PSN 'welcome back program' includes a free download, 30 days free PlayStation Plus, Qriocity Notes handed out before a Sony press conference today (timed so conveniently at 1am EDT in the US, and noon on the Sunday of Golden Week in Japan) reveal that Sony plans to offer free downloads of unidentified "content," 30 days of free PlayStation Plus access to new and existing members, and 30 days of free Qriocity service. The paper also says that PSN service will be restored "soon." Joystiq

Workers leaving the Googleplex In September 2007 I was hired jointly by Transvideo Studios and Google, both headquartered in Mountain View California. Transvideo had a contract with Google and took care of 100% of their video production in Mountain View, and sometimes elsewhere. My labor was sold to Google in the form of a 9-5 job. I had access to a personally unprecedented amount of privileges... Andrew Normal Wilson

SETI Institute to shut down alien-seeking radio dishes If E.T. phones Earth, he'll get a "disconnect" signal. Lacking the money to pay its operating expenses, Mountain View's SETI Institute has pulled the plug on the renowned Allen Telescope Array, a field of radio dishes that scan the skies for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. Mercury News

Ultrafast fibre optics set new speed record Think your broadband internet connection is fast? Two separate research groups have just lapped the field, setting a world record by sending more than 100 terabits of information per second through a single optical fibre. That's enough to deliver three solid months of HD video- or the contents of 250 double-sided Blu-ray discs. New Scientist

iPhone app tells you if you drive like a jerk Is your idea of driving hell someone sitting in the passenger seat telling you how to drive? Well, here's something even more fun: an iPhone app that grades your driving and tells you if you if you're a danger to society. CNET

Firefox 6 for Linux to be as fast as Firefox currently is on Windows As linux users ourselves, we have been frequently fed up with the sluggish nature of the Firefox browser on Linux. Some time back,we told you about Opera 10 which was a bit less sluggish on Linux but then Google Chrome changed everything. Digitizor

Impressive Portal 2 gameplay: