730 00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:25,680 Speaker 1: have cables connecting them. In other words, imagine that you 731 00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:28,719 Speaker 1: have a Blu Ray player that connects wirelessly to your 732 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:31,600 Speaker 1: television and so you don't have to hook the Blu 733 00:45:31,719 --> 00:45:34,160 Speaker 1: Ray player up to the TV with a physical cable. 734 00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:38,360 Speaker 1: It just beams the movie at a very high data 735 00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:41,520 Speaker 1: throughput rate to the television that can then display it 736 00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:45,080 Speaker 1: at Blu Ray resolutions. That's what they were really working 737 00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:48,279 Speaker 1: on at that point, and I've seen some examples of 738 00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:52,000 Speaker 1: HD versions of that. It gets tricky though, because you 739 00:45:52,080 --> 00:45:55,080 Speaker 1: have to deal with interference and just you know, trying 740 00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:58,799 Speaker 1: to get that much data through uh, you know, your 741 00:45:58,840 --> 00:46:02,200 Speaker 1: wireless network, even if it's a wireless network just between 742 00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:04,560 Speaker 1: two components can be a real pain in the butt. 743 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:08,719 Speaker 1: Also in it was a big year for Sony. They 744 00:46:08,840 --> 00:46:13,120 Speaker 1: introduced the first Internet TV using Google TV or Android TV, 745 00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:16,120 Speaker 1: and Sony would introduce an e book reader that year, 746 00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:20,319 Speaker 1: but the e book reader didn't do so well. The 747 00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:23,680 Speaker 1: Sony E book reader was one of the big competitors 748 00:46:23,680 --> 00:46:26,880 Speaker 1: to the Amazon Kindle. When the Kindle came out, it 749 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:29,360 Speaker 1: was really kind of down to the e book and 750 00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:33,080 Speaker 1: the Kindle, and we know who won that one. Kindle 751 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:37,160 Speaker 1: won that one. In fact, Sony discontinued the production of 752 00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:41,200 Speaker 1: the book readers in though the company would continue to 753 00:46:41,239 --> 00:46:44,000 Speaker 1: sell the units that they had in stock, but they 754 00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:46,640 Speaker 1: wouldn't make any more of them. They were done. It 755 00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:48,320 Speaker 1: was clear that they weren't going to be able to 756 00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:53,960 Speaker 1: compete in that space. In Katsuo Harai was promoted to CEO. 757 00:46:54,080 --> 00:46:58,319 Speaker 1: He replaced Sir Howard Stringer, and Harai attempted to reunify 758 00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:01,440 Speaker 1: Sony strategies and get the penning on more stable ground. 759 00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:05,320 Speaker 1: The previous two decades had been pretty volatile for Sony financially. 760 00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:11,360 Speaker 1: They had had very variable results year over year, so 761 00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:16,640 Speaker 1: they're trying to get things to settle down. In fourteen, 762 00:47:16,719 --> 00:47:20,319 Speaker 1: Sony would sell off its bio PC division. It was 763 00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:22,480 Speaker 1: a big, big news for Sony to get out of 764 00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:25,600 Speaker 1: that space, and they also in fourteen spun off its 765 00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:29,600 Speaker 1: TV division into its own corporation. So again it was 766 00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,360 Speaker 1: kind of an idea of of let's let the TV 767 00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:35,560 Speaker 1: division be its own thing where it's not worried about 768 00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:37,799 Speaker 1: what the rest of the company is doing. They can 769 00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:42,239 Speaker 1: focus on creating the best television sets with the newest innovations, 770 00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:45,040 Speaker 1: unhindered by the rest of the company. That was the 771 00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:48,680 Speaker 1: philosophy behind it. As for a vio PC, I assume 772 00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:50,239 Speaker 1: it was just one of those things where it was 773 00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:53,160 Speaker 1: a division that the company just felt didn't fit into 774 00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:55,800 Speaker 1: the new vision of what Sony would be all about. 