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What a way for Sony to start the weekend. The PlayStation makers yesterday reported a $5.7-billion FY2011 loss. That includes every PlayStation console - both hand-helds and the PS3 - posting sales declines. Today, Sony Corporation opened the trading day with shares trading at their lowest since 2008. Shares last started a day this poorly for the electronics brand clear back in 1980, when the Walkman was still new-fangled.

Well, there's a saying about this kind of thing: if you can't beat 'em, take to the pages of your magazine celebrating the nude female form and tell the Republican Party what's what. Playboy Publising/Sexual Revolution icon Hugh Hefner has apparently heard all he cares to from Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and others about how sexuality will destroy America.

The Florida federal judge who'd been set to preside over George Zimmerman's second degree murder trial has accepted a defense motion and excused herself from the proceedings, CNN has reported. Seminole Circuit Judge Jessica Recksiedler acknowledged Wednesday that her husband works with current CNN legal analyst Mark NeJame following a motion by Zimmerman defense attorney Mark O'Mara suggesting that her involvement compromises the proceedings.

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin this past February, is in custody and officially now faces a second-degree murder charge. "We did not come to this decision lightly," appointed special prosecutor Angela Corey told gathered media late Wednesday afternoon, according to MSNBC.

Special prosecutor Angela Corey will announce at 6 PM ET that George Zimmerman will face criminal charges in the Feb. 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, NBC News has learned. The law enforcement official who informed NBC News correspondent Pete Williams of the forthcoming announcement on condition of anonymity did not disclose just what charges Corey would be filing.

Though an indictment against shooter George Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin's death may yet be coming, it won't arrive this Tuesday. It doesn't mean that there won't be charges against Zimmerman, who has claimed he shot the 17-year-old Sanford, Fla. young man in self-defense....simply that there's more investigation forthcoming.

With a presidential election approaching, political advertising scrutiny should reach a four-year high within the next seven months. Rest assured, as long as Pro Publica has its say, the public will have their advertising data from individual TV stations - whether the stations like it or not. Deadline reports that the activist journalist organization has figured out on its own just the route around the Federal Communication Commission's quandary concerning whether individual TV stations' political advertising data should be made available online.

The night Tracy Martin couldn't reach his son Trayvon - the night the boy was killed - he didn't initially worry. He believed his son had simply been out for the evening with Tracy's nephew. Then morning came. No Trayvon. His phone still rang straight to voicemail. Then, "the nightmare began."

There's seemingly often more news to cover during presidential elections than people to cover them. With the 2012 run to the White House fast approaching, NBC hopes that partnering with Newsweek and The Daily Beast can remedy that.

NBC is reporting that shots have been reported fired on the campus of Virginia Tech, the scene of a horrific massacre 4 years ago. The Virginia Tech website released a warning about gunfire and the entire school is currently on lockdown after a police officer was apparently shot by a white male suspect.

Ron Burgundy might get derailed anytime someone changes his teleprompter, but Brian Williams stops for nothing. A fire alarm repeatedly interrupted Brian Williams on "NBC Nightly News" on Tuesday night, but Williams wasn't going to let that stop him. Watch the video here.