- Added support for more 3rd party basic extenders to petcat.
- Added a c64/c128 cartridge conversion program (cartconv).
- Added binary distribution (package) creation functionality.
- Fixed a bug in the trap emulation with caused programs probing
devices on the IEC bus to fail.
- Lots of small fixes to the monitor.

** C64 changes
--------------
- Fixed some longstanding RMW to IO area VIC-II DMA timing bug.
- Added Mikro Assembler, Dela EP7x8, Dela EP256 and Rex EP256
cart support.
- Fixed the KCS cart emulation.
- Added swiftlink and turbo232 support.
- Added +256k memory expansion support.
- Added I/O source read collision detection support, making
simultanious use of multiple expansions possible, like on
the real machine.
- Fixed the RR-net address decoding and REU compatibility.
- Fixed a problem with traps using the SX Kernal ROM.
- Some IDE64 ultimax bug has been fixed.
** PET changes
--------------
- Added 128kb REU memory expansion support.

** PLUS4 changes
----------------
- Added 256k csory memory expansion support.
- Added 256k, 1024k and 4096k hannes memory expansion support.

One week later, this has changed. The unit, which looks similar to the Japan-only Play-Yan, will be available for only EUR 29.99, the releasedate is not set in stones, but it looks to be October 6th, together with the Nintendo DS Browser.

Key features:
- For Nintendo DS (to be inserted into slot 2) and Game Boy Advance hardware
- To store music you need SD cards. Up to 2 GB cards are supported, this equals to 500 songs (best sound quality)
- Choose between different skins (including one with Mario)
- The interface shows all important information
- The unit itself features another headphone port

The Nintendo MP3 Player was originally planned to be released shortly after Game Boy micro, but as the sales weren't as high as Nintendo had hoped, they delayed the accessory. It is not known why the video play function is not included, as the Play-Yan features this function, it is also unknown whether there's a special mode for the Nintendo DS.

Then there was Sony Connect, the corporation’s attempt to come to terms with the download generation. It worked like any other online music service and came with a range of sleek devices to play the sounds on – but the company decided to ignore the universally accepted MP3 format and come up with its own, completely incompatible audio format. The results were predictable.

There are many who would argue that all of this is the result of a policy which was responsible for making Sony a household name in the first place. Formed in 1946 as part of the post-war reconstruction of Japan, Sony was set up to be the perfect factory, with teams of engineers working in vigorous competition with each other. This policy of internal isolationism created the transistor radio and the Walkman, but today it seems more of a hindrance than a help.

Sony has squandered the market advantages it once enjoyed. The Walkman brand that fuelled it through the 1980s is now virtually non-existent, the Wega television range of the 1990s has been superseded and now the firm faces an uphill struggle to capitalise on the games console range it hopes will secure its future.

“The strange thing here is that Sony is actually very good at manufacturing slick, attractive devices that work well,” says technology brand consultant Francis Stewart. “If they had just stuck to doing that and avoided tying themselves in knots over industry politics, then I very much doubt that there’d have been even the slightest doubt about the company’s future.”

With share prices tumbling and confidence in the once-unshakeable brand severely dented, only time will tell if Sony can continue to maintain its position at the forefront of consumer electronics.

But the company itself seems unperturbed. There may have been setbacks, it claims, but it remains the brand leader in entertainment and will continue to do so.

According to Sony sources, not only will the Blueray format ultimately prove a global success, but within months of launching the PlayStation 3, its position at the top of the heap will be reasserted. It claims that the new console is so advanced it will simply blow the competition away.