The pricing of the PlayStation Vita has raised some eyebrows. Most expected the Wi-Fi enabled version to retail at $349.95, but $449.95 for the 3G Vita? That’s a bit too much to take for some. As a result you may find yourself tempted to import a 3G unit from overseas, but before you do, you might want to double check a few things.

First Impressions

When I fired up the PS Vita for the first time this past weekend, I couldn’t help but think back to Dec. 2004. So much has changed. I had a one-year-old son, who is now eight. I hadn’t started writing for the blog you are reading right now. Sony entered the handheld fray, with the battlefield littered with fallen portables, with the goal of not only holding its own against mighty Nintendo, but succeeding. Sony wanted to build a better handheld.

In its day, the PSP was the prettiest handheld there was — something Vita, with its stunning OLED screen, clearly retains in its DNA. There are key differences. The PlayStation portable used chunky discs called UMDs and was made in Japan. The Vita uses tiny cards and is made in China. The Vita is loaded with a completely different user interface. It may carry the “PS” branding, but is a radical departure from the PSP, sporting dual thumbsticks, front and back cameras as well as front and back touch. This isn’t just a PSP on steroids, this is a successor in the truest sense of the world.

In the West, the PSP is, perhaps, viewed as a failure of some sorts. More and more developers ceased supporting it, and the PSP fell by the wayside. In Japan, the handheld has been a rousing smash, thanks to a series of hit franchises, especially Monster Hunter. In Japan, owning a PSP is a rite of passage: little kids might gravitate towards the DS, but it’s junior high and high school students who desire the PlayStation Portable. It’s cool.

With that PSP momentum, no wonder Sony decided to launch the PS Vita in Japan. The Vita is an easier sell to Japanese gamers, because so many of them own the PlayStation Portable. It should be an easy sale to Western gamers, looking for a different portable experience than what’s available: namely one with a large, beautiful touch screen, buttons, and dual thumbsticks.

Design

For years, gamers have been saying the PSP needed dual thumbsticks, that the PSP’s biggest shortcoming was that there was only a circle pad, and that one reason why Western developers didn’t make games for it was the controls. Sony listened. Sony made a portable device, which, out of the box, has two thumbsticks. You don’t need to buy an add-on. You don’t need to wait for an inevitable hardware iteration. Bam, here you go, dual thumbsticks. Finally, a company that listens to people.

The thumbsticks work well. Yes, I wish I could press them down like I can with the DualShock 3′s thumbsticks. But, perhaps, that will come in a feature iteration — maybe not. If not, that’s OK, because these thumbsticks do the job.

The face buttons and the direction pad are nice and clicky. Personally, I hate pressing gummy buttons. Some don’t like clicky buttons, and these are slightly more clicky than the 3DS’s buttons.

Like so many electronics these days (and like the original PSP), the Vita’s front is shinny. In direct sunlight, there is glare, but for regular use, indoors and outdoors, I didn’t experience anything that was not manageable. Since this is a shinny device, you bet it’s a fingerprint magnet. I found myself constantly polishing and wiping down the Vita. And I don’t think I leave more prints than your Average Joe. However, the portable’s front-and-back touch seemed to handled fingerprints as well as any Apple device.

One of my favourite things about the Vita is just how easy it is to hold. The back of the PS Vita has two groves to comfortably hold the portable. Smartly, Sony gave up on trying to get the Vita to fit in your back pocket, and the Vita screams I AM A GAME MACHINE. It’s not a phone that need tweezers to game with or a large tablet that requires a stick-on joystick. It’s a game machine. It’s large, and, thus, I found it easy to hold. Granted, the thumb sticks are right below the face buttons and the directional pad. I had no problems accessing them. Maybe others are. Maybe you will. I dunno.

