Hulu Plus Members Credited for Lost PS3 Access

One of the effects of the PlayStation Network downtime that began a week ago is Hulu Plus being inaccessible on PlayStation 3. As a premium service that users have to pay for, it's perhaps a bigger loss than being unable to play games online. To make up for the lost time, Hulu is offering a $2.00 credit to Plus users on their next month's bill.
Given that Hulu Plus can still be accessed on other devices, it's rather generous of the company to offer anything at all, even if $2 isn't an enormous deal. (It works out to being about one quarter of the monthly fee, which is $7.99.) An email has been dispatched to affected members with a link that needs to be visited in order to obtain the free credit. Hulu also notes that no account information related to its service was leaked as a part of the "external intrusion" on the PlayStation Network.
Sony meanwhile has yet to reveal what -- if anything -- it will do for affected customers. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal wants Sony to offer two years of credit reporting services for free along with "sufficient insurance to protect them from the possible financial consequences of identity theft." It seems like a given that PlayStation Plus members will have their memberships extended for free, but beyond that it's anyone's guess what the average user will get. As noted yesterday, an FAQ posted about the breach said the "correct course of action" will be decided upon once PSN is back up and running. "Some services" are expected to be online "within a week."

Extreme Gaming Equipments

Sony online Service is Unavailable

Sony's online services for the PlayStation 3 have been unavailable for nearly a week, leaving gamers unable to play online or purchase games and films from the PS3's online store.

Many people assumed that online activists Anonymous were responsible when the PlayStation Network (PSN) went offline last Wednesday, as the group had declared action against Sony earlier this month. Anonymous chose to attack Sony as retribution for a lawsuit against George Hotz, a hacker who last year cracked the PS3's security and enabled the use of unofficial software on the console, but backed down when they realised the attacks were affecting ordinary users. The group now denies any involvement in the current PSN outage, stating "for once we didn't do it".

So if Anonymous isn't attacking PSN, what's causing the outage? Sony has only released a few details on its official blog, stating on Friday that an "external intrusion" had forced them to switch off the service and following up on Saturday with a promise to re-build and strengthen the system.

One suggestion, put forward on Reddit by a moderator of PlayStation hacking site PSX-Scene.com who goes by the name chesh420, suggests that Sony has taken its servers offline to prevent "extreme piracy of PSN content".

He claims that a piece of unofficial firmware, known as Rebug, allows users to gain access to the private PlayStation developer network. This also allows users to purchase games and other content for free using fake credit card numbers, since Sony doesn't check the authenticity of the numbers on the private network. He suggests Sony has shut down the PSN servers to secure them against this exploit.

These claims have not been verified, but New Scientist has seen instructions on PlayStation hacking forums for using the Rebug firmware to download free content, suggesting that the exploit is indeed possible.

Sony's lack of details on the cause of the outage has also lead to speculation that attackers may have gained access to users' credit card details. Sony spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka told PC World that the company hadn't yet determined whether such details have been compromised.

Dell brings Remote Capabilities to Workstations

Dell on Tuesday announced a desktop workstation that acts like a server from which remote client PCs can exploit graphics processing capabilities.

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The Precision R5500 workstation renders and delivers pixels to client PCs over a network, said Don Maynard, senior product manager for Dell's Precision tower and rack workstations. Graphics can be delivered in 2D or 3D formats to Dell's FX100 thin client using the PC-over-IP (Internet Protocol) remote graphics protocol, or to standard desktops and laptops with VMware's View software.
The new feature extends the processing power of workstations to more computing resources in organizations, Maynard said. The remote access technology could reduce the need to deploy multiple workstations, while centralizing engineering and graphics applications in one location.
The workstation is targeted at organizations involved in design projects or content creation, Maynard said. The workstation can also be relevant in vertical industries such as mining and health care.
Dell already offers servers with graphics processors, but the workstation has specific features that make it more relevant to client PCs, Maynard said. The workstation runs client operating systems such as Windows 7, which support engineering applications such as AutoCAD. The workstation also has the ability to provide more dedicated graphics processing power for such applications.
The quality of images delivered remotely depends on the complexity of graphics and bandwidth, Maynard said. There could be some latency if the graphics are complex, or if a PC is far away from the workstation.
Beyond remote access capabilities, the Precision R5500 is also a high-end desktop designed to run complex scientific and graphics applications. The dual-socket workstation runs on Intel's Xeon processors, and can accommodate up to 12 CPU cores. The desktop supports up to 192GB of RAM and has multiple storage slots. The desktop is offered with optional Nvidia graphics cards.
The R5500 is priced starting at US$2,551 and will be available in the U.S. and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) on May 3. It will become available in Asia-Pacific and Japan on May 10.
Dell also announced new Precision laptop workstations that are desktop alternatives. The DM4600 and DM6600 include 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch screens, respectively, and run on Intel's latest Core i5 and i7 processors.
The laptops support up to 32GB of RAM, and 750GB of hard drive or up to 256GB of solid-state drive storage. They will be available with optional graphics cards from Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. They also will come with multiple USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, and multiple monitors can be connected through display ports.
The M4600 starts at $1,678 , while the M6600 starts at $2,158. The laptops will become available worldwide on May 10.