Thought I forgot? Joke’s on you! Because of some traveling, this is coming a little late, but last week was a pretty big one in terms of technology happenings. So here goes.

Sony

Sony’s really been at it recently – they’ve announced the next generation PSP, codenamed NGP. It’s running an impressive quad-core A9 processor, and is focusing on a new UI, location, and augmented reality. Their Xperia Play (aka “PlayStation Phone”)  has also found its way into the hands of Engadget’s team; I got a chance to play around with the device at their show and was pleased with where it’s headed. The UI was ambitious but rough, and on the hardware side, it’s a little less phenom than the NGP, with only a single core processor.

NFC and iPhone 5 rumors grow

Even though the Verizon iPhone’s been at the front of most iOS-related news, June isn’t that far away, and with it will likely be coming an iPhone 5. Commercial Times reported that production should start around May, and will turn the most shipments ever. Big surprise. There’s also been a decent amount of buzz surrounding Near Field Communications (NFC) and its eventual migration to the device - being able to tap your phone on a card reader to pay would be nothing short of awesome.

Verizon iPhone plan details surface

Might want to enlarge this.

Looks like $30 per month will get you an unlimited data plan for the iPhone on Verizon, although the newly-announced “mobile hotspot” feature will run an extra $20. I’m curious as to how strict Verizon will be about enforcing the use of jailbroken apps such as MyWi or PdaNet – possibly detect insane amounts of data and bill appropriately?

Oh, Zuck

In a debacle I find somewhat amusing, some sly fellow on the interwebz managed to gain control of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook fan page, and posted the following message:

Let the hacking begin: If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ‘social business’ the way Nobel Price winner Muhammad Yunus described it? http://bit.ly/fs6rT3 What do you think? #hackercup2011

The page was shut down.

LinkedIn’s IPO

We’ve been waiting for this one a long time: LinkedIn has finally filed their IPO. They haven’t announced the actual date of the offering yet, and have been pretty tight-lipped about the price, though most of the details should be readily available by 2011. I’m particularly interested as to how this will influence the IPO roadmaps of other prominent web companies (I’m looking at you, Facebook).

Thoughts? Itching to get ahold of the next PSP? Going to wait in line for the iPhone 5? Comment away!

This is my attempt at starting a quick, weekly wrapup of current tech trends with an injection of my opinion. I’ve recently been wondering how much of my blog-reading is actually retained, so I thought about taking some notes while going through my RSS reader. But I’d rather get in the habit of sharing with everyone else. So here we go.

You’re welcome to just read the relaxing green text to hit the high points.

Verizon iPhone

February 10. Pretty self-explanatory. I’m really tired of hearing the phrase “Verizon iPhone”, but it’s nearly impossible to not mention when discussing recent tech news. Rumor has it that Verizon’s been in talks with Apple since 2008, although VZW was never a contender for the original iPhone.

Tablets that aren’t the iPad

Motorola Xoom

We’re now hitting the point where Android tablets are starting to catch up to the iPad. The Motorola Xoom, LG G-Slate, and Galaxy Tab are the most compelling three in my eyes, although new ones seem to pop up daily. Plus, Android 3.0 Honeycomb looks absolutely beautiful; an operating system that’s being built solely for tablets (for the time being) will make this new hardware really scream.

More 3D TVs

OMG3D!

People can’t seem to get over this one. The concept’s been around for a couple years, but got an even heavier push at this year’s CES. Between random trips to Best Buy and at this year’s CEDIA, I’ve seen plenty of the devices, but I’m still not sold; cumbersomely wearing glasses to stare at a headache-inducing image just isn’t attractive. And even though attempts are being made at eliminating the glasses, there’s plenty of barriers that need to be broken.

PlayStation cracking and resulting legal kerfuffle

What’s crackin’, yo? George Hotz, the fellow responsible for a smattering of iPhone jailbreaks, has done the same with the PlayStation 3. His FAIL0VERFLOW project allows for custom firmware, which in turn allows for pirated games and software that’s not blessed by Sony. A California restraining order followed, but was put on hold due to the fact that the coding was done in New Jersey.

Mmm, Ice Cream Sandwich

While most Android users are still waiting to get ahold of 2.3 Gingerbread, it’s looking like Google’s on track to release 2.4 “Ice Cream Sandwich” sometime this summer, likely at Google I/O. Faster speed and better Flash support is rumored, although I’m somewhat confused by the naming. If 3.0 is Honeycomb, I’d think 3.1 would be Ice Cream Sandwich for the sake of keeping the alphabetical progression intact. Not to mention the mouthful that “Ice Cream Sandwich” is. And get this: the added “Sandwich” seems to be an attempt to avoid confusion with Froyo when Google rolls out their Android replicas. Shenanigans.

iOS 4.3

Developer betas of iOS 4.3 have been seeded. The update has awesome new multitouch gestures for iPad multitasking, and also brings the ability for iPhones to create a personal hotspot. Unfortunately, it looks like support for the iPhone 3G is being dropped, which is pretty bad news for me. Good thing it’s just in time for the Verizon iPhone. Arrgh, I said it again.

Misc

I also stumbled across this really cool “Connected Store” concept from Intel. The future really is fresh; I can’t wait until every conceivable surface is a screen.

Thoughts? Anything I blatantly missed? Think I can crank one of these out every week?