Besides the face buttons, the directional pad, and the dual thumbsticks, there are a PS button, a select button, a start button, and one of the two cameras as well as two speakers. It’t not cluttered, and the button positioning is instinctive. The speakers are directly to the side of each thumbstick. The positioning is interesting, and no doubt to save space. I did not notice interference with game music or sound while playing.

The right and left shoulder shoulder button are made from a nice tinted plastic. The plastics used throughout the machine are tactile and high quality. With the Japanese yen so strong, Sony cannot make the Vita in Japan and expect to turn much of a profit on it. While the company is, no doubt, skimping on manufacturing costs, the device feels solid and well made. That being said, I would not chuck this handheld in my bag like I would with Nintendo’s seemingly indestructible handhelds. If you are going to get a PS Vita, do get a case. The Vita’s screen looks like it could get scratched, and the portable is a dust magnet.

Unlike the PSP, the Vita does not use UMD, but rather, a proprietary game card format. The game cards are small — the memory cards are even smaller. If you are not careful, game cards are going to get lost, memory cards are going to get lost, and there will be tears. Likewise, either carry around your game boxes or get some sort of holder. And, with the PS Vita,you cannot bite your nails. Now is a good time to stop! Getting game and memory cards in and out of the Vita is incredibly fiddly. Part of me wishes Sony made them slightly larger on purpose. Though, if they were larger, I’d probably be bitching right here, right now about how Sony should’ve made them smaller.

Portable game hardware requires a different kind of commitment than home consoles do. Portable game hardware has a “be seen” element to it that doesn’t quite exist with home hardware. The Vita did pass the doofus test in that I did not feel like a doofus, while playing it out and about. The unit I’ve been using is 3G, which is a godsend in Japan if you actually leave your house, because WiFi if often more scarce than it should be. The WiFi model should suit most people just fine, though.

The one area that feels like a letdown is the Vita’s camera. It’s a bit crap. Compared to the Sony who crammed everything under the sun into the original launch PS3, things like this just shows how sensible Sony has become. The Vita doesn’t really need a better camera — this will do just fine. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t slightly disappointed to go from the images on the stunning OLED screen (it really is stunning) to look at the seemingly grainy Vita photos I’d taken. I was.

Interface

The screen is something else. At home, I have a Panasonic television from 2005. It’s starting to show its age, and it’s not full HD, but it works OK. Whenever I play video games in controlled environments, such as at studios or trade shows, I get to experience them under optimal visual conditions. At home, because of the set-up I unfortunately have, there’s a slight dip. But on the Vita, there isn’t that dip. You get that optimal experience all the time, no matter how old your television is.

And since chez Ashcraft only has one television, the PS Vita’s Remote Play was one of the features I was most excited about. It could free up the TV to allow my kids to watch their kiddy TV and my wife to watch whatever Japanese drama she’s into. Unfortunately, the feature is not yet fully ready at launch, and, as far as I know, you cannot play any PS3 games via Remote Play. When using Remote Play, I did notice a slight drop in picture quality when accessing my PS3 via the Vita, an understandable drop, given the network and hardware limitations. Because the Vita’s OLED screen is so pretty, the slight drop might be even more noticeable.

Even more beautiful than the OLED screen, is the user interface Sony has running on it. For years, I’ve used Japanese electronics, and I’ve found the interface on so many of them to be maddening. For a country and a culture that values simplicity, the user interfaces are often anything but. They’re clunky, clumsy, and often don’t make a lot of sense. Sony’s XMB interface for the PSP and the PS3 is quite good. The Vita’s interface is much better. Previously, I posted a walk-through on Kotaku, which you can check out here. This interface, along with the rear-touch, were the two things that really sold me on this system. Both are simple and both are clever. Yet, neither are gimmicky.

And gimmicks have become such a part of gaming hardware. I remember sitting in the audience at Sony’s infamous 2006 E3 press conference and hearing Sony exec Kaz Hirai talk about how the PSP could be used as a rearview mirror; it could run images showing what’s behind you, and you could put it next to your text while playingGran Turismo. I remember sitting there thinking, “This is the stupidest thing ever.”

