Today Google made the executive decision to rename the Android Market and emphasize the importance of its cloud services. The newly branded Google Play Store brings together all of the company’s offerings–namely music, movies, books and apps–and ultimately ties together Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore into one streamlined entity. On the Internet and Android phones and tablets the Market is now referred to as the Play Store and individual Google apps are seeing the name change, too: Google Play Movies, Google Play Books and Google Play Music. Google reminds its customers that everything is cloud-based, meaning that if you download content on your computer it will automagically find a home on your Android-powered phone and tablet, and vice-versa.

A phased OTA update is currently rolling out to devices running Android 2.2 or higher. Besides the name change, everything else pretty much remains the same. Check out some minor visual changes and get a taste of Google’s refreshed portal to music, apps, and more right here, right now: https://play.google.com/store. Video after the break.

[Via Google 1, 2, 3] (Click here for more…)

Sony Style is a thing of the past. On April 1 Sony opened to the public the very first, totally redesigned Sony retail experience in Los Angeles and they’re calling–drumroll, please–the Sony Store. The press release details the new design quite nicely:

The new store was designed in collaboration with Klein Dytham architecture (KDa). It features a bright, open, inviting space, with products displayed on tables so that consumers can personally interact and engage with them like they would in a home environment. The layout of the store is flexible, with movable interior walls and changeable color schemes so that it can be adapted and reconfigured to highlight specific products, services, or content to engage and delight customers with fresh experiences each time they return.

The wide open store packs some really cool electronics, all made by Sony of course. Inside you’ll be able to interact with 3DTVs, 3D-capable Vaio laptops, PS3 games (with Move), digital cameras, Google TV, and so on and so forth. You’ll also spot the RayModeler, “a futuristic 360-degree display prototype that projects a 3D image that can be seen from all angles.” In the music section you can test out the Walkman and compare sound with Sony’s catalog of headphones; customers are allowed to test out the headphones on the Walkmans and their personal MP3 players. The TV section is walled with the latest and greatest Sony HDTVs and what’s neat is that every set’s price and specs are digitally labeled in the right-hand corner of each screen. And then there’s The Cube, a personal home theater dumped in the middle of the store.

The new Sony Store sounds like tech heaven, doesn’t it? Watch the video above to get a feel for the new design, and if you live in LA you can experience it first-hand by visiting the first rebranded store which is located at the Westfield Century City mall. In time all Sony Style retail locations will switch over to the new moniker, and the company plans on unleashing these new retail experiences nationwide and internationally after gaining customer feedback from the LA launch. Official PR after the break.

[Via Engadget] (Click here for more…)

Comedy Central’s got a new logo, and that’s it.  A bit too similar to the copyright logo, if you ask me.  The new logo is part of a larger rebranding for the network, something it hasn’t done in over a decade.  Comedy Central senior VP Bob Salazar had this to say about the fresh look.  “If you think of social media, video games, and the conventional competition, it has changed dramatically in the last 10 years,” Salazar said. “Even though the brand has never been as strong, we felt that refreshing it in our promotion and our branding, was something that we felt this moment in the network’s history would be the perfect time for.”  He shares that the upside-down “Central” in the logo represents the “irreverent wink” of the network.

The new logo goes into effect January 1, and the network’s website will undergo a cosmetic transformation January 11.  In addition to the rebranding, Comedy Central has big things planned for the new year.  The network will celebrate South Park‘s 15th anniversary, air a new celebrity roast, and premiere Onion SportsDome and The Comedy Awards.  Look after the break to watch a video that introduces the new look to viewers.

[Via Deadline; ComedyCentral] (Click here for more…)

Come on, Microsoft marketers.  You can surely do better than this.  When a company attemps to rebrand a major compenent of its structure the aim is to make things clear not foggy.  Windows Mobile is now Windows Phone.  I got that.  These new phones run only on AT&T?  Is the HTC Pure THE Windows phone?  Obviously the answer to both of these questions is “no,” but this commercial unfortunately makes it all too confusing for mainstream consumers.

[Via Engadget]