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Admittedly, we're more likely to hit up YouTube for its hilarious and bizarre amateur content than to pop in on one of those well-funded Original Channels, but that won't necessarily be the case going forward. Several of the site's original programming venues will soon be available through Virgin America's in-flight entertainment system -- "H+ The Digital Series," "Blue," "Written by a Kid," "Crash Course" and "The Key of Awesome" are expected to hit aircraft beginning December 15th, according to Variety.

Sure, you could navigate to YouTube on your own through the carrier's in-flight WiFi, but you'll soon be able to enjoy at least a few titles in (presumably) higher quality through the 9-inch panel mounted to the seat in front of you, while freeing up bandwidth for those hardworking business travelers (and a few occasional Engadget editors) in the process. These latest YouTube selections join a variety of other content unique to Virgin, and considering that legacy carriers stock their IFE with "classic" flicks and a dismal selection of dated TV shows (assuming they offer the service at all), the nation's "fun" alternative airline is starting to look even more appealing.

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Spectrum is a valuable and finite resource, but it seems that Sprint has an overabundance of the stuff. In addition to the capacity needed for its namesake operation, along with its Boost and Virgin Mobile properties, the Now Network is currently leasing its capacity to Ting, FreedomPop, Republic Wireless, Voyager Mobile, Elevate and pretty much any other company that's willing to ink a contract. Now, Bloomberg reports that Sprint's looking to bring a biggie on board. According to the outlet's anonymous sources, Sprint has approached Dish Network with an offer that would allow the satellite company to establish itself as a wireless provider by using the Now Network's airwaves. Curiously, a fee-based arrangement isn't the only topic of discussion, as it's also said that Sprint is exploring a spectrum sharing arrangement with Dish that would put the satellite company's unused spectrum licenses to use.

For all the potential that such an agreement could provide, talks between the companies are currently said to be in a holding pattern while the FCC completes its review of Dish's spectrum holdings. As proof that the duo aren't completely cozy, Sprint is currently lobbying the regulatory agency to impose rules that Dish insists would reduce the viability of its spectrum. Oh, the irony.

[Cell tower photo credit: Paul O'Keefe / Flickr]

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Attention all songbirds: your time to shine is almost here. Microsoft and Stingray Media's Karaoke will be hitting Xbox Live on December 11th. The game is free to download, but would-be vocalists will have to purchase playing sessions of two, six and 24 hours respectively priced at: 240, 400 and 800 Microsoft points. While this costly pay to play approach mirrors a traditional karaoke lounge's setup, you'll definitely save a few bucks on overpriced booze refreshments -- that's gotta count for something, right?

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Pebble's finally coming soon! Just not in time to become one of the season's hottest stocking stuffers. As seems to be par for the course with Kickstarter projects, the blockbuster smartwatch is more than a bit behind schedule, but the team is hot on the case, keeping backers in the loop with regular update posts. The latest, which hit inboxes just this afternoon, confirms that the device will support iPhone SMS and iMessage notifications (phew!), assuming you have it linked up with an Apple device running iOS 6. We also got to take a peek at some hot-off-the-press Pebbles in their final finishes -- the black, gray, orange, red and white wearables posed for a point-and-shoot, so they don't pack the typical punch of a pro photo job. Still, they look mighty slick, and if the shot above is any indication, they might turn out to be quite the fingerprint magnets, too. We'll be keeping an eye on Kickstarter for an official shipment notification, but in the meantime, backers are invited to login to their Pebble accounts to make final color selections by next Friday. You can hit up that site at the source link below, then hop past the break for an iMessage demo.

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The US Patent and Trademark Office tentatively invalidated Apple's so-called rubber-banding patent back in October, and it looks like it's now done so again with one of the company's key multitouch-related patents. According to FOSS Patents, the USPTO has issued an Office Action rejecting all 20 claims of patent 7,479,949, which is specifically related to scrolling and is described as "Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics." Unlike the rubber-banding patent, though, this one did not figure in Apple's recent trial with Samsung, although it has been used in cases against Motorola and HTC.

Update: To be clear, this is just the first step of the patent's re-examination and Apple gets to respond to each of the issues raised by the USPTO. So, invalidation of all (or any) of the claims is far from assured.

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Nintendo's Wii U console doesn't trust you, Europe. At least not with your digital purchases, as European Wii U owners are reporting that various "Mature" titles (18+ per Europe's PEGI ratings) are unable to be purchased outside of a late-night window (11PM to 3AM). Trailers for said titles can't even be watched. Of course, Nintendo's not known for publishing many "Mature" first-party titles -- it leaves that to its third-party support -- meaning this issue seemingly only affects Nintendo's partners. Blockbuster multiplatform game Assassin's Creed 3, for instance, is only purchasable during the aforementioned four hour window, as is Wii U-exclusive ZombiU. The Wii U does have parental controls, and separate user accounts (tied to passwords if you so choose), and the eShop can be cut off entirely from any one particular user, so it's a bit baffling why this extra barrier is necessary.

Update: Nintendo of America tells us, "This is a European policy and does not impact Nintendo of America."

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Well, it was all but confirmed at Photokina, but the release of AT&T's HSPA+ Galaxy Camera threw a few doubts our way. Still, it looks like an LTE version of Samsung's Jelly Bean shooter will be in fact making its way stateside, landing on Verizon's 4G network no less. From a quick glance at the EK-GC120's spec sheet, most of the features seem to be in line with the global variant, with an obvious exception in the network field -- this flavor lists only 700 MHz compatibility, so you might have some trouble hooking up overseas.

Pricing and availability info is still up in the air (the "Shop" link currently lands us at a 404), but we've reached out to Verizon and Samsung for those still-pending deets, and we'll pass along the good word as soon as it hits our inbox. For now, at least you can rest assured that the most compelling Android-powered shooter will be getting an LTE boost, so if you're currently in line to snag that lesser-equipped AT&T variant, you might want to step aside and wait for the 16-megapixel shooter to hit Big Red.

Update: Just moments after our post went live, Samsung pulled the product page. The specifications list is still active though (for now), so if you want to sneak a peek at the official sheet, you can hit up that respective source link below.

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