PSN Back Online

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You heard it from us at Frost magazine – the Playstation Network is now back on line.

Although the Playstation Store still comes up saying, ‘currently undergoing maintenance’, all the other features appear to be working.

Yesterday (15th), we told you that you were able to download the latest update for your PS3 – version 3.61. Well, today you can get access to all your account information, including billing and card details, although we are sure that it won’t be long before the rest of the service is up and running

Attempting to sign in today brings up the password change request. There are no options to cancel this – you have to change it, although thankfully it doesn’t ask for the old password. After that, we recommend you head straight for account management and amend all the personal info as necessary. There is also an option for the password to be entered before any action is completed in the store like check out – which, while infuriating to some owners, is probably a wise option considering what information might have been stolen.

Sony were forced to close its network and implement new security protocol after the details of over 77 million users were stolen from their servers.

PSN Update: PSN Back Online In Parts Of U.S.

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The Sony Store and PSN are now back on line in certain parts of the U.S.

In an amazing move that is sure to surprise users of PS3, Sony appears to have brought the deadline of bringing its network back ahead of the speculated deadline of the 31st. And although the PSN is only fully active in the United States right now, UK owners of PS3 can download the latest update (3.61) for their machines today (15th).

In the US, users are requested to change their passwords after installing the update to take advantage of the new features as well as the ‘thank you for your patience package’ offered by Sony after their service was hijacked and taken off line nearly a month ago. More than 77 million users had their personal details stolen.

You can be sure more news will follow. Keep your browser on Frost for all the latest updates.

 

Console Wars: Could Apple Buy Sony?

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OK,  so it’s probably a crazy idea and there’s no hint that it will happen, but it’s well worth taking a look at what would be an incredible business deal.

The idea came to me on the back of the recent PSN hack and Microsoft’s deal for Skype. Apple is sitting with an ever-growing amount of cash on its balance sheet. That and their short-term investments now total an enormous $29 billion. That’s money which is not doing a great deal and many analysts believe it could be put to better use by acquiring other companies.  Microsoft has made its move by buying Skype. Now its Apple’s turn.

Sony is currently valued at $27.7 billion (according to Google finance and not including options). Some believed Apple might acquire Sony back in October of last year (at that time Sony’s share price was around $32, more expensive than the $27.58 it is today).

Of course, the true cost of buying Sony would be a lot more. Apple would have to take on Sony’s colossal debts but Apple could afford to do it – if it wanted to.

The Console War

We all enjoy the rivalry between Sony and Microsoft as each company pushes the other onto greater and better things. But the truth is, Sony has been struggling. Its share price has collapsed from $149 a share in 1999 to just $27.58 today. Its rival Microsoft is valued at about eight times more.

Sony may be winning this round in the battle of the consoles (although many would disagree). However, it has made a loss the last two years. How much longer can it keep pace with its rival? Is it destined to follow Sega and, dare I say, Nintendo into mediocrity? Perhaps Sony needs to be bought out before this can happen.

Is it time Apple entered the console war? No doubt some Sony fans will baulk at the idea of an Apple takeover. But imagine the expertise Apple could bring to a console. The PSN network could be integrated with iTunes and Apple TV, and Apple could bring its brilliant design expertise to the PlayStation hardware and software. There would a whole of host of synergies.

The Brand

Imagine the power of the Sony and the Apple brand combined. Imagine the iPlaystation. We have iPad, iPods, so why not an iPlayStation?. Apple was already recently rated as the most valuable brand in the world (at a staggering $153bn). Picture what the addition of Sony could bring to it.

Would it Really Benefit Us?

A question worth asking as consumers is: Do we want to have to pay for this super brand? Would it work? Or would the strength of both brands work against each other?

The best thing for us, the consumer, would be if Apple entered the console war by itself. While we’d love it to happen, Apple is probably too far behind to do this. That said, who knows? If anyone could do it, it would be Apple.

The Microsoft and Apple History

The Microsoft/Apple History has been a very complex one. There has been mutual co-operation, contract deals, law suits against and investments in each other.

In the last 10 years, Apple has really taken the fight to its brother. In the last few days, Apple finally passed Microsoft in Profit ($6 billion to $5.2 billion for the quarter), having already passed it in revenue and market cap.

The Xbox is one of the last bastions of Microsoft not under attack by Apple. If Apple bought Sony, this would no longer be the case.

Other synergies

If Apple bought Sony, it would immediately mitigate much of the damage done to the Sony brand by the PSN hack. If Apple handled it properly, they could portray themselves as a rescuer. I believe Apple could add value just by stepping in. They could also bring their security experts to help shore up Sony’s system and prevent another attack.

An increasing presence in online gaming and entertainment could help Apple to challenge the likes of Facebook.

There would be many other savings as well, in the production process, purchasing of raw materials, marketing and distribution etc.

Could it Actually Happen?

Apple is probably far too sensible to consider such a deal. Part of the reason they have done so well at the moment is precisely because they have avoided getting distracted by the console war. Both Microsoft and Sony have sunk huge resources into their consoles for relatively little gain and it has shown in terms of profits and share price. Both have struggled in recent years partly as a result of this distraction.

