bowls

Strike Knight is a free, ad-supported pinball-shuffleboard game from the makers of the classic Paper Toss. In terms of gameplay, you pretty much get what you pay for--but the execution is fun and funny, with great attention to detail.

The interface puts you in a bar, complete with the hubbub of background noise. You're looking down the length of a realistic shuffleboard-bowling game, on which you're trying to slide a metal puck to knock down bowling pins. The details of the interface are convincing and entertaining (the crowd and an animated "Strike Knight" on the back-glass … Read more

Strike Knight is a free, ad-supported pinball-shuffleboard game from the makers of the classic Paper Toss. In terms of gameplay, you pretty much get what you pay for--but the execution is fun and funny, with great attention to detail.

The interface puts you in a bar, complete with the hubbub of background noise. You're looking down the length of a realistic shuffleboard-bowling game, on which you're trying to slide a metal puck to knock down bowling pins. The details of the interface are convincing and entertaining (the crowd and an animated "Strike Knight" on the back-glass … Read more

Even when the group in question is slightly whiny and humorless, if enough people band together, they can pull off a revolution.

In this case, I happen to be referring to critics of the Groupon Super Bowl ads. You know, the ones that looked like charity ads at first, but then turned out to be ads for charity at home.

After five days in which Groupon managed very successfully to drown out any public knowledge of something called LivingSocial, which also advertised during the Super Bowl, CEO Andrew Mason declared in a blog post today that the ads are being … Read more

Long after the big game ends and Green Bay Coach Mike McCarthy washes off the Gatorade, blogs and the Twitterverse are still sorting out the Super Bowl commercial winners and losers. But according to AdBowl, it looks like Volkswagen will take the trophy for its Darth Vader ad.

AdBowl, which has run an online voting competition since 2002, shows Volkswagen's "The Force" commercial still holding first place in the Top 10 Overall category, with an average rating of 4.37 (out of a 5-point scale with 1 being a "fumble" and five being a "… Read more

Millions of sports fans gathered around the TV yesterday to watch the "Big Game," and it's hard to believe that another Puppy Bowl has come and gone. Just kidding, if there's one thing we learned from Super Bowl XLV, it's that brand endorsements are ruining the illusion for celebrities like Eminem and Kim Kardashian who would have us believe that they drive Chrysler minivans and wear Skechers Shapeups.

We're wrapping up the winners and losers of the Super Bowl on today's episode of The 404 Podcast, and the winner for lowest blow is a tie between Groupon and Christina Aguilera.

Groupon took a page from Kenneth Cole PR (context) and pulled a "too soon" with an ad exploiting the tragedy in Tibet, while Christina Aguilera changed the lyrics to the National Anthem into a song about vampires squeezing juice from citrus fruits.

I'll leave it to Jeff to do his own reaming on the Black Eyed Peas half-time show before we move onto the most important part of the game: the commercials!

We all agree that for better or worse, this year's commercials stood out from years past, and our favorites include Volkswagen's Darth Vader spoof, Chevy's Camaro ad featuring Bumblebee from the "Transformers," and Doritos and Bud Light touched our hearts with animals doing human things.

There were also a ton of movie trailers that blew up our skirt, so tune into today's show to hear more of our thoughts on "Super 8," "Captain America," the Lingerie Bowl, and Angry Birds in real life!

AOL joins forces with the Huffington Post, and let's face it, AOL needs all the help can get. While Donald is a little scared. Motorola's Xoom is $799 and it looks like you'll still have to pay to unlock Wi-Fi. Seriously. Plus we talk about our favorite Superbowl ads from the tech world.

Other links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

AOL buys The Huffington Post

Sony uses Super Bowl ad to officially announce the Xperia Play

Motorola Xoom pricing

The NASDAQ hacked

New Canon dSLRs

I know there will be some who were devastated not to see Google advertising during this year's Super Bowl.

And yet tech companies decided to see and be seen, with all the consequences that might entail.

What we should remember is that ads can help a product, they can hurt a product. Or, indeed, they can have very little effect if the product itself is deeply desirable.

Which must give some hope to the folks at Motorola, who finally revealed all of their Apple-is-Big-Brother-let's-all-get-organic affair. The ad suggested that those who own iPads are dupes, lifeless fools who … Read more

Groupon understands the American mentality. We are not charitable. We are not drippy, caring, altruistic, do-gooders.

We want a deal. We love a deal. We will sacrifice our feelings for whales, the rainforest, even the plight of Tibetans, for a deal.

So, in spots that just might be appearing in the Sunday's Super Bowl, the company that's possibly worth multibillions of dollars has decided to go for the cut-price jugular.

We don't see do-gooders. We see Cuba Gooding Jr. We also see other stars who are, perhaps, from the cut-price rung of the stardom ladder rather than … Read more