Admit it, you played on Friday.

Hell, you're probably still playing...

The Pac-Man game Google put on its home page gobbled up almost five million hours of work time, suggests a study.

The playable version of the classic video game was put on Google's front page on 21 May to celebrate 30 years since the launch of Pac-Man in Japan.

The search giant reworked the game so the layout was arranged around letters forming its name.

The Pac-Man game proved so popular that Google has now made it permanently available on its own page.

The statistics on how many people played and for how long were gathered by software firm Rescue Time. It makes time-tracking software that keeps an eye on what workers do and where they go online.

On a typical day, it suggests, most people conduct about 22 searches on the Google page, each one lasting about 11 seconds.

Putting Pac-Man on the page boosted that time by an average of about 36 seconds, the firm said based on the browsing habits of 11,000 Rescue Time users.

The firm believes this is a relatively low figure because only a minority realised that the logo was playable. To play, people had to click on the "insert coin" button which replaced the more familiar "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on 21 and 22 May.

Extrapolating this up across the 504 million unique users who visit the main Google page day-to-day, this represents an increase of 4.8 million hours - equal to about 549 years.

In dollar terms, assuming people are paid $25 (£17.50) an hour, this equates to about $120m in lost productivity, the firm said.

For that money, suggested Rescue Time, it would be possible to hire all Google's employees and put them to work for about six weeks.

With numbers like these, I'm amazed a number of entities in Corporate America don't file a class-action lawsuit against Google for productivity lost.

...and the friend who has the coin to buy it: The Gold-Plated iPad!

Thinking of buying an iPad, but the $829 price tag for the top model just sounds too plebeian for you? UK-based company Stuart Hughes, specialized in luxury gadgets, comes to the rescue with a solid gold, diamond-encrusted version of Apple’s magical and revolutionary tablet.

The price is £129,995 or approximately $189,125, but it will buy you the top iPad model with 53 flawless diamonds on the Apple logo, and a casing of solid 22ct gold. Even if you’re willing to dish out this much money for a tablet, have in mind that it’s a very heavy tablet, weighing 2,100 grams due to all that gold.

2,100 grams weighs over 4.6 pounds, making one of the advantages of having the iPad -- its weight over carrying a lot of books.

Movie Gallery becomes the latest big-box video store to announce both bankruptcy and massive store closures.  Welcome to the world of "NetFlix" and "Hulu."

Movie Gallery Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in February with plans to close hundreds of stores, will now shut down the balance of its 2,415 stores, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said that the company, which operates the Hollywood Video chain, will liquidate all of its stores over the next couple of months.

The company employed about 19,100 people when it filed for bankruptcy. According to the online edition of the newspaper, Movie Gallery notified employees on Friday of the added closures.

It is the second largest movie rental chain behind Blockbuster. This is the second bankruptcy filing for the company.

Movie Gallery was not available for comment.

There was some rumblings on a few comics boards and Apple boards online about this happening.  But no one was expecting it to occur by iPad launch.

Marvel Comics will be the first of the major comic book companies to have a digital platform for their comics. The maker of Spider-Man, the X-Men, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and a list of hundreds of other characters will be found on an App for the iPad.  The app itself will be free, comics downloaded -- included new books just like in your local comic book store, every Wednesday -- into the iPad will cost you only $2.

Marvel Entertainment is proud to announce the launch of the Marvel Comics App for iPad on the App Store. This landmark app launches with over 500 of Marvel's greatest comic books, from classic stories to modern tales, featuring Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor and more of the world's most popular Super Heroes. The Marvel Comics App brings the world of Marvel to iPad owners with each comic presented at incredibly high resolution on iPad's full color screen, a user-friendly search engine, innovative viewing options and more.

"We're excited to introduce an unparalleled digital comic experience to our fans with the Marvel Comics App for iPad," said Dan Buckley, publisher & CEO, Marvel Publishing. "The iPad is the first device that offers us a chance to present digital comics that are even close to replicating the experience of reading a print comic. This new world of digital comics distribution provides us great opportunities to reach new readers, allow consumers to sample our diverse stories and characters, and we believe it will drive these new fans into the App Store and local comic shops each week to find even more."

Fans will be granted unrivaled access to Marvel's rich library of comics, with launch titles ranging from the first appearances of characters such as Spider-Man and the X-Men to modern classics like the debut of Red Hulk, Jonathan Hickman's acclaimed FANTASTIC FOUR run, Joss Whedon & John Cassaday's ASTONISHING X-MEN and lots more. Every comic available through the Marvel Comics App is optimized for the iPad through painstaking re-coloring and re-digitizing of select content.

