The PS3 browser and net capabilities : Is PS3 getting Android/WebKit support?
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jeff_rigby
Banned
I have a different take on it. Applications are going to be a big market. Apple, Google, Facebook are all getting stores to sell applications. Certifying an application "Ultraviolet" so that the consumer knows it will run on his Ultraviolet certified platform is a major step in supporting the applications market. Remember it's about making money.
What language is going to be able to run on every web connected Ultraviolet labeled platform:
Javascript. This is another reason for faster Javascript. Ultraviolet applications will also include games.
jeff_rigby
Banned
You are thinking of Ultraviolet as a DRM. It's really a mechanism for the consumer to know his purchase is compatible/usable across multiple platforms.The Fair use rulings require some such response like this from the industry.
While it is a DRM, consumers will be sold on what it allows not what it limits. The best example: purchase a blu-ray disk and you have the right to have the movie streamed to your cell phone Free.
It is a multi-device DRM platform. What you described are the generic functions of a DRM system.
EDIT:
It's different from enabling app development (which is more an issue of OS, run-time and dev platform)
And then there's content development and programming, which has additional dimensions, like this:
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-current-tv-taps-sims-creator-for-interactive-webisode-series/
EDIT:
It's different from enabling app development (which is more an issue of OS, run-time and dev platform)
And then there's content development and programming, which has additional dimensions, like this:
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-current-tv-taps-sims-creator-for-interactive-webisode-series/
I agree that Sony should have some kind of much more solid strategy than they've revealed to date to keep the PS3 relevant. Google TV, Roku, Apple TV, Hulu, Netflix.. Sony should be competing heavily in that space with their console, and a competent browser with HTML5 and Flash video would go a long way toward supporting that.
If Sony could host the android user-space on top of the PS3, it might be to their advantage, but it's not clear that anyone has separated the Dalvik runtime and class libraries from the Android Linux kernel.
Having a truly first class HTML 5 environment with accelerated JavaScript and full codec support along with local caching and GPU accelerated canvas would allow the PS3 to fight in the same space as the other streaming video boxes, but Sony just hasn't shown any public sign of being highly motivated in that area so far.
I hope they are. Heck, if Sony decided to produce a $149 PS3 with no Blu-Ray drive or hard drive and sold it as a streaming video solution that could also play PSN games, they'd have something that Apple couldn't easily compete with.
The same goes for Microsoft and the 360, for that matter.
As it stands, everyone cheerleading the streaming video market seem to write off Sony as a non-factor, and Sony seems to be allowing them to so far.
If Sony could host the android user-space on top of the PS3, it might be to their advantage, but it's not clear that anyone has separated the Dalvik runtime and class libraries from the Android Linux kernel.
Having a truly first class HTML 5 environment with accelerated JavaScript and full codec support along with local caching and GPU accelerated canvas would allow the PS3 to fight in the same space as the other streaming video boxes, but Sony just hasn't shown any public sign of being highly motivated in that area so far.
I hope they are. Heck, if Sony decided to produce a $149 PS3 with no Blu-Ray drive or hard drive and sold it as a streaming video solution that could also play PSN games, they'd have something that Apple couldn't easily compete with.
The same goes for Microsoft and the 360, for that matter.
As it stands, everyone cheerleading the streaming video market seem to write off Sony as a non-factor, and Sony seems to be allowing them to so far.
deathindustrial
Regular
The catch-22 for Sony is that if they provide a decent browser, they lose control of the platform - you no longer need to pay Sony a tithe to get a game or app onto the PS3. As a consumer I am all for it (and already own 2 PS3s) but Sony has demonstrated over and over throughout their history that they are highly reluctant to go with open and / or more popular 3rd party protocols and infrastructure (Beta, Atrac, MemoryStick, Hi-8, etc.)
My hope is that the days of uber protectionist Sony (the rootkit fiasco and similar insanity) are behind us but that is a lot of history to jettison in a short time frame.
Cheers
They can do it in 2 stages. First, build their own environment on top of XML and REST APIs. NetFlix, Hulu, Google Search, GoogleTV Search, and the new FaceBook API, etc. can be done this way. Then, have a full HTML5 run-time to round up the UI. Such presentation layer allows them to unify the the UI and user experience. We know the first stage is already being done. The question is will they follow through to the second stage.
In some sense, they already are. Sony will reveal their GoogleTV settop box next week. But it will have Blu-ray. It is unlikely to be $149 though (since Logitech Revue costs $299 without Blu-ray). As for the PS3 portion, there is indeed a conflict in business model. Then again, if they don't do it to themselves and find a way to evolve their business, their competition will gladly do so within a few years. I don't see how they can stay put. Either way, they will be changed.
Well... Sony also pushed Blu-ray, Qriocity (DECE), standardized Stereoscopic 3D, adopted OpenGL, etc. I don't think it's fair to say they are reluctant to go open.
The Playstation platform will have to prove its worth over the social games. As long as they can keep consumers' eyeballs to their screens and boxes, they should be able to find a way to make $$$. The question is how to structure the relationships with Google, Steam, etc. If they can't unify and define their own user environment, then they are doomed to be marginalized yet again.
