From branded content to branded homes, Sony has designed a series of Tokyo apartment towers with rooms organized around cutting-edge multimedia systems. The concept of fashion designers and car companies designing and producing apartment buildings is slowly moving from the brainstorm meeting to the design studio. Expect high-end branded hotels, condos and apartment buildings to pop up in the US in the next few years. http://www.t-t-t.jp/information/mr/index.html
As sales slip and savvy gamers look for the next new thing, video game console makers are trying to branch out and extend the uses of existing systems. Next month Sony will announce that they're adding a rewritable DVD player to all Playstation 2 machines sold in Japan. Expect it in the US next year.