Hacking the PSP Blog

"Portable" wireless storage for the PSP...

... courtesy of Chunglam, who's decided he'd try something a bit towards the hardware side this time. It's not the first attempt we've seen at making a wireless external storage solution for the PSP: a long time ago (okay, just a little under a year ago) someone wrote up a How-To on using an Asus WL-HDD drive enclosure as an external storage device for the PSP, using RSS.

This time, Chunglam used an Asus WL-500g/gx/gp Wi-Fi router with attached 40GB USB drive and the source code with the precompiled binary for the router. The code is available at the DL link below; custom firmware for the router (not the PSP this time) will be required and can be downloaded separately (click on via below for more details). Needless to say, whoever wants to do this needs experience with working with Wi-Fi routers, not just the PSP.

It's still not a perfect solution, Chunglam notes: the router requires an AC outlet (hence the quotation marks in "portable", but at least you can take 40 gigs of storage space with you to the nearest power outlet if it comes to that). The "pure" portable solution, he says, would be to use a... Microsoft Zune, since it also has Wi-Fi. But first, he says we have to hack its firmware security and run Linux in it.

Is it just us, or is it possible that Chunglam just said that with a wry, ironic smile plastered on his face?

Download Source code for Asus WL-500g/gx/gp

Source: PSPUpdates & Chunglam

A Sony ad campaign like no other

Here be Sony's latest ad campaign in Asian areas. Yes, the ad still uses the like.no.other tag-line at the end of it, but what makes this ad stand out is that it puts a nice emphasis on all things Sony.

While this advert doesn't really focus on just one product, it does well in displaying how rampant Sony products could be if you're high on the electronic lifestyle. No dustballs here, just nice music and good CG. Maybe they're taking a cue from this fan-made opus?

Hopefully we'll see more from these "Sony-bots" in future adverts. It kinda remind us of Star Wars' C-3PO, minus the cranky moves and the oh-so-robotic voice. Oh well, maybe that's exactly what's this ad is trying to imply - that Sony's still the future. Hey, anything that beats Star Wars is definitely from "a galaxy far, far, away..."

Too bad the PS3 isn't in it.

Check out the video here...

Source: PSPUpdates

Sony & Sandisk develop 32GB Maxmium Pro-HG Format

We've seen USB pen drives going up to and above 32GB for quite some time now but with the demands of modern gadgets for more storage space escalating, we need more space than ever. For this reason, Sony and SanDisk have teamed up to offer the 32GB Pro-HG memory stick format.

This is based on the memory stick Pro which is a larger version of the Pro Duo you can find in your PSP (and commonly used in digital cameras). The Pro-HG technology though will extend as far as the memory stick Pro Duo, giving us the option of yes - you guessed it - allowing 32GB storage on a PSP!

Not only does the new format offer a huge storage increase, it also uses an enhanced, 8-bit parallel interface in addition to a conventional serial and 4-bit parallel interface with the interface clock frequency also on the increase to 60MHz from 40MHz.

In plain English, this means that maximum data transfer speed increases up to 480Mbps, or 60MB/s - three times as fast as that of Memory Stick PRO media. This makes it much quicker to transfer GBs of data to your memory stick from a PC or memory card slot and then effectively make it more of a portable hard drive, storing your videos, photos, and music. The Memory Stick PRO-HG format media can be used on conventional Memory Stick PRO compliant devices as well as Memory Stick PRO-HG compliant host devices, so it'll work fine in your PSP.

This all sounds good, but I'm afraid we've led you on a little bit here. The Sony press release stated that the "development of Memory Stick PRO-HG compliant host devices is scheduled to commence in January 2007", with the recording media available in 2007 which basically means you won't be able to utilize the full benefits of this on your PSP. You should be able to get the increased storage on a PSP, possibly through a firmware update, but the transfer speeds will most likely not apply.

However, on a slightly more optimistic note, there has been much speculation that a "PSP2" device, or maybe just a different model of PSP with uprated hardware could be in the works. Who knows, we could be seeing a PSP with memory stick Pro-HG Duo support in 2007.

Source: PSPUpdates

Update on PS3+PSP: NOT Supported on 20 GB PS3! Ouch!

Well, I received my email back from Sony on the PS3 + PSP interoperability... my woes continue...

I have a 60 gig version, so apparently I'm supported (link to support on the feature is below) - I pity the 20 GB PS3 owners who will find out the hard way Sony will not support PS3+PSP interoperability with their systems. According to the Sony Style store near me, you can upgrade a 20 GB PS3 to support wireless, but as far as I can tell nobody has the adapter to enable such, and the email from Sony (below) appears to contradict that statement.

Note that the first support link they provided me simply redirects to the online manual, which has little on Remote Play. The second link points to Remote Play information, however, in a much more professionally formatted manner... I'll try that out... (insert Star Trek: Wrath of Kahn "You keep on missing the target!" scene here...)

From the support response:

Hi Auri,

Thank you for writing us.

The PSP(TM) portable entertainment system has the ability to connect to the PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer
entertainment system.  For more information on the uses of the PSP system with the PLAYSTATION(R)3
system please visit the following URL.  

http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/Using/WithPSP

Please note the Remote Play feature of PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system is only
available through the 60 GB version.  We do not have any information regarding this feature being
available on the 20 GB version of the PLAYSTATION 3 system in the future. For more information
regarding Remote Play on the PLAYSTATION 3 system, please visit

http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/remoteplay/remoteplay.html


I'll keep everyone posted as this continues and whether I get it working ... Have you had success with PS3+PSP interoperability? If so, post a comment!