Yes, thin is indeed in. In fact, it's been in for several years now, but nothing has ever come close than Sony, innovator of electronics. Sony just unveiled a couple of ultra-thin displays...so thin, you probably won't see them if you look at them from the side. Check them out in the full article.

If you're looking to get the best bang out of your professional high definition camera's buck, then we suggest you look out for Sony's first color professional camera viewfinder based on the Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology that will be rolled out later this year. The HDVF-EL100 viewfinder is Sony's first non-consumer application which will make use of an OLED panel. For more details regarding this "l33t" photographer's tool, check out our full article.

No matter what Microsoft Game Studios' Shane Kim says Redmond has up its sleeves, Sony probably doesn't care. And who could blame them? Their recent triumph with Blu-ray has solidified Sony's mark on the consumer entertainment front, and the PlayStation 3 just overtook the Xbox 360 in market sales for a month. What could be sweeter? CEO Jack Tretton hints that it starts with a two and ends with an eight. More at the full story.

You want to know what Sony has up its sleeve for us this year? Well, a lot. At the Consumer Electronics Show 2008, Sony's press conference was filled with new products, technological advancements, and more.

Check out the full article to know what the consumer electronics giant announced for its HDNA lines.

The impressive XEL-1 OLED TV from Sony wouldn't be available until December 1 in Japan, but direct sales website Sony Style for the region is already taking pre-sales for the home entertainment product. First announced a couple of months ago, the TV set sports a 3-millimeter thin 960x540 resolution display and 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.

Pricing has not changed as the organic light-emitting diode TV is still pegged at 200,000 Yen or roughly around US$ 1,807. The full details can be had via the "read more" link below.

Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow has dropped hints that the new 11-inch XEL-1 OLED TV from Sony could be making its way to North America before the year ends.

The XEL-1 OLED TV was officially launched in Japan last month, with a North American launch hinging on foreign demand and panel supply. Find out more at the full article.

LG Electronics has just entered new candidates to the budding Asian portable music player market, debuting its new line Shining Stone UP3 S2 with an assortment of sparkly colors. The new MP3 + USB hybrids (dubbed UP3) sport bright hues of sparkling gems and a 65,000-color full OLED screen (not the 16 million-color one), and come in varieties of 1 GB, 2 GB, or 4 GB built-in memory.

Ruby Red, Black Diamond, Crystal Silver, Pink Trump, and Blue Sapphire are the five colors to choose from, though the Shining Stone UP3 S2 has more than shades to offer. The portable audio player can play most major, popular music formats (MP3, OGG, WMA) and even offers FM radio capabilities, FM radio recording functions, and voice recording features.

Shining Stone UP3 S2 also comes with a dual purpose USB cable, specially designed to allow file transfers from a PC to the unit and vice versa, while charging the unit's batteries at the same time. Headphones come in much smaller profiles to fit comfortably in the ear, while maximizing audio delivery and cutting out ambient noise.

Suggested retail prices for the 1 GB and 2 GB versions stand at KRW 69,000 (US$ 76.65) and the 4 GB version is estimated to be priced at about KRW 84,000 (US$ 93.32). Release date for Korea has not been announced yet, but you can expect it to hit retail for the holiday season.

Samsung SDI (Samsung Display Interface) is looking to spearhead the manufacturing of wide VGA (or wVGA, 480 x 800) OLEDs for handhelds. In English, that means the company, together with Clairvoyante, Inc. is looking to make high-res displays for our compact gizmos.

According to a press release, Samsung and Clairvoyante has teamed up to make the wVGA active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) dream come true. The joint venture will be making use of the Clairvoyante's PenTile subpixel rendering technology and will be resulting (hopefully) in a 3.08-inch diagonal screen perfect for upcoming handheld applications.

Right now, we only have displays of up to quarter VGA (qVGA or 240 x 320) because of the challenges in manufacturing, among other things. According to the release, it will be made possible since "PenTile technology makes it possible to attain this improved performance by eliminating one-third of the subpixels while maintaining the same display resolution."

Sung-Chul Kim, Samsung SDI vice president had this to say:

Our partnership with Clairvoyante will create a new PenTile OLED panel that will lead the handheld market with a power-efficient, high-resolution OLED panel that supports continued innovation in emerging handheld applications.

And Samsung seems very confident about the project (just like Sony and its XEL-1 OLED TV), indicating an ETA of Q1 2008 for samples and Q3 for the mass production. For tech heads out there, here are the specs:

• Specifications: 3.08 inch PenTile RGB OLED from Samsung SDI
• Diagonal 3.08 inches
• Luminance 200 cd/m2
• Contrast 1000:1
• Power consumption 400 mW
• Color Gamut (NTSC) 100%
• Format Wide VGA 480 x 800

It's here, and boy does it look beautiful (not to mention expensive). Yes, dear readers, Sony has let the cat out of the bag about its mystery digital media tool called "Drive." Featuring not only the bleeding edge of OLED technology but as well as a myriad of almost unreal statistics - the Sony XEL-1 OLED TV. Get ready to feel the burn in both your hearts and your wallets as we look further into Sony's latest baby.

So what does the XEL-1 do? First off - and this is the most prominent - it features a staggering 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio display, dwarfing even Pioneer's Project Kuro Elite Plasmas at the small size of only 11 inches. Let that sink in for a minute. It outdoes some of the best screens Pioneer can offer, while still being confined to that small a space. Awesome.

Not only is it petite, but it's also skinny: the 960 x 540 resolution display is only 3 mm thick. That's pretty much the closest thing to paper-thin, which is quite awesome and quite scary in its own right. After all, being that thin, it's probably going to be quite fragile.

The rather chunky stand beneath the display panel is also feature-packed, housing a terrestrial digital tuner, 1-watt speakers, and inputs for HDMI, USB and Ethernet. Neat - it's not only portable, but it's also high on connectivity. One can only wonder how playing one's favorite game or watching one's favorite movie on the XEL-1 would be like, but with these options, it's not that hard to imagine.

While a bit on the expensive side (costing around ¥ 200,000 or US$ 1,700), the XEL-1 is certainly a great addition to Sony's already awesome line-up.

Sony's announcement that it will begin sales of 11-inch organic light emitting diode (OLED) monitors before the end of the year has caused rival companies to step up their own OLED screen development plans. However, as reported by AV zombie, South Korean electronics company Samsung doubts that the electronics giant will not be able to deliver on their promise.

"I hope Sony will really do it, but considering circumstances, I doubt they will be able to start selling it this year," said Yoo Eui-jin, vice president and chief of Samsung SDI’s OLED team. "Maybe it would be possible for them to make a hundred or a thousand units as artifacts, but no more than that."

The advantages of OLED screens (greater range of colors, brightness, theoretically lower costs, etc.) over their LCD counterparts has had manufacturers racing to get them out of the factory and into consumers' homes. Samsung currently plans to introduce active matrix OLED screens for mobile phones and other portable devices instead of TVs.