PSP firmware 5.50 adds Information Board, internet security and more
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Apr 20th 2009 at 11:40AM } 
In addition, the firmware update will allow users to create and access sub-folders on the Memory Stick for music, photos and videos. The internet browser will also feature a trial of Trend Micro's "Kid's Safety" service, so parents can finally put an end to their children's insatiable appetite for PSP porn.
- Memory Stick improvements – You'll be able to create and access sub-folders on your Memory Stick PRO Duo for music, videos and photos. Separately, the available space required to download a file from PlayStation Store to your Memory Stick has been reduced significantly.
- Internet search for games directly from the XMB – You'll be able to easily search the Internet for information about your PSP games. Select the icon for the game, hit the Triangle button, and then select [Internet Search] from the options menu to get search results based on the game title. This feature was added to PS3 with the recent 2.70 update.
- Trend Micro trial – PSP's Internet browser is a great tool for checking out your favorite Web sites on the go, and we're teaming up with the Internet security experts at Trend Micro to make the Web browsing experience safer and more secure. With the 5.50 update, you'll have the option to access a free trial of two Trend Micro services:
- Trend Micro Web Security uses Web reputation technology to block PSP owners from accidentally visiting a Web site that may contain malicious content designed to steal personal information and confidential data.
- Trend Micro Kids' Safety uses URL filtering technology to prevent children from accessing Web sites that feature inappropriate content.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Emperor_Den_Den @ Apr 20th 2009 11:46AM
man if I woulda known psp had porn I woulda kept mine :(
Black Mage @ Apr 20th 2009 4:41PM
HAHA!
coffins outside the door @ Apr 20th 2009 11:49AM
The sub-folder thing is great seeing as how I use mine as a MP3 player.
SecretAgentHam @ Apr 20th 2009 2:37PM
@ Infamous1
wont somebody just take the work this "HEN" character has done then alter it to play CSO/ISO's?
i mean once all the hard work is put into making a working FW on the 3000 someone will make it their own for what they please. imo CFW shouldnt be done AT ALL.
SecretAgentHam @ Apr 20th 2009 2:38PM
obviously meant to the post below this one...
InFaMoUs1- @ Apr 20th 2009 12:00PM
Don't update your PSP firmware past 5.03... HEN is going to be released soon for every PSP model including 3000! w00t!
Richard @ Apr 20th 2009 12:06PM
Really? Where is the news of this? Can you provide a link?
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Apr 20th 2009 12:07PM
I think i'll just get an old 1000 or 2000 model of eBay and use that for "homebrew" activities...
InFaMoUs1- @ Apr 20th 2009 12:08PM
http://pspslimhacks.com/503-tiff-exploit-hello-world-v2-for-psp-slim-psp-3000/
http://pspslimhacks.com/psp-3000-hen-homebrew-enabler-coming-soon/
http://forums.mformature.net/showthread.php?t=2380
InFaMoUs1- @ Apr 20th 2009 12:11PM
"I think i'll just get an old 1000 or 2000 model of eBay and use that for "homebrew" activities..."
I had a PSP 2000 sold it and recently bought a PSP 3000 off dell.com for $151 not bad. I hope to get that Prinny game soon.. looks really good.
yokel @ Apr 20th 2009 12:20PM
Just what the PSP needs, more piracy.
InFaMoUs1- @ Apr 20th 2009 12:28PM
"Just what the PSP needs, more piracy."
If you actually read the the links I put up you'd realize you cant load ISO/CSO with this HEN and the guy behind this has stated he will not add a ISO/CSO Loader in the HEN because he is against piracy.
http://forums.mformature.net/showpost.php?p=40588&postcount=864
Lee @ Apr 20th 2009 12:32PM
Thats how it should be. guess my 3000 model will be running homebrew after all.
JuanDHexen @ Apr 20th 2009 1:03PM
They finally update the psp that's great news, I been wanted sub-folders I only wish they increase the volume of the psp.
JuanDHexen @ Apr 20th 2009 1:06PM
If that is true InFaMoUs1 I will sell my psp 2000 soon and get a 3000.I always felt guilty putting custom firmware in mine cause I didn't want to be tempted to pirate psp games but now I don't have to worry.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Apr 20th 2009 12:04PM
information board?? How about the Information board on the PSP & the PS3 get updates from the PS Blog instead of the useless feed that goes to it now?? I mean it WOULD be nice if that were able to be set to any rss feed we choose but at the very least set it to the PS Blog RSS feed
Vidikron @ Apr 20th 2009 1:10PM
Agreed 100%. I don't use it now for two reasons. One, it's ugly compared to the rest of the dashboard and, two, it's basically just ads for content in the PSN store. I'd likely use it they would allow us to supply our own RSS feeds.
JayFight @ Apr 21st 2009 6:52AM
in case you didn't notice the psp does have an rss feed channel under the network icon so get your psblog download there. now if only they'd bring that to the ps3
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Apr 21st 2009 8:51AM
yea I know about the RSS channel on the PSP. but I'd rather have it go to the information bar thats not ALL that informative otherwise....
Cosmo @ Apr 20th 2009 12:08PM
What the FUCK took you so long to add sub-folders Sony!?!?
DeathroW @ Apr 20th 2009 12:14PM
Now only if the PS3 adopted some of the PSP features..
*cough* skype
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Apr 21st 2009 8:53AM
in game Skype!!!
Hashbrown Hunter @ Apr 20th 2009 12:21PM
I'm sorry, but I believe FOX's clever term for pornographic content accessed using a PlayStation Portable device was called "PSPorn".