There are stupid things about the Vita, such as restrictions on how many PSN accounts you can use. But, so far, the blunders seem so small, and the Vita appears well-thought out and well executed. There are a bunch of games already out for the machine, and if this is going to be a success, there should hopefully be a bunch more. With the Vita, Sony didn’t only build a better handheld, it built one of the best.

PlayStation Vita Features:

• 5-inch OLED Multi-Touch Touchscreen

• Dual Thumbsticks

• Rear-and-Front Cameras

• Rear Touchpad

• Sixaxis Motion Tech

• Three-Axis Electronic Compass

• WiFi (3G for the 3G Model)

• Bluetooth

• 4 core SGX543MP4+

• 512 MB RAM, 128 MB VRAM

• Dual Speakers

Unfortunately, this latest in the long line of Apple iTV rumors doesn’t bring many specifics on what exactly Apple’s next-gen TV will look like.

According to “people familiar with the matter,” Apple is in talks with media executives at several large companies and is developing a TV with wireless streaming capabilities.

One thing that will play an important part in Apple’s upcoming TV product is voice recognition software, similar to Siri. The software “might allow users to use their voices to search for a show or change channels,” the WSJsays.

Another important aspect of Apple’s strategy is the synergy between all the other devices in Apple’s ecosystem. For example, a user might start watching a video on a TV set, then continue viewing it on a tablet.

None of this has been officially confirmed by Apple. WSJ‘s report says it is “unclear” when the company plans to start selling such a device, and even if a date were set, Apple may change its plans at any time.

That’s because on the mobile web, utility trumps style. Fancy visuals and a great motif may look terrific on your desktop, but on mobile, all they’re likely to do is slow things down. And on that small screen, you’re not going to see much anyway.

Nevertheless, as more and more of the population experiences the web via mobile, creating a mobile website is essential. Doing so, however, requires a different frame of mind, or maybe, as Dennis Mink suggests, a trip in a time machine. “It’s really like the early days of the Internet, like 1996, 1997,” says Mink, VP of marketing atDudamobile, a company that creates mobile sites. “We all had our 14.4 baud modems, and things were as stripped down as possible.”

Indeed, even with the spread of 3G and 4G, Mink doesn’t expect that to change. So, if you’re considering creating a mobile site, here are a few guidelines that Mink and other experts offer to make it as compelling as possible:

1. Keep It Simple

As noted, most users aren’t visiting your mobile site for the aesthetic experience. Instead, they’re trying to get something quickly, whether it’s information or a pizza. A good place to start is to ask yourself, “What are most customers going to visit our site for?” If it’s to reach a live person, then make the phone number prominent (and use Click-to-Call.) If it’s to find your address, put that up high as well. Put two or three of the most important things in one place.

“Keep navigation to a minimum while delivering the maximum amount of engaging content within a smaller screen that you get on a laptop or desktop,” says Craig Besnoy, U.S. managing director for NetBiscuits, another mobile web consultant. “In addition, a properly designed mobile site keep as much of the call to action above the mobile fold, while keeping text input to a minimum.”

2. Don’t Use a Lot of Images

Nothing slows a page down like a few large images. Mink recommends getting rid of most the images on your homepage except for ones that are considered essential and even then, you should use smaller versions. Anything else is self-sabotage since a slow user experience leads to a high bounce rate.

3. Design It for Multiple Handsets

A mobile site that’s designed for an iPhone won’t look good on a Nokia phone and might not even show up at all. That’s a mistake, says Rekha Baliga, director of customer engineering at mobile web consultant Atmio, since a big chunk of the world’s users are on a Nokia phone. Atmio keeps a database of more than 500 mobile phones and ensures that any site it creates will look good on any of them.

“Never design a site for a specific device,” says Besnoy. “Despite popular belief, everyone does not use an iPhone or Android, nor is their device running the latest version of the operating system.”