However, Sony has previously been sighted as a potential Apple target and it is known they are in the market for acquisitions. On paper, the deal might make sense but that fails to consider the very different corporate cultures at Sony and Apple. Ultimately, this is probably the reason the deal will never happen. Mergers as big as this one have a poor record of success. Sony’s deeply ingrained corporate culture would be hard to overturn.

 

The Open Road: DVD Review

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Justin Timberlake’s career has come a long way since the Mickey Mouse Club. After featuring in The Social Network, one of the best films of the year, The Open Road offers the American a rare lead role.

Timberlake plays Carlton Garrett, a sports star who is trying to get his estranged, wayward father back home before his mother has a life-threatening operation.

This is a good movie with a good storyline. It has some nice twists and turns but, more importantly, has Jeff Bridges in it. Bridges, who recently starred in True Grit, is brilliant as Timberlake’s charismatic father, Kyle. Kate Mara, another very good, strong actor, also features as Garrett’s ex-girlfriend, Lucy.

If you fancy a good road movie, this is worth seeing.

Brooke Shields, Susan Sarandon and Gillian Anderson Support 'Positive Beauty'

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GLOBAL STARS AND THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY LINE UP TO SUPPORT PSYCHOLOGIES’ ‘POSITIVE BEAUTY’ MANIFESTO

Brooke Shields, Susan Sarandon and Gillian Anderson are amongst 50 celebrities who have signed up to support the Psychologies’ ‘Positive Beauty’ Manifesto, which launched on 5th May, 2011.

Beauty editor, Eminé Ali Rushton, said:  “An interest in how you look is so often dismissed as superficial, when in fact it’s been shown that those who take care of their appearance feel far happier. There’s such a powerful link between looking good & feeling good – and we wanted to celebrate this. By promoting such inclusive, positive values – that do not discriminate or prescribe or restrict – we’re truly celebrating beauty that unites us all.”

The manifesto, published in Psychologies’ June issues across the globe, marks the launch of a campaign that will also include the first ‘Positive Beauty’ awards in the UK in October.

The Psychologies’ ‘Positive Beauty’ campaign aims to encourage women to have a balanced approach to beauty and celebrates women who enjoy looking after their appearance, while celebrating individuality in an increasingly pressured world. The campaign taps into the Psychologies ethos of always looking beneath the surface to understand what really makes women tick – ‘Positive Beauty’ is the expression of a women’s sense of self as well as the way she chooses to present herself.

The campaign is being supported by major international beauty brands, including ambassadors from Lancôme, Laura Mercier, Trevor Sorbie, Eve Lom, Ruby Hammer and Margo Marrone from The Organic Pharmacy all signing up to the manifesto.

The 10-point manifesto has also been backed by US stars and leading UK women across entertainment, media and politics including; Jemma Kidd, Mary Portas, Kathy Lette, Miranda Hart, KT Tunstall, Corinne Baily Rae, Lisa B, Camila Batmanghelidjh from the Kids Company and Lynne Featherstone MP.

Louise Chunn, Editor of Psychologies comments: “I am a passionate believer in the aims of this beauty manifesto. Beauty is a wonderful tool for women, but it shouldn’t become their master.”

The ‘Positive Beauty’ Manifesto will run in UK Psychologies and internationally from 5th May in France, Russia, China, Belgium, Mexico, Romania, Spain, Italy and Greece.

As part of the campaign women in the UK are being asked to sign up to the manifesto on Psychologies.co.uk as well as tweet their personal ‘Positive Beauty’ mantras to @PsychologiesMag, to celebrate feeling good about beauty.

The ‘Positive Beauty Awards’, taking place in London in October, will recognise beauty brands that help make women feel as well as look fantastic.

The 10 point Positive Beauty Manifesto:

1. Beauty is the celebration of what is unique about each one of us

2. Taking the time to care about ourselves boosts our self confidence

3. Beauty and femininity are complex, and should not follow a simplistic set of rules or

universal conversations

4. Beauty should celebrate intelligent, individual and confident role models

5. Being bombarded by unattainably perfect beauty ideals can damage that confidence

6. True beauty radiates who we truly are, including all our imperfections

7. Feeling beautiful is more important than looking beautiful

8. A woman can play with her image, make-up and clothes without being superficial

9. Neither neglecting your appearance nor obsessing about it are healthy signs for women

10. We can be beautiful without being young, overtly sexy or thin

BLAKE'S NOT LIVELY – SHE'S AN OLD FOGEY; FIRST LOOK AT 'APES' PICS; PLUS DANIEL RADCLIFFE DOES HATE

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First Look! – Pictures from Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Total Film takes a look at the first pictures from Rise of the Planet of the Apes which opens later this summer. Andy Serkis plays chief chimp Caesar, created through motion-capture and CGI.

Director Rupert Wyatt explains, “We had a choice of using either live apes or CGI. Personally, I had moral problems with the idea of using chimps. And from a practical point of view it would be virtually impossible to get them to do what we need them to do within our schedule.”

Blake’s not Lively – she’s an old fogey?

When Total Film sat down for a chat with Blake about her latest film The Green Lantern, the Gossip Girl admitted “I very much think of myself as an old fogey.”