Cosmo @ Apr 20th 2009 12:23PM
Playstation Pornable
Hashbrown Hunter @ Apr 20th 2009 12:32PM
Actually it's a little ironic that they added one feature that could block porn (Trend Micro Kids Safe thing) and another feature that can finally efficiently hide porn (multiple subfolders).
TM @ Apr 20th 2009 12:22PM
sub-folders............I love that part
Cosmo @ Apr 20th 2009 12:23PM
Or Pornstation Portable, take your pick.
InFaMoUs1- @ Apr 20th 2009 12:27PM
"Just what the PSP needs, more piracy."
If you actually read the the links I put up you'd realize you cant load ISO/CSO with this HEN and the guy behind this has stated he will not add a ISO/CSO Loader in the HEN because he is against piracy.
http://forums.mformature.net/showpost.php?p=40588&postcount=864
Deaddy @ Apr 20th 2009 1:59PM
Yeah, but he also said this will allow loading of custom firmware like M33 on some units.
Popfrogs @ Apr 20th 2009 2:25PM
Not all of us CFW users are in it for the "warez". Personally I like running dozens of emulators on it and the far-superior internet radio software. Been flipping between the new Prinny game (so hard) and Phantasy Star IV.
InFaMoUs1- @ Apr 20th 2009 2:35PM
yea I hope to get Fantasy Star for AD HOC party on PS3
boots555 @ Apr 20th 2009 12:36PM
I like Playstation Pornable
atastysammich @ Apr 20th 2009 12:51PM
Subfolder access? About effin' time. That should've been available out of the box!
Angel Mass @ Apr 20th 2009 1:02PM
Maaaan finally a PSP update, I cant wait for that one!
Interesting about accessing the information of the game online with just a couple of steps.
I just wish they could improve the browser with a recent Flash version so we could watch Youtube videos and such on it.
shoan @ Apr 20th 2009 1:12PM
Yeah no joke the Web Browser is horrible. Everything that I try to load comes up with not enough memory If they could only let us use the memory stick for browser memory I would be happy.
ducttapeBigSexy @ Apr 20th 2009 1:20PM
Yeah, the PSP browser does suck - it's good enough for viewing mobile versions of sites (Joystiq's is actually quite nice), but that's about it.
However, I'll still happily apply this update - the subfolder thing was the only real complaint I had against the PSP's mp3 player.
Angel Mass @ Apr 20th 2009 1:28PM
Man, to check my mail on the PSP I had to go to the Wap portal of Yahoo, the regular portal is just too slow on the PSP. But that was till some weeks ago, now I get a strange error anytime I try to check wap.yahoo.com. I hope this release also fix that out!
Cosmo @ Apr 20th 2009 1:45PM
I hope the PSP2 will have at least as robust a web browser as the IPhone with at least Flash 9 support.
Popfrogs @ Apr 20th 2009 5:12PM
@Cosmo: Sony already made the bad decision of going with the NetFront browser for the PSP and PS3, I doubt this will change anytime soon. Shame too because Webkit-based browsers, like the iPhone's, are robust, have a small memory footprint and amazingly, can actually render pages.
My Blackberry browser, with its tiny footprint, destroys the PSP browser every day. I really hate NetFront.
BunnySlapper @ Apr 20th 2009 1:34PM
Now we have the ability to add sub-folders?
The last two Sony updates read like a joke - first with adding groundbreaking TEXT CHAT to the PS3 (not in games though!), and now the incredible ability to create a sub-folder on a mem stick in a PSP?
Is this the stoneage of gaming?
SourceJR @ Apr 20th 2009 2:12PM
FYI You can Text Chat in Game
Ezio Auditore de Firenze (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ Apr 20th 2009 5:25PM
subfolders are a welcome update. they could have just stopped updating the PSP altogether, y' know.
butlersp @ Apr 20th 2009 5:16PM
The sub folder should have been done long ago. Other than that the rest of the update is a joke. The dashboard is a waste. The internet game look up is not worth it on the PSP the browser is not able to handle anything graphic heavy. And the free trial of the internet protection, why? Seems lie a waste of space to me.
gigachrisdark @ Apr 20th 2009 8:11PM
what are subfolders......forgive me if i am asking a retarded question in not that tech savvy
Big D. @ Apr 20th 2009 10:49PM
it means you can have multiple folders within each other as in:
MUSIC:
RAP, ROCK, METAL
And then within each of those folders have artists folders for each artist you like.
Of course you can name them whatever you want, that's just an example.
Big D. @ Apr 20th 2009 6:59PM
Hopefully they update Flash as well.
utterer @ Apr 20th 2009 9:42PM
Yay another PSP update that doesn't add anything useful. Now they are trying to sell additional services within firmware updates.
Nobledevil @ Apr 20th 2009 10:52PM
YES! The subfolders feature should have been added damn near launch so people could easily throw their media on there without having to look through their PC folders. As many people as I see on a daily basis who are 100% computer illiterate, this would have really been a great feature to have from the start.
Too bad the PSP probably won't get anymoore "OMFG" level updates as much as the system can do now. Adding user-friendliness is about all they can do at this point.
James Hall @ Apr 21st 2009 6:09AM
I have just upgraded and found a slight bug in the Information Board. When you select one of the "news" items (which are quite out of date really), it brings up the web browser with a page stating that you need to upgrade to the latest version of the firmware. Doh, come on SONY, get your web site fixed LOL
JQW @ Apr 21st 2009 6:01AM
The most important chance is regarding the available space needed to download content.
Currently when downloading a game you need twice the size of the game free on the Memory Stick to be able to download content. This causes problems for anyone wishing to download a large game.
This may be required to roll out some larger games in the future.