Sony timer
TheSony timer(ソニータイマー,Sonī taimā),orSony kill switch,is anurban legendthat electronic devices produced bySonyare equipped with atimerwhich, upon reaching a deliberately preset deadline, causes the product to stop functioning, forcing the user to buy a replacement.[1][3]The legend began in Japan in the 1980s and was later repeated in other countries.[1]The idea of products being designed to stop working after a period of time is known asplanned obsolescence.
History[edit]
InJapan,the Sony timer spread around the late 1980s to early 1990s. Although there had never been any conclusive evidence which would confirm the legend, manyJapanese peoplebelieved its existence, and it was regularly used as a joke in comics and posted on online message boards.[1]The legend remained confined to Japan until 2006 when there was a recall of over 4 millionDelllaptopsequipped with battery packs containing defective Sonylithium ion cells,bringing back the legend of planned obsolescence among the Japanese people, who accused theTokyocompany.[1][3]
The problem for Sony was the rumor's impact: as the company came out from theJapanese economic miracleand thekaizenideology, it was in a very delicate situation which it tried to contain in every way, but the rumor inevitably came to the knowledge of consumers outside of Japan via theInternet.[1]Although sales of thePlayStation 3were not particularly affected by this urban legend, it did negatively affect sales of SonyVaiolaptop computers which, since 2007, were viewed with increasing suspicion by consumers. In addition to this,Google Trendssignaled an increasing number of Internet searches indicating how Japanese purchasers found various problems with Vaio laptops.[1]
A worsening of the situation occurred when, officially due to asoftware bug,it came to light that manyBraviatelevisionswere predisposed with an operating time of about 1200 hours before they stopped functioning;[1][3]Stranger still was that, used for a period of about 3 hours a day, such televisions would stop working exactly afterwarrantyexpired.[1][3]The Tokyo company denied any direct responsibility and announced to releasesoftware patchesas a solution,[1][3]desperately trying to limit the rumors about the problem before they spread toEurope,where the company's presence was very strong, and admitting: "Our products are not designed to work badly".
However, the Sony timer legend had already spread widely across theWorld Wide Web,becoming part of theInternet cultureitself.[1][3]
The legend resurfaced again in 2021 when it was discovered that an anti-cheat measure inPlayStation Networkhad the potential to render games unplayable on the PlayStation 3,PlayStation 4andPlayStation 5video game consoles due to their reliance on maintaining a mandatory accurate date and time setting, whether through connection to the network or aCMOS battery,in a phenomenon known as theC-bomb.[4][5]Following outcry over the issue, Sony released a firmware update for the PS4 in late September 2021 that resolved the problem for this console,[6]and did the same for the PS5 over a month later.[7]
References[edit]
- ^abcdefghijkSkipworth, Hunter (January 22, 2010)."The myth of the Sony 'kill switch'".The Daily Telegraph.RetrievedOctober 25,2018.
- ^"ソニー, đúng giờ cây chủ tổng sẽ を khai thúc giục. “Ích lợi を bạn う trưởng thành へ” “ソニータイマーという ngôn diệp は nhận thức している” trung bát xã trưởng ] ".AV watch(in Japanese). Archived fromthe originalon June 26, 2007.RetrievedOctober 25,2018.
- ^abcdef"What's" Sony Timer "? That Appears on Internet so Frequently Nowadays".September 1, 2006. Archived fromthe originalon November 11, 2016.RetrievedOctober 25,2018.
- ^"PS4's internal clock battery could brick your console | TechRadar".24 March 2021.
- ^"PS5 Clock Battery Death Kills Your Ability to Play Games: Report".17 April 2021.
- ^Oneto, Petey (24 September 2021)."PS4 Firmware Update Reportedly Keeps Consoles From Being Bricked".IGN.Retrieved25 September2021.
- ^Jones, Ali (2 November 2021)."PS5 issue that might have locked players out of digital games appears to have been fixed".GamesRadar.Retrieved3 November2021.