Responding to jibes from Green Lantern director Martin Campbell that she was “going on 60”, Blake confessed, “I don’t party, I don’t go out and I’m sure one day I’ll really regret not tapping in and really living it up and exploring all the frivolities of youth.”

Speaking about her transformation from blonde to brunette for her portrayal of the comic book’s character Carol Ferris, she added, “I do want to make the fans happy. In the end we did a test and I tried 14 different shades of brown because we wanted to have the exact right colour. It was elaborate.”

Daniel Radcliffe speaks exclusively to Total Film: “I just hated my performance”

Speaking exclusively to Total Film in the issue out now about the final installment, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Radcliffe revealed that he hated his performance in the 2009 film, The Half-Blood Prince.

“The Half-Blood Prince wasn’t my favourite installment overall. I just hated my performance. The film was good, but it’s a huge amount of exposition.”

“READ THE FULL STORY IN TOTAL FILM – OUT NOW”

SILENCE WILL FALL…New Doctor Who Villian Arrives

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SILENCE WILL FALL…

THE SILENCE

ARRIVING AT THE

DOCTOR WHO EXPERIENCE

ON FRIDAY 13th MAY

{above picture} One of Doctor Who’s most terrifying enemies, The Silence, stands behind an unsuspecting Welsh Guard in Pall Mall, ahead of their arrival at the highly-acclaimed Doctor Who Experience at London’s Olympia 2 venue. The fully interactive themed experience and exhibition invites visitors to step through a crack in time to become the Doctor’s companion on an adventure. Their challenge will be to reunite the Doctor with the TARDIS whilst fending off threats from a Dalek spaceship and Weeping Angels along the way, before exploring the wonders of Doctor Who at an out of this world exhibition.

This Friday 13th May Doctor Who Experience will prove monsters are real by giving you the opportunity to come face-to-face with one of Doctor Who’s most terrifying of monsters to date as The Silence arrive at the Doctor Who Experience.

The Silence will be on show in the walk-through part of the Doctor Who Experience following their appearance in the opening two episodes of the award-wining series, The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon.

Fans will be able to encounter these terrifying monsters for the first time, who, with their powers of telepathy and eerie ability to erase themselves from your memory have been cited as one of the Doctor’s more frightening foes.

Glimpse one of these creatures at Doctor Who Experience and you may feel slightly unsettled the moment it’s out of view but the real question is… will you remember?

Come fly the TARDIS and dare to meet The Silence, by taking a starring role in your very own Doctor Who adventure at the Doctor Who Experience. Step through the crack in time and become the Doctor’s companion in this exhilarating walk through experience that recreates all the best parts of the hit TV series. Come face to face with some of the scariest monsters seen on the screen including Daleks, Cybermen and the latest addition from series 6: The Silence.

There’s fun for family and fans alike with the largest collection of authentic Doctor Who props and artefacts including all the previous Doctor’s iconic costumes, the original David Tennant TARDIS set and even interactive lessons in how to walk like a Cyberman!

Tickets on sale at www.doctorwhoexperience.com

Door Price / Advance peak / Advance off-peak

· Adult: £20.00 / £18.00 / £15.50

· Child (5 to 16): £15.50 /£14.00 /£12.50

· Under 5’s are free

· Family of 4: £62.00 / £52.00 /£46.00

Schools/Groups/Tour Operators: separate pricing.

Osama Bin Laden son in 'Moral High ground' Shocker

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The son of Osama Bin Laden has released a statement say the killing of his Al Qaeda father was ‘criminal’ and that he reserves the right to sue the U.S government. The statement made by Omar Bin Laden did not however mention whether he also felt the victims of 9/11 should be able to sue his father’s estate for the murder of their relatives.

Omar is Bin Laden’s fourth eldest son and also mentioned that the Al Qaeda chiefs other children also are ‘reserving the right to take legal action in the U.S and internationally.’ The statement that was published on the Islamist website Abu Walid al-Masri also stated that his father’s burial was ‘humiliating’ as his father had ‘such importance and status among his people’ ,but, yet again, did not mention that fact that over 3000 bodies of the 9/11 victims will never even be found.

Specialists on militant propaganda had said that the statement appears to be genuine.

Omar Bin Laden, 30, married a British women 25 years older than him and she appeared in a number of celebrity magazines with her young husband beside her. They tried to relocate to the UK but his visa was refused. Omar and his wife Zaina Bin Laden (Previously known as Jane Felix-Browne) are now based in the Gulf. It was announced in April that they are having a surrogate child through IVF, which is being carried by a British Pole Dancer. Their twins were miscarried last year through another surrogate, after which the couple broke up amide claims that Omar was suffering from mental illness. They are now back together even though Omar told the Daily Mail that there was “no chance” of a reconciliation.

The alleged letter from Omar went on to say: ”We hold the American President (Barack) Obama legally responsible to clarify the fate of our father, Osama Bin Laden, for it is unacceptable, humanely and religiously, to dispose of a person with such importance and status among his people, by throwing his body into the sea in that way, which demeans and humiliates his family and his supporters and which challenges religious provisions and feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims.’