Last week, Sony announced an interesting addition to its entertainment lineup with the launch of a device that doubles as network-attached storage and as a handy digital-television recorder. It's called the nasne, and it is the successor to Sony's previously released torne DVR add-on (known as Play TV in Europe) for the PlayStation 3. But while the torne was used to record and store media on the PS3, the nasne will feature its own 500-gigabyte hard-drive to which you can record your favorite television shows.
With a curved black exterior, the device is designed much like the PS3 itself, measures 43 x 189 x 136 mm and weighs in at less than half a kilo. The nasne connects to your home network, and Sony hopes that this will serve as a media hub for any Sony media device. In addition to the TV-recording functions, you can also use the nasne to store all your music, movies, and photos, and then access them from other devices on that network. And if 500 gigabytes of storage is not enough, you can connect up to four nasne's to your PS3, and up to eight on a VAIO PC.
Sony has previously outlined what it calls its "four-screen strategy," which aims to build an entertainment ecosystem around your TV, PC, tablet and smartphone. So far, no other company has really managed to pull this off besides Apple, so it will be interesting to see how Sony's nasne ties these devices together. Sony's president and CEO, Kazuo Hirao, commented on what this means for consumers: