Sony's PlayStation 3: A Collaborative Triumph, And A Time-Shifting Spree

Courtesy, I suspect, of a long sleep-deprived week at IDF followed by an equally sleep-deprived weekend in a chilly climate, I felt pretty lousy on Tuesday. No, I didn’t take a sick day (such is the curse of a work-from-home admitted workaholic). But I did try to do fairly limited-brain tasks such as sorting through low-priority emails and RSS feeds. I did these tasks on the living room couch, with my laptop on my…err…lap. And I multitasked between these work functions and my latest addiction; the Season 3 DVD set of The Office.

What’s this all got to do with the PS3? Well, I was watching The Office DVDs on the PS3. And, as I did so, I was reminded of what without a doubt is one of the coolest console features (at least IMHO). The PS3 DVD player offers a 1.5x fast-forward mode that doesn’t mute the audio. And, in fact, although it (of course) time-scales the audio, it doesn’t phase-shift the audio. Pam doesn’t sound like a Chipmunk, in other words; she pretty much still sounds like (an impressively intelligible) Pam.

Granted, time-scaling with pitch compensation is something that Windows Media Player has supported since at least version 9 (maybe even earlier, I’m not sure). But the Xbox 360 doesn’t do it. Nor does any standalone DVD player I’ve ever used, to the best of my knowledge (although there probably are some that support such a feature). You might rue audible fast-forward as a disappointing reflection of modern society’s fast-paced and schedule-crammed culture. Or you might think it’s an underwhelming means of harnessing the Cell microprocessor’s potential. I’m easily impressed, I guess…I think it’s nifty. For more, hit Wikipedia’s description.

My next-favourite PS3 feature? Glad you asked. It’s gotta be the built-in Folding@Home client, which coincidentally just crossed the petaflop processing threshold courtesy of all the PS3s that have come online since late March. I was an early user of SETI@home, so I bought into the concept right away. And, I confess, contributing to research of Alzheimer’s and other diseases feels a wee bit more honourable to me than searching for the frequency footprints of little green men (and women, and men-women).

I jumped online with Folding@Home the very first day it was available for download, in fact, and it was cool to spin the globe and look for the lights to see who else was running the client (not many people, actually, and most of them in Japan), as well as listen to the mesmerizing surround audio track. Suffice it to say that the globe is a whole lot more illuminated nowadays.

Although I certainly think Folding@Home’s intentions are honourable, I confess that I can’t get out of my mind the electricity that all those PS3s are gobbling up as they run analysis cycles 24/7, and the global greenhouse gas effects of such a scenario. And I also confess to a certain amount of cynicism when I hear rumours that Sony’s considering commercializing the processing potential of its PS3 customer base.

Given the company’s track record, I highly suspect that this’d end up just being another lucrative profit source for Sony; that the company won’t even come close to compensating PS3 owners (fiscally, materialistically, or otherwise) for the incremental electric bill impacts, far from accounting for the global warming effects. But on the other hand, maybe Sony will surprise me with its generosity and climate sensitivity. And hey, at least it’s an option that’s open to Sony…with the Xbox 360’s thermal woes, I frankly doubt that Microsoft will be following in Sony’s footsteps any time soon.

p.s…I’m feeling much better. Thanks for asking