manning

It's good to have hobbies. Some people just have more unusual hobbies than others. Michael Birken says he spent 11 months playing with Post-it notes. He wasn't writing memos or reminders, he was sticking them on the wall to create an elaborate stop-motion video tribute to his favorite classic games. He calls it Post-it Note Arcade.

The video includes footage of both Ms. Pac-Man and Mario. Birken says he recorded actual gameplay footage and then printed the images out, one frame at a time, to replicate on the walls around his office. He spent holidays and weekends posting the little pieces of paper up and filming the results. It's probably just as well his co-workers didn't have to witness this madness.… Read more

Marvel character and billionaire entrepreneur Tony Stark loves his tech toys, most notably the glowing chemical core embedded in his chest and his supercharged flying suit. But starting May 3, he may show a little love for the Alcatel One Touch Idol smartphone.

First seen at CES 2013, and soon to be seen in the film "Iron Man 3," the One Touch Idol is part of an exclusive mobile phone partnership for the film.

Alcatel and Marvel aren't sharing how often Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., and other characters will hold the phone, or how … Read more

Already on display at New York's Museum of Modern Art and released as a fully playable Google Doodle, Pac-Man has finally made its way to Android.

Known as Pac-Man + Tournaments, the gameplay is a faithful rendition of the classic '80s arcade game and includes all 256 levels. It also includes a tournament mode that includes new mazes, and keeps track of rankings and achievements for a modern twist. Best of all, it's free. If you're ready to relive the '80s, grab a roll of quarters, flip up your shirt collar, and press Start.… Read more

Super Stickman Golf 2 (99 cents) is a 2D golf game that is definitely a worthy sequel to the original with new levels, new special course elements, and much more. It's really easy to pick up and play, with tons of fantastical themed courses, interesting power-ups, and excellent physics-based gameplay. Though the game has a huge amount of arcadelike features, the goal is always the same: try to get the ball in the hole in as few shots as possible. The challenge is that it can be much harder than it looks.

Rather than your standard 3D layout seen … Read more

Tony Stark may use the repulsor units on the hands of his Iron Man suit to help him fly around and fight, but Sergio Oliveira has found a different use for them. Oliveira's Iron Man arm lamp is a one-of-a-kind task light suitable for brightening up the work space of any superhero fan.

Unlike the repulsor from Iron Man's armor, the lamp version isn't likely to blast the papers right off your desk. What makes this lamp even better is that it's not a fresh-off-the-assembly-line arm. It's a battle-worn, scarred-surface arm. It looks like it's been through a few rounds with Whiplash.… Read more

AUSTIN, Texas -- Without a doubt, Grumpy Cat was the most talked-about sensation at the Mashable tent here at South by Southwest Interactive over the weekend. Editorial cartoonist Shannon Wheeler has been "live-tooning" the show for VentureBeat, and he chronicled his experience of not being able to see the diminutive feline.

The line for Grumpy Cat was the longest line at the show this year, winding around the block and requiring several hours of waiting. Wheeler, for his part, noted accurately that, "Grumpy Cat is more popular than Al Gore."

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Lucasfilm forces Flyers goalie to change the "Star Wars" graphic on his mask.

- NIN's "Head Like a Hole" mashed with "Call Me Maybe" is terrible and perfect.

- Teddy Faley made a mashup album using Mobb Deep lyrics over 8-bit Mario samples.

- Never lose at pool again (by cheating).

- Silicon Valley is full of stoners.… Read more

For the first time today, U.S. Army soldier Bradley Manning explained publicly why he handed hundreds of thousands of classified files to WikiLeaks, telling a crowded military courtroom in Ft. Meade, Md., that he had hoped to "spark a debate on the military and our foreign policy."

Manning said that his decision to leak the files stemmed from increasing concern about the U.S. military's actions in the Middle East, and that his conscience led him to conclude the documents must be made public. After approaching The New York Times and The Washington Post, but finding … Read more

Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army soldier accused of providing WikiLeaks with hundreds of thousands of classified documents, has pleaded guilty to some of the lesser charges against him and has begun reading a statement explaining his actions in military court today.

The 25-year-old soldier entered guilty pleas to 10 of 22 charges that he is facing, acknowledging that he was the source of the files that WikiLeaks divulged, according to the Los Angeles Times and other press accounts. The lesser charges carry a maximum upper limit of 20 years in prison.

But Manning has pleaded not guilty to the … Read more