hacker s wrong term to describe this guy, hacking is done when you gain unauthorized access to a network or a system which is NOT yours. what George Hotz did was to re enable a feature that
Sony had sold as a part of psp and later took it back , breaking their own promises to customers , bottom line i own the hardware i paid for it , if i feel like i can and throw it off a rooftop , rip it apart and break it, and in the process if i make it better , well good for me. !! this called reverse engineering and this very different from hacking.
on topic this guy had offers from very top tech companies so this is no surprise , he is a very talented person , heck he is a legend , and look what sony is, they are like village nerds still agreeing they were right after every goof up they have done over this issue.
more on this epic fail from sony
Sony CEO: We Were Hacked By Freetards Who Just Want Everything Free | Techdirt