OnLive, the cloud streaming games service, has finally been priced in the United States, with downloads and rental offerings now detailed.

There will be 20 games available at launch, with such blockbuster games like "Assassin's Creed II," "Mass Effect 2" and "Batman: Arkham Asylum" available alongside other smaller titles.

GI says, for example, the recent title Borderlands can be purchased outright for $30 USD, rented for 5 days for $9 or rented for three days at $6.

Some brand new releases, such as Splinter Cell: Conviction, can only be purchased and not rented, at full price, $60 USD.

While hardly a problem, game access is only guaranteed until June 17th, 2013, which appears to be a licensing limitation.

To play the games, you must keep an active OnLive subscription, which is expected to be priced under $10 USD a month. An OnLive subscription is free for the first 12 months.

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Over the past few months, rumors have surfaced that Microsoft has been offering monetary incentives to popular Apple iPhone app developers in an attempt to bring them over to the Windows Phone platform.

This week, that rumor has been confirmed, with developer Chillingo confirming Microsoft's practices, as well as admitting that it has declined offers from Google, as well.

Chillingo director Joe Wee, the developer behind Angry Birds and six other #1 hits in the App Store, says he is "ignoring their requests for now because Apple iOS is the only "commercially viable" mobile platform for him."

Angry Birds has sold over 4 million copies, so it is clear that both Google and Microsoft want to get such a popular developer onto their platforms, which are currently smaller in market size than that of the iPhone.

While Android continues to take market share with strong growth, Microsoft has lagged behind, with Windows Phone 7 not even released yet.

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At the E3 event, Nintendo unveiled the 3DS handheld, the first console to support 3D playback without the need for special glasses.

What Nintendo did not reveal, however, was a set timetable for the handheld's release, or a price.

Today, IndustryGamers is reporting that Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has confirmed the device will be launched no later than March 31st, 2011, although it is unclear which nations will get it first. (My bet is on Japan).

Price is still not revealed.

Perhaps more importantly, Fils-Aime says the final design may still be tweaked, after it receives feedback from E3 users.

Says the boss: "You know typically, at an E3, our engineers are looking for feedback. You know, we have an army of Nintendo representatives out on our show floor talking to attendees, getting reactions to everything in the device: the depth slider, the buttons, the sliding pad that is, essentially, an analog-type stick. These are things that we're looking to get reaction to, including the overall button placement. When we get all that feedback, then we'll finalize the design."

When asked about the given timetable, Fils-Aime concluded: "Well, the reason we haven't announced a launch date or pricing is that, first, we wanted to get reaction here. Secondly, we'll be making individual market decisions in terms of what's happening in Japan, what's happening in the Americas, what's happening in Europe. The one thing, for sure, is that we will launch in all of our major markets by March 31, 2011."

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Apple has announced today that iBooks are now available on the iPhone, after first only being available to iPad owners.

The books are also now available to iPod Touch owners.

iBooks firmware update 1.1 makes the service a universal app for the aforementioned line of devices, among other new features and updates.

New with 1.1 is bookmarks, highlighting ability, and note-taking capabilities. All new annotations will sync between multiple devices, as well.

Additionally, you can choose between a sepia or white background page, you can choose between left or fully justified text layouts and you can increase the size of the font.

Installing iBooks will require iPhone OS 3.2 or higher.

Reads the changelog:

• In addition to iPad, iBooks is now available on any iPhone or iPod with iOS 4.
• Open and read PDF documents from Mail. PDF documents will be added to your library and appear on the PDF bookshelf. You can even search PDFs for words or phrases and bookmark your favorite pages.
• Take advantage of new ways to bookmark. In addition to highlighting a word or a passage, you can now also add notes or bookmark an entire page with the new page ribbon.
• Keep your bookmarks, notes, and your current page wirelessly in sync between iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with the new automatic bookmark syncing feature.
• See your book pages in a new font, called Georgia.
• Read your books on white or sepia colored pages.
• Choose left or fully justified text layout from Settings.
• Read pages with greater ease by increasing to even larger font sizes.
• Enjoy greater stability and better performance.

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AndroidandMe has gotten their hands on the upcoming Motorola Droid 2 and done a full hands-on the device, which is remarkably similar in looks to the original Droid smartphone.

Verizon is set to announce, officially, the new Droid 2 this Wednesday.

Both phones are exactly the same size, shape and weight, and use the same battery, and the only cosmetic difference is a slightly redesigned keyboard. The keys are raised and the directional pad is gone.

Color-wise, the phone is dark blue with silver trim.

Under the hood is a powerful 1GHz TI OMAP3630 processor, one that uses a 45nm production process, resulted in smaller transistors which suck up less power during daily use.

In addition to the higher clock speed, the new OMAP3630 is one of the first mobile platforms to use a 45nm production process (vs 65nm of the OMAP3430). The shrink in size results in smaller transistors which consume less power.