775 00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:00,319 Speaker 1: Now we get up to twenty sixteen. This year the 776 00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:02,919 Speaker 1: year I'm recording this. If you're listening to this, after 777 00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:07,400 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, Hello from the past. In twenty sixteen, PlayStation 778 00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:10,760 Speaker 1: would release the ps VR, that's the virtual reality system 779 00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:14,160 Speaker 1: for the PlayStation, and so it entered into the competitive 780 00:48:14,239 --> 00:48:17,920 Speaker 1: virtual reality field. Incredibly competitive right now, because you've got 781 00:48:18,239 --> 00:48:20,959 Speaker 1: big names like the Oculus Rift and the HTC five 782 00:48:21,080 --> 00:48:25,640 Speaker 1: that have been trying to make VR a consumer reality 783 00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:30,560 Speaker 1: for several months before the PSVR came out. Uh just 784 00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:34,280 Speaker 1: before I came in to record this section, Sony announced 785 00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:36,359 Speaker 1: that it was selling off its battery business, as well 786 00:48:36,360 --> 00:48:39,960 Speaker 1: as readjusting its profit estimate for twenty sixteen, adjusting it 787 00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:43,600 Speaker 1: downward for the fiscal year. So at this point, Sony 788 00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:47,960 Speaker 1: is still uh looking at a two point six billion 789 00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:52,640 Speaker 1: dollar profit at the end of the year, but originally 790 00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:55,239 Speaker 1: they were looking at closer to three billion. So it's 791 00:48:55,239 --> 00:48:57,760 Speaker 1: been it's been a rough year for Sony in twenty 792 00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:00,200 Speaker 1: sixteen in the sense that they're not performing as well 793 00:49:00,239 --> 00:49:02,120 Speaker 1: as they had hope. They're still making a profit. It's 794 00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:04,959 Speaker 1: not like they're losing money in twenty sixteen, but they're 795 00:49:04,960 --> 00:49:08,000 Speaker 1: not doing as well as they had hoped originally. The 796 00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:10,239 Speaker 1: p s VR is one of their strategies that they're 797 00:49:10,239 --> 00:49:13,680 Speaker 1: really hoping will help carry the company forward this uh, 798 00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:18,160 Speaker 1: you know, really investing in the video game and entertainment 799 00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:22,680 Speaker 1: aspects that Sony is involved in. And PSVR has a 800 00:49:22,680 --> 00:49:26,040 Speaker 1: pretty good chance of doing really well because when you 801 00:49:26,040 --> 00:49:30,520 Speaker 1: think about it, the PlayStation VR depends upon the PS four, 802 00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:34,640 Speaker 1: of which there are millions out there already. If you 803 00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:38,480 Speaker 1: want to get a VR headset like the Oculus Rift 804 00:49:38,520 --> 00:49:42,080 Speaker 1: or the HTC five, you need a PC capable of 805 00:49:42,200 --> 00:49:45,840 Speaker 1: running VR programs at a fast enough frame rate and 806 00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:50,040 Speaker 1: high enough resolution so that you get the experience you want. 807 00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:52,880 Speaker 1: That can be pretty expensive. I mean the headsets alone 808 00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:56,799 Speaker 1: are several hundred dollars, and then the PC you need 809 00:49:56,880 --> 00:50:01,439 Speaker 1: to run the headsets maybe anywhere from eight dollars on up. 810 00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:04,439 Speaker 1: So when you combine the two, you could be looking 811 00:50:04,520 --> 00:50:07,759 Speaker 1: at between fift hundred and two thousand dollars just to 812 00:50:07,880 --> 00:50:11,440 Speaker 1: run VR using these headsets. If you already own a 813 00:50:11,480 --> 00:50:14,839 Speaker 1: PS four, the only thing you have to invest in 814 00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:17,440 Speaker 1: is the PSVR, which is still several hundred dollars. It's 815 00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:21,440 Speaker 1: not like it's super cheap, but it's less money than 816 00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:25,360 Speaker 1: buying an all news system and an all new headset. 