As the never-ending battle for gaming industry dominance continues, it looks like Microsoft has gained an upper hand of sorts over rival Sony - it's reported that several of Microsoft's properties rank among the best-selling games on the PlayStation storefront, a phenomenon that several years ago would be unthinkable.

This new trend comes after Microsoft's massive content shopping spree, which saw the company acquire several big names in the industry including the likes of Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, id Software, and more. As posted by Derek Strickland from TweakTown, Microsoft currently has more games on the PlayStation Store's top 25 best-sellers versus Sony-owned IPs.

More specifically, seven of the most-purchased games on PlayStation (at the moment at least) are all owned by Microsoft - this includes Call of Duty at the number one spot, followed by Overwatch 2, Sea of Thieves, Fallout 4, Minecraft, Fallout 76, and Grounded.

In the midst of this competition though, this situation also works for both brands - Microsoft's IPs get additional exposure and sales via the PS store, while Sony takes a cut from the same sales. It's a bit strange to think about, especially for folks who grew up during the fierce console wars of the early 2000s.

Sony is no stranger to launching its mainline consoles in different special editions and revisions, and it looks like the company is at it again - new reports confirm that the Japanese tech giant is working on a more powerful version of the PlayStation 5, currently known as the PS5 "Pro."

According to a report from the folks over at The Verge, Sony has been in talks with various developers to prepare games ready over the summer - it's also said that the company will make ray-tracing support a top priority with the Pro model. The report also states that sources have confirmed a number of hardware specifications for the upcoming console.

The PS5 Pro is codenamed "Trinity," and packs a more powerful GPU (45% faster than the standard model) and slightly faster CPU mode. Supposedly, the PS5 Pro will be capable of rendering games with ray tracing enabled, as well as higher resolutions and frame rates in certain titles. Select titles will also be able to use a "Trinity Enhanced" (PS5 Pro Enhanced) if they come with "significant enhancements."

Additionally, a document from Sony to developers says that while the Pro model comes with the same CPU on the standard PS5, a new mode will be included for faster clock speeds, with up to as much as 10% faster speeds.

PS5 Pro dev kits will supposedly have changes to system memory, running to as high as 576GB/s on the PS5 Pro. Futhermore, games can use an additional 1.2GB of system memory on the PS5 Pro - 13.7GB overall compared to the 12.5GB allocated to games on the regular PS5 model. At this point, no solid launch date has been set, although it's strongly believed that Sony might get the PS5 Pro launch in time for the holidays.

While it hasn't been officially unveiled (or even announced) by Sony at the moment, it looks like we now have a better look at the company's upcoming flagship, the Sony Xperia 1 VI thanks to a handful of photos online. The photos are based on design renders released by Android Headlines, in collaboration with @OnLeaks.

With that being said, the supposed design does resembles past Sony Xperia smartphones such as last year's Xperia 1 V, especially with the tall display, top and bottom bezels, and the triple-camera setup on the rear panel. There are rumors however that Sony might ditch the 21:9 aspect ratio that it often uses on its handsets, although there's no confirmation of this at the moment.

It's also predicted that the next Xperia flagship will retain a 6.5-inch display similar to its predecessor. Unlike other Android flagship phones though, the 1 VI will come with long-gone features such as a 3.5mm headphone jack, in addition to a microSD card slot. Other rumors claim that Sony will ditch the 4K display for a lower 2K resolution panel.

Not much else is known about the phone at this point, although it's probably safe to assume that it will launch with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip inside, given that it's the go-to SoC for a lot of Android brands this year.

A while back, we got word that a couple of Google personnel managed to managed to program a PS Portal to play Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, a PSP game via emulation. Google cloud vulnerability researcher Andy Nguyen first Tweeted about their success in getting a handful of PSP titles to run on the Portal, and although this was an exciting development for handheld emulation, the situation has changed now.

A more recent update from Nguyen reveals that after reporting their exploit over to Sony's PlayStation team, the company has since issued a software patch (update 2.0.6) for the Portal which has addressed the vulnerability. Simply put, users who want to attempt running PSP titles on the Portal will no longer be able to do so, due to the new update.

Nguyen adds that whether or not they reported the vulnerability, making the emulator public would mean that Sony would have still developed a software patch at some point.

Launched last year, the PlayStation Portal serves as a streaming device for the PS5, which means players will need a Wifi connection to be able to access games from their console to the device itself, which somewhat limits its functionality as a portable device. It doesn't come with any games of its own, unlike the PSP and PS Vita before it.

Most modern day cameras have the ability to wirelessly transfer photos and videos. For the most part, it is only to a local smartphone or laptop. If you're looking for the ability to transfer photos and videos to a remote server or location, Sony might have something for you in the form of the Sony PDT-FP1 portable data transmitter.

One of the key features of the portable data transmitter is the use of 5G technology. This offers users lightning-fast transfer speeds. The Sony PDT-FP1 allows photographers to send their media files directly to an FTP server or even to streaming platforms like YouTube. This opens up new avenues for sharing and collaboration, whether you're a streamer, photographer, or journalist.

Speaking of 5G connectivity, the PDT-FP1 offers support for various 5G bands, dual SIM, and eSIMs. This versatility ensures that users can maintain a stable connection regardless of their location. The data transmitter can even automatically select the best network based on current conditions.

The PDT-FP1 will work with a bunch of Sony cameras. It also has a touchscreen display that allows photographers to monitor the transfer status in real-time. It also enables them to continue capturing photos and videos without interruption. Sony has also built a cooling fan into the PDT-FP1 that allows it to remain cool while it is in operation.

If you think that this could be something you might have a use for, the Sony PDT-FP1 is priced at $1,099.99. It is also slated for release in the US come early Summer 2024.