New Gadgets and Gizmos

The video blasted across the Internet, drawing political blood from Senator John McCain within a matter of days.

Produced here in a cluttered former motel behind the Sony Pictures lot, it juxtaposed harsh statements about Islam made by the Reverend Rod Parsley with statements from McCain praising Parsley, a conservative evangelical leader. The montage won notice on network newscasts this spring and ultimately helped lead McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, to reject Parsley’s earlier endorsement.

In previous elections, an attack like that would have come from party operatives, campaign researchers or the professional political hit men who orbit around them.

But in the 2008 race, the first in which campaigns are feeling the full force of the changes wrought by the Web, the most attention-grabbing attacks are increasingly coming from people outside the political world. In some cases they are amateurs operating with nothing but passion, a computer and a YouTube account, in other cases sophisticated media types with more elaborate resources but no campaign experience.

So it was with the Parsley video, which was the work of a 64-year-old film director, Robert Greenwald, and his small band of 20-something assistants. Once best known for films like “Xanadu” and the television movie “The Burning Bed,” Greenwald shows how technology has dispersed the power to shape campaign narratives, potentially upending the way American presidential campaigns are fought.

Greenwald’s McCain videos, most of which portray the senator as contradicting himself in different settings, have been viewed more than five million times — more than McCain’s own campaign videos have been downloaded on YouTube.

“If you had told me we would have hit one million, I would have told you you were crazy,” said Greenwald, who said he had no ties to the Democratic Party or Senator Barack Obama’s campaign.

Four years ago, the Internet was a…

In a move to compete with Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony is set to release the PlayStation 3 software update 2.40 on Wednesday.

New features aim to beef up the way PS3 users play and interact with one another. Perhaps the biggest in-game experience additions are the XrossMediaBar (XMB) and Trophies. These were two of the most requested new features, according to Sony.

XMB lets PS3 users connect and communicate with other gamers and use other XMB features while playing most games. Trophies lets gamers tout their accomplishments via profiles, which also lets users compare their skills.

“Today’s PlayStation 3 experience has evolved significantly from what we debuted at launch, and the 2.40 firmware update will drive the PS3 community experience forward at a time when the platform’s momentum is stronger than ever, with the launches of several recent blockbuster titles and other exclusive content on the way,” said Peter Dille, Sony’s senior vice president of marketing.

Zooming in on XMB

XMB access allows gamers to interact through messaging. Gamers can view others’ online status and profiles without interrupting game play. By pushing the PS button on the PS3 controller, the Home menu takes center stage over a game in progress.

Depending on the game, XMB access will either automatically pause the game or continue to run in the background. With these enhanced communications features for the PlayStation Network community — which has more than 9.8 million registered accounts — the Friends list capacity has doubled to 100.

With XMB access in a game, users can sign in to the PlayStation Network, manage PlayStation Store downloads, quit a game, and access options within the Settings category. PS3 users can also end their game and navigate directly to other PS3 system features by selecting to view content such as photos or videos stored on the system’s hard…