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This week, we go over some Super Bowl TV tips, including what to do if you're not going to be near a TV at all. Julie talks about developing new battery life tests, and Josh laments the decline of the compact point-and-shoot camera.

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During an investor assembly this week, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced the Nintendo Network, marking the first time the company has attempted to streamline its online gaming effort in a way that promises a consistent and reliable experience across all platforms, all while delivering the content and features that gamers have grown to expect.

It's no secret that Nintendo has struggled with its online presence and follow-through since the launch of the Wii and DSi, attempting to navigate the fragile balance of a younger-skewing demographic and the inherent dangers of online gaming and interaction.

Unfortunately these real-world issues mean nothing to the average gamer, who has had to deal with 16-digit friend codes, access limitations, and shoddy presentation, not to mention several name iterations that include almost every combination of the words "Wii," "DSi," "Shop," "Store," and "Channel."… Read more

Nintendo might change the name of its Wii U game console to something less like its predecessor, U.K. video game magazine Computer and Video Games reports, citing unnamed sources.

The Japanese game maker is under pressure to rebound from a disappointing Nintendo 3DS launch and heavy annual losses.

Clearly, Nintendo must avoid doing anything that might confuse consumers and prevent them from buying the successor to the Wii console when it arrives in time for the holidays. CVG says it believes the naming scheme and introduction of the Nintendo 3DS wasn't clear enough to consumers, citing an example … Read more

McDonald's posted impressive quarterly earnings two days ago, but a scoop from the UK Sun newspaper today exposes the astonishing truth behind McDonald's Chicken McNuggets: you shouldn't eat them everyday for 15 years straight.

The show title today is ripped from a quote from the mother of 17-year-old UK factory worker Stacey Irvine, who's eaten nothing but McDonald's Chicken McNuggets since she was 2 years old. Shockingly, doctors maintain that her diet may have been a factor in her sudden anemia and swollen tongue veins that caused her to collapse yesterday.

Speaking of things getting ripped off, we'll also talk about the Australian Transport Minister that just got caught copying Michael Douglas' speech from the movie "The American President," and the NFL installing computers on the sidelines of the Pro Bowl for players to tweet fans during the game!… Read more

Nintendo's troubles are deepening, and unfortunately for the venerable game company, there doesn't appear to be an end in sight.

The game company today announced (PDF) sales of 556.2 billion yen ($7.2 billion) during the nine months ended December 31, down nearly 32 percent compared to the same period in 2010. It also posted a 48.4 billion yen (about $625 million) net loss. During the same period in 2010, Nintendo generated a profit of nearly 50 billion yen.

In its earnings release, Nintendo acknowledged that times are tough, saying that its financials were brought down … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Years late to the game, Epson enters the portable document-scanning market with the WorkForce DS-30, a mobile workstation that lets users hit one button to scan originals directly to Web-based cloud services like Google Docs, Evernote, and SharePoint.

As more professionals take their desks on the road, mobile workstations are increasingly in need of portable scanners like the DS-30 that draw power from a laptop's USB port, meaning users don't need to lug around another bulky power cord.

In terms of design, the DS-30 isn't winning any beauty contests and certainly doesn't sound as adorable as the similarly featured Doxie Go, but it weighs just 11.5 ounces and looks easy enough to slip in a bag or briefcase.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--When Tony Stark developed the latest MK VI armor for the classic red and gold Iron Man suit, he probably forgot to engineer a way to listen to music, but Wolfson Microelectronics picked up the slack and is showing off a Digital Silence DS-421D headset here at CES that appears to draw aesthetic inspiration from the superhero's exoskeleton.

Best of all, it features a special "Aeroplane filter" that removes typical aircraft noise, though I doubt it'll overpower the sound of boot-mounted rocket thrusters.… Read more

Smartphones sold like holiday hotcakes, you might be reading books and magazines on your next Wii U game console, and Apple has something up its iBooks sleeves.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

After getting off to an inauspicious start, the Nintendo 3DS reversed its fortune by the end of 2011.

Nintendo announced today that it sold 4 million 3DS units in the U.S. last year, helping it to edge out total sales of the regular DS family of devices, which hit 3.4 million during the period. According to Nintendo, the handset, which launched in the U.S. in March, outpaced Wii sales during its first nine months on American store shelves.

Just months ago, there was no telling how the 3DS would survive an inordinately difficult U.S. market. In … Read more