Additionally, the phone has 512MB RAM, leading to increased benchmark speeds. The phone is expected to ship with Android 2.2 Froyo.

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Opera has not given detailed information about four out of five security vulnerabilities it recently patched in the latest stable version of the Opera web browser. Of the five security problems that Opera 10.54 fixes, the only one that has been fully disclosed relates to a problem with font handling on Windows, which Microsoft has already patched.

Only the severity status of the remaining four has been disclosed; extremely severe, highly severe, moderately severe, and less severe. Thomas Ford, a spokesman for Opera, said that the company was honoring responsible disclosure practices.

Other browser publishers may not have been able to patch their browsers against related attacks either. Generally, security researchers and software vendors only fully disclose security vulnerabilities when there is a patch publicly available and easily applied.

The Opera 10.54 update also fixes several problems the browser has had with Macs, such as premature shut downs.

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Both Intel Corp. and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed motions on Monday to temporarily suspend trial proceedings while the two take time to discuss settlement of a lawsuit brought against the chip-maker for alleged anti-competitive practices.

The government accused Intel of stifling competition in a lawsuit back in December and said it aimed to halt the illegal practices that contributed to Intel keeping its status as the top chip-maker. The FTC said Intel had been trying to stifle competition with illegal tactics dating back to 1999.

Both NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) made similar allegations against Intel in the past, and in November, Intel agreed to pay $1.25 billion to AMD to settle litigation. The motions filed today will give Intel and the FTC until July 22 to discuss a proposed settlement.

No details of any proposed settlement were disclosed by either party today. Intel spokesman Tom Beermann said it was possible that the commission would proceed with the case, should both sides fail to reach an agreement.

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The Black Eyed Peas' feel-good track "I Gotta Feeling" is the first song to ever be legally downloaded more than one million times in the United Kingdom. The song was released over a year ago, in June 2009, and spent two weeks at the top of the chart, 33 weeks in top 40.

"It's exhilarating to know we are so connected to our Peabodies," Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie said. "Hopefully the good vibes from that song will continue to brighten people's lives." Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot said it was a very significant step for the download market.

Downloads were first counted as part of the singles chart in the UK in April 2005, but only if the track was also available in stores. A year later, digital downloads were counted regardless of whether the singles were sold as a physical product, and Gnarls Barkley's Crazy became the first to top the charts without selling any copies on CD.

"It's been with us for five years but this really marks a coming of age," Talbot commented about the Black Eyed Peas million-milestone in the country. Fast forward four years from Gnarles Barkley's Crazy and now 98 percent of all single sales in the UK are from downloads.

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According to the Wall Street Journal, Google Inc. is to launch a music download service tied to its search engine later this year, citing sources familiar with Google's negotiations with music companies Additionally, Google will roll out a cloud-based music subscription service in 2011.

The news comes as Google is attempting to get more involved with entertainment content distribution. It is currently moving to add professional content on its YouTube video site and is to roll out a digital bookstore this year.

Google's move into music downloads would further muddy ties with Apple Inc., which has witnessed relations with Google sour increasingly since the unveiling of Google's mobile Android software seen as a direct rival to the iPhone by Apple.

Record companies would probably welcome such a service as they have become increasingly worried about Apple's stranglehold on digital music sale. Apple services accounted for 28% of all music purchased by U.S. consumers in the first quarter, leaving Wal-Mart and Amazon far behind at 12% each.

The first music offering from Google, according to the WSJ sources, is a basic music download store that lets users purchase tracks. The store would apparently be linked to Google's search engine, an association that will probably upset a lot of online music outlets if true.

Beyond the initial store, Google is to develop a cloud-based music subscription service compatible with mobile phones running Android software.

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Verizon Communications is to let customers trial its FiOS Internet and television service for a month, and will not charge any fees if a customer chooses to switch the service off after. The offer also includes the option of paying month-by-month, eliminating a long-term contract, with the assurance that the price would not go up for a year.

The offer might be risky to Verizon, which reportedly spends around $1,350 to install FiOS at a new customer's home. if most customers chose to keep the service however, it could put pressure on cable and satellite rivals to adjust their own terms. Termination fees usually still apply for U.S. wireless providers even if try-out periods are offered to customers.

Larry Hettick, an analyst for Current Analysis, predicts that Verizon will keep a substantially large number of customers who sign up under the new rules. "There's so much tit-for-tat in the cable TV business, anything that changes for one provider may bring pressure on the others," Hettick said.

Verizon's FiOS coverage region has a potential 12 million customers for television services, and 12.6 million for Internet services. The company has been offering FiOS Internet services since 2004, and television services since 2005. In areas where it operates, it has roughly 25 percent market share for TV and 29 percent for Internet.

