Earlier this month, the good folks at OnLive released apps for both iOS and Android, granting mobile access to its cloud gaming service. However, its implementation was incomplete -- there was no support for the Xperia Play's slide-out controls. The company didn't leave owners out in the cold for long, however, as it has updated the Android app to fully support all of the handset's hardware just in time for the holidays. So, you're no longer constrained by the vagaries of touchscreen controls or forced to fork over your recently received Christmas dough for OnLive's wireless controller to get your tactile gaming on. Get all the good news in the PR below.

We bet you thought Ben Heck's Atari Jaguar mod would be the first and only portable hack of the ill-fated "64-bit" game system you'd ever see. Well, you were wrong. User Evil Nod, over at the Made by Bacteria forums, has whipped up a rather impressive compact console using the seemingly ubiquitous PS1 screen as a display. At about 1.75-inches thick, it's a bit bulkier than Heck's build, but it also doesn't have a giant battery or cartridge slot hanging off the back -- everything is tucked neatly away inside the textured black shell. Check out the source links for a build log and a few more photos of the finished product. You'll also find a bonus video of the prototype after the break.

Remember that Wahoo Fitness Bluetooth 4.0 heart rate monitor we showed you last month? Here she is again. The company's proper unveiling of the device will come at CES 2012, linking up exclusively (at first, anyway) with the iPhone 4S and other Bluetooth Smart Ready devices. By tapping into the Blue HR and harnessing your fitness app of choice (a nice touch, we must say), you'll have access to heart rate data, music playlists, phone, maps, etc., all in one place. It'll start shipping in January for $79.99, and we're told that the product will launch with "full support of several of Wahoo Fitness' app partners, who have been working with Wahoo's Open API to support the Blue HR." A few compatible apps have already filtered into the App Store, including MapMyFitness, RunKeeper, 321Run, Runmeter, and MotionX, and the company's expecting even more in 2012. Full PR is after the break, no galloping required.

Eagerly waiting to get your hands on that nearly $3,000 Razer Blade gaming laptop? Then we're afraid we've got a bit of bad news. Razer confirmed this week on its Facebook page that the initial batch of shipments have been delayed until mid-to-late January (much like the also-delayed Tiamat gaming headset). That's due to a last-minute hard drive upgrade from the standard 320GB HDD to a 256GB SSD -- a switch that Razer says it's been able to do without increasing the $2,799 list price, but which it can't do without incurring a delay (it promises it'll be worth it). To keep the peace with gamers, Razer says it will gladly throw in a free Razer Orochi Blade Edition gaming mouse with your Blade laptop order -- details on receiving it can also be found on the company's Facebook page linked below.

Credit where it's due: Republic Wireless has just made an about-face on the only major downfall we saw in its new wireless proposition. While most of the big boys have had an asterisk by "unlimited" for years on end, these guys were called out as being "deceptive" due to its convoluted "fair use policy." Instead of revising it, the upstart carrier is just throwing it out. Completely. "From today, Republic Wireless is all-in." That's according to a refreshing blog post tossed up on its site hours ago, where we're told that it's eager to accept feedback and adapt as necessary. Looking for more proof? How's about this:

"Rather than revising our fair use policy, we've decided not to have one at all. There will simply be no thresholds, and no risk of losing service. We're doing away with all of that to keep all of the focus instead on where it really belongs: Creating a new wireless future together. A future that is simple to understand, unfettered to use, and an amazing value for all. That's what we started down this path to do. That's where the power of this vibrant community, dynamic WiFi ecosystem and revolutionary technology should be invested."

In a world filled with GoDaddys, PayPals, SOPAs and CarrierIQs, it's downright incredible to see a 180 in this direction. And yes, as part of that legal amendment, everyone who has purchased or purchases a phone during beta will be guaranteed the opportunity to enjoy unlimited service, without fear of cancellation, until the end of beta. The only snippet you should know about is the "unacceptable use" clauses, which state that you can't resell Republic's service or leave the phone "always on" as a conduit for other uses obviously beyond what would be normal for a personal smartphone; wildly enough, the outfit has promised to "reevaluate those provisions, too." Three cheers for listening skills, eh?

It's pretty difficult to argue that both Apple's iPod and -- to an even greater extent -- its contentious iTunes software haven't had a massive impact on the music industry. The Recording Academy has decided to recognize this, naming the former CEO and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs for a Trustees Award for "outstanding contributions to the industry in a non-performing capacity." It will be the second Grammy to celebrate Apple's contributions to the music industry -- its work in recording netted it a Technical Grammy exactly ten years ago.

The FCC has approved the first device to use the much buzzed about "white spaces" between television broadcast frequencies to transmit data. The recipient of the honor is a receiver from Koos Technical Services that's designed to be a last-mile connection for surveillance cameras and telemetry systems. The radio will tap into database run by Spectrum Bridge to ensure it doesn't interfere with other broadcasts. Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement that, "we are taking an important step towards enabling a new wave of wireless innovation. Unleashing white spaces spectrum has the potential to exceed even the many billions of dollars in economic benefit from Wi-Fi, the last significant release of unlicensed spectrum, and drive private investment and job creation." For now, only the city of Wilmington, NC will be able to benefit from the approval, as the FCC continues to iron out the details that will prevent these devices from interfering with wireless microphones. Check out the press release after the break for more info.

