Wow, I must have been living under a rock because this is the first time I've heard of this. Well, apparently Sony ran into some trouble with the service that was supposed to be due out in July but is now planned for release this month. (Is it August already? Summer goes by WAY too fast) If you're as confused as I am, let me give you the run down that I found on PC World. The service is similar to Nintendo's Wii Channels. A 3D globe interface will list regions and cities. From what I can tell, the interface will be similar to Google Earth, using weather satellites for the image. You'll be able to get weather and news headlines for major cities using the service. The news service appears to be similar to RSS feeds. Clicking headlines will open that page in the browser, which according to PC World is different from Nintendo's which relies on content partners. Music stored on the hard drive can be played in the background of the interface and will either play user defined playlists or shuffle what's there.
It's certainly far more usefull than the halfassed ticker that was added in Firmware 2.0, which of course only displayed Playstation news. There is currently no set release date for Life with Playstation other than it will arrive sometime in August 2008.

With HDTVs becoming more common place, I think this is the way things are moving. People already want and get their information on demand. All the better if it's always there without having to turn on your computer. I expect this type service will eventually be integrated right into TVs but for now, game consoles are doing jobs that nobody had ever intended them to do even just 10 years ago.