Sony

NEW YORK -- Sony Corp. has teamed up with renowed author and illustrator of children's books Maurice Sendak.Sony said the working partnership agreement covers existing and new intellectual properties of Sendak's, including books, characters and his national children's theater, "The Night Kitchen."The company said Sendak, along with John Carls, his partner in Wild Things Productions, will work with TriStar Pictures, an arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, to develop and produce full-length feature films based on Sendak's own books and books by other artists.

A popular program of lending e-readers to patrons of the Enoch Pratt Free Library is expanding to all 22 branches in the system, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced Wednesday. A $350,000 grant from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation will be used in part to purchase 200 Sony Readers, she said during a news conference. In the past, roughly two dozen Nooks that had been pre-loaded with popular titles could be checked out from the Waverly and Reisterstown branches.

1 p.m. [Comcast SportsNet] This is a sort-of Slam, but it has the big names. That includes Rafael Nadal, who plays in the men's quarterfinals. (Sorry, the Serena-Venus match is at night.)

Throughout the 1980s and '90s, there was a gold standard brand-name in consumer electronics: Sony. If you had disposable income and were interested in entertaining yourself, you were looking at Sony products first, and then working your way down. In the early part of this century, that mantle was captured by Steve Jobs' reincarnated Apple. Through its dominance in high-end mobile devices and consolidation of major functions, Apple pulled the dedicated portable gaming system out of the mainstream consumer's hand and replaced it with a sleek, pricey, all-in-one device.

Facing a three-week-old blog assault, the news for Sony just keeps getting worse. Calls for a boycott have grown louder by the day. Two lawsuits have been filed, with more possibly on the way. And the company has finally bowed to pressure and announced a costly CD recall. All this -- in case you haven't been paying attention -- stems from a blogger's discovery that some Sony CDs secretly install deeply embedded software on computers when people copy those CDs to their hard drives. The software is intended to limit the number of copies a person can make of a CD, but it also creates a security breach that could be exploited by hackers to disastrous effect on a person's computer.

Sony Music has signed the rock group Aerosmith to one of the largest contracts in the record business: about $30 million for four records, people involved in the negotiations report.The deal comes shortly after Sony signed Michael Jackson to a five-record, $25 million contract. The other major contracts in the industry have been Janet Jackson's $32 million contract for three records with Island Records and the Rolling Stones' $25 million contract with CBS Records, signed in 1984.Aerosmith, one of the world's most popular hard-rock bands, has sold more than 25 million albums since it was formed in 1970.

Barbra Streisand has joined Madonna and Michael Jackson in the biggest bucks brigade by signing a $60 million movie and record deal with Sony Corp., New York Newsday reported yesterday.The paper said the entertainer will get about $3 million for each movie she directs and $5 million for each album she produces over 10 years. She'll also get a $4 million advance for each film she appears in, plus an additional $1 million when she produces them. Neither Sony nor Miss Streisand would discuss the deal.

Watching movies or playing games on a 52-inch screen can be remarkable, but it is even more so when the screen appears inside a pair of eyeglasses. That's why Sony's PLM-A35 Personal LCD Monitor Glasstron is such a big deal in portable electronics. This third-generation Glasstron is a personal theater that you wear like a pair of sunglasses. It is small, comfortable, easy on the nose and -- at 3.5 ounces -- will even fit over your prescription glasses. The Glasstron doesn't do much by itself, except display a self-test screen.

TOKYO -- A week after Apple Computer put the finishing touches on a broad strategic alliance with IBM, it is quietly negotiating another major linkup, one that could blend U.S. and Japanese technological strengths.This time the partner would be Sony Corp.Senior executives of both companies have confirmed in recent days that discussions are under way about a new venture, but the details are closely guarded."I can't talk about it," John Sculley, Apple's chairman and chief executive, said yesterday, "other than that I am talking to Ohga this week."

TOKYO -- In yet another blow to Japan's beleaguered business world, the country's most famous industrialist, Sony Corp. Chairman Akio Morita, remains in critical condition after emergency surgery for a cerebral hemorrhage.Sony officials said the operation was a success, but Mr. Morita, 72, remains in intensive care, unable to speak.Mr. Morita fell ill while playing tennis with company employees Tuesday, but the news was masked for 48 hours -- a move that would be extremely controversial in America given Mr. Morita's material role in the operation of a major public company.

