When Sony Corp. introduced what was the world's smallest transistor radio in 1957, it advertised it as "pocketable" but there was a problem -- it didn't actually fit into a shirt pocket. The solution was to issue salesmen shirts with slightly larger pockets.

The drive to miniaturize has been a constant theme through most of Sony's history, much of it driven by a focus on research and development. From the early transistor radios through the Walkman, the world's first portable stereo, to new digital cameras and pocket-size camcorders, making things more compact remains important for Sony today.

As the company marks its 60th anniversary on May 7, being small isn't quite as unique as it used to be. So while Sony continues to spend time on shrinking products, it's also focusing on a range of other technologies to set its wares apart from those of competitors.

Here's a selection of five technologies that could prove key to Sony's future.

The Cell Processor

Perhaps one of the most exciting new technologies coming from Sony is the Cell chip. Developed with IBM Corp. and Toshiba Corp. at a cost of billions of dollars, the chip combines 8 processing cores with a main 64-bit processor and is expected to be one of the most powerful processors ever developed. It's already attracted lots of attention for its place at the heart of the upcoming PlayStation 3 console but Sony has much greater plans for the chip.

Sony has established a group that is tasked with developing Cell-based products and applications other than PlayStation 3.

The chip's video processing power could make it the heart of a new generation of high-definition (HD) home entertainment devices such as televisions, video players and recorders. Sony already has its eye on an interconnected world of HD devices, from TVs and Blu-ray Disc players to HDV-based home camcorders and video editing workstations so the Cell is likely to get use well beyond the world of gaming.

Image Sensors

At the core of every digital video or digital still camera sits a sensor that converts light into the electric impulses that are the basis of digital photography. Sony has been a leading manufacturer of such sensors for some years and its latest work is paving the way for a new breed of camera that could be on the market by next year.

The sensors are capable or photographing high-definition video at 60 frames per second or 300 frames per second at a lower resolution. At present such fast frame rates are only available on very expensive specialist cameras but new CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensors, which were unveiled at a conference in the U.S. earlier this year, are heading to consumer cameras.

"You can see a world you can't see with your eyes," said Yasuhiro Ueda, general manager of Sony's Image Sensor Division in a recent interview.

The sensors might make capturing that perfect shot easier. Because of their speed users will be able to take a series of up to 8 images in an eighth of a second and then

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