4. Learn From Other Great Mobile Sites

Most companies and brands haven’t set up a mobile site yet, but a good number have. That’s good news for you, since you can learn from the best ones (and the worst). Below are two sites that Besnoy recommends. Both use NetBiscuits’s platform, but beyond that, each — eBay’s and CBS’s — offer simple navigation, large type and few images.

5. Use an “M-Dot” URL

People Google you on their mobile phones just like they Google you on a desktop, so you should create a site that’s optimized for SEO. One important consideration is an “m-dot” URl (ex: m.abc.com.), which will help Google recognize and index your mobile site separately from your standard one.

6. Test and Listen to Feedback

Some mobile web consultants, like Atmio, offer A/B testing for mobile sites to let you compare how different designs perform. Another option is Google’s GoMo site, which lets you plug in your URL to see how it looks on a mobile phone.

Ultimately, though, your customers will provide the most valuable feedback since they are your target audience. So listen to any complaints or compliments that come your way. What you’re looking to hear is that the site worked quickly and as it should, not that it looked pretty. As Mink says: “There’s not much mystery to it. At this stage, it’s as simple as it looks. Zero in on that primary action you want [customers] to take and make that your primary focus.”

According to recent research from NM Incite, for 82% of Facebook users, knowing someone offline is reason to add them on the social network. The next most common reason for adding a friend is having many mutual friends, a practice reported by 60% of users.

The remaining reasons for adding friends include superficial aspects of your Facebook profile such as physical attractiveness and friend count — which is not surprising considering many users make their posts and comments visible to only their Friends. You can see the complete results of the study in the graphic below.

When it comes to why we unfriend, there are more possible explanations. Fifty-five percent of Facebook users call offensive comments cause for removing someone from their networks. The next most common reason is not knowing a friend well (41%) and sales soliciting (39%). The remaining explanations are a variety of social media etiquette SNAFUs.

Men are more likely to use Facebook for professional networking and dating. For women, Facebook is the place to connect with real life friends, snag deals and express creativity. Women are more likely to remove friends for offensive comments or a weak offline relationship.

The “State of Social Media Survey” polled 1,895 social media using adults (age 18 and older), recruited online between Mar. 31 and Apr. 14 through online forums, blogs and other social networking platforms.

Why do you friend and unfriend people on Facebook? Let us know your practices in the comments.

This didn’t begin as an impulsive decision with unexpected consequences, and I’m not a Facebook hater by any stretch. I love and use social media, and am fascinated by what its explosion has enabled in a variety of arenas. Facebook has obviously been a huge — and probably the single most comprehensive — part of that.

My experiment has continued longer than I expected. I haven’t quit, purposefully not deleting my account entirely. But through extended deactivation, I have learned some things: that I miss out on a lot of conversations now; that, somewhat ironically, I’m more focused now than before on my own life and needs; and that I’m not the only person who wonders, to-FB-or-not-to-FB?

A recent New York Times article titled “The Facebook Resisters” profiled young-adult Facebook abstainers who point to concerns about privacy, alienation and information overload. But I’m interested in a broader question: In a world where it now seems more generally accepted to be on Facebook than not be on, what’s it like to opt out?

Since July, I haven’t felt like I need Facebook socially, but there is plenty I’m missing out on. During the many times when funny Facebook photos from parties or nights out come up when hanging out with friends, I feel like the only kid on the schoolyard without a TV, lost at sea while other kids recite lines from The Simpsons. I also frequently find myself playing catch-up when someone brings up an article someone else shared on Facebook. And there’s a whole world of flirting and getting-to-know-you that no longer exists for me.

I miss the definite ease of communication with friends and acquaintances. I’ve used Facebook before to find sources for articles too, but no longer can. So, now my avenues of communication are more segmented: Twitter to keep in touch with some friends, mostly those I’ve met through work, and find cool articles people recommend; LinkedIn to organize my professional contacts; and old-fashioned phone and email to keep up and make plans with close friends.