Marvel worked with ComiXology to create the perfect app for new readers, offering the option to preview two pages from each available comic before purchasing and a cutting edge recommendation engine for every fan to find a comic they're sure to love. The app also arms fans with a handy comic shop locator, allowing them to find their local retailer's address and phone number and then journey even further into the Marvel Universe. To enhance the mobile reading experience on the iPad even more, the Marvel Comics App features multiple viewing modes, taking readers panel-by-panel through the comic book in a smooth, action-packed progression using just the swipe of a finger.

"As Marvel's digital comics program has developed over the last few years, we've focused on delivering the best possible consumer experience across different services and devices," said Ira Rubenstein, Executive Vice President, Marvel Global Digital Media Group. "We're confident that the iPad is one of the best ways to read Marvel digital comics from anywhere, at any time.  Since the iPad was announced, we have heard from our Marvel fans that this is the device they really wanted to see our comics on. This is just another step in the evolution of Marvel Digital Comics.  We hope you love it as much as we do and we will continue to make the consumer experience even better."

Marvel also promises they will eventually put their entire library in digital format; which will allow an entire new generation to experience classic tales in the Marvel Universe without searching for what could be costly back-issues.

It's unknown when rival DC Comics will also go digital.  Word inside the industry is they are light-years behind Marvel on what is the likely next step for comics distribution.  They have made some strides in recent weeks with the announcement that their top writer (Geoff Johns) is now in charge of the creative direction of all DC Comics properties in all media.  They also hired famed artist Jim Lee as co-publisher of DC Comics, and was to lead the charge in making DC Digital.

Those are good first steps, but DC has a long way go now to play catch up.

Somehow, TechCrunch was able to get their cameras (or the stream of someone with a flip cam at his location) on Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to get his take on what the newly-released "iPad" could mean.

His thoughts aren't new, the idea of turning a eBook into a source to download magazine or newspaper content isn't revolutionary.  If anything, this is where the future now lies in publishing.  Soon, either at an urging of cost-cutting measures or "green marketing" entire magazines and newspapers go digital.  It makes you wonder if there will be some sort of disinformation campaign from the postal, paper making, and printing unions to stop what modern technology will eventually do to their industries.

Finally it must be said, whoever picked out the name for the "iPad," needs to be shot.  Preferably while tied to the flagpole of Apple's infamous "pirate flag" they flag outside their headquarters.  The name just is lousy.

[An admission at first:  This is a total cheap shot.  But since spelling in press releases is apparently now fair game in blogging circles in Wisconsin, I figured, ah well, run with this.

I mean, not using it will make me having a family member run off for the photo go to waste...]

One of the downsides of having a Campaign Manager from out-of-state, they trust the spell check on MS Office a tad too much when it comes to the spelling of cities and town in Wisconsin.

Case in point, whoever sent out this email on Friday from the Barrett Campaign.

As this shot of a road sign taken this past Saturday clearly shows, that is not the proper way to spell "Howards Grove."

Is this over-kill?  No, not really.

This is: Pointing out that Tom Barrett's Official Twitter account CAN spell "Howards Grove" correctly.

(Campaign's using TweetDeck; wonder if that's from the iPhone or desktop version...not available yet for BlackBerry)

The Twitpic attached makes it look like Barrett's at the Log Cabin Inn, which is just off of Hwy 23 on one of Howards' two main drive.   Been a few years since I've been there myself.  Their broasted chicken is very good I recall.

As I said to a friend of mine who forwarded me the initial Barrett Campaign email, I think whoever edited the email got a little carried away with agreeing with the spell check inside MS Word.  Spell check "Howards Grove" yourself if you'd like.

(H/T Mashable)

This is a very smart idea by the Pontiff on so many levels.  It shows not only is the Church expanding into new technologies for outreach to the faithful, but it shows Pope Benedict XVI is continuing the work of his predecessor John Paul II towards reaching out to the youngest in his flock in the when it comes to being aware of the multitude of means of communication they use.

Responding adequately to this challenge amid today’s cultural shifts, to which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using new communications technologies. The world of digital communication, with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the more Saint Paul’s exclamation: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor 9:16) The increased availability of the new technologies demands greater responsibility on the part of those called to proclaim the Word, but it also requires them to become become more focused, efficient and compelling in their efforts. Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word.

The spread of multimedia communications and its rich “menu of options” might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web, or to see it only as a space to be filled. Yet priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different “voices” provided by the digital marketplace. Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.

Using new communication technologies, priests can introduce people to the life of the Church and help our contemporaries to discover the face of Christ. They will best achieve this aim if they learn, from the time of their formation, how to use these technologies in a competent and appropriate way, shaped by sound theological insights and reflecting a strong priestly spirituality grounded in constant dialogue with the Lord. Yet priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ. This will not only enliven their pastoral outreach, but also will give a “soul” to the fabric of communications that makes up the “Web”.