The XrossMediaBar is something most of you PS3 or PSP owners probably see every day. And chances are, you've grown pretty attached to it. Hey, the XMB didn't win an Emmy for nothing, y'know. Well, don't look now (aww, you looked!) but Sony's just announced that they'll be incorporating the XMB interface into their latest series of Vaio mobile notebooks.

Here's some more good news for Sony gadget owners. It seems like the company has taken a cue from the genius Bars at Apple stores and has unveiled Backstage, Sony's very own in-store tech support.

This new addition to the Sony Style retail shops will support both technical help and consultations. Owners of Sony-made gadgetry such as Vaio laptops, PSPs, and the like can take them in for diagnosis or parts replacement. According to Electronista, Sony says that Backstage can also help customers choose the system that's perfect for their needs.

Prices for the services have yet to be announced, but Electronista mentions that for an extra fee, out-of-warranty service will be available. You can check out Backstage at Sony Style outlets in New York and New Jersey. More stores will be getting the Backstage treatment in the following weeks.

Our previous report on legal actions against Sony involved Target Technology and their claim that Sony's Blu-ray infringes on their patent. While that one was more about the more on the materials in the Blu-ray disc, this new lawsuit, this time from Certicom Corp, claims that Sony Corp's Blu-ray infringed on two US patents on digital content protection.

The suit claims that Sony is using Certicom licensed digital encryption technology (AACS) in Sony Blu-ray HD products. Certicom also claims that a digital transmission patent (Digital Transmission Content Protection or DTCP) was also infringed by Sony as it is being used without a license in wireless and audio devices.

Sony products affected by this suit include: the Playstation 3, various Sony DVD players, VAIO personal computers, and some Sony HDTV models and audio equipment.

The suit was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. Certicom Corp is represented by the Fish & Neave Intellectual Property Group of U.S.-based law firm Ropes & Gray.

With two lawsuits regarding a format that could arguable be Sony's biggest ace, it seems that other people's sentiments that folks are just trying to "cash-in" are starting to gain credence, but that's just one way of looking at it. What do you folks think?

PlayStation Canada's been aggressively marketing the PS3 towards the one demographic that would appreciate it (though probably not afford it yet): the college student. Definitely smart to master the complexities of strategy and tactics, with the energy and drive for sleepless nights, and the flexibility of a college schedule (we speak from experience).

Well, the Campus Cup '07, featuring Evolution Studios' MotorStorm, has recently wrapped up its college tour, but there is one event left. You see, this tour has a grand prize to be fought over by college students: A FREE YEAR'S FULL TUITION FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2007/2008, a PlayStation 3 with one game, and a Sony VAIO N-Series notebook PC. (Do note that the free tuition is ALL CAPS, thus establishing its importance in the priority scale)

According to the mechanics of the contest, those eligible for the prize are those who posted the fastest times in MotorStorm on the day the Campus Cup was at their campus. Those guys then became their college's rep in the inter-school finals to be held at the end of the month, where they will all race against (and swear at) each other for the grand prize. (By the way, for being their school's fastest, those guys also won a PSP and three PSP games)

Gee, we could imagine the faces on the parents of those tournament qualifiers: "Don't bug me, Mom/Dad! I'm practicing for my one-year scholarship!" Yeah, practicing with a racing title.

Yogiro Ogawa, the Sonic Team boss and director of Sonic and the Secret Rings, had this to say in a recent interview with CVG:

Now I think that if Sony had sold the PS3 alongside the Vaio brand, maybe like calling it the 'Vaio PS3' or something like that, it may have been more appealing to the right people.

...I think that the way in which Sony has chosen to approach the PS3 could have been better. It's very expensive.

Ogawa also praises Nintendo for their efforts on their latest console, the Wii. He says:

If you look at videogame history, Nintendo hardware always extends on what we have. They design, develop and create new toys.

He even calls the Wiimote a "a fun device to design games for" due to its innovation and the new challenges it poses for game designers.

Would marketing the PS3 differently have helped increase its sales? Now that the launch is said and done, and now that Sony seems adamant with the direction it has chosen for its latest console, we can only speculate...

Looks like Sony lawyers are due back in court. After Immersion won more than $90 million for its Dual Shock patent suit last March, another company, Agere Systems is taking Sony through the legal circus.

According to the semiconductor company, Sony committed patent infringements on eight products, including the PSP, PS2, PS3 (based on announced specs), VAIO computers, Handycams, Walkman players, Memory Stick Duos, and Location Free TV. The technology being contested are the LAN technology and tungsten plugs, among other things.

The lawsuit claims Sony willingly infringed on the patents and - here's the scary part - Agere wants to see Sony's books so it can determine how much money they can wring from the electronics giant. Sony denies the charges, naturally, and claims some of the patents issued by Agere omitted important information when it filed for them. Does that means some of the patents were filed properly but Sony used them anyway?

According to lawsuit-magnet Sony, it has the rights to use seven of the eight patents through a 1989 cross-licensing deal with AT&T and Lucent (whose microelectronics group became Agere Systems). Sony believes the patents in question are invalid and wants the case flushed down the judge's toilet. This is not the first time Agere sued Sony. By the way, Sony counter-sued Agere last month and demanded a jury trial.

Looks like a job tailored-made for Denny Crane.

Sony have been hunting down a rebate of €50 million in import duties by claiming that the PS2 was an 'automatic data processing machine', or in layman's terms, a computer. However, this week a UK court ruled that the PS2 is actually what we all thought it was, a videogame console "of a kind used with a television receiver.". If the PS2 was classified as a computer, Sony could have received the rebate of European customs taxes that they have paid since the launch of the PS2 in Europe.

The UK Court of Appeal ruled that the PS2 was a videogame console because it was not 'freely programmable' despite Sony's 5-year struggle to grant the PS2 'computer' status. Interestingly Sony have already started to claim that the PS3 is a computer and not in fact a games console.

In an interview with Japanese magazine NikkeiBP which we reported on last week, Sony President Ken Kutaragi said "As the PlayStation 3 is a computer, we might even offer it on a built-to-order basis, customized to the needs of each and every user”. Will this be enough to grant the PS3 'computer' status? Does this mean it is freely programmable? Maybe, but one thing that's sure is that Sony are trying to persuade the world, and the British court system that the PS3 is a computer. Funny, I thought Sony PC systems used the brand name Vaio, not Playstation.