Sony is planning a tablet computer with a touch panel similar to Apple's iPad for later this year that the Japanese manufacturer promises will make the best of its gadgetry and entertainment strengths. 
 
 The product code-named S1, shown Tuesday in Tokyo, comes with a 9.4 inch display for enjoying online content, such as movies, music, video games and electronics books, and for online connections, including email and social networking. 
 
 Sony, which boasts electronics as well as entertainment divisions, also showed S2, a smaller mobile device with two 5.5 inch displays that can be folded like a book. 
 
 It did not give prices. Sony Corp. Senior Vice President Kunimasa Suzuki said the products will go on sale worldwide from about September. Both run Google's Android 3.0 operating system. 
 
 The announcement of Sony's key net-linking offerings comes as it tries to fix the outage of its PlayStation Network, which offers games and music online. 
 
 It is unclear when that can start running again. Sony has blamed the problem on an "external intrusion" and has acknowledged it would have to rebuild its system to add security measures and strengthen its infrastructure. 
 
 Suzuki said both of the latest tablets feature Sony's "saku saku," or nifty, technology that allows for smooth and quick access to online content and for getting browsers working almost instantly after a touch. 
 
 "We offer what is uniquely Sony," Suzuki said after demonstrating how the S1 was designed with a tapered width for carrying around "like a magazine." 
 
 The devices will connect to Sony's cloud-computing based library of content such as movies and music, as well as to Sony PlayStation video games adapted for running on Android and digital books from Sony's Reader store, the company said. 
 
 Sony, which makes the Vaio personal computer and PlayStation 3 video game console, has lost some of its past glory _ once symbolized in its Walkman portable music player that pioneered personal music on-the-go in the 1980s, catapulting the Japanese company into a household name around the world. 
 
 It has been struggling against flashier and more efficient rivals including Apple Inc. of the U.S. with its iPhone, iPod and iPad machines, as well as South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., from which Sony purchases liquid-crystal displays, a key component in flat-panel TVs. 
 
 Sony has already promised a successor to its PlayStation Portable machine for late this year, code-named NGP for "next generation portable," promising the quality of a home console in an on-the-go machine boasting a screen double the size of smart phones. 
 
 The popularity of smart phones including the iPhone has been another threat to Sony. 
 
 Kazuo Hirai, promoted in March to head Sony's sprawling consumer products and services division, said Sony's strategy has always been about combining the benefits of hardware, software and networking to make consumers happy, and that was the same goal for S1 and S2. 
 
 "There is no change to that approach," he said. ||||| Sony had an event today and as expected, it introduced the PlayStation 4. The next-gen platform is designed to shift focus from the living room to the gamer, Sony said, and overall, PlayStation’s approach is meant to make it possible for gamers to play wherever they want, whenever they want. 
 
 PS4 lead system architect Mark Cerny talked about how the evolution of the PS4 came about, saying it began five years ago, earlier on in the life of the PS3. The PS3 was a first step, which was designed to connect to a variety of services, but it was limited because of how early it launched in that world, Cerny said. 
 
 “Much less value is found today in blast processing or a system-on-a-chip,” Cerny said. He suggested tech could interfere with design innovation. The tech remains important, he stressed, but the idea was to create a platform that was all about experience. Sound familiar? That’s because it’s a tune Apple and Steve Jobs started playing years ago when they realized the spec race was a nonstarter in the mobile phone world. 
 
 “By game creators, for game creators. It is a powerful and accessible system,” Cerny said on stage, suggesting that this time around there was a strong emphasis on ease of development, hence the use of a standard x86 PC CPU. The GPU is designed for use with “practical tasks,” he said, with the overall goal of making development a painless experience. 
 
 Essentially, the PS4 is an advanced, x86-based personal computer, which means that it should be easy for developers to build. All of this is clearly an answer to a major complaint from studios about the previous generation, which was infamously tricky to master from a software perspective. 
 
 Sony also unveiled a redesigned DualShock 4 controller, which has the Vita-style touchpad depicted in rumors, ad works with a 3D “stereo” camera accessory to track its movements in a loose approximation of what’s possible with Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect. 
 
 The hardware is clearly also borrowing some tricks from mobile games. It has save states that allow users to quickly freeze and resume gameplay, without having to save just by switching on and off the console. There’s also background downloading, which allows digital titles to be played before they’re even completely on your local drive. 
 
 Social is another key tentpole for the PS4, according to Cerny. He described a new function that allows you to quickly pause and upload gameplay videos as easily as you might have done with static screenshots in the past. There’s also spectator functionality for watching “celebrities” gaming, something which seems to have been borrowed from Twitter’s success with famous members. Networking will also be based around real names and profile pictures, instead of strictly on gamer tags and avatars, too, and all of this will plug into mobile apps to help gamers stay in touch.
– Sony today unveiled its next-generation gaming system, PlayStation 4, saying the console will be part of a new ecosystem focused on hardware, software, and "the fastest, most powerful gaming network." The new console is the Japanese electronics giant's first major game machine since the PlayStation 3 went on sale in 2006. Today's unveiling is Sony's attempt to steal the spotlight, at least until Microsoft unveils its next Xbox in June at the E3 video game expo in Los Angeles. Among the PS4's revisions is an updated controller that adds a touchpad, motion control, and a "share" button. The controller also features a light bar, which means a new PlayStation camera can more easily track the device. Sony has struggled lately to keep up with Microsoft and other rivals such as Apple and Samsung. The company is promising nifty mobile devices, sophisticated digital cameras, and other gadgetry as part of its comeback effort. More details at Gizmodo and TechCrunch.