{"id":550995,"date":"2006-12-04T11:23:15","date_gmt":"2006-12-04T11:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/550995-fallen-it-hero-settles-for-ps3.html"},"modified":"2006-12-04T11:23:15","modified_gmt":"2006-12-04T11:23:15","slug":"fallen-it-hero-settles-for-ps3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/550995-fallen-it-hero-settles-for-ps3.html","title":{"rendered":"Fallen IT hero settles for PS3"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one of his first interviews since his arrest in January, Horie said he had picked up one of Sony’s new next-generation video-game machines. "The machine is such a good buy," Horie told Aera magazine in its issue out on Monday. "The graphics are amazingly clear. That is a great home appliance. <\/font><\/p>\n

"They created an incredible thing." <\/font><\/p>\n

The 34-year-old Livedoor founder was once a national celebrity for his brash manners and aggressive takeover bids but the Ferrari-driving whizkid fell dramatically when he was accused of falsely reporting profits to hide his company’s debts. <\/font><\/p>\n

"I will continue fighting for my innocence," said Horie, whose trial is ongoing. <\/font><\/p>\n

Dent in plans<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n

Horie said he had been serious about aiming to take over Sony Corp, one of Japan’s most iconic companies, although his arrest halted his plans. <\/font><\/p>\n

"Regardless of whether I could have really done so, I might have tried. <\/font><\/p>\n

"If you allow me to speak without reservation, I would sell the electronics and the PlayStation (units) and concentrate resources on portable devices like mobile phones," he said. <\/font><\/p>\n

Sony, which invented the Walkman, has been through a rough patch in the past several years and has been hit most recently by its recall of millions of defective computer batteries. <\/font><\/p>\n

Sony last week shook up its video-game unit, which is badly in the red despite the PlayStation’s popularity. <\/font><\/p>\n

Horie said his career as an entrepreneur was finished although he still had areas in which he hoped to do business. <\/font><\/p>\n

"I’m interested in the space industry, or maybe the life science business," he said. "But I would be an investor rather than running the business myself." <\/font><\/p>\n

Horie said he spends time outside of court helping out a project to put together a rocket engine. <\/font><\/p>\n

He has also gained weight. Once pudgy, Horie looked trim after three months in detention but his bulging belly has since returned. <\/font><\/p>\n

Asked about his weight, Horie snapped: "It’s none of your business." <\/font><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japan’s disgraced internet mogul Takafumi Horie, who boasted at the height of his fame that he would one day try to buy Sony, has had to settle for a smaller purchase – Sony’s PlayStation 3. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}