So far, they have done well in Blu-ray. Qriocity looks like another new platform approach. If they can position themselves to take advantage of on-going trends, they should be able to stay relevant. But they may need the user experience/environment piece to break out.
jeff_rigby
Banned
Putting media aside for a moment and looking at apps.
Ultraviolet does not make javascript applications cross platform or insure they are cross platform. It reassures the customer that they will work on his platform.
Re: Player apps using javascript. This is a logical extention of HTML5 and Javascript APIs.
Cross platform applications were coming with new browsers on most platforms anyway. The platform OS takes this one step further and allows these apps to run outside the browser and some to be Desktop Widgets.
On the PS3, the shell that the HULU and MLB apps run in is a duplication of the same code. Sony could have provided the shell code in PS3 firmware and the Javascript application would then be much smaller and would be cross platform compatible. They will do this for Ultraviolet applications.
Security and unfinished WEB tools being a reason for the current method. I assume security for Ultraviolet labeled Javascript application code will have the Javascript encrypted using Ultraviolet DRM and unencrypted at runtime. This protects the javascript developers investment.
Integration of Webtools, this includes Ultraviolet and the compliant DRM Ultraviolet will use, into the OS is as much a part of the process as the WEBKIT browser it'self. With this understanding I believe Sony has had a finished Alpha version of a new Web Browser for the PS3 for months. I'm sure it's buggy but Ultraviolet is probably the major hold. Minor issues like Google finishing hardware acceleration and the WebGL parts is an issue also.
And yes less powerful Hardware can support the Ultraviolet DRM without supporting Applications. Those platforms will be called compliant but will not earn the Ultraviolet Label. Can you imagine Sony not having the PS3 earning the Ultraviolet Label.
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No. It only ensures that the content will play (or not play if unauthorized). It cares about the use case and workflow but it may not care about the underlying UI and render technologies. It can't because it's supposed to support "any" device that understands the UV authentication, the compatible DRM and Common File Format.
$^#&^#$ Sony should do an indepth article on this after they launched Qriocity.
$^#&^#$ Sony should do an indepth article on this after they launched Qriocity.
You're citing old Sony there. Look at new Sony and you'll see a company that's giving up it's proprietary stuff and adopting open stanadard.
However, you can't particularly begrudge them wanting to secure a media portal where they get the license fees - that's what these media console are all about! Games consoles as an industry aren't particularly profitable unless you get lucky. Mostly console companies lose as much in the beginning of a generation as they make any the end, or they just never make it back and go bust. Actually making money means needing to sell content, and a media portal is the best option for that. If either MS or Sony had their act together before this gen started, we may not have any open platforms like UV or Qriocity or all these other buzzwords I don't understand, because they'd have sewn up the distribution channels with their own standards.
jeff_rigby
Banned
I guess what I'm not getting across is that Ultraviolet is a marketing tool in addition to a DRM.
Apps and media are two different cases rolled up in the Ultraviolet name. You can't force them into the same mold for all platforms.
Edit: Understanding that DRM doesn't just let it run, that media (audio and video (streaming and local), games, applications) is encrypted and only when the rights locker confirms the "rights" it's unencrypted has implications. It implies a process that has to be integrated into the OS; this process is different for Media and Applications.
An interesting side note is the PS3 OS encrypts files stored on the Hard Disk and unencrypts as it is run. The cell may have been chosen not because it does games faster, it's certainly not easier to code for, but because it can encrypt/unencrypt on the fly faster than any other CPU and is the perfect CPU choice for security.
And yes there is not enough to confirm, I'm extrapolating from multiple articles and the "Official" website. For instance look at the new Javascript HTML5 APIs and ask yourself what local and WEB SQLite will be used for. Perhaps a professional looking Multi-media front end application that the PS3 is lacking. This is such an obvious omission for the PS3 it begs the question; why hasn't Sony provided one. The answer might be provided in a couple of months. Ultraviolet apps may come before the new browser is activated.
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UV is ambitious alright. I don't know if it's marketed well yet. Consumers don't have good impression of Sony's DRM.
Will have to see the service for ourselves before judging.
Off topic but related:
SonyInsider back paddling.
http://www.sonyinsider.com/2010/10/10/sony-google-tv-pricing-correction/
jeff_rigby
Banned
Sony will announce a family of GoogleTVs and a Google TV blu-ray player on Tuesday October 12th.
Sony may also announce Google TV coming to the PS3 at their Google TV launch on Tuesday. Considering Tuesday is a PS3 Firmware update day, we might also get content turned on. This content can be used to prove a Google TV port is partially completed and is a confirmed work in progress. Inside Sony the PS3 is considered a blu-ray player.
I believe Google wants those 38 million PS3s with Google Chrome browsers that can properly display Google API supported web sites announced as soon as possible. Press is mixed and Google TV is still in the chicken and egg stage.
Sony with Google TV has many firsts and can show they are leading the industry. They might go over a lists of firsts; blu-ray and 3-D (acceptance driven by PS3), Motion controller, Ultraviolet - Quriocity - Cloud computing (Which may be driven by Android devices and the PS3) , Google TV (acceptance may again be driven by Sony and the PS3) and they can announce their products will support third party applications via Android and Javascript-Ultraviolet.
I hope you're right. Sony'd be stupid to make you wrong
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