How do you counter Apple's iPad? With another iPad. That's what Sony's going to do, according to Sony's CFO Nobuyuki Oneda.

"[Slates are] a market we are also very interested in. We are confident we have the skills to create a product...Time-wise we are a little behind the iPad but it's a space we would like to be an active player in."

To be fair, Sony's Reader was the first major eReader in the world, and it was a pretty remarkable product for its time. The Vaio P, while a bit unusable by normal-sized humans, is also a small engineering marvel.

But...oh Sony. I just can't take anything you say or do seriously anymore. I'm trying here. Make you a deal—say that whole piece about the iPad again. This time, I'll do my best not to crack a smile.

Nope, not working. I tried. I tried so hard. [Computerworld]

Joining the SH1 and CS1 from a mere month ago are three new Xacti models from Sanyo—the GH2, CG102 and CG20. All three film in 1080i widescreen resolution, and will cost under $230 each. Score!

Of course, I'd rather have a camcorder shooting 1080p like the SH1 and CS1, but what's a few less lines between friends? The CG20 and CG102 are both pistol-grip models, with the GH2 coming in a minute barrel shape. Specs-wise, the GH2 and CG102 take photos with a 14.4-megapixel sensor, with the CG20 a 10.7-megapixel one.

A "double-range zoom" on the first two models means you can switch between 5x and 12x zoom.

Expect all three to go on sale in March, with the GH2 and CG102 pricier at $229 and the CG20 just $199. [Electronista]

"Unlike other companies, Microsoft never developed a true system for innovation." Dick Brass, a former VP at Microsoft, lays out in a scathing NYT op/ed how the company has destroyed its ability to "bring us the future." It's insanely fascinating.

His anecdotes, from this time running tablets at Microsoft—a type of computer the company believed was the future—are chilling, revealing the destructive level of competition between some divisions. For instance, someone in his group developed ClearType, Microsoft's font smoothing tech that was developed to sell ebooks, but other groups at Microsoft freaked out and actively sabotaged project, or tried to steal it from the tablet division, which is why it took 10 years to actually make it out into the world.

His other example is ridiculous too: The head of Office believed so strongly in the keyboard and mouse, he refused to develop a version optimized for tablets. Which is the exact opposite of what Apple showed last week, obviously, with a fully redesigned, multitouch version of iWork for the iPad. And it's the lack of software that doomed tablets from Microsoft.

Lastly, Brass blames a dated corporate culture that's afraid to take the risk of building integrated hardware and software products, a thought relic from the '70s, when hardware was risky. And if you look, Microsoft's best products lately are from the Entertainment & Devices division, where they've designed and built the hardware themselves: Xbox 360 and Zune HD. In fact, E&D is the one place innovation you can safely say that innovation keeps on rolling, largely because J. Allard was allowed to insulate it from the rest of Microsoft for so long.

But here's a question: How do you turn around a ship that big? [NYT via Gartenberg]

"Unlike other companies, Microsoft never developed a true system for innovation." Dick Brass, a former VP at Microsoft, lays out in a scathing NYT op/ed how the company has destroyed its ability to "bring us the future." It's insanely fascinating.

His anecdotes, from this time running the Tablet PC division at Microsoft—you know, the kind of computer that Bill Gates believed was the future—are chilling, revealing the destructive level of competition between some divisions. For instance, someone in his group developed ClearType, Microsoft's font smoothing tech that was developed to sell ebooks, but other groups at Microsoft freaked out and actively sabotaged the project, or tried to steal it from the tablet division, which is why it took 10 years to actually make it out into the world.

His other example is ridiculous too: The head of Office believed so strongly in the keyboard and mouse (and so hated the tablet idea), he refused to develop a version optimized for tablets. Which is the exact opposite of what Apple showed last week, obviously, with a fully redesigned, multitouch version of iWork for the iPad. And it's the lack of software that doomed tablets from Microsoft.

Lastly, Brass blames a dated corporate culture that's afraid to take the risk of building integrated hardware and software products, a thought relic from the '70s, when hardware was risky. And if you look, Microsoft's best products lately are from the Entertainment & Devices division, where they've designed and built the hardware themselves: Xbox 360 and Zune HD. In fact, E&D is the one consumer division—not simply the labs—where you can safely say that innovation keeps on rolling, largely because J. Allard was allowed to insulate it from the rest of Microsoft for so long.