Gamers: how do you feel about Sony's offer of free stuff after hackers accessed the PlayStation network , compromising information including credit card numbers and birthdates? According to Reuters, "Sony said on Sunday it would offer some free content, including 30 days of free membership to a premium service to existing users and in some regions pay credit card-renewal fees. Compensation would only be paid if users suffered damage, it added, without providing details. " One user in the story mentioned never trusting the network with his information again --- only using prepaid cards to access the system in the future.

I really want to like devices like the Sony Dash. Sony calls the Dash a "Personal Internet Viewer" even though I think it's more of a "Smart Alarm Clock" or "WiFi Digital Pictureframe". The Dash has a seven inch touchscreen and can pipe in content from different apps. It does internet radio, Netflix, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, weather, traffic, etc. It is not a portable device however so the Dash is meant for the bedside or kitchen counter. If you're a Dash fan, you'll know that $79.99 is a great price.

HONOLULU - Spend a few minutes at the practice range here at Waialae Country Club, and you will come away thinking that all is dreamy on the PGA Tour. Ernie Els smiles after launching balls into an island breeze. A few spots over, Luke Donald chuckles with his new caddie, John McLaren. Shigeki Maruyama does a double-take after spotting John Daly, who has been a walking advertisement for lap-band surgery. (Daly shed the equivalent of a Chinese gymnast in five months.) "Johnny, good shape!"

1 p.m. [Comcast SportsNet] This is a sort-of Slam, but it has the big names. That includes Rafael Nadal, who plays in the men's quarterfinals. (Sorry, the Serena-Venus match is at night.)

OK, Amazon. You win. Remember me? I'm that reviewer who panned your original Kindle. "Poor design," I said. "What do you mean I have to pay $10 for an e-book?" I whined, and "Why can't I keep track of my progress through a text on this thing?" Well, you took a design lesson from Apple. The Kindle2, which hit the market several weeks ago, is sleek, lightweight and easy to hold. Those buttons that used to run down the entire edge of the device are now limited to a few inches, so clumsy individuals such as myself are less likely to skip through untold pages and become completely lost.

The Sony Corp., the Japanese consumer electronics giant, said yesterday that it would eliminate 8,000 jobs and rein in planned investment in reaction to the global economic slowdown. Sony, which had already announced scattered cost-saving measures, blamed rapid deterioration in the global economic outlook and the strength of the Japanese currency for the cuts. The measures, combined with a bleak outlook from a Sony rival, Samsung, and news that Japan's economy had contracted more than initially thought during the third quarter, highlighted how much Asian economies are suffering because of the financial crisis - now increasingly also an economic crisis - that began in the United States last year.

IN WHAT MAY BE the most lucrative arrangement ever for a recording artist, Sony Corp. announced yesterday that Michael Jackson, the pop-music icon of the 1980s, had agreed to create feature films, theatrical shorts, television programming and a new record label for the Japanese conglomerate's American entertainment subsidiaries.Jackson, whose albums "Thriller" and "Bad" were the two biggest-selling records of the past decade, also agreed to extend by six albums his existing contract with Epic Records, a Sony subsidiary.

Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, the world's two largest music companies, are in advanced stages of negotiations to create a global music-based entertainment and retailing television service.The channel is expected to be offered on a global basis, sources said, with U.S. distribution packaged as a basic cable service.The content is expected to feature artists and groups from both companies' extensive collection of performers -- from both owned and distributed record companies -- as well as retailing components that include prerecorded music, merchandise andvideos.

Pettitte files for free agency baseball New York Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte filed for free agency yesterday after repeatedly saying he hopes to return to the club next year. Pettitte went 14-14 last season with a 4.54 ERA - his highest ERA since 1999. General manager Brian Cashman said last week that he wants Pettitte to return next season, but the 36-year-old veteran said Friday night that he hadn't heard from the team. Pettitte likely would have to agree to a cut from his $16 million salary last season, when he was 2-7 with a 6.23 ERA in his final 11 starts, and missed his last turn because of a sore pitching shoulder.

Corridor transportation strategies talk Thursday The Corridor Transportation Corp. will present a "Moving Mid-Maryland: Baltimore-Washington Corridor Transportation Summit II" from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday at the BWI Marriott, 1743 W. Nursery Road, Linthicum. The summit will focus on strategies for regional cooperation, identifying and offering creative solutions, the potential of funding options and establishing achievable goals. The cost is $115 for a full day, $65 for the morning session (including breakfast)