The UpStream

This announcement from DIRECTV and PlayStation is good news for all football fans. DIRECTV's NFL Sunday Ticket is coming to PlayStation 3 in just 3 days. If you are a current DIRECTV subscriber with the NFL Sunday Ticket Max, you will have unlimited, free access to the PS3 application and all of the game streaming you could want. You will also get access to the Red Zone Channel included. If you like to see the scoring action from the field, this channel is for you.

If you are a cord cutter or want to see out of market games from back home, don't worry - you can gain access to the service as well. For $299.95, you too can access every out of market game through your PS3. This service, like so many on the PS3, streams in full HD for all users, whether a DIRECTV customer or not.

If you're a fantasy football fan, there are features for you as well. The app provides live stats to help you plan your team so you can beat your friends. If you play through NFL.com, you also have the ability to directly keep track of your team in real-time right on your TV without having to leave your game.

This is a big deal for anyone who is majorly into the NFL, especially for non-DIRECTV customers. For example, I live in an apartment facing the wrong direction and couldn't get DIRECTV if I wanted to and our cable provider doesn't even offer the NFL Network, so there is little chance of seeing anything that is out of market. For the normal price of Sunday Ticket, I could get the package without having to move. It is a good thing.

I don't entirely know what to say about this. Last week, HP announced that they would be creating a webOS-based internal start-up, Gram. An ambitious idea, for sure, trying to breathe new life into Palm's baby through an internal revival. The big question that the announcement left us with was: what about the Open webOS Project?

Not to be outdone, HP's Open webOS Project, the decision to release webOS under the Apache license, made their own announcement. As was the original plan, webOS was to be released in Beta form by the end of August and that commitment was met. This week, the Open webOS Project released Open webOS Beta 1.0 to the masses.

So, what does Open webOS Beta 1.0 contain and how does it differ from the newly announced webOS derivative Gram? Hit the break for more details.

It seems like Alec Baldwin's Words with Friends fiasco may cause the FAA to change its mind on what you can do during takeoff and landing on an airplane. The Federal Aviation Administration released a statement this week (source link, PDF) that said it would be putting together a committee to look at the current in-flight usage of electronics and other devices. It also seems that revisions could be made to the policy as soon as this coming March.

Yes, we know, it never makes any sense why your device with no radios in it causes radio interference or that your smartphone on Airplane Mode "isn't good enough" and "must be turned completely off" (I've been told both of those things on recent trips this year). We know, that just like the LightSquared problem, certain radio frequencies are reserved for certain electronics, so your 3DS isn't going to send a signal to the plane that makes the pilot think he's 8,000 feet higher than he is. However, this is the government we are dealing with, and our President didn't have a laptop on his desk in the Oval Office until 2008.

For some more insight and to learn why the FAA might just be appeasing the masses with this committee, check after the break.

Ever since the announcement at E3, we were curious about Curiosity and we're not talking about the Mars rover, although the NASA project has a lot to do with this whole story. I'm actually referring to the game by Peter Molyneux's new company, 22 Can. The 30 second trailer left a lot of questions and last month, Molyneux finally went into detail about this mysterious free-to-play game that had you whack away at a box until the prize came out. We could have just called it Piñata: The Cube-in-a-White-Room Edition, but I digress.

Anyway, we were told that you could play for free or even buy tools, including a $50,000 diamond pickax, to chip away at a box and the prize would be revealed. This game would be played by (hopefully) millions and at some point the box would break. We also knew the game would be playable on iOS, Android and PC. Well, this week some of the details have changed.

The name and release date have changed already and I'm sure there's more in store for us before we can download the title. What's the update? We have the details after the break.

We knew back in February that Microsoft was going to be putting the final nails into the Zune coffin, we just didn't want it to actually happen. A few months later, we saw the initial rumors of new plans with Xbox Music replacing the Zune branding, which culminated with an E3 announcement that Zune was going to be gone for good really, really soon. As I rounded out my work day today, I got the depressing email from the Zune Music Team stating that my beloved Zune will be gone by September.

In the email, we were told that come August 31st, changes were going to be made to the Zune Music service in preparation for the launch of Xbox Music later this fall, along with the Xbox 360 dashboard refresh and the launch of Windows 8. After that dreaded date, no longer will you be able to message or invite your friends, share songs and playlist, get new apps for the Zune HD, use Mixview and more.

What all is going to be removed while we wait for the new Xbox Music? We have the full details after the break.

I'm the one that brought you here. I'm the one that ultimately made decisions, and I'm the one that ultimately takes responsibility. So I am sorry, and it didn't end up exactly as we'd hoped.

Those were the words OnLive's employees received via email from CEO Steve Perlman last week, when the company announced it was going to form OnLive 2.0, a brand new company that would operate the same as the old one, except with less employees. Perlman, the man behind QuickTime and WebTV, took full blame for the downfall of the company, with employees saying that his "ego got in the way" of the potential success of OnLive. This week, we're learning a bit more about the entire restructuring of the cloud gaming corporation. Specifically, we have learned that, despite rumors that Perlman would remain with OnLive moving forward, this is simply not the case.

Like a rebellious child, OnLive employees said they wouldn't work for Perlman in the new 2.0, which seemed to put enough pressure on investor and savior of the company, Gary Lauder, to send the former CEO packing. Instead, Charlie Jablonski, COO of the old OnLive, will be the new OnLive's COO and interim CEO until the board finds a suitable replacement.

More interesting news comes out of this tidbit of an update as well. While it was reported that almost half of the employees were retained for the new endeavor, it turns out this was not true. Several internal sources as well as 2.0 employees have stated that only 60 workers were actually rehired and most of them have been placed on just a 30-day work contract. Also, anybody who was in the team that was in charge of bringing on new games has been canned, which is different than what we were being told just a few days ago.

That's not all though, folks! The company is spinning Perlman's departure in a positive light, as expected. We have the full press release after the break.