Firmware Update for the PS3

Sony's new firmware update adds connectivity and interface features.

Sony announced that PS3 owners can download the Firmware version 1.6 beginning March 22.

The big three changes are Enhanced Downloading, the addition of the Folding@home program and new text entry options. Enhanced Downloading is a new, streamlined process for downloading content from the PlayStation Store, including the ability to queue up to six downloads.

Folding@home is a Standford University project that uses distributed computing to work towards understanding protein folding and the diseases caused by misfolding, such as Parkinson's Disease. This option will allow PS3 users to hook in to the Standford project while they aren't using their systems to play games.

On the text entry front, Sony finally got wise to the fact that a numerical keypad is not the best way to input text, so now users will have the option to use a full QWERTY keyboard on screen or to hook up bluetooth peripherals and use a real keyboard and mouse.

The firmware update also allows the PS3 to play Blue-Ray rewriteable discs, access PS3 media from a PSP and choose whether or not game discs auto-start on insertion.