817 00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:29,360 Speaker 1: If it can run your existing system, then you can 818 00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:31,760 Speaker 1: end up at least not spending extra money. Now, granted, 819 00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:35,480 Speaker 1: if you want to use the full set up, you 820 00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:37,640 Speaker 1: also have to have a Sony eye camera and the 821 00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:40,920 Speaker 1: Sony move controllers, which you may have to purchase if 822 00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:44,319 Speaker 1: you didn't buy a bundle that had those in them, 823 00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:46,000 Speaker 1: and you'll have to buy those as well to get 824 00:50:46,040 --> 00:50:49,360 Speaker 1: the full PSVR experience. Not every game uses those. Some 825 00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:51,480 Speaker 1: of the games used just a regular controller and they 826 00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:55,560 Speaker 1: don't use the eye camera or the motion controllers at all, 827 00:50:56,600 --> 00:51:00,000 Speaker 1: but some of them do use those motion controllers. Um 828 00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:03,879 Speaker 1: I've heard varying things about the ps VR. I've heard 829 00:51:03,920 --> 00:51:06,600 Speaker 1: that it's the lightest headset out of all the VR 830 00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:08,960 Speaker 1: headsets out there, so it's the most comfortable to wear 831 00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:11,920 Speaker 1: for the longest amount of time, but the resolution is 832 00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:15,440 Speaker 1: lower and that the motion tracking of the eye camera 833 00:51:15,920 --> 00:51:18,000 Speaker 1: leaves a lot to be desired, so you have some 834 00:51:18,520 --> 00:51:23,040 Speaker 1: performance issues with them. I don't know that firsthand because 835 00:51:23,040 --> 00:51:25,960 Speaker 1: I haven't tried it, but that's just what I've read 836 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:30,480 Speaker 1: and heard on various podcasts. So uh, I don't know. 837 00:51:30,560 --> 00:51:32,719 Speaker 1: If you've had experience with the PSVR, you should let 838 00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:34,279 Speaker 1: me know what it was like, if you loved it, 839 00:51:34,320 --> 00:51:36,799 Speaker 1: if it was great. I would love to hear that, 840 00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:39,239 Speaker 1: because I'm only hearing one side so far. I know 841 00:51:39,320 --> 00:51:41,719 Speaker 1: some people really love it, but that's not the the 842 00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:43,600 Speaker 1: not the people who have been doing the podcast I've 843 00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:48,200 Speaker 1: been listening to um. But it's interesting to see a 844 00:51:48,239 --> 00:51:50,920 Speaker 1: big company get involved like that, and maybe that will 845 00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:55,480 Speaker 1: end up creating the virtual reality experience that ends up 846 00:51:55,520 --> 00:51:57,919 Speaker 1: being the killer app, because right now I don't think 847 00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:02,120 Speaker 1: VR has had that. So that's it. That's that brings 848 00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:04,960 Speaker 1: us up to speed on the Sony story, And like 849 00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:08,719 Speaker 1: I said, it's huge. It's sprawls. There's so much more 850 00:52:08,719 --> 00:52:11,120 Speaker 1: we can talk about. We can talk so much more 851 00:52:11,160 --> 00:52:15,040 Speaker 1: about Sony music, or Sony pictures or Sony Interactive entertainment. 852 00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:19,040 Speaker 1: And again, maybe one day we will, but that depends 853 00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:21,879 Speaker 1: largely on you, the audience. If you want to hear 854 00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:24,760 Speaker 1: more about any of those in the future, don't worry. 855 00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:26,960 Speaker 1: I'm not going to do them immediately after this one. 856 00:52:27,200 --> 00:52:30,880 Speaker 1: I'm gonna cover totally different topics so that we can, 857 00:52:31,160 --> 00:52:34,920 Speaker 1: you know, cover all stuff tech, not just one company. 858 00:52:34,960 --> 00:52:36,640 Speaker 1: But if you ever want to hear more about those 859 00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:39,879 Speaker 1: topics in particular, let me know, or if there's any 860 00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:43,000 Speaker 1: other technology topic you would like me to cover, let 861 00:52:43,040 --> 00:52:46,839 Speaker 1: me know. You can email me The email addresses tech 862 00:52:46,920 --> 00:52:49,719 Speaker 1: stuff at how stuff Works dot com, or you can 863 00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:51,960 Speaker 1: get in touch with me on social media. I am 864 00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:55,120 Speaker 1: on Facebook and I'm on Twitter, and I have the 865 00:52:55,120 --> 00:52:58,960 Speaker 1: handle text Stuff h SW. That's tech Stuff hs W 866 00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:01,319 Speaker 1: at both of those. If you want to get in 867 00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:04,160 Speaker 1: touch with me, you could do so there. And I 868 00:53:04,239 --> 00:53:05,920 Speaker 1: look forward to hearing from you, and I will talk 869 00:53:05,960 --> 00:53:13,920 Speaker 1: to you again really soon for more on this and 870 00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:16,520 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics. Is that how stuff Works dot 871 00:53:16,560 --> 00:53:26,520 Speaker 1: Com