But here's a question: How do you turn around a ship that big, especially if it's sinking? [NYT via Gartenberg]

The Ikonoskop A-cam3D is a 1080p three-dimensional video camera that seems to have been stolen from Han Solo's Welcome to Hoth backpack. There's not a lot of information about it, but the first specs look very good:

• Records two images at 1920 x 1080 as individual RAW files in DNG format.
• Color depth: 12 bits.
• Speed: 25 or 30 frames per second.

The Ikonoskop A-cam3D is built to order, so it probably is prohibitively expensive. And to be honest, I don't even know if I would like a 3D camera. Maybe it would be fun to film some home porn with it, but I'm sure the excitement would die quite quickly. Would you like to shoot your videos in 3D? Tell us in the comments. [Engadget]

I love when tech companies go to war. And this one is going to be huge. No, not huge: Gigapocalyptical. The domination of a new age of computing is at stake, and Apple, Google, and Microsoft want to win.

This is the money they can play with. First, Microsoft with $40.4 billion in the bank. That's actual rupees plus short and long term securities. Apple follows up closely with $39.8 billion, while Google trails way behind with only $24 billion. And the almighty Intel? $18.9 billion.

Yes baby. I can't wait for the nuclear ballistic missiles to start filling the skies. [Silicon Insider]

Here in my rainy home of London, stories about "yoofs" and "hooligans" glassing each other with beer pints are pretty rife, which is why I'm hardly surprised the UK government is redesigning the pint glass to cut back on violence.

Supposedly 87,000 glassings occur each year in the UK, which says quite a bit about our culture here. Anyway, the government has weighed in and enlisted the help of the Design Council to create a safer glass, with a few different prototypes made so far. The first is coated in plastic to stop it from cracking, with the second design made from two layers of glass, bonded together with resin.

It kind of begs the question of whether pubs should just sell the amber liquid in plastic glasses, but you know those Brits—they may be hard-fisted purveyors of a good ol' glassing, but they still want to look classy while doing it. [BBC]

Image Credit: OwenBlacker

Here in my rainy home of London, stories about "yoofs" and "hooligans" glassing each other with beer pints are pretty rife, which is why I'm hardly surprised the UK government is redesigning the pint glass to cut back on violence.

Supposedly 87,000 glassings occur each year in the UK, which says quite a bit about our culture here. Anyway, the government has weighed in and enlisted the help of the Design Council to create a safer glass, with a few different prototypes made so far. The first is coated in plastic to stop it from cracking, with the second design made from two layers of glass, bonded together with resin.

It kind of begs the question of whether pubs should just sell the amber liquid in plastic glasses, but you know those Brits—they may be hard-fisted purveyors of a good ol' glassing, but they still want to look classy while doing it. [BBC]

Image Credit: OwenBlacker

Well, this is nice: a Radeon HD 5000 series graphics card available on the cheap. It looks like you're not sacrificing much in performance, either: The $60 Radeon 5450 has full DX11 graphics and Eyefinity multi-display support.

The $60 version comes with a 512MB memory configuration, and you lose a little speed compared to the 5800 and 5600 lines. But the 5450 is also optimized for HTPCs, with HDMI 1.3a with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

DX11 graphics, for those who forgot, can be pretty brain-melting:

For sixty bucks? Yes, please. [BusinessWire]

Did you know the Palm Pre Plus is a phone for ladies? Specifically, for moms? Well, it is, you sissy! If you were a real man, you'd buy a Droid! That's a phone for men!

Actually, that's far from the truth. Both phones are pretty damned gender neutral, unless you're the type of person who believes only men appreciate hard lines and ladies are drawn to curves. And apparently that's what Verizon believes, based on their advertising.

I mean, just look at these new Verizon Pre ads! Why are they showcasing this as a phone for moms? It's a quite capable phone that people of all genders and ages would enjoy. But I guess if they made the ads for the Droid so explodey and masculine they thought they had to make up for it with these.

Hey Verizon: they're both good phones. Feel free to just advertise them as such. [Engadget]