Sony head of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida is a gregarious, smart, talkative interviewee. And that's exactly why it was so weird that he fully waffled when we asked him to address whether or not the newly unveiled PlayStation 4 will play used games. "That's my expectation, that PS4 games will work on [the] hardware. That's my expectation," he told us in an interview this morning. When we pushed to clarify what he meant, Yoshida stuttered. "Ummm ... yeah. We have to really name our system services to explain more about it," he added.

That's a similar answer to what he told Eurogamer last night at Sony's big PlayStation 4 announcement event, vagueness and all. Yes, used games "can play on PS4," but does it require a license repurchase? Perhaps you have to belong to an as-yet-unidentified PS4 online network? It's not entirely clear, but there seems to be a caveat to the statement, "Used games work on PS4." Sony, however, isn't saying what that caveat is just yet. Of course, current-gen consoles all support buying any used, physical copies of games and playing them on their corresponding game consoles

It was late last year that Flickr for iOS underwent a major makeover as part of Marissa Mayer's vision to revitalize Yahoo products, and today the app's on the receiving end of what's perhaps its most notable update since. The refreshed application will now let iDevice owners easily mention Flickr friends by way of -- you guessed it -- that ubiquitous "@," while the new version also brings speedier photo uploads, an option to save shots from your own Photostream to the iOS camera roll and the ability to quickly snap a picture using the volume button. In addition to that, the Flickr app now also allows users to gawk at higher-res pics in the Lightbox View, which should be a feature nicely welcomed by those who like to call themselves pixel buffs. Version 2.10.803, as it's more formally known, is now live in the App Store, so head on to Cupertino's shop if you're eager to try out the free goods.

While the Chromebook Pixel has that pretty display for looking at pictures and browsing the web, many users would probably still want to use the laptop for, like, actual work. Thankfully the Chrome team has thought of that and have developed an integrated version of Quickoffice so that you can finally open and edit office documents natively within the Chrome browser. The final app will take two to three months to ship, but that office functionality will be built-in with the Pixel (update: we've clarified this statement below). Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome, said at the Chromebook Pixel event in San Francisco that this "completes the story for a lot of users" who want something a little more beyond just Google Docs. We've also learned that while the Quickoffice integration will be available initially for the Pixel, it'll eventually roll out to other Chromebooks as well via a software update.

Update: To clarify, we've learned that all Pixels will ship with Quickoffice already installed. You'll be able to open and view documents on it as soon as you get it. However, the ability to actually edit those docs won't be available until two to three months down the line as they're still working on perfecting the app (the demo they had at the event failed a couple of times).

Taking a small stage in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood, Google's Sundar Pichai introduced the Chromebook Pixel, the company's attempt to "rethink everything" in terms of laptop design. We can't say that the touchscreen notebook is a stark departure from the category's norm, but it certainly feels like a solid piece of kit. Weighing in at 3.35 pounds, the Chromebook Pixel's unibody frame looks and feels somewhat like a MacBook Pro -- flanking a comfortable chicklet keyboard and a luxuriously large trackpad with a small dip at its south end. The usual bevy of navigation and control keys headline the keyboard, and the machine's left side is populated by a Mini DisplayPort port, a power plug and two USB 2.0 plugs. The right edge houses an SD / MMC card reader and, well nothing else. The Pixel is a minimalist machine, and it both looks and feels good for the subtlety of design.

Chromebook Pixel hands-on

The machine's real star is its 12-inch, 3:2 display. True to Google's word, the screen is gorgeous, and makes full use of that 2,560 x 1,700 resolution. Photos pop, text is crystal clear and at 400-nits, everything is stunningly bright. At first swipe, it seems to be a capable touchscreen too -- in the few minutes we had with the device, we didn't have any trouble flicking our way through Engadget's news roll, though the traditional trackpad still feels more natural at this stage. Still, everything we did was comfortable, eye-catching and rather quick, thanks, no doubt, to the Pixel's Intel Core-i5 processer. First impressions? Very solid, and possibly the finest Chromebook yet -- but at $1,299 for WiFi and $1,449 for LTE, it had better be. Skip on past the break for a hands-on video and a second hand look at the Pixel's high resolution display.

With that glorious high-res display on the Chromebook Pixel, it only made sense that Google released a brand-new photo app to go along with it. In collaboration with the G+ Photos team, Chrome has worked on a new Photos app from the ground up so that it's super-easy to upload, view and share your photos. All you have to do is plug in your camera's SD card into the Chromebook and it'll automatically recognize your pics and immediately start uploading your full-resolution photos to your G+ account -- turns out there's a really good reason the Pixel comes with one terabyte of Drive storage for three years.

