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Today ponpo ran across a patent that leave some speculating as to whether Sony is planning on introducing a rumored PlayStation Switch type device such as a PSP Switch or PS Vita Switch similar to the Nintendo Switch.

The patent is from 2015, however, it has just recently been published according to IGN.

To quote: "Like Nintendo Switch, the device looks very much like a tablet with two controller halves on either side, but instead of Joy-Cons flanking the screen, the half-controllers on either side of the device look like the handles on a DualShock 4."

Would anyone be interested in a PlayStation Switch type device for both home and mobile PlayStation gaming, or would you prefer something like the Playbook 4 instead?
Let us know in the comments below, and thanks to @Jeff and @LightningMods in the PSXHAX Shoutbox for the news tip!

Previously we reported on the PS4 1.76 Permanent Internet Browser Mod Payload, and recently PlayStation 4 modder MODDED WARFARE shared a video tutorial on enabling the PS4 1.76 Internet Browser without signing into PSN.

The guide uses the PS4 WebKit Playground, which can also be accessed in several flavors courtesy of e✘treme, and to quote:

How To Enable The Internet Browser on a PS4 Without PSN

How to enable the Internet browser on a PS4 with firmware 1.76 while not signed into PSN. With the Internet browser enabled you no longer need to use the user guide method to access the web kit playground.

PS4 Browser Patch: WebBrowserPatch.bin

PS4 Debug Settings Injector: ps4debugnetcat.zip
Thanks once again to @MODDEDWARFARE and @HydrogenNGU on Twitter for the heads-up of this video tutorial.

Following the last CoD: Ghosts PS4 RTM Demo, today PlayStation 4 developer MsKx aka @MsKxModdingXC62 shared another Call of Duty: Ghosts PS4 Real-Time Environment (RTE) 1.76 demonstration video showing off their latest progress!

To quote from the video's caption, roughly translated: Real Time demonstration on a PS4 in firmware 1.76.

Credits:

TheoryWrong
Jimmy Modding
DEv_ShOoTz
Marbella
AmazingNO0B
MsKx
Thanks to @HydrogenNGU for passing the news along earlier today on Twitter.

Today Sony announced that PlayStation 4 multiplayer gaming fans are invited to join in their free PS4 multiplayer week starting February 17th and running through February 23rd without any PS Plus membership required.

Here are the details from James Hallahan of PlayStation Plus, to quote:

"We’re back with another free multiplayer weekend on PS4, but this time, the PS Plus team is extending it a full week. That’s right — one full week of competitive or cooperative play online! This should give you enough time to prestige at least once on Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, right?

Starting this Friday, February 17, you, your friends, your next door neighbor — everyone — will be able to access the online multiplayer modes in any PS4 game that you own without a PlayStation Plus subscription.

Free online multiplayer access begins February 17 at 12:01 AM Pacific and runs to Sunday, February 23 at 11:59 PM Pacific. Hop on to PSN during the free week with your favorite multiplayer game — no membership commitment is required during this period. Enjoy!"

To celebrate PlayStation Vita's birthday, PS Vita developer Yifan Lu with help from H of UkakNEH made available PSVIMGTools for backing up and restoring data on the PS Vita handheld console similar to the PS3 backup tool.

Download: psvimgtools-master.zip / psvimgtools-master.zip (Mirror) / PSVIMGTools Master / GIT / PSVIMGTools Frontend / GIT by @SilicaAndPina / Psvimgtools.Easy.FrontEnd.1.8.7.zip / GIT via MRGhidini

To quote from Wiki.Henkaku.xyz: PSVIMG

PSVIMG files are encrypted files generated by CMA in backing up and restoring data from the Vita.

Generating PSVIMG

When CMA is used to backup system, game, or savedata from the Vita to a PC or PS3, the following algorithm is used:

• Using a tar-like structure, stream all of the file data into a file.
• If making a PSVMD file, use the deflate algorithm to compress.
• Generate a random nonce for the first 0x10 bytes using the RndNumber syscall.
• Generate a unique session AES256 key using a secret phrase and the PSN account id of the PSVita.
• Generate a SHA256 hash of the plaintext every 0x8000 bytes and insert the hash into the filestream.
• Encrypt the stream data using EncDecKeygen syscall from SceSblDmac5Mgr with the nonce as the header and the AES256 session key.
• Transmit to PC or PS3.

Secrets

If you look at the 16 character hex directory name included in part of the backup path, that is your PSN account id. The AES256 session key is calculated by doing a SHA256 hash of the 8 byte hex binary representation of the PSN...