Off the top of my head, Move support (last [strike]June ?[/strike] September) is the last high profile feature update.
3.56 allows Activision to stablize their CoD network.
I suspect the "bundling" of PS3 and PC titles on Valve Steam relies on the Qriocity DRM.
The next big thing ? *If* Playstation Suite is coming to PS3, then it will probably come in a few firmware updates.
EDIT: I think the PS3 Minis (run-time) came before the Move update.
For the NGP apps...
I hope for a different UI on PS3. e.g., Near can be an extension of the globe in "Life with Playstation" (and the music player visualizer). LiveArea can be integrated in XMB because the selected game icon already takes over the entire screen today.
Then add in Home and Google maps support !
I guess it was predictable that the XMB was going to be retired. 2011 Sony TV's, Blu-ray players and the NGP are no longer using it. But the SNAP developer program as of Nov of last year was still using/recommending XMB for Sony products but had touch screen code/routines as the first updates to the Open Source libraries. XMB is perfect for TVs with cursor keys but for a touch screen, less intuitive. XMB is, in my opinion, better for use with the Sixaxis but "Move", I think would be best served by some other "windows" interface. With the above it appears as if Sony can't make up their mind so a big question mark.
The PSP2 (NGP) has a modern web browser and that and touch screen I would guess means full surface management/windows support. We've been told that a modern web browser based on Webkit is coming to the PS3 so there will be similar support for windows coming to the PS3 as that is necessary for the Webkit port.
Mentioned by a Sony employee was apps coming to the PS3 via Playstation Suite but that was quickly retracted. That put a big question mark on this issue.
And yes we have commented that there have been few non-game updates to the PS3 the last year beyond those allowing Netflix like apps which still have to be in a shell because support is still missing in the PS3 OS. The excuse we give Sony is that they must be working on something big since it's been so long. But other Sony products have gotten state of the art browsers and full OS support in mere months. Another big question mark here.
CES 2011 gave us an insight into what is happening in the CE market which might make it's way into the PS3.
Skype: It's already in 2011 Sony TVs (720P 30Hz)
Gesture and voice recognition apps for Skype
Third party Kinect like camera with voice and Gesture recognition
HTML5 browsers in everything (in Sony 2011 CE products)
Widgets and Apps in most
4K resolution TV
3-D is in just about everything
HDBaseT (Sony, Samsung, LG, Valens)
Wireless HDMI shown (In Phillips Blu-ray player may require dual channel "N" for 1080P, "N" for 720P)
Guess:
Of the above Webkit within a couple of months
Apps and Widgets?
Skype is possible after Webkit but the PS3 camera is below Skype specs.
Gesture and voice recognition should be in the NGP , can work with Move or sixaxis See links
4K resolution sometime in 2012. The PS3 hardware can output 4K video and pictures
HDBaseT and HDMI wireless support 2011 before the NGP release.
Skype
http://voiceontheweb.biz/2011/01/skype-for-tv-demonstrations-at-ces-2011/
Gesture recognition
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4212294/3-D-gesture-control-breaks-out-of-the-game-box-semiconductor
http://geek-news.mtv.com/2011/01/06/ces-2011-microsoft-ceo-makes-big-announcements/
In order to port NGP games to Android platforms, the NGP hardware supports the same feature set as mainstream Android 2.3 tablets. It should also support natively, Android OS software features using the hardware. So gesture and voice recognition which will be in Gingerbread will, I expect, be in NGP.
Some of the above code could make it into the PS3 OS.