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Microsoft's new slim Xbox 360 console will not display a red ring of death (RROD) as we reported already, but the system does take some measures to protect itself against heat-related damage that the older units don't. It was reported recently that the three blinking red lights had been replaced with a single "red dot of death", but the red dot may not indicate that the console is broken.

Pictures posted on the NeoGaf forums by "Giant Robot" show an Xbox 360 250GB model displaying the red dot of death, and also an on-screen message alerting the user: "The Xbox 360 is shutting down to protect the console from insufficient ventilation. You can turn the console back on after the power light stops flashing."



I can't confirm a forum source, obviously, but it is being reported more or less everywhere else so why not. It just so happens that I have modified the chassis of an older Xbox 360 console to improve air-flow and ventilation before.

Combining Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste on CPU and GPU, a modified fan shroud to force more air "through" the heatsinks to escape the chassis, cutting away some of the mesh of the inner shell and laying the console horizontally instead of vertically makes two noticeable differences; the fans always stay on low speed and noticeably more heat is exhausted from the rear of the console.

Still, you shouldn't have to open an Xbox 360 console to make sure it's properly ventilated anyway, so let's hope that warnings such as the one displayed above are not common.

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Amazon has announced that the Kindle e-reader will now sell for $189, following news that Barnes & Noble reduced the price of its Nook e-reader, released last year, to $199. Both companies are attempting to brush off increasing competition, particularly from Borders Group Inc., which sells e-readers for between $119 and $149.

Other new devices, such as Apple's iPad, are also being touted as solutions for e-book reading, and the Cupertino-based company is only too keen to bite a chunk out of the emerging market. "The Kindle Store includes over 600,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including 109 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases from $9.99," a statement from Amazon reads.

"In addition, over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are available to read on Kindle. Since its release, Kindle has been the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon."

Sales of e-book reading devices in the United States reached 2.2 million in 2009, and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) expects that figure to rise to 5 million for 2010. Digital e-book sales also doubled to $27.4 million in April, compared to a year earlier.

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Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal revealed on Monday that more than 30 U.S. states participated in a conference call over the Google Wi-Fi snooping incident. Google had to admit recently that its Street View cars had intercepted and stored payload data from unencrypted wireless networks in countries all over the world. The data grab was unintentional.

Blumenthal is now to lead a multi-state probe into the situation to determine what laws Google may have broken, and to discover whether U.S. states need to alter procedures in order to avoid such data leaks. "My office will lead a multi-state investigation -- expected to involve a significant number of states -- into Google's deeply disturbing invasion of personal privacy," Blumenthal said in a statement.

"Consumers have a right and a need to know what personal information -- which could include emails, Web browsing and passwords -- Google may have collected, how and why." Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan also revealed last week that she had opened an investigation into whether Google collected personal information from Illinois residents' networks, while Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox requested more information from Google.

Blumenthal said that Google has cooperated so far, but said the company's responses have raised as many questions as they've answered. The company is facing scrutiny in countries all over the world after its May admission, with each state deciding what should be done about data intercepted within its borders.

"It was a mistake for us to include code in our software that collected payload data, but we believe we did nothing illegal. We're working with the relevant authorities to answer their questions and concerns," Google spokeswoman Christine Chen said.

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Dell Inc. has confirmed that it is in talks with search engine-giant Google Inc. over possibly using the upcoming Chrome operating system in some of its products, according to a top company executive. "We have to have a point of view on the industry and technology direction two years, three years down the road, so we continuously work with Google on this," Amit Midha, Dell's president for Greater China and South Asia told Reuters.

"There are going to be unique innovations coming up in the marketplace in two, three years, with a new form of computing, we want to be on that forefront ... So with Chrome or Android or anything like that we want to be one of the leaders," Midha said

Midha said there were no firm announcements to be made for the time being, but that talks will continue between both companies.

The Chrome operating system is expected to be released by Google later this year, and when it comes to products like netbooks, it represents a direct challenge to Microsoft's Windows line of operating systems.

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Apple Inc. has delivered the latest OS update for its iPhone range; iOS 4. The software update boasts 100 new features, but it is not fully compatible with all iPhone models. iOS 4 works with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G. Not all features are compatible with all devices. For example, multitasking is available only with iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS.

iOS 4 brings Multitasking to the iPhone, running third-party apps (developed for iOS 4) and switching between them simultaneously without killing the performance of the foreground app or draining the handset's battery. Folders let a user organize their app collection into folders by simple drag-and-drop controls. A Unified Inbox shows all messages from all the user's accounts in one source.

Other notable changes are more playlist creation options, 5x digital zoom, iBooks, tapping on a recording video to change focus, viewing photos based on who is in them or where they were taken, home screen wallpaper options, sending apps as gifts to friends and family, a spell checker that works with apps and support for pairing a bluetooth wireless keyboard.

Updating to iOS 4 with a compatible handset is as easy as running iTunes, connecting the iPhone and clicking Check for Update.

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