What is the point of the "Stem Cell Research" label on the mountains in that cartoon?

That editorial cartoon reminds me of my editor when I was in college. I won editorial cartooning award after award and he kept saying I needed to be more traditional, like the example above, and label stuff. Seriously, besides the label on the dam (and maybe the one on the balloon) none of the rest are necessary. The word balloon is too non-specific and can be misinterpreted by those who don't know what "it" is "free." The storm cloud, especially, makes it way too busy. But what do I know...

I didn't write it. I just thought the quote was funny. Hasn't the PS3's distributed computing power been touted before? Perhaps that's all it means over there on the fringe...

I know. My editor from ten years ago suddenly popped into my head and I was venting.

Plus, I haven't been able to knife anybody in BFBC2 for days.

Just get the network back online already! I've been itching to play The Show with a friend of mine that lives in Miami.

FYI, that's from Penny-Arcade, so I think we can take it as a parody of traditional editorial cartooning.

The PS3 can do Folding@Home, which is a group that studies protein structures. I think stem cell research is part of that study.

is psn back up? I checked and it wanted to download an update.

not that I know of, at least about 4 hours ago when I turned it on (I've been in netflix for 4 hours) it gave me a connection error

Edit, still says undergoing maintence to me.


And it appears that now The Department of Homeland Security is the firm that was assisting them with the breach. Lets just say that if the people who did this get caught, they are going to get fucked in the ass.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/01/ps...qriocity-free/

You can watch it here (WMP needed): http://www.irwebcasting.com/live/110501/02/index.html

Notes from the press conference:

They say that they think no credit card data was taken, but all of the PSN ID's and passwords were accessed and possibly compromised.

Moved to new servers, enhanced security software, new position with a head of Sony On-line security (most likely filled by VP Kevin Butler).

New firmware update will require all PSN users to change their passwords (can only be done through PS3 account was created on or through verified e-mail).

Sony considering covering cost of issuing new credit cards (doesn't say specifically how).

As mentioned above, 30 days of free PSN+ service to all users (current users get a free month), and some free download of "premium" content.

Services to restart "this week" - Online gaming, VOD, Playstation@Home - The rest to be restored within "this month".

Hacker ID is still unknown. 3 security firms from the US were hired by Sony to investigate. The data was initially stored in servers in San Diego; they have been moved. Certainly explains why the FBI and Dept. of Homeland Security got involved.

In that case, it's a good bit of satire.

The free month of Playstation Plus for everyone is kind of a "Fuck You" to existing members who will have lost nearly a month of service and will get no extra benefits for being a member.

Yeah, I'm not sure why paying members are getting the same compensation as free members?

You get an extra month added on to your subscription so seems fair enough to me.

Looks like the way they're handling changing the passwords is well thought out and should prevent anyone's account being taken over. I'd hate to lose my account and all the Killzone 3 progression I've made

Actually I don't. I paid $50 for 15 months with my charter membership. This outage will have lasted almost a month by the time the PSN is back up. At best I'll be getting what I paid for already.

What is odd is that they are giving one free month of Plus for all users but the PS store will not be back online right away and who knows when it will be back on. They do say that everything will be running by the end of May but if Sony waits 2-3 weeks to turn the store on then how else does having Plus benefit anyone?

It probably won't roll out until the store is back online - or since it is free content and a CC is not required, they could put up a limited version of the PSN with free content only.

Let's hope they do something because having Plus is next to worthless without the content. The only other benefit are the cloud saves. I bet that Sony sees this as a bit of payback for the outage but also as a hope and ploy to recruit new customers to Plus.

So if we have to immediately change password upon login, how the heck am I supposed to figure out which password it was originally?

woah, woah sony. let's not get too crazy here. i mean a whole month! totally worth it!

Can't wait for all the bitching from the folks who get their free month of PS+, download a bunch of stuff and then are SHOCKED to find out it expires once their free month is up.

Well, at least the few trophy whores out there that do not already have Plus can get a bunch of stuff and go crazy for a few weeks. Besides, of all of the free stuff that I have gotten so far I usually don't play it past a few weeks.

You are getting compensated for what you lost, while it's not an extra perk, it still isn't something that should be complained about, it's not like you really lost anything when all is said and done. I agree a little extra should be in store for psn+ members, but at the very least you are getting back what you lost.

This kind of stuff happens all the time online. Places get hacked. I personally, instead of them wasting their time thinking of elaborate "We're sorry" things for everyone effected, to use that time to make sure this never happens again. That is all I expected out of them, and anything else is just bonus. Of course I'm not the kind of person who complains if I don't get anything free if something happens that was unexpected.

Yeah, when a utility goes out (be it water, gas or electricity), you don't get more free when it's back, you just don't pay for what you didn't use.

however, the difference is that when your utilities go out, it's not because someone hacked into the system and stole all your information and potentially a credit card.