Sony announces in Japan the new firmware 1.60 for the Sony PS3.

The 1.60 version will include the Folding@home client from the Stanford University. Now you can as already on your PC help solve big problems if you leave your PS3 on after game play. On the other hand, if you consider the energy cost, you might be doing the environment a favor by switching the Playstation off.

Another major feature of 1.60 is the background download capability. If you do not have a USB keyboard around 1.60 gives you an on-screen full size QWERTY keyboard.
The new PS3 firmware also brings pinpoint zoom to the web browser, a feature the Wii browser already has.
20GB PS3 owners can now connect with the Sony PSP for remote play.

Sony says to release the Sony PS3 firmware 1.60 on March 22nd in the afternoon in Japan. This basically coincides with the European Sony PS3 launch. I assume if you buy a PS3 in Europe, first thing after connection to the Playstation network will be to download 1.60. Sony already said that there is an immediate firmware update necessary, but that was in connection with the PS2 backward compatibility.
More details about the new Sony PS3 firmware update can be found on the Japanese Sony Playstation site (English Google Translation).
More Sony PS3 News.