Usage Based Billing (Canada)

Unfortunately, the CRTC has decided that large telecommunication companies in Canada should (and now are) charging for usage based billing, something that may hurt many Canadians and deem services like Netflix useless in Canada. Prior to this, unlimited data plans were available in Canada. So what can you do to change this? OpenMedia.ca has started a petition which is backed by the Liberal Party of Canada, all they (and we) ask is for you to sign this petition. As of writing, just over 493,000 people have signed the petition, we ask you make it 493,001 people. Below we have placed a counter and a form to sign the petition. We urge you, sign the petition!

Quick Question for Our Viewers

Have any of you noticed those Bell Canada vans doing maintenance everywhere? Does anyone know what they're doing? Setting up a new network? Please answer in the comments below! Honestly, I got no clue myself.

PSN Coming Live on May 3rd!

Okay, so after a few weeks of downtime on the PSN, rumors (semi-)confirmed by Sony are circulating. The PlayStation(R)Network will most likely go live (again) on May 3rd. Can't wait to see all of you gaming!

PSN Hackers are Identity Theft Hackers!

In case you didn't hear the news yet. PSN has been down for a few weeks (since Wed 20, when it got hacked). Sony only recently has confirmed the hacker(s) stole everyones personal information! While Sony is unsure whether or not credit card info was stolen, it is definitely may be a possibility. Sony is currently sending out mass emails regarding the issue to all PSN users.

PSN Still Down

That's correct folks, going into it's third day, PSN is still down. Although this time around, Sony has finally given us some insight into what's happening. Their help page now states;

"An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. In order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward, we turned off PlayStation Network & Qriocity services on the evening of Wednesday, April 20th. Providing quality entertainment services to our customers and partners is our utmost priority. We are doing all we can to resolve this situation quickly, and we once again thank you for your patience. We will continue to update you promptly as we have additional information to share.
Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter.
During this time you may:

• Not be able to access the PlayStation®Store

• Have difficulty signing in to the PlayStation®Network

• Not be able to play online games

• See a maintenance page when attempting to access the PlayStation®Network  

Note: When you log into the PlayStation Network, a message may appear which states, "the PlayStation Network has been suspended".  This does not mean that your account has been suspended; it simply means the PlayStation Network has been taken offline.  Please wait until the maintenance window has passed before attempting to connect to the PlayStation Network again.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

So now all we have to do is interpret this, unfortunately that means most of us are going to misinterpret it. So let us give you some help with this "interpreting".

This could mean hacktivist group "Anonymous" is striking again, and Sony is trying to get it self back on it's feet, but "Anonymous" has already stated they're not the ones responsible.

So that leave us with other reasons, one's that weren't (completely) implied by Sony. Some of which are; "Portal 2" multiplayer left SNEA crippled. Obviously that's not it, Sony's not that dumb. Chances are, it has nothing to do with what they say it has to do with. As "satcimy" said, "someone at Sony just tripped over the power cord for the network and they didnt realize it yet."

PlayStation 3 Firmwares for Download

Whether you jailbreaking*, or just collecting for some other reason. A new blog, http://firmwaresource.blogspot.com/, has just been put up and is providing links to all older PS3 firmwares. The blog states they are working on iDevice firmwares as well, but were yet to see that happen.
*We do not encourage jailbreaking or modifying firmware of any kind, nor do we condone jailbreaking or modifying firmware.

Official PlayStation App Coming to US and Canada

Great news, well sort of. After a PSN member commented on a PlayStation.Blog post, a Sony employee later replied that they're working on the Official PlayStation App in NA. So at least now we know they remembered us.

Jeff Rubenstein (Sony Employee) confirms PlayStation App coming to North America.

For those of you who don't know what app I'm talking about; An iPhone/Android app was released by Sony in Europe. Sony just left us in North America, and Asia out. You may click on picture to enlarge.