Update:Wait.We’re back? – Googleannouncedonly a few hours ago that it would be shutting down profiles of non-users, specifically “a team, an organization, a business, a brand, an NGO, a university, etc.” Its motivations aren’t completely clear but we assume Google simply wants to ensure Google+ remains a business free zone until it officially releases “business profiles”. If I’m honest, I expected it to to be at least a couple of weeks before we’d be kicked off the site but no, Google isn’t one to muck around....

It was a fun couple of hours while it lasted, but just a short while after opening up Google+ invitations, Google has closed them down again. The option on the right-hand sidebar has disappeared, and when you add non-members to Circles you’re no longer given the option to invite them as well. Project lead Vic Gundotra haspostedto Google+: We’ve shut down invite mechanism for the night. Insane demand. We need to do this carefully, and in a controlled way....

Sony’s PlayStation Network outagehas remained in the headlines over the past two weeks, the company having admitted that its online platform had been compromised and over 25 million user accounts exposed to attackers. When the company first announced it has been subjected to an attack, Sony said it had foundno apparent linkto an attack by the online collective Anonymous. The “very sophisticated” attack on Sony’s data center in San Diego, resulted in the company taking its online gaming and entertainment services offline on April 20....

One of the biggest trends we’ve seen on the Web in the past year has been the growing “Gamification” of websites and online services. From Foursquare to Get Glue and and services like One True Fan and even, er,The Next Web, it seems that badges and leaderboards are everywhere right now. In order to explain this, San Francisco startupGamifyhas launched an in-depthGamification Encyclopedia. This wiki-based site covers gamification of all kinds, from websites to the ways it’s been applied by governments and industries like healthcare and transport....

TV check-in apps have an interesting future, and as wenotedlast week there are lots of directions they could go in. Now one of the most interesting examples out there,IntoNow, has beensnapped upby Yahoo to bolster its media offering. Launchedin January, IntoNow is an iPhone app that uses a technology called SoundPrint to listen to the TV show that’s currently playing and, in just a few seconds, identify the show and episode, allowing you to share that information with your friends....