The folks over at TGBUS.com have gotten their hands on a PSP Slim, and they've taken the time to take it apart and give the PSP community a look at the innards of Sony's new PlayStation Portable.

There's a whole lot of pictures showing everything from the screen to the motherboard, even the UMD mechanism. You can also see the TA-085 marking clearly on the new PSP's board. You can check out all the images by clicking on the Read link below.

There are no pictures of a box, though, so we don't know if this is one of the new production models or an older prototype model. The new PSPs are reportedly already available at SonyStyle's Hong Kong store, however, so odds are it's new. 0okm has also gotten his hands on a brand new PSP-2006PB with the intention of disassembling it. Keep an eye on this blog for further updates.

   

One of the well-known homebrew developers, 0okm, has just bought his own PSP-2006PB or what is otherwise known as PlayStation Portable Slim/Lite. We are not certain where exactly the item was purchased but it seems that the new SKU has finally arrived in Hong Kong earlier today.

Also, we checked around the Internet and learned that the official SonyStyle store for HK has already started selling the new PSP units for HK$ 1,280 or roughly around US$ 164.15. The colors available for purchase include Silver, White, and Piano Black (similar to 0okm's).

Consistent with earlier reports, PSP Slim is indeed running on official firmware 3.60. Some of the other features implemented by Sony on this new system include RAM increase, improved battery life, and TV output among others. 0okm has promised to disassemble the PSP Slim in the coming days and to report on whatever new things he finds out.

Other markets should have their retail supplies of PSP Slim and Lite by September 20.

Sony announced the other day that development of the much-talked about memory stick PRO-HG Duo is now in full swing and will become available in authorized dealers and online retail store SonyStyle.com across North America starting August of this year. This hasn't been mentioned in a long time so let us refresh your memories about this particular memory stick (Pun not intended).

Sony's Memory Stick PRO-HG media is capable of recording times and data transmission and is three times faster than the standard Memory Stick Duo products. This is because of its 8-bit parallel interface and the flash memory device. The addition of four more connector pins results data transfer of up to 30MB/s (240 Mbps) megabytes per second.

But if for some other reason you still want to use just four connectors, PRO-HG Duo media is also capable of that but take note that the minimum write speed of 15 megabits per second will be employed. Quite curiously, the new memory stick features copyright protection technology MagicGate that provides security to commercial content like digital music and downloaded movies.

In relation to this, Sony will also be releasing Memory Stick Duo ExpressCard adaptor. This is for personal computers with an ExpressCard slot - mostly familiar in the 2007 line up of VAIO computers. How fast will this make the data transfer, you ask? Well, let's just say that you can transfer one hour of personal video to your computers in around two minutes from a regular memory stick handy cam.

Memory Stick PRO-HG media is also available in three different capacities: 1GB (US$ 60), 2GB (US$ 90), and 4GB (US$ 150).

As much as we love our PlayStation 3, admittedly, it's price is something we can not call cheap. Regardless if you get the 20GB version or the behemoth 60GB, the price tag attached to our baby will always cause some people to think twice before buying. Fortunately Sony Corporation's retail arm, Sony Style, is offering fans a good work around.

Before January 4 of this coming year, sign up for a Sony-branded credit card. Then make a purchase using the card before March 31, 2007 and you will automatically receive US$ 150 off of your first credit card statement. Technically speaking if you subtract and add here and there, this brings down the price of the PS3. This offer may be used with Sony (a fifty dollar PSP, perhaps?) and non-Sony products. Hey, it's a credit card anyway!

Those who are interested to take the offer can refer to the Read link below for more information. But here's a brief summary of other features included in the offer:

• 0% Introductory APR for up to 12 months and No Annual Fee
• Full Platinum Visa benefits
• 1 Reward Point for every $1 on any purchase, anywhere.
• 3 Reward Points for every $1 on Sony products purchased anywhere.
• 5 Sony Rewards Points per $1 spent at SonyStyle.com, Sony Style stores, and ImageStation.com
• 10 Rewards Points per $1 spent at SonyStyle.com, SonyStyle stores, and ImageStation.com until January 4, 2007.
• Exclusive members-only deals on Sony products
• Automatic entry for chances to win great Sony prizes