OnLive, the cloud-based gaming service founded by Apple alum Steve Perlman launches tomorrow. The service hopes to mark a monumental shift in the way gaming works: no more downloads, no more patches, no more discs.

Instead of running a video game locally, players on OnLive connect via broadband to a gaming system that runs and stores not just their data, but the entire game itself. OnLive enables video games to be played on Mac or PC and, using their “micro console device” on your TV.

In a world where “lag” – latency due to Internet or graphics hiccups – means “death,” there have been a lot of obstacles to overcome in order to make cloud-based gaming feasible. Some eight years in development, OnLive’s vision of instant-access, on-demand gaming has necessitated huge tech developments in both the servers’ and in the broadband capabilities. The machines required to run these games, for example, have to have graphics capabilities not typically associated with servers. According to Venture Beat, the service will limit players’ access, depending on their location from a server and the processing power of their computer, in order to ensure gameplay that’s, well, playable.

According to CEO Perlman, the launch marks “the first step toward a future where video game content is increasingly free from the restrictions of device and location, while showcasing the ability to instantly play the latest, most advanced games at the touch of a button.”

OnLive promises over twenty games available at launch, including Prince of Persia, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, and Mass Effect 2. For a limited time, founding subscribers are being offered their first year of OnLive membership for free in a program sponsored by AT&T.;

The Wall Street Journal has just put up a very short post indicating that Verizon is working with Google on a tablet computer. But this isn’t speculation or a flimsy report based on unnamed sources — Verizon’s CEO Lowell McAdam told the paper as much today.

This move is apparently a part of the carrier’s plan to match the deal rival AT&T; has with Apple for the iPad. McAdam calls tablets the “next big wave of opportunities.“

Just as interesting is this part of the story: “He said the work on a tablet is part of a deepening relationship between the largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers and Google, which has carved out a space in mobile devices with its Android operating system.” Given the growing rumors that Verizon is gearing up to launch a CDMA version of the iPhone — perhaps as soon as later this year — this statement is very interesting, to say the least. Several weeks ago, multiple reports had Apple CEO Steve Jobs saying that Apple’s iPhone was at war with Google’s Android platform. Tensions between the two sides continue to rise.

You have to imagine that Apple can’t be too pleased with Verizon so publicly backing Google — though it’s not clear if the Verizon Google tablets would run Android or Google’s still-unreleased Chrome OS (Update below, it’s Android). Regardless, it will compete with the iPad.

Earlier this year, Google began posting mock-ups of what a tablet running Chrome OS might look like. The image seen above is one such mock-up. If Apple isn’t happy about Google competing with Apple in mobile phones, this is about to get a lot uglier.

The big question is: will it get ugly enough that Apple will re-up with AT&T; and forget about a Verizon iPhone? Or maybe they have already, which is why McAdam would make such a pro-Google statement? The next few weeks leading up to Apple’s WWDC event in June should be interesting.

Verizon declined to say who would manufacturer such a tablet or when it would be released. But more details are apparently coming later this week. We can probably expect to hear more about this at Google I/O next week, as well.

Update: Bloomberg got more information in confirming the news with Verizon. Apparently it will be an Android-based tablet. Yes, Apple must be pissed.

Below is a Google-made demo of what a tablet running Chrome OS could look like. Again, the Verizon tablet will apparently be Android-based, but you can get some idea of what Google is thinking with tablet-based computing.

Even if you’ve already read up on all of today’s iPhone OS 4.0 news, you may yet hanker for a glimpse of His Steveness in patented black-turtlenecked action. Given that the man is a master at making even jaded technology pundits hang on his every word waiting for that “one more thing,” we can’t blame you for heading over to download the event video at low, medium, or high resolution.

What was your favorite moment from today’s presentation?

Adconion Media Group announced this morning that it has acquired certain key assets from Joost, the ill-fated online video service started by the infamous Kazaa and Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but it’s likely a firesale that isn’t bringing any returns to Joost’s investors.

Last June, Joost announced a change in its business strategy to focus on providing white-label video platforms, and Adconion says it plans to pursue this strategy. Notably, Adconion recently announced its first long-term licensing partnership as the exclusive display and video ad-serving solution for the Goldbach Media Group in Europe.

We had earlier put Joost on death watch, not in the least when its UK offices were dissolved and there was virtually no one left to comment on that story. It’s also worth noting that this morning’s news comes a mere two weeks after it was announced that Friis and Zennström had settled its lawsuits against eBay, the investor group that was purchasing Skype from eBay, early Joost backers Index Ventures and the online video company’s former CEO Mike Volpi.

On a sidenote: Index Ventures also happens to be a major investor in Adconion, having led its $80 million Series C round raised back in February 2008.

In a statement, Adconion CEO Tyler Moebius says about the Joost purchase: “Video is a top priority for our company, and through the acquisition of the Joost assets we will be able to provide advertisers, content owners and website publishers with an end-to-end global video platform and cross-channel video and display ad-serving solution.”

Moebius added that the company would be contuining to operate Joost.com, providing clients with a destination site to showcase and distribute their branded entertainment content.

Prior to the acquisition, Adconion offered targeted distribution of content, including video and TV commercials, to audiences around the world via Adconion.TV. Through the Joost acquisition, Adconion.TV will add to its library of professionally-produced video content available for targeted pre-roll ads across 2,000 publishers. Adconion claims to reach nearly 300 million unique users on a monthly basis.

As for Joost, here’s how Michael Arrington so eloquently put it when the company said it would be refocusing its business last Summer:

Here’s what I learned from Joost’s failure – celebrity founders, celebrity CEOs and tons and tons of cash can be a recipe for disaster. Applying yesterday’s solutions to today’s problems isn’t an interesting business. And finally, knowing when to throw in the towel and just return what’s left of capital to investors is an important skill as well. That way everyone can move on and focus on real value add opportunities. There’s no room for Joost in the consumer online video space, and there’s almost certainly no room for them in white label video, either. Time to call it a learning experience and move on.

And the two Scandinavian entrepeneurs who co-founded Joost are now definitely moving on, having regained a stake and board seats in the new Skype and ready to launch a ‘new breed’ of online music service.