For many users, the initial reaction to the Sony Playstation Network (PSN) and Qriocity services going ‘offline’ on April 20th was one of disappointment and irritation. Many were optimistic that the service would be resumed quickly though, presuming maintenance or a small glitch were to blame for the downtime.

The optimism ended officially on the 23rd of April however, when it became apparent that the reason for the outage on the PSN was a lot more serious than a simple glitch, as Sony themselves declared on their own blog – the reason that the PSN was offline was because there had been an “external intrusion” to their systems.

Sony have announced the release of ten new additions to their headphone ranges, which will be available to buy from March.

There are two new ‘ranges’ as such including the  MDR-ZX series and the MDR-EX series and they are joined by the arrival of the MDR-Z1000, which is a professional monitor headphone. The MDR-ZX range includes the ZX 700, Zx 500, ZX 300 and the ZX 100 models and are a closed-type earphone design. The MDR-EX range are an ‘in ear’ type of headphone and includes the EX510LP, EX 50 EX 40, EX12iP models. The EX12iP is designed specifically to match the ipod, iPhone and iPad range and has in-line control.

Sony have announced a new line of laptops which will come in exclusive neon colors. The bright neon orange or neon green is to attract buyers looking to show off their creative side. While for the more reserved among us, Sony will also be offering the VAIO C in white, black and pink.

Available with a 14 or 15.5 inch display, both feature LED backlit screens with 1080p resolution. While inside you’ll find the Intel Core i5 processor, and a Radion HD 6630 graphics processor with 1GB of VRAM. Some models will feature a Blu-Ray drive and Intel WiDi 2.0. This lets you connect wirelessly to a HDTV. The VAIO C will also come with Remote Keyboard software which will let you navigate the PS3 interface if you have one.

Sony have announced that they will be introducing two new PVR’s to the market allowing consumers to control their TV watching habits in style with one of either a 500gb or 1000gb Freeview and HD capable models.

From the press release:

· Watch and record subscription free, High Definition TV with Freeview HD built in

· Record one channel whilst watching another using twin Freeview HD Tuner

· Pause and rewind live TV with time shift

· Available in 1TB (1000GB) for up to 600 hours and 500GB for up to 300 hours recording

Three new Cybershot models of digital camera are due to arrive in stores soon, Sony have announced.

The DSC-W520, the DSC-HX100V and the DSC- HX9V will be released in March and April of this year, with the W520 being released in the March and the other two models in April.

Specifications on the W520 include 14.1 megapixel CCD sensor, 5x optical zoom (with 25mm wide angle lens), 2.7″ LCD screen. The two HX cameras both have 16.2 megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensors which combined with the Intelligent Sweep Panorama HR mode that they both will be installed with, will give a humongous 10480×4096 resolution shot. The HX100V is the most powerful camera of the new releases with it’s Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar T lens which offers a 30x optical zoom. The Sony G lens on the HX9V allows for a 16x optical zoom.