Gamertell

Do you feel safe when you use your PSP? No, I’m not talking about possibly getting burned by batteries, I’m talking about internet security. Whether you thought about it or not, Sony has, and the company has announced that the next incarnation of PSP firmware will include Trend Micro Web Security and Kids’ Safety service trials.

The PlayStation.Blog‘s been updated with a note concerning PSP firmware 5.50. So far, all the announcements concerning the update seem to discuss improvements to two aspects of the PSP, data management and internet add-ons. If you aren’t big on storing additional media on your system or using it to browse the internet, 5.50 may not offer you much.

The organizational improvements apply to the memory stick and aren’t incredibly thrilling. Users will be able to separate and store pictures, movies and music in different folders and subfolders to help keep things more organized. The PlayStation.Blog doesn’t elaborate as to whether these items will appear in folders on the system, or if the folders will be purely for organizing items when the PSP is connected to a computer. As a brief sidenote, the available space required when downloading from the PlayStation Store is going to be smaller.

The internet options are a bit more beefy. As mentioned earlier, there will be two Trend Micro trials included with 5.50: Kids’ Safety and Web Security. The Kids’ Safety service keeps mature websites, or websites with adult content, from displaying in the PSP’s web browser. The Web Security service blocks websites that could steal important and private information and data. The 25 people who actually use the PSP browser for internet purchases should be very pleased. As for the people using it for mature purposes, the PlayStation.Blog says 5.50 users have the “option” of using the trials, so it shouldn’t always be in effect.

An instant internet game search feature will be available, just like the one the PS3 has. If you scroll to the Game section of the PSP’s XMB, position the cursor over the game you’re interested in, press triangle and then highlight Internet Search when the PSP is connected to WiFi, you can look up information on that particular game instantly. Personally, I’d love it if it instantly sent you to the GameFaqs page for that game, but that’s just me.

The last announced add-on sounds like it has the potential to be annoying. It’s a news ticker! We all love news tickers! This one will be active whenever your PSP is connected to WiFi, bringing the latest PSP-relevant information directly to you.

The only things that sound relevant to my PSP use are the media folders/subfolders and the instant Internet Search. Hopefully others will get more use out of 5.50.

Read [PlayStation.Blog] Via [Joystiq] Also Read [Click On Detroit]