Probably a simple question

[Jmax]

What is Flashing? And what exactly does flashing your PSP do?

[Anger]

flashing, simply put, is changing, deleting or adding to the psp's flash memory, for the purpose of adding, changing or removing a feature on the psp. the flashing of course is not supported by sony.

so for example to be able to run homebrew we flash a modified version of the psp operating system to the psp's flash memory.
this gives us the latest update from sony (at this time 2.71 is highest we can do this with) but combined with the ability to run any program we choose.

another example is changing your background colors to a single color, or changing your font to a custom made one, or even loading a program before the psp starts properly.

however i should add flashing your psp, even with the sony updates, is still a risky procedure and should only be done by those who know what there doing, or, are willing to take the risk and the consequences of their own actions.