Of course, the app is designed with the touch interface in mind, and they've built in social elements like G+'s plusses and comments into the UI. What we find particularly intriguing is that the app also has intelligent photo selection. It will look through your snapshots and will try its best to figure out which is blurry or has bad exposure. When you're ready to create a G+ album of your photos, it'll automatically select what it deems to be your best shots so you can set it up instantly. We talked to a Google representative here, and she said that while the app will be available to Pixel users initially via the Chrome Web Store, it'll eventually roll out to all Chromebooks in the future.

Only yesterday we were being teased with the idea of a touchscreen Chromebook. Well, good news for people who hate waiting -- it's here, it's called the Pixel, and you can pre-order today. The all-Google laptop is aimed at those who live in the cloud, but want a little more from their machine. Built from the ground up for the web, the 12.85-inch 3:2 ratio display claims to offer 18 percent more vertical space than 16:9 does. The screen the Pixel has is -- as you can imagine -- one of its proudest features, sporting a 2,560 x 1,700 resolution, giving a PPI of 239, and offers a brightness of 400nit. Oh, and of course, it's touch-enabled so whatever your input preference, you're covered. On the inside, there's a dual-core 1.8Ghz Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and two SSD options -- 32GB or 64GB. If that's not enough, Google's ahead of you, and is throwing in 1TB of Drive storage with every Pixel for three years -- what it expects the life of the machine to be. You won't be basing your choice just on storage though, as the smaller capacity model is WiFi only, while the 64GB comes with Verizon LTE baked right in, and a choice of plans.

As for the rest of the features, the Pixel also has a triple-microphone configuration -- with one under the keyboard -- which helps improve noise cancellation, including the rattle of your typing during excited hangouts. This is also where the speakers are hidden, so it will be interesting to see how those play nice together. Other features include an "HD" camera, a custom keyboard action for less finger-fatigue, and an enhanced smooth glass trackpad. As for ins and outs, there are two USB ports, a mini displayport, a mic / headphone jack and an SD card reader -- notably, no Ethernet. Wirelessly, you have WiFi a thru n and Bluetooth (plus that LTE if you opt in). Wondering what effect that display might have on the (59Wh) battery? Well Google claims its open-source test (available for criticism online) has rated the Pixel at five hours. If you want to get yourself some touchscreen Pixel action, you can order starting today from the Play store, or Best Buy starting tomorrow. The WiFi-only model will cost you $1,299, rising to $1,449 if you want some LTE (currently US / Verizon only). Not enough info for you right there? Why not head over to our minty-fresh hands-on.

The USPTO has published a new patent application today from Google, which describes in comprehensive detail the complete system that would go on to become Google Glass, originally filed in August of 2011. The newly discovered patent describes not only individual components of Glass as we’ve seen previously, but the overall system, including display, frames, image projection and capture, wireless connections, sensors and more.

Some of the technical drawings included in the patent look a lot like the Google Glass we’ve come to know and love from its public appearance adorning sky divers and tech company founders who could be mistaken for jewel thieves. But others depict designs that resemble cheap paper 3D glasses, and hipster specs you might expect to see at Warby Parker. Google is clearly looking at multiple ways to bring Glass to market, aside from the sci-fi style visor it’s been showing around.

The text of the patent gets into extreme technical detail, offering a granular look at how Glass actually functions. It describes how the lens mounted display would operate in relation to the movement of a wearer’s head to keep the projected image consistent, and how objects in the real world can be overlaid with digital images to create augmented reality experiences. It goes into detail about various configurations of glasses arms and where the housing for the ‘brains’ of the device could be located relative to the rest of the glasses apparatus, and talks about building touch-sensitive surfaces into frame to accept user input.

NASA's Kepler telescope is permanently on the lookout for celestial objects of interest, and its latest discovery is a small one. A small planet, to be exact -- in fact, the smallest its encountered during its search. Kepler-37b is a tad larger than our heavenly dance partner, the Moon, and whizzes round a star much like our Sun, with two larger planets in its system for company. NASA's issuing back pats all round, as finding Kepler-37b has highlighted "the precision of the Kepler instrument" (although admittedly, the star's behavior was favorable), and suggests there are many more humble worlds of similar size awaiting our detection. It's unlikely any aliens call Kepler-37b home: it's thought to be rocky, with no atmosphere, and hugs its sun in a 13-day orbit cycle, meaning surface temperature is terribly high. Still, an achievement for Kepler, no doubt, but what we really want it to find is a planet home to beings who can explain the plot-line of Prometheus. We're still a little confused.