Topping tech headlines on Tuesday, Nintendo showed off the upcoming Wii U system with the announcement of several new games, including Pikmin 3, New Super Mario Bros. U, and Nintendo Land.
Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Mario, Zelda, and other famous Nintendo series, opened the company's E3 press conference in Los Angeles with the Wii U, which was announced at E3 last year. Many details about the Wii U were already released on Sunday, but yesterday's presentation went into more detail.
Back in New York, the news was very Google-centric. The search giant announced that it has acquired Quickoffice, a mobile productivity suite. Google praised Quickoffice's track record of working seamlessly between various file formats, and said the company will work on integrating the mobilization product into Google Apps.
Later in the day, meanwhile, Google announced plans for security warnings about state-sponsored attacks. Google said the warnings will appear for a "subset" of users who Google believes "may be the target of state-sponsored attacks." When activated, a pink bar will appear atop various Google services with a one-sentence warning.
Also making headlines on Tuesday:
- Napster Founders Launch Facebook Video Chat App Airtime: The founders of Napster, Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, are at it again with a new video chat app for Facebook called Airtime.
- Intel Stresses Impact of Ultrabooks, Launches Ivy Bridge Dual-Core: Ultrabooks bridge the gap between mobile devices and traditional PCs, says Intel's Thomas Kilroy at Computex.
- Microsoft Brings $99 Xbox-Kinect Bundle to Best Buy, GameStop: Microsoft is extending a deal for steeply discounted Xbox 360 consoles and Kinect motion controllers for buyers who sign up for a two-year Xbox Live Gold Membership.
- What to Expect for IPv6 Launch Day: As the bulk of IPv6 traffic increases, companies will start phasing out their older IPv4 infrastructure, until finally, the entire world is using the same networking standard.
- Wishbone Taps Power of the Net to Help At-Risk Kids: A non-profit startup called Wishbone is using the Internet to connect donors with underprivileged and at-risk kids hoping to participate in summer instructional programs in areas like computer science, bioengineering, art, and fashion.
- Netflix Launches 'Open Connect' Content Delivery Network: Netflix announced the launch of its Open Connect Network, which will be the video provider's very own content delivery network.
- Dragon Ball Z Kinect Lets You Live Out Your Kamehameha Fantasies: Akira Toriyama's wildly successful Dragon Ball Z franchise has received the video game treatment on a number of occasions over the years, but none truly lets you engage in the fisticuffs like Namco Bandai's Dragon Ball Z for the Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect.
- Intel Stresses Impact of Ultrabooks, Launches Ivy Bridge Dual-Core: Mobile devices are on the rise but Intel is quick to point out that the sun has yet to set on traditional PCs.
- Report: Sprint's Virgin Mobile to Offer Pre-Paid iPhone: Looks like Cricket Communications isn't going to be the only pre-paid U.S. carrier to offer the iPhone this year.
- Analyst Predicts Facebook's Demise by 2020: Despite its immense popularity, at least one analyst thinks the social network's end is in sight.
- Hands On With the MSI Slider S20 Tablet: The thing that makes tablets so terrific for some people and so terrible for others is, unfortunately, what makes a tablet a tablet: its lack of a truly convenient keyboard.
For more from Angela, follow her on Twitter @amoscaritolo.
