From deadly tornadoes ripping through Missouri to the faulty claims of judgment day’s arrival, this has been quite a hectic month. After being granted a week-long hiatus from writing to enjoy a mini-vacation (thanks again Ray), I return to close out the end of May by revisiting some of the trending topics in the tech world and… well, I might as well throw this out there – Go Mavericks!

The World’s Most Wanted: Osama bin Laden

Meet Cairo, a member of the Navy SEAL team who helped take out Osama bin Laden with the help of high tech doggie body armor, called the Intruder. Costing up to $30,000, the ultralight vest is not only bulletproof, but the Intruder also has a high-definition camera that is mounted on the war dog’s back so that its handlers can see his every movement. Now that’s one badass puppy.

Reconnected: PlayStation Network Back Online

What a complete nightmare the PSN outage has become for Sony, but it looks like they have finally gotten things under control as their latest Press Release may suggest. However, Sony won’t come out unscathed as the company has reportedly lost billions of dollars over the security breach, which has shaken consumer confidence in the PlayStation Network.

Greatest Marriage Proposal Ever?

3 million views in 3 days. 15 million views in 2 weeks. That means millions of women saw this marriage proposal video on YouTube throughout the world, leaving millions of women expecting a similar grand gesture of love. F.M.L.? More like “F.O.L.” for all the guys out there. But hey, at least Matt & Ginny appreciate all the responses you all have given them. Sigh…

Apple Gearing Up for Cloud Music Service

While Steve Jobs is currently on medical leave due to health-related issues, it’s not stopping him from delivering the keynote address at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference next Monday. As for Apple’s cloud-based music service, it looks like iCloud (or whatever they name it) will allow users to mirror their iTunes library as anticipated.

Official Press Release: Apple to Unveil Next Generation Software at Keynote Address on Monday, June 6

CUPERTINO, California?May 31, 2011?Apple® CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS® X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®; and iCloud®, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.

WWDC will feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers. Mac® developers will see and learn how to develop world-class Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities. Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to greatly enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers.

For more details, visit the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 website at developer.apple.com/wwdc.

Photo by CT via CraveSomethingMore

After 22 grueling days of outage, gamers and users throughout the world can finally reconnect to the PlayStation Network after Sony carried out a phased restoration process. Although PlayStation store access won’t be restored until later, PSN’s reactivation restores online multiplayer and chat functions, friends list and trophy comparison functionality, PlayStation Home, and services like Hulu, Netflix, and MLB.tv. Once logging in, PSN users will be required to update to the latest 3.61 firmware and change their account passwords. Details about changing your password are provided below from the PlayStation Blog:

“If using a PS3, your password can only be changed on your own PS3 (or a PS3 on which your PSN account was activated), as an added layer of security. If you have never downloaded any content using your account on the system, an email will be sent to the registered sign-in ID (email address) associated with your account when you first attempt to sign-in to PSN. This e-mail will contain a link that will enable you to change your password. In this email, click on the link and follow the instructions to change your password. Once you have changed your password you can sign-in to your account using your new password.”

Down for over 3 weeks after hackers breached the network’s security, Sony had to rebuild the entire PlayStation Network with more advanced security technology, encryption, firewalls, and early-warning systems. The outage affected over 77 million users worldwide and, even worse, the security breach may have allowed for the hackers to steal personal credit and debit card information from over 24 million user accounts.

Kazuo Hirai, Sony Corporation’s Executive Deputy President, released a video statement on the PlayStation Blog providing more detailed information on the restoration of the PlayStation Network and the new security features being implemented.

To compensate for the long outage and compromise of account information, Sony is offering 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus service, which provides exclusive access to certain games and beta trials. To those users who are already subscribed to the PlayStation Plus service, an additional 30 days will be added for free. Sony Online Entertainment subscribers will also receive a special Welcome Back Program upon return.

At this point though, how many PSN users will even want to return to the network after the massive failure that Sony just dealt with?

Nazi Zombies, you are free to roam the earth for a little while longer as Sony’s PlayStation Network has been out of service since 4/20.

The PlayStation Network is Sony’s equivalent to Xbox LIVE, which allows for PlayStation 3 users to download games, download or stream movies and music, and have access to other services. More importantly, the network serves as the infrastructure for people to connect and play each other in multiplayer games such as Call of Duty. Oddly enough, the network failure happened to coincide with the release of several brand new games including Mortal Kombat, Portal 2, SOCOM 4, and inFAMOUS 2’s beta release. While access to the network is free, content such as Netflix must be paid for by users, leaving them wondering whether they will be reimbursed if the outage lasts any longer.

A little over a year ago, Sony users of the non-slim PS3 had a similar outage on their PlayStation Network that was “caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.” Patrick Seybold, the Senior Director of Corporate Communications & Social Media, posted a message yesterday on Sony’s PlayStation Blog that said, “While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we’re able to get the service completely back up and running. Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter. Please stay tuned to this space for more details, and we’ll update you again as soon as we can.”

While there are an estimated 70 million users on the network worldwide, Sony is unable to clarify how many people are currently affected by the outage. However, players from all over the world have taken their Zombie rage to popular social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to express their displeasure with Sony. Got some spare time since you can’t own some newbs? Check out some of the tweets found by a quick search of #PSN on Twitter.

– Update 4/23 –

Patrick Seybold has made another post on the PlayStation Blog regarding the ongoing issue:

“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.”

Photo by Charlie Sorrel via Wired