But it’s what I’ve actually enjoyed about being off of Facebook that has surprised me most. I spend less time on my computer without Facebook’s source of infinite content. During real life experiences, what is or isn’t worth sharing on Facebook no longer lingers in the back of my mind, so I spend more time simply enjoying the present. And the false comparisons between others’ curated digital self-presentations and my own naturally widespread sources of pride, fulfillment, dissatisfaction and insecurity no longer exist.

In the final analysis, what my little experiment has shown me is that Facebook has become so ingrained in human life that it’s kind of like religion in a way. You can partake or not partake as much as you like, but the thing itself isn’t going anywhere. Your choice won’t change anything in the bigger picture, but I’ve found it fascinating to explore the differences in my own life.

After five months, I’m going to keep the experiment going. It’s been fun to be deactivated, but I’m not going to delete. I’ll be back one day. But, for now, I’m enjoying my life offline.

What do you think? Have you ever deactivated or deleted your Facebook account? Why, and what was it like? Just how ingrained is Facebook in your life? Let me know in the comments.

But, there’s a catch — and a rather annoying one at that. Once your tablet is updated you can’t just sync your PS3 controller and instantly turn it into a portable PSone. You’ll first need to get your hands on a $29 USB adaptor cable that’s also used for transferring files to your tablet. Once the controller is synced you’ll be wireless for life, but the cable is still kind of an annoying inconvenience that should really have been included with the tablet in the first place.

That’s how a similar system, employed by NAB, has been described in a recent article in The Age. According to the piece, it (or more accurately, The Sunday Age) was the first to gain access to one of the facilities where the magic happens and, as you might expect, it’s not much to look at. Not that a row of servers would have been particularly exciting, either.

But that’s where the work gets done. The neural network doesn’t just watch out for the obvious and outrageous, such as mysterious charges from a far-off country or $1000 spent on novelty toothpicks. It learns from your particular spending habits and makes judgements based on your previous activities.

A 99-point scoring system is used for each purchase, so humans can immediately see what should take top priority. According to Visa’s risk management head Ian McKindley, these agents have the ability to view real-time transactions and, if necessary, shut then down.

The piece ends somewhat ominously — it’s not just credit cards being targeted by scammers now. With phones and online technologies coming to the fore, providing us with new ways to part with our cash, we’ll eventually have to develop new systems to watch for unusual behaviour and, if required, act.

The question is how much power will be given to these systems? Are you happy to wait for a human to double-check suspicious transactions, or would you prefer automatic safeguards to kick in at a moment’s notice, even if it results in the odd inconvenience?

Thankfully, online technology and social media services offer affordable alternatives to expensive print, online and TV advertisements, while still letting you craft clever campaigns, connect with customers and cost-effectively provide unique deals, discounts and promotions.

Looking to increase market share or Q4 records? The following high-tech holiday marketing strategies can help you raise awareness and increase revenues without having to take out a second mortgage on your retail or online storefront.

1. Social Media Programs

Can you spare more creativity than cash? Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ can help attract customers with minimal investment. But remember: Offer unique or arresting incentives, including steep discounts, free samples or unique hands-on trials, in order to generate viral exposure. Try offering two-for-one deals, bonus gifts with purchase or exclusive events to drive foot traffic, siphon customers from competitors and aid with lead generation.

Splurging on customers using loss leaders (e.g. giving shoppers a free gift with purchase) and splashy time-limited promotions (“exclusive wine tasting free today!”) not only helps generate direct prospects, it also allows you to create sampling opportunities, promote to a captive audience and potentially drive interest toward higher-margin goods.

2. Affiliate and Referral Marketing

Given the power of word-of-mouth marketing, it literally pays to turn fans of your business into Santa’s little helpers. To recruit them, incentivize conversation by providing eye-catching offers and savings, and compensate direct leads with exclusive discounts, gifts and cash rewards.

Using software tools by providers like Extole, DirectTrack and ReferralCandy, you can create customized referral programs for almost any industry. (“Click to send Facebook friends a code for 60% off!”) Distributable via social networks, widgets, apps and email, white-label solutions offer wide flexibility across devices, platforms and promotions. They also make it easy to track ads from click to purchase, and mobilize an army of credible sales associates to help.

3. Mobile and Location-Based Marketing

Over 420 million smartphones will sell in 2011 alone and, according to IMS Research, many containbuilt-in GPS devices. Mobile and location-based marketing services like Geotoko, Placecast and Xtify can potentially help close more holiday deals. They provide users with discounts, giveaways and specials via text message, pop-up alert or email.

You can also integrate marketing with services like Foursquare and Gowalla to tie campaigns to specific retail stores or locations. That way, you reach customers right when they’re weighing their options, and thus, steal a sale right out from under competitors’ feet.

4. QR Codes

Many smartphones and tablets enjoy an additional feature: the ability to scan QR codes. These high-tech symbols can beam over instant savings or provide access to online information. Add them to signs, print ads, business cards and brochures, and customers can quickly grab coupons, download menus on-demand or even see how your prices compare to rivals’. Consider including simple bonuses, like free seasonal drink recipes to go with every blender or complementary festive music downloads for that new iPod dock.

From downloadable menus to driving directions, potential applications are endless. Just be sure each offers customers meaningful rewards and a call-to-action to maximize performance.

5. Discounts and Deals

Many entrepreneurs have tried coupling door-busting offers with regular distribution through daily deal services. Providers like Groupon, Living Social, Amazon Local and Google Offers can potentially put savings in front of millions for a slice of each purchase. These bargains-by-email services offer the opportunity to connect with discount-savvy households. You can even set a minimum purchase requirement before discounts activate.

Likewise, smart marketers are also leveraging bargain-hunting services like FatWallet, RetailMeNot andDealsPl.us to reach today’s most price-sensitive buyers.

6. Keywords and Online Advertising

A full third of holiday shoppers plan to spend more money online than in-store in 2011, and 37% and 12%, respectively, will make gift purchases via smartphone or tablet. No matter your desired budget or audience, purchase targeted keywords on popular search engines like Bing and Google to put you in front of prospective buyers.

When coupled with custom geographic/demographic targeting and personalized scheduling and spend levels, choosing specific keywords and terms can prove highly effective. For maximum impact, use more detailed search terms (e.g. “winter coats New York”) and less popular (and therefore contested) phrases. Inside tip: If you’re feeling more naughty than nice, you can also buy up keywords related to competing products.

7. Custom Content and Publications

Give shoppers the gift of more time with friends and family by providing time-saving hints and advice. Email marketing services ConstantContact, iContact and MadMimi let you send seasonally-themed digital newsletters straight to shoppers’ inboxes for pennies, and enable content sharing through social networks. Popular service MailChimp even allows you to send gorgeous, customized mailings for free in small quantities, and to blast out targeted emails via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or LinkedIn.

Couple with links to bargains, storefronts and online videos (upload for free on host sites like YouTube andVimeo, then embed on your own site) to enhance SEO and user engagement. Grow your reach, keep holiday bargains top-of-mind and help alleviate shoppers’ stress while building brand awareness.

How are people using social media to interact with brands, and how are companies using the power of social media to reach more customers? Who is most receptive to brands on Twitter? How about on Facebook?

It’s time to shed some light on branding and social media, and to do that, AYTM Market Research surveyed 2,000 Internet users, randomly chosen from its huge built-in online panel. The researchers asked a variety of questions about how Internet users like to get updates about brands, where they like to hang out online, the kinds of people brand managers can expect to encounter in the social media universe, and whether prospective customers prefer to interact with brands on social media.