See that? That's the backside of a new portable media player from a company know best for its legendary sound quality. Unfortunately, there's no extra information to be gleaned from Cowon's Plenue Z2 FCC filing, but it certainly appears as if this will be one of the company's larger players. We're still waiting on pins and needles to hear if Android or its own OS will be running the show, but now that it's hopped this hurdle, we doubt it'll be too many more weeks before the whole thing is revealed all proper like. Head on past the break for a close-up of the label.

The fine folks at Verizon's Innovation Labs in Waltham, Massachusetts have posted a couple of videos of their efforts that include their vision of how Verizon plans to deliver TV to all the devices in your home, over both wired and wireless networks in HD, served off of a centralized media server. In addition to tablets, game consoles and computers, the media server will also serve content to smaller, more energy efficient thin clients at the other HDTVs in your home. Besides the obvious benefits of more content in more places, a centralized approach like this also offers the promise of being more user friendly by making the experience consistent across every screen -- no more walking to another room to schedule recordings. We're told the media server is expected to roll out late next year, but sadly, FiOS TV isn't exactly known for delivering new technologies when promised.

Already pondering that long-awaited trip to Japan in order to snag a PlayStation Vita in advance? Hold your horses, vaquero. Sony has just given anxious US and Canadian gamers reason to look forward to a launch of their own by laying out the official software plan for 2012. We're told that February 22nd will be the day to remember, with a total of 25 titles being available alongside the console. In fact, the company's calling this "the biggest and best lineup [it has] ever launched across the history of PlayStation platforms." Over 100 titles are in development, with the 25 shipping on day one being priced between $9.99 and $49.99; moreover, each one will be available for purchase at retail locations as well as downloadable on the PlayStation Network. Hit the source link below for the full spiel, and keep your eyes peeled for pre-orders to go live in the coming weeks.

Good news: all those new tablets you see reported on these pages aren't being stolen by elves; they're entering the human population at large and -- most Christmassy of all -- they're displaying ads. Google told TechCrunch that its AdMob platform saw eight billion ad requests from tablets during the month of November, compared to one lonely billion back in December 2010. Total AdMob requests amount to roughly three billion per day, however, so tablet advertising is still sugary froth compared to that on smartphones.

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.


HP's decision to contribute webOS to the open source community represents, at the very least, a detour from the company's plans to "double down" on the operating system acquired from Palm, Inc. The good news for fans of the OS is that HP will continue to invest in the software's development, albeit probably not at the unsustainable rate at which it was going it alone. And for webOS fans, the decision is certainly more favorable than another possibility that HP considered -- ending the development of webOS software as abruptly as it ended the hardware..

Still, webOS faces an uphill climb if it is to emerge as a viable option for device makers. HP itself says that it may not enter the webOS device market again until 2013 and we've seen no public statements from other major device makers champing at the bit to build devices based on the software, at least not in its current state. That means that the addressable market for webOS updates is the relatively meager installed base of TouchPads and the handful of Pres, Veers and Pixis, and many owners of those smartphones will likely move on as their contracts expire..

The US appeal court has ruled that "YouTube on steroids" site Veoh can't be sued for copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Judge Raymond Fisher said that rights holders (like UMG) were in a better place to identify infringing content than the video sharing site, putting the burden of finding and reporting dodgy vids on the record company's shoulders. The old-slugger's victory means that Viacom has less of a leg to stand on in its upcoming appeal against YouTube, since Judges can use the case as precedent to make their decisions. Sadly, victory will ring hollow for Veoh since the onslaught of litigation caused it to file for chapter seven bankruptcy before getting flogged on the cheap to Qlipso last year.

AMD's next flagship graphics card was only announced a few hours ago, and it won't arrive on the gaming public's plate until January, but already the tech punditry has tasted it, tested it and spat out a soggy little piece of paper that reads: "the fastest single-GPU card in the world." What we're really looking for, though, is the type of performance that beats older rivals like NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 580 without blowing the house up like a dual-GPU product. As it turns out, most reviewers agree that is exactly what this new $549 Radeon delivers, albeit with the few caveats summarized after the break.

If we learned anything from our last encounter with Chandra Rathakrishnan, it's that the Fusion Garage CEO is nothing if not candid when discussing his company's past failings. Of course, such admissions came amidst great deal of hype from the executive, who was, at the time, heralding the second coming of his company in the form of the Grid 10, Grid 4 and the innovative Grid OS that fueled the devices.

It was the latest chapter in what's proven to be a long and bizarre tale, one that began with the dream of a $200 internet tablet. After countless scheduling pushbacks, fights and price hikes, the proposed CrunchPad finally came to life as the JooJoo, a $499 device that was greeted with scathing reviews, poor timing (thanks mostly to Apple's long-awaited announcement of the iPad) and rather lackluster sales, to put it kindly. In spite of attempts to rally the line, the tablet died a lonely death, and most suspected that it had taken the rest of the company with it.

